From: "John F. Potts" <hvyj@xxxxxxx>
Date: October 6, 2008 10:27:00 PM GMT-04:00
To: Rick Dempster <rick.dempster@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: What happens when bending
Rick,
Isn't full control of air flow/pressure what this is all about?
JP
On Oct 6, 2008, at 10:17 PM, Rick Dempster wrote:
I forget to mention the pharynx. (I've had some minor health
problems lately, which have taken me to the ear nose & throat
dept. at our 'Eye & Ear' hospital, where I have taken the
opportunity to quiz the specialist - who gave me quizzical looks
haha - on harp-related anatomical matters, the pharynx, or soft
palate, in particular)
The pharynx operates as a valve which controls flow of air, mucous
etc from nose to throat and vice-versa.
You must close the pharynx in order to bend a note, and you must
open it to un-bend (or if not 'must', then, for my part I'd say
that's what I do; in fact, closing the pharynx will almost
certainly activate a bend, if everything else is positioned
correctly, and to open it while bending will certainly release the
bend)
I have my students concentrate on the pharynx as a tool in breath
control (which is to the harp what the picking hand is to the
guitar, and the bowing hand/arm to the fiddle)
Particularly for folk who can't get a clear sound on draw two, and
always tend to bend it somewhat, either getting a flat note, or
simply a 'jammed reed'.
I tell them to try letting some air through their nose while they
are drawing. Sometimes the result is very funny, with all sorts of
audible 'snorks' emanating from the surprised and embarrassed
student.
I think the pharynx does nothing more than seal the ventilation of
the throat/mouth to enable full control of air pressure; but
nothing more.
But then again I might just be a Bulldog crossed with a Shitszu.....
RD
John;
I reckon I'm a 75%-of-the-time tongue blocker too. I was
trying to keep things simple here, and not to expose my ignorance
of my own anatomy. What I believe is that the tongue extends right
down the throat and is connected somehow to the larynx. I think
that when I am tongue-blocking, the back of the tongue and the
larynx (or Adam's apple, to make it more visual) work (how
exactly, I'm not sure) too open and extend the resonating
chamber, by deepening and perhaps broadening the resonating chamber.
I would equate resonant chamber size with reed length and
weight, and air pressure with reed oscillation speed.
Regards,
RD
"John F. Potts" <hvyj@xxxxxxx> 7/10/2008 12:24 >>>
Rick,
Everything you say makes perfect sense to me EXCEPT the role you
attribute to the tongue--"that the tongue works to change the size of
the resonating chamber." If that were actually so, how is it that a
full time tongue blocker is able to bend?
Minor point: After reading Steve Baker's post, i looked up what the
"pharynx" is, and it seems to me that it may actually the pharynx,
rather than the larynx (or, perhaps, both) that are involved, But my
experience is very much consistent with what you describe as
constricting ("choking") the air flow. That's a very good way to
describe what i think my "throat" is doing (not that i am the
standard by which technique should be judged).
JP