[Harp-L] Re: What happens when bending

["Rick Dempster" <rick.dempster@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Yes John;
                 The diaphragm creates the air pressure as a dam creates water pressure, but the throat/larynx (and even lips, though they are not usually part of the machinery habitually used in bending) dictate the rate at which that pressure is released, as the pipe, tap, hosepipe and nozzle-setting (or an intruding thumb/finger) dictate the pressure of the water released.
                 If you fill a bucket with hose nozzle loose, I think I am right in saying that the bucket will take about the same time to fill as it would with the nozzle tightened;because in the first instance, the stream is slow and broad, and in the second, the stream narrow and fast, the speed compensating for the narrower flow.
                 Your diaphragm applies greater pressure of course, to allow the same volume-per-second flow, while the dam in sitting high the hills, full with water provides a constant pressure without the aid of anything to increase its pressure. Rather like the difference between a stream engine with its boiler full of steam, and the internal combustion engine that has to create pressure with each stroke.
                 Speaking of water, I think I'm probably in over my head here....get me out someone!
RD

>>> "John F. Potts" <hvyj@xxxxxxx> 7/10/2008 12:59 >>>
Rick;
	You may be right.  I am a mixed embouchure player myself (not  
primarily a tongue blocker).  Although I am able to, I usually don't  
bend when tongue blocking.  But it is my uninformed hypothesis that  
whatever i am doing in my throat and/or at the root of my tongue  
redirects and/or constricts (or maybe dilates--which would create a  
larger or more open resonance  chamber)  the airflow to create the  
bend.  At least that's what it feels like might be going on.  Also,  
for any of this to work, all breath pressure (blow and draw) must be  
generated by the diaphragm--not the mouth or lips.
	JP


On Oct 6, 2008, at 9:43 PM, Rick Dempster wrote:

> 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
>
>