[Harp-L] Re: Beginner with harmonica quality problems!

["Rick Epping" <rickepping@xxxxxxxxx>]

>
> Beginners often have technique problems that manifest like quality problems
> in the harmonica, particularly with the low draw notes and most particularly
> with the 2-draw note.  So much so that I had a form response message I would
> send while I worked at Hohner.  Most harps sent back to Hohner with this
> problem checked out fine.



> If the player's tongue is choking off his/her air column at the back of the
> mouth, the resulting isolated oral cavity may not have a resonant frequency
> sympathetic to the natural frequency of the reed being played, causing the
> reed to sound choked, muffled, or flat in pitch, or to not sound at all.
>  The fix is to relax a bit and open and widen the air column, all the way
> down the lungs, as if speaking in a deep, resonant  voice.



> Sometimes players would complain that a note will work fine for the first
> 15 or 20 minutes and then choke up.  This is likely due to the beginner
> practicing too long, causing the tongue and throat muscles to begin cramping
> and constricting, leading to a constriction of the air column.



> The good part of this is that the main cause of the problem, the tongue
> constricting the airflow at the back of the mouth, is similar to the
> technique used in note bending.



> The sheng family of instruments makes use of this phenomenon by placing a
> finger hole in each reed's pipe, effectively shortening the pipe to the
> extent that the reed will not play until the finger hole is closed, thereby
> lengthening the pipe so that one or more of its resonant frequencies (its
> fundamental and/or one or more of its partials) will match that of the reed.


>