[Harp-L] which hole number I'm playing at now?



Arnold,

i have this problem when trying to play a chromatic, (which i don't do very well) but never when playing a diatonic. This is because the intervals between the blow and draw notes in each hole on a diatonic are are different, so (unlike a chromatic) each draw note on a diatonic has a different "feel" in the mouth to an experienced player (some bend more than others, some don't bend at all, and so the '"feel" of the airflow is very different on, for example, draw 2 and draw 5). Try practicing the scale or scales you use most often--like the blues scale or the major pentatonic (country scale)-- and pay attention to how each note/hole feels in your mouth as you draw air through it. Each hole is like a different axe/instrument that can be made to do different things (keep in mind that this also may vary somewhat from key to key--draw 2 on an F harp feels different than draw 2 on a G harp, for example).

Also, proper embouchure for a lip purse player will (for reasons not clear to me)will make your playing much more precise. A while ago, in the interest of improving my tone, I began to put the harp deep in my mouth against the corners of my mouth, with the holes tilted down slightly and with the inside of my mouth adjacent to my lips gripping the harp so i could get the harp as deep in may mouth as possible and make as large an opening or aperture as possible consistent with still getting a single note-- while producing airflow from the diaphragm as i had been doing . This not only significantly improved my tone, but also my accuracy or precision of hole selection/ identification--which had been good anyway, except that I would sometimes hit blow 5 instead of blow 6 when starting a fast run down from the top of the blues scale in 2d position while improvising at fast tempo. Deep embouchure eliminated that problem, but I'm not sure why. Tongue blocking also seems to provide more precision/accuracy, but I am not a full time tongue blocker.

My ear is better than it used to be, but when playing electric on a stage with no monitors or poorly placed monitors, a player may not be able to hear himself very well anyway. But, with experience, it is possible to know where you are by how the airflow through each particular draw note feels in the mouth. At least this works for me.

JP




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