Re: [Harp-L] Switching Corners and mixing embouchures

[Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>]

I do find myself mixing pucker with tongue block when I use corner switching. 

That said, I would answer your question with more questions. The reasons will be evident.

First question: What's the most efficient and clean way to achieve the sequence of notes you want?

Second question: What's your "default" preferred embouchure?

Ths situation you cite:

5Blow 6Blow 4Blow

will benefit from corner switching from right to left between 6 Blow and 4 Blow, as you mention.

However, getting from pucker on 5 Blow to TB on 6 Blow can be fussy. For that reason, I'd be inclined to play both 5 Blow and 6 Blow with a right-side tongue block. For me, that seems like the simplest approach with the least amount of changing embouchures (though that leads into Question 2, which I'll pick up later).

Here are two situations where embouchure mixing might be an optimal solution.

Mixed Embouchure Scenario 1:

1. On Blow 4 you play a fast tongued repeated note (e.g., 'tadala") that is most crisply delivered with a pucker. 

2: Leap to Blow 6 then back to blow 4 (right-side tongue block)

3. Leap back to Blow 4 (left side TB)

4. Play Blow 5 (move the left side TB one hole to the right

5: Play Blow 4 again (move the left side TB back to Hole 4)

6: Leap to Blow 6 again (switch to right side TB)

7: Play Blow 5 on your way back to Step 1 (here you have the choice of pucker, or TB on either side - they all work).


Mixed Embouchure Scenario 2:

1. Play Blow 4 (left side TB)

2. Play Blow 6 (right side TB)

3. Play "tadala" articulation in Blow 6 (switch to pucker while playing the same hole)

4: Play Blow 9 (switch to right side TB)

5: Play Blow 8, 7, and 6, all with right side TB, on your way back to starting over with Step 1.

You can see that the above scenarios pretty much work best with embouchure mixing. In the second one, even if you don't play the "tadala", the switch to pucker still acts as a connecting point between two upward leaps.

Now, as to the question of primary embouchure. Everyone has their main preference, and I'm not here to argue over which is best. But in any local situation you may find that it's best to focus on one of them according to the techniques best suited to delivered the musical results. 

I think it's fairly normal to use an alternate embouchure only for those notes or note sequences where the alternate is needed, and to swithc back to the default embouchure wherever possible, leading to frequent embouchure changes.

But I think it's easier and more efficient simply to stay with the alternate embouchure for the duration of the passage where it's needed, and to play all notes in the passage with that embouchure unless there's a good reason to switch back.

For instance, in a situation with a lot of staccato or crisp rapid note repetitions, pucker might be best, even if you usually tongue block. Soe ven of there are a few notes in the passage that don't require the staccato attack, why not just stick with pucker for the whole passage?  If you occasionallly need to switch to tongue blocking for split intervals (two harmony notes several holes apart) or fast leaps during that same, fine - those demands create a valid reason to do so. 

Likewise, in a passage that is mostly back-and-forth leaps (using corner siwtching) or split harmonies, there's no point in switching back to pucker for one or two notes, unless it's for a very specific reason (such as articulating things like 'tadala" or bends that you can't yet manage with a tongue block).

In other words, muscal requirements drive technique, and technique in turn determines embouchure, not the other way around. If you start with embouchure preference, you put yourself at a needless disadvantage.

Winslow

Winslow Yerxa

Author, Harmonica For Dummies ISBN 978-0-470-33729-5

--- On Sun, 2/22/09, Eric Nielsen <ericbarnak@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
From: Eric Nielsen <ericbarnak@xxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [Harp-L] Switching Corners on The A-Train
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Date: Sunday, February 22, 2009, 12:50 AM

<snip>What I'd like to ask some of the more
skillful users of this technique is do they use a "mixed embrouchure"
(alternating tongue-block and lip-pursing), or do they pretty much play with
tongue-block only throughout the tunes they use corner switching on?

My approach so far, because I am mainly a lip purser on the diatonic, is to
switch from lip pursing to tongue-block when I get to the part where I need
to corner switch. For instance, if I'm playing a rather fast tune, and I
need to play 5Blow 6Blow 4Blow, I will lip-purse the 5Blow, tongue-block the
6Blow, and then corner switch to the 4Blow with a tongue-block on the left
side. The rest of the tune I revert to lip-pursing-unless further corner
switching is needed. I like the fact that the 5Blow is blocked out during
this maneuver and doesn't have a chance to sound by mistake.

What advice?