[Harp-L] Total tongue block?

["Tom Albanese" <reedwrecker@xxxxxxxxx>]

A year or so ago I was in attendance at Joe Filisko's blues harp class at
the Old Town School in Chicago. Mark Hummel was the guest presenter and I
was mildly surprised when he stated that "after all these years" of assuming
that Little Walter was a total tongue blocker, he now had come to the
conclusion that LW puckered quite a bit more than just occasionally. True or
not, judging by the look of horror on some of the faces in the classroom, it
was as though grand blasphemy had just taken place.

I happen to agree with Hummel, but either way it's only an opinion that can
never be proven. Does it matter? Only if you want to believe that there is
only one right way to play the harmonica. I'm convinced that we'll never
really know for sure what the ODB guys did in this regard, no matter what
the speculation. I, like many players, like to mix it up. I've been told by
some "purist players" that if I don't totally TB everything, my music
doesn't amount to a hill of beans. I take that with a grain of salt. I like
salt on my beans.

tom albanese

myspace.com/bigrealdeal <http://www.myspace.com/bigrealdeal>