[Harp-L] Iceman -- Practising The Bends

[Jim Adams <tusker23@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I'd like to extend my gratitude to Iceman for providing such a perfectly clear and understandable description of how to achieve 'bending'. I'm a rookie, and I can already hit most of the bends, but without precision, and I didn't know how to achieve precision.  

 

Understanding what I have to do to repeatedly and precisely to hit the actual bent notes I want is certainly a great help.

 

Incidentally for those who want to know whether they're hitting the correct bends (or even the correct notes when playing a tune) I'd highly recommend the Bendometer at http://www.harpsoft.com I use this program myself while practising, and I find it VERY useful. (Usual disclaimer, just a satisfied client etc.)

 

Thanks again, Iceman. May you never ever hit a bum note again! (Assuming that you have previously.....Maybe just once? )

 

--Forwarded Message Attachment--
From: icemanle@xxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Re:Practising the Bends
Date: Wed, 23 Sep 2009 09:45:07 -0400
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx

One problem in teaching and achieving this goal is the nebulous way it is approached.
 
I've found something that works incredibly well in quantifying this technique - it works best on brand new students, as they do not have any preconceived notions or bad habits to undo. I've gotten total beginners to nail these notes, or get them firmly on the path to understanding how to create these notes through technique within one or two weeks of showing them an approach that uses finite target points in the mouth.
 
Since so many have believed that the harmonica and creating bends is an invisible endeavor (you can't see what you are doing, as harmonica is below your line of sight and everything occurs inside the mouth) - they are stabbing in the dark to explain what to do.
 
My opinion is that the
essence of bending techniques rests purely in tongue position - throat,
jaw etc are kept in the "almost yawn" position, but don't contribute to
the pitch placement. If you will accept this premise, the control is easy to achieve.
 
First, you must create specific target points on the roof of your mouth that are easily duplicated and never change. If you say "TDK" (like the cassette brand), you will notice that the tongue not only touches a specific spot on the roof of the mouth, but also touches it with a different area of the tongue. Spend some time with these three letters "T", "D", "K". Really get into a mental visual as well as tactile sensations. You would never place the tongue at the "K" position if you want to say "T", would you? Using the same logic, you would never place your tongue position at 3 hole first inhale bend if you want to achieve 2 hole inhale second bend. Once you quantify each note with a specific tongue target point, it's easy to see a clear path to "owning" all these notes created through bending technique.
 
I've divided the mouth into the following target points - "T", "D", "Rrrrrrr", "Guh", "K" and "Cha" (hard "ch", like LaCha-im - Jewish toast, not soft "ch" like cha cha). Starting from front to back, "T" is tip of tongue just behind upper front teeth while "Cha" is back of tongue arched towards back of throat. As you move through all these target points, you will begin to get a sense that the tongue has a lump extending upwards that can slide from the front of your mouth towards the back. 
 
When you inhale and the tongue is disengaged, you get a pure "given" tone from the inhale notes. When you redirect the air coming in up and over the tongue, you begin the bending down process. Take hole 4 inhale, for example. To achieve 4 inhale bend, you can raise the area of the tongue towards "Rrrrrr" and get a pretty effortless note created through inhale bend technique. Those that learned other techniques, using jaw and/or throat, should at least give this a fair try - you may find out that you were probably doing the right minimum amount of tongue movement, but bundling it into musculature movement unnecessary to creating the note, making it more complicated than it needs to be.
 
This is using finesse, not force. What is awkward is getting used to inhaling while engaging the tongue consciously. Our whole lives we exhale and use the tongue to talk, so it feels odd to use the same tongue placements while inhaling. However, the tongue is not directly attached to the diaphragm, so it's just a matter of getting used to reversing the diaphragm while still engaging the tongue. Do what you do inhaling that you've done exhaling your whole life. (Try inhale talking and see if it feels awkward. If so, practice for a bit until it starts to feel normal in your mouth. This will definitely help you with your harmonic technique -after all, harmonica is the only instrument played with inhale, to my knowledge).
 
Now, just find where the tongue placement is for each of your inhale bends and absorb this knowledge until it becomes automatic for you. You will never again miss a note moving from 3 hole inhale first bend directly to 2 hole inhale second bend, for example.
 
The Iceman
 
 
 		 	   		  
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