Re: [Harp-L] Bending explained - but incorrectly

[Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>]

Vern writes:

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The embouchure is a Helmholtz resonator* whose frequency is lowered by increasing its volume and reducing the area of its neck.
In
the harp, this is accomplished by dropping the jaw, lowering the
tongue, and pinching the air passage at or near the mouthpiece with the
lips.
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To which I must rejoin with a resounding, NO WAY!

You narrow the air passage at the BACK of the resonant chamber, not at the front. Pinching near the mouthpiece produces poor tone and worse control.

The narrrowed air passage defines the BACK of the resonant chamber. The tongue rises to nearly touch the soft palate, anywhere from where you make the "K" sound (which I dubbed the "K" spot several years ago) back to the very back tip of the soft palate.

The farther back you place the "K" spot, the larger the chamber and the lower the note. When bending very low notes, some players describe this as bending 'with the throat" but I'm fairly sure that it's really just the tongue constricting in concert with the very back tip of the soft palate, which feels as if it's in the throat.

For very high pitched bends and to raise the pitch of overbends, you can make the chamber smaller, either by moving the K-spot forward or by raising the forward part of the tongue toward the roof of the mouth in front of the K-spot in order to shrink the resonant chamber. 

But in all cases, the constriction is placed at the back of the resonant cavity and as far as possible from the mouthpiece.

Winslow

Winslow Yerxa

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

Resident expert at bluesharmonica.com

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