Re: [Harp-L] Bending explained - but now correctly

[icemanle@xxxxxxx]

oops, leave out one word and the meaning changes. I meant to type "It was just not taught in quite this fashion...."


It was just taught 
in quite this fashion to anyone outside of those that specialize in linguistic 
differences and/or language accents.







-----Original Message-----
From: icemanle@xxxxxxx
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Sun, Mar 21, 2010 9:14 am
Subject: [Harp-L] Bending explained - but now  correctly


What Winslow is describing is exactly the same conclusion I've made the last 10 
years through extensive examination of the process and through successfully 
teaching bending to pitch to total beginners with great success. 


The problem, as I saw it, was that there was no reference points given to 
awareness of mouth, tongue position, throat, etc. Instead, it was described in 
nebulous terms of feel.


Here is my conclusion in a nutshell.


Throat is independent of tongue. Keep throat in a "pre yawn attitude". As you 
begin to yawn, the throat does it's thing by opening and relaxing, with very 
gentle muscle flex. When you recognize it for what it is, you can voluntarily 
keep your throat in this "attitude" the whole time you play the harmonica. (I've 
trained myself to automatically do this even as the harmonica approaches my 
mouth).


Changes in pitch can be totally controlled by the tongue, with minimal amount of 
musculature. In fact, I've discovered that most will use the tongue almost 
correctly, but bundle it together with a lot of unnecessary musculature tension. 
The trick is to eliminate everything that does not contribute to the desired 
effect. 


To this end, I began teaching tongue position awareness 10 years ago at Augusta 
Heritage Center Blues Week and to my private students, once again with 
astonishing results.


When you say the consonants (or nonsense words) "T", "D", "Rrrrr", "K", "Guh" 
and "Cha" (The Jewish "Cha" - not the dance "Cha Cha) and turn your full 
attention to what the tongue does to create these sounds, you will find TARGET 
SPOTS along the roof of your mouth (moving from just behind your upper front 
teeth to down the back of the throat) that you can "aim" your curving tongue 
towards. The airflow that enters your mouth is diverted up and over the curve 
created in the tongue when aimed at these target points. This airflow diversion 
instigates the bending effect. On the inhale, you will find it easy to create 
all the inhale bends in, say hole 3, by coupling the aural feedback of correct 
pitch with a definite spot to which you aim for in curving the tongue. For 
instance, 3 hole inhale 1st bend may be a target point around the "T" with 
subsequent lower bends having target points that move back towards the throat 
("Rrrr", "K", "Guh", etc).


Try this slowly a few times right now. You will develop a sense of solid and 
specific target points that can be recreated exactly time and time again. You 
can aim your tongue at these points. Remember, the tongue is a miracle muscle 
that can be quite acrobatic and you CAN learn to control it. It was just taught 
in quite this fashion to anyone outside of those that specialize in linguistic 
differences and/or language accents.


If you combine this new knowledge with the BREATHE YOUR HARMONICA - not suck, 
blow or draw it - and keep your throat at the pre-yawn attitude, you will 
discover the doorway to complete control of all the bends with MINIMAL amount of 
musculature movement and effort. 


This is actually much easier to teach to someone that has never played the 
harmonica, as they are not full of bad habits that need undoing. I've taught 
rank beginners to do this in one lesson and see amazing results within one to 
two weeks. I've had these students totally out control notes created through 
bending technique when compared to players with years of experience and bad 
habits.


The exhale notes created through bending technique uses the exact same concept. 
The difference is that the air direction is out, so the tongue has to curve at 
the very front of the mouth, creating that up and over air deflection effect at 
the front of the mouth. It is a bit more "compressed", so the target points need 
to be created in a much tighter area, but once you "get it" through inhale 
bending, it is not much of a stretch to apply this new knowledge to the exhale.


Once again, you will have to rethink and undo bundled bad habits and rebuild 
your technique. However, I promise you that the results are worth it. You will 
begin to approach effortless mastery of bends.


The Iceman


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.







-----Original Message-----
From: Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>