Re: [Harp-L] Tongue blocking and tone

[Philharpn@xxxxxxx]

Tone is one of those elusive qualities like comb materials. What produces 
the best tone? U-block, tongue block or pucker embouchure? 

As to the degrees of difficulty, I don't know that anyone has ever done a 
comparative test to determine whether tongue blocking or lip pursing is more 
difficult to master.   Partly this is due to the fact that tongue block is a 
misnomer. 

With tongue block the key ingredient is getting the tongue out of the way, 
off to the side, to allow a small hole in the left or right corner of the 
mouth. It is not a precise movement. It's the side of the tongue that blocks 
the comb. Concentrating on getting that little hole in the corner of the 
mouth is the important thing. The tongue is just casually resting on the comb.

But keep in mind, tongue blocking was the original received way to play the 
Richter tuned harmonica and for many years -- 50, 75, 100? -- most 
harmonicas contained a small piece of paper explaining how to execute tongue 
blocking. 

That piece of paper is still available in the Hohner BluesBand harmonica** 
-- the one that comes in a cardboard box and is sold at Cracker Barrel for 
about $5.95 next to the cash register. 

It might be comforting to know that over the years only a few million 
people learned to tongue block the harmonica. 

**Other brands also include embouchure directions along with their 
harmonicas today.

Hope this helps.
Phil








In a message dated 9/7/10 6:23:41 PM, jdekker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:


> As a beginner, I pucker for everything, and find tongue blocking to be 
> very difficult. Is it true that the great Chicago blues tone can only come 
> from tongue blocking? I think I read that Little Walter and others tongue 
> blocked most of the time. Is anyone getting "that" tone while puckering?
>