[Harp-L] winter lip syndrome

[JON KIP <jonkip@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

in case anyone else has Winter Lip Syndrome, where  the lips, for whatever reason,  slide so ineffectively and unpredictably, that the mpc holes seem to be even more of a moving target than usual, and just spraying water on the mpc seems to be not The Answer....Dick Gardner sent me some advice, and I tweaked it a bit with really good results.

.... drag yourself past the local fairly-priced grocery store to what will surely be an overpriced  health food store..(Whole Foods, I'm talking about you) ...get some 100% vegetable glycerin (free range, organic, shade-grown, sustainably harvested) , used for sweetening things...put a small amount into an empty container of lip balm.... add a small layer of sponge, and some water....

dip a finger (one of the clean ones, if you have a choice) into the sponge, get a small bit of the glycerin water, apply very sparingly, as needed to either the mpc or the lips....

this kind of fixed things nicely for me... might help....and , after a week or so of using it, doesn't seem to make for a sticky instrument...

If you have WLS, and your health plan considers it a Pre-Existing Condition,  try this and like it, forget that bit about it coming from Dick, it's totally my own invention...... if you try it and hate it, It's dick's suggestion.

DIck added "use only a small amount, or you'll end up sliding an octave above where you were aiming...."

 If it fails totally, the glycerin is a fine sweetener for things that need sweetening...gin, whatever, I suppose.

If you somehow have "health" reasons for not doing this, please don't tell me... thanks

happy thanksgiving


jk