RE: [Harp-L] How to play nice and clean upper notes ?

[daledut <daledut@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

It sounds to me like you are choking of the reed somewhat. This is because of to much force. What I do is drop my jaw as much as possible and tilt the harmonica back. ÂNow relax and breath rather than stucking like on a straw.Â
To get the feel of what the air stream should feel like inhale through 3 or 4 holes at once.Â
It takes some practice but just remember to breath through the harp rather than sucking and blowing.Â
Dale



Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE smartphone

-------- Original message --------
From: SÃbastien FrÃmal <sebastien.fremal@xxxxxxxxx> 
Date:12/02/2013  4:03 PM  (GMT-05:00) 
To: Harp-l <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx> 
Subject: [Harp-L] How to play nice and clean upper notes ? 

Hello,

I'm a young pucker player and since the beginning, I've got problems to
play clean upper notes (particularly the draw notes). There often are
noises similar to gratings (like if the harmonica was dying). Recently, I
discovered than this noise disappears if I play these notes with the tip of
my tongue on my second molar. It's not an easy way to play ...

I was wondering if other harmonicists got the same problem, knew what
causes the distortion (I guess there is a slight bending which distorts the
note) and, please, got some advises to avoid this annoying problem.

Thanks,

Sebastien