Re: [Harp-L] Problems with tongue articulation

[Michelle LeFree <mlefree@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Michael Rubin wrote:

> <major clippage>
>
> Suggestions for the blow notes:
>
> 1.  Use as small an opening as you can.  Kiss the harp like a canary.
> 2. Keep your cheeks stiff.
> 3.  Learn to U block.  In my opinion, it solves almost all high note
> issues.  Do not worry if you cannot curl your tongue like a U.  Put the tip
> of your tongue centered underneath the hole on the bottom cover plate.  As
> you bend, roll your top front of your tongue to be pushed against the hole,
> blocking more than half of the hole.  To tongue articulate, you the top of
> your tongue, not the tip.  You will not be able to do super fast trumpet
> like triplets ala Magic Dick.
> 4.  Practice on low pitch harps, like a G harp.

Wow, Michael, what a concise yet complete little treatise you served up 
here! Your skill at teaching people to play our favorite instrument is 
readily apparent even to the casual observer. Kudos!

Only one thing I might expand on -- your advice regarding rapid tongue 
articulation. U-blocking is a bit of a conundrum for me. I couldn't 
agree more about the delicacy with which a player can manipulate those 
pesky upper register blow bends using the u-block embouchure. But as you 
say, doing so is a limitation when it comes to rapid, staccato 
articulation. And for me, the upper register is the most exciting in 
which to do just that. The moral of the story for me is that a player 
must have all the embouchures at her/his disposal, and to be ready and 
able to switch back and forth between them seamlessly.

So, for a high blow bend, I definitely agree: u-block is the way to go. 
But if a rapid, staccato delivery is needed up there, lip-blocking is 
clearly superior to either u- or tongue-blocking. Why, one might ask? 
Because for those precise machine-gun articulations you use double- and 
triple-tonguing exactly like a trumpet player (or an old tuba player 
like me).

And for completeness, one might further ask, what are double- and 
triple-tonguing? Double tonguing is when you articulate the consonants 
ta-ka ta-ka ta-ka. With triple tonguing you articulate the consonants 
ta-ka-ta ta-ka-ta ta-ka-ta. These consonants can't be articulated 
without the tip of the tongue, thereby ruling out embouchures that do 
not permit that (so far as I know anyway, unless you happen to have an 
extraordinarily gymnastic tongue). As a postscript, one can achieve 
amazingly fast runs of double- or triple-tonguing if you practice with a 
metronome.

But what do I know? Michael Rubin is da Perfessor!

Thanks,

Michelle