Re: [Harp-L] Three Standard Embouchures

[Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>]

I have to agree with Michael on this.

U-blocking uses a curled tongue to create an air trough, By applying the tip of the curled tongue to the face of the harmonica, you can isolate a single note and move the tongue laterally to isolate different holes, all of which are in the player's mouth and accessible to the air stream.

This definition of U-blocking (with some variations) is the standard one and has been for as long as I have been familiar with the term. Well-known U-blockers include Norton Buffalo, Leo Diamond, and Cara Cooke.

Tongue blocking refers to placing the tongue on the harmonica so that air flows either to the right of the tongue, to the left, or both. Several tongue blocking techniques additionally involve moving the tongue laterally on the holes, on and off the holes, or varying the number of holes blocked while the tongue is engaged.

Playing using the lips - and not the tongue - to select the hole(s) being played has several names. The most common that I know of are puckering (my habitual term), lip pursing, and lip blocking (which seems to be a back-formation from the term tongue blocking). 

Some who insist on a distinct identity (and preference) for lip blocking consider "pucker" to be a pejorative term for closing the lips too tightly to allow free flow of air or insertion of the harmonica into the mouth sufficiently to make a full sound. They may also describe forming a trough with the lower lips and tilting the back of the harp up so that the holes are angled down into the lower lip trough.

In my instructional writing I've taken to simply discussing playing with your tongue on the harp and with your tongue off the harp. In my own playing I move fluidly among various embouchures, according to what's needed to deliver the music.
 
Winslow Yerxa
President, SPAH, the Society for the Preservation and Advancement of the Harmonica
Producer, the Harmonica Collective
Author, Harmonica For Dummies, ISBN 978-0-470-33729-5
            Harmonica Basics For Dummies, ASIN B005KIYPFS
            Blues Harmonica For Dummies, ISBN 978-1-1182-5269-7
Resident Expert, bluesharmonica.com
Instructor, Jazzschool Community Music School


________________________________
 From: Michael Rubin <michaelrubinharmonica@xxxxxxxxx>
To: Joseph Leone <3n037@xxxxxxxxxxx> 
Cc: Harp L Harp L <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>; Harmonicology [Neil Ashby] <harmonicology@xxxxxxxxxxxx> 
Sent: Friday, August 22, 2014 8:41 AM
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Three Standard Embouchures
 

I disagree.  Lip block and pucker are synonyms, they are doing the same
thing slightly differently, imo.  The third embouchure is U blocking.
Michael Rubin
michaelrubinharmonica.com





On Fri, Aug 22, 2014 at 10:27 AM, Joseph Leone <3n037@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>
> On Aug 22, 2014, at 11:18 AM, Harmonicology [Neil Ashby] wrote:
>
> > This issue is often problematic, but perhaps SPAH could standardize some
> harmonica vernacular (even though 'comping' seems to have been rejected).
> >
> > There are three standard embouchures for use with the harmonica:
> >
> > (1) "Lip-Block" with the harmonica held at the upward angle (back to
> front) sufficient to primarily use the lower-lip for blocking holes to the
> side; the standard embouchure for bending on the Diatonic harmonica.
>
> Standard?
> >
> > (2) "Pucker" with the harmonica held nearer to level (back to front)
> than with the "Lip-Block" and often used for trilling and overbends and
> other special effects.
>
> Like that can't be done with TB?
> joe 'sierra' Leone
> >
> > (3) "Tongue-Block" used generally with the Chromatic harmonica _or_ with
> the Diatonic harmonica specifically for corner-playing and octaves and
> various intervals and slaps and other special effects.
> >
> > /Neil (" https://www.facebook.com/people/Neil-Ashby-II/100004575466934
> ")
> >
>
>
>