Re: Fw: [Harp-L] Three Standard Embouchures

[Larry Marks <larry.marks@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I beg to differ with what has been written so far on this subject. From 
the discussion, the way I play is either impossible or just doesn't 
exist. I do not recognize it in any of the descriptions I have seen in 
this discussion.

What I use (and I know there are others on this list who do as well) is 
a form of tongue blocking I call center blocking.

I use tongue blocking with the air flowing down the center of my tongue. 
This is NOT U blocking. My tongue is not curled into a U shape. It is, 
in fact, perfectly flat and completely relaxed.

The tongue exhibits bilateral symmetry. In the middle is the dividing 
line between the two halves. That line is a depression so that if you 
place the tip of the tongue under the instrument air will flow down that 
line. Relaxing the tongue causes it to fill in and block the holes on 
either side of the one that receives the air that flows down the line. 
Of course, if I want to play a note at either end of the instrument or 
do a split, what I play fits the definition of tongue blocking that 
Winslow wrote.

Using this center tongue blocking technique, I can play any music I 
desire. That includes blues, bluegrass, jazz, J. P. Sousa marches, etc.

I can do overbends (isn't reverse bend a better terminology?), valved 
bends and any other bends I want. I can hit bent notes on the head and 
not slide into them (unless I intend to.)

I can do staccato and legato tonguing, and all sorts of rapid, complex 
tonguing patterns (such as the ones I use when I play the trombone.) I 
do not slide from one hole to the next. I always employ tonguing so that 
what I play sounds clean - like notes rather than a series of mouth-farts.

And I am damned good at what I do.

To me, center blocking is a form of tongue blocking. It is what I play 
and what I teach. For completeness, I offer the following list of 
limitations I have encountered using this technique:

  -LM