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

[Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>]

Again, I agree with Michael.

Others use the technique Larry described, and they called their embouchure U-blocking. John Thaden comes to mind, a past contributor to harp-l. John was also careful to note that the tongue was not curled into a strongly defined U, but rather gently creased down the middle.

Looking back on what I wrote the other day, I wasn't as careful as I had intended to be in describing U-blocking so as to include the tongue shaping that Larry and John both describe.


Winslow

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: Larry Marks <larry.marks@xxxxxxxxxxxx> 
Cc: Harp-l Harp-l <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx> 
Sent: 
Subject: Re: Fw: [Harp-L] Three Standard Embouchures
 

Larry,
When I U block I use the method you are describing, to me it falls under
the U block category.  I find it very useful for many things, but I like
puckering and TBing as well.
Michael Rubin
michaelrubinharmonica.com





On Sun, Aug 24, 2014 at 2:31 AM, Larry Marks <larry.marks@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

> 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
>