Airy tone on draw notes
Hi David,
ok, so now I'm feeling like an absolute beginner again like I did for I don't know how many years when I first picked up a harp and puckered away. But I still haven't given up on this magical thing called tongue-blocking. Good for me I guess but my ego is hating it :-)
Here's my question: I find it much harder on the draw notes to keep a reasonable seal than on the blow notes and consequently those draw notes sound rather weak and airy. Another thing is when I play draw octaves (as an exercise) the lower note sounds much weaker than the high one especially on draw 2. My blow octaves sound just fine.
Do you have any suggestions on how to tackle this one?
Twiggy
Thanks David,
I'll keep that in mind while practising and be as relaxed as possible at the same time.
Twiggy
One other thing that's related to my first question: while playing holes 1 or 2 the airyness is even greater due to the fact that a lot of air is being wasted around the left side of the harp. Does this seal closes up over time through practise or can the individual mouth shape also help or hinder here?
This will get better with time, though you do need to change the shape of your mouth a bit for these holes... smaller.
no further message :-)
No problem, I'm here to help.
Hey Twiggy. It's always good to get back into the white belt mentality, I'm glad you're digging into tongue blocking.
What you state is very common. When you blow, things blow apart... your lips and tongue move away from each other, causing a larger cavity for the air to go through. When you draw, your lips and tongue want to collapse inward, squeezing the airstream, giving you an "airy" or bent tone, and in the case of hole 1, causing it to not sound as loudly.
This is fixed by opening your mouth slightly for the draw (very slightly) and adding a tad of rigidity to your embouchure to counteract the closure. Using a lighter touch on the face of the harmonica also helps (so this ensures the tongue is not closing off more than the holes we're looking for).
Within time your draw and blow embouchures will be the same, but for a while you'll need to focus on opening up a bit for your draw.