articulating in tongue blocking
Sat, 11/25/2017 - 01:12
Hi,
When I want to repeat the same note in tongue blocking, I lock the air somewhere in my throat and release it.
I tried to do Ta-Ta-Ta or Ta-Ka-Ta-Ka but this doesn't fit well with tongue blocking.
What do you suggest for articulating on the same note in tongue blocking ?
Thanks
Bod
Mon, 11/27/2017 - 08:23
#2
Thank you Winslow, all great
Thank you Winslow, all great comments. In post war blues harmonica... the most common way to articulate a blow note is with the throat. You use the same area as you use for your tremolo, where your throat does a slight cough-like release of air (without grunting). For draw notes it is the K.
David may have another suggestion, but in addition to K and throat articulation, I use one that I call Tongued P.
You do this by closing off the opening bettwen the corner of your mouth (where upper and lower lips meet) and the edge of your tongue. If you're playing with the air passing through the right corner of your mouth, you'd use this motion to close the air passage there. (If you try this without a harmonica, it makes a sound that resembles "p.")
You can do this in either or both corners of your mouth.
The closer to the reed you cut off the motion of air, the crisper the articulation. In general - I find that the T articulation is still the crispest. But both will offer quicker articulation - less lag time - and brighter sound than throat articulation, which has a longer air travel from the articulation point to the reed.