David's Tip of the Day: Fruit as Reference - Volume of the Mouth

It is the size (volume) of the tonal chamber in your mouth that creates the pitch that the reed responds to for a bend. Reminder... the higher the bend (e.g., 6 draw bend) the further forward your bend is controlled in the mouth, using more of the front of the tongue... the lower the bend (e.g., 2 draw bend) the further back your bend is controlled in the mouth, using more of the back of the tongue.

With this in mind, the analogy of using different sizes of fruit in regards to the size of the tonal chamber created in a bend can be helpful. Keep in mind that the fruit must always touch the back of your front teeth (in other words, the tonal chamber size always starts in front of your mouth, with the rear of the chamber being defined by the size of the fruit, and thus what part of the tongue is humped up. In other-other words, you wouldn't have the fruit in the back of your mouth, with the front of the tongue humped up).

Using an A Harmonica as reference. Chamber size for these bends are similar to...

6' = Blueberry
5' = Grape
4' = Strawberry
3" = Date
2" = Plum
1' = Peach

Try some bends... see what chamber size you come up with...