David's Tip of the Day: Good Tone - Part 5 (Contious Mouth Cavity Tuning)

For those of you that haven't had the years of experience bending, to have the mouth cavity naturally tuned to each reed you play, let's give you an idea of what this feels like.

Grab any harmonica and bend the reed that's the most comfortable for you. Do this a couple times, focusing on the location of your tongue and jaw. Start bent and slowly allow your bend to slide up in pitch until you reach the exact point where the note is sounding at its originally-intended pitch. You are now tuned to that reed.

Take the harmonica away and move your mouth around to reset your embouchure.

Now... reproduce that embouchure, taking care to have your mouth, tongue and jaw in the same position as you just left it. If you're successful, your mouth is tuned to that reed. How do you test this? With the slightest bending motion that reed will begin to bend.

Give this a try and we'll continue our discussion tomorrow.