Saliva and "Sonny's Bird"
Hello, when I play the whole "Sonny's Bird" without pause, I have problems with saliva.
In the very beginning of playing harmonica, I had too much saliva, but that disappeared rather quickly, I guess my tongue got used to a new contact and reacted less. It had never bothered me since, until now.
All study pieces have some rests during which I can swallow. But Sonny's Bird is long and with no pauses, and saliva becomes a challenge for me.
When trying to rush the swallowing, I take in mostly air, then I have also "burping" problems... The best I found so far is to mute some beats around some V-IV measures to swallow instead.
Is there some technique for swallowing in such conditions? or to produce less saliva?
I'm not actually reading the sheet music. I do tend to tilt my head a bit downwards, juste because it eases some tension on my shoulders (I tend to raise my shoulder too much when holding the harmonica). I have tried a more upright position, it did not change much, but I will keep testing that.
My problem is not saliva cluttering the harmonica, it is rather saliva accumulating in my throat, and I have to swallow. I suspect I should not let it accumulate, but I didn't find how to "swallow lightly" efficiently to prevent that. Should a more upright position solve saliva production, too?
Okay, thank you for the clarification ÉricD. Yes, head-up is helpful for this too (this is the primary fix). A light touch with your tongue on the face of the harmonica tends to help too. Lastly, reps... over time your body learns that we're not going to eat the harmonica and saliva is not needed to help the digestion process.
Hello ÉricD. Are you reading the sheet music on your laptop while playing? When I'm working on this song with my private students and play the song all the way through for them, I notice I have saliva issues as well and then realize that I'm looking at my laptop screen, which causes me to tilt my head downwards slightly. The fix is not read the sheet music, or get a couple of books to raise my laptop, or print the music and place it on my music stand. Just a slight amount of downward tilt of the head can cause saliva to drool downwards into the harmonica. Is this the case for you?