small mouth
I am having trouble with tongue switching on the 1 and 2 holes. I am under 5' tall and my dentist will testify that I have a very small mouth (the mouth of a child). I taught myself to tongue block a long time ago, and have no problem with the right side of my mouth. But the left corner of my mouth is getting sore, and it is difficut to cover all the holes I need to cover with my tongue. Is it common for people to do better on one side of their mouth?
I took lessons once before a long time ago, but my instructor used the pucker method, so I probably have a lot of habits that will be hard to break. I am practicing your way every day and getting frustrated, so think I will probably do most of the stuff the way I am used to doing it, until I can get a handle on the way you do things. The videos with your student are very helpful. Another thing my former instructor got frustrated with is my way of holding the harmonica. My hands are small so I cannot wrap my fingers around the harp the way he wanted me to. I always wished I could find a small person that could give me some tips. My goal is not to be a professional, but just to enjoy the journey. Thank you for the free lessons from Honner. Sometimes I use music as an activity where I work with the elderly in Memory care, so I don't need to be perfect. They forget every mistake I make right after I make it, but they always remember being entertained.
It's my pleasure to work with you.
The harmonica is small, so there should be no reason for this not to be the perfect instrument for you.
Holding is simple... your goal is to not hold so much that your hands prevent you from having a decent amount of the harmonica in your mouth and for the harmonica not to fall to the floor.
The next benefit is in shaping the sound, and it's not important to full encase the harmonica. Experiment with the two-thumbs-up approach I show you here http://www.bluesharmonica.com/lessons/cupping_hand_effects and I recommend you watch Joe Filisko's video titled "Insight #1 - Holding" here http://www.bluesharmonica.com/lessons/intro_lesson_1_18_harmonica_insights... find what works for you.
In regards to embouchure... it's not my way of teaching, it's just the common way blues harmonica players play. There is some benefit of having your lips over four holes while playing, but if it works better for you to be over three (blocking two to the left and playing the single hole on the right), that's fine, it's really not a big deal. Pucker for hole 1.
Best wishes on your studies and enjoy the journey.
P.S., reminder... if you're having trouble blocking enough holes with your tongue, use more of the top of the tongue, it's wider.
About holding the harp, I adopted a customized version largely based on the way Joe Filisko teaches in his videos on bluesharmonica.com (the one David refers you to). It's very ergonomic, and I neved had any problem with the cupping , for example to play a wah-wah sound.
Thanks Stef. I did find Joe Filsko's advice very helpful. I also continued to have problems getting sore at the corner of my mouth, and I also developed a sore inside of the bottom of my lip. I think I figured out the problem. I was using a cheap harp and I think I was having a reaction the metal in the harp. When I switched to a Hohner Golden Melody, the problem went away!
It's not that it's harder, it's just that you're not used to it.
You're speaking of hole switching for hole 1, yes? We don't commonly tongue switch for hole 2 and I don't teach that in the lessons. You keep your tongue to the left for playing holes 2 through 10, commonly only switching for the playing of hole 1.
With this said, it's not a bad thing to take your tongue off for hole, doing what's called a pucker. The difference in tone and context is small enough that it doesn't warrant losing sleep over... I commonly pucker for hole 1.
I'm not sure why playing hole 1 is a mouth size issue. Maybe you're doing Ex. 1 in Tongue Block Study 1? In this exercise your lips stay over 4 holes, so I assume you're speaking of this. If it is the case, then for your situation I recommend you have your lips over three holes as your common way of playing, only modifying to play over four holes when you need to play octaves (you'll learn those in Tongue Blocking Study 4). So... skip over Ex. 1.1 and do everything else.
Let me know if you have any questions.