Tongue position for puckering
Hi David,
I'm new here and I know the lessons focus mainly on tongue blocking, but I hope it's ok to ask a question about puckering as well (as right now I am trying to learn both). :D
I keep wondering what to do with my tongue when puckering. I've heard many people advise keeping the back of the tongue low for unbent notes so as not to obstruct the airflow.
However, I noticed that when I bend 2 draw, for example, and then release the bend, my tongue often ends up in a position that is very close to the bending position, with the tongue still raised in the back and in a slight U-shape, even though I am playing an unbent note.
The resulting note is actually quite resonant and from there it is very easy to initiate the bend again, so I keep wondering if this should be my default tongue position for approaching single notes when puckering instead of keeping the back of my tongue low.
That being said, however, I also noticed that this approach doesn't work very well for me for the higher notes on a C harmonica. So now I am totally confused, and it would be awesome if you could help me out. :)
Hope this didn't get too long... Thank you so much for your time!
Reinhard
Awesome, thank you so much for your answer, that really clears everything up for me, and my confusion regarding this issue had been really bothering me for a long time now. It somehow seemed to be less of a problem for me when tongue blocking as my tongue can't move around in my mouth as freely when doing so. :D
I'll start practicing the way you suggested immediately. Thanks again!
Hello Reinhard. Great question, and the answer is the same for both puckering and tongue blocking.
Your tongue should be in a position where your mouth is tuned to the reed that you are playing. Your example of the 2 draw is perfect. To find this position for each reed, move into a bend and then slowly raise the pitch of the bend until you hit the natural sounding pitch of that reed--that's your position for that reed. This will give you the best tone (being larger than this will not give you better tone) and will allow you to move in and out of bends very quickly.
For the higher notes of the C Harmonica, you probably need to experiment with making your entire mout cavity smaller (don't lower your jaw).