Attacking blow notes

Hi David,

I saw on one of Jon Gindick's beginner youtube videos, he recommends using a 'k' articulation (like 'kya') for draw notes, because it really opens up your airway and raises your soft pallette, which is good news for tone on those draw notes. In your lessons, I saw that you also used 'kya' but 'kya' is more for dips, and you recommend starting with 'ga' for straight notes, which achieves the same raising of the soft palette.

I was just wondering, is that a good idea to apply to blow notes as well? Because the impression I'm getting from various videos is that 'k' (or 'g') are recommended for draws, but when it comes to blows, it seems most of the talk is about the 'fog up the mirror' idea instead. But would I be right in saying that the 'fog up the mirror' is more focussed on getting a good sounding held note ('sustain'), and that it isn't trying to tell you how to start off playing the note ('attack')?

If I focus on 'fog up the mirror' only, then my airway does open up, but it takes some time to go from fully closed to fully open, so on average it just sounds more thin. Using something like tongue slaps helps, but we don't always want to do that. It seems there is nothing stopping you from using both: attack with some degree of 'ga' to open the airway, sustain the openness by 'fogging up the mirror', and optionally another techinique like dip or slap.

So back to my original question, are the 'k' and 'g' articulations usually recommended for blows as well, or do you have some other tip for blowing?