Posted Mon, 12/15/2014 - 09:41 by David Barrett Admin
For those that read the paper and watched the footage (http://youtu.be/I5kogDrivvQ) of me bending on the harmonica in the MRI last week, here's the story (four part video series) of the bending study with Peter Egbert MD http://youtu.be/I5ZjNUWnhgk
Posted Thu, 12/11/2014 - 08:47 by David Barrett Admin
If you would like to see actual images of the tongue in the bending process (draw and blow bending, with both tongue block and pucker embouchures), read my paper on the bending process with visualizations from the MRI Bending Study I did at Stanford University with Peter R. Egbert, Lewis K. Shin, Thomas D. Rossing and Andrew Holbrook. Bending Process on the 10-Hole Diatonic Harmonica with the Visual Aid of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) by David Barrett https://www.bluesharmonica.com/sites/bluesharmonica.com/files/mri_bendin...
Posted Tue, 11/25/2014 - 09:27 by David Barrett Admin
Here's a little known fact...
If you play 2 draw and 5 draw at the same time (blocking holes 3 and 4 with your tongue... a standard octave embouchure size) you get G on the bottom (2 draw) and F on the top (5 draw). This creates a great bluesy dissonance that's used often by players.
You probably already knew this, BUT, did you know you can bend the 2 draw G down to F, without affecting the 5 draw F, creating an F octave? continue reading...
Posted Thu, 11/20/2014 - 08:40 by David Barrett Admin
I didn't know our accordion brother (also a reed instrument, commonly made in the same factory as the harmonica) can bend notes as well. Take a listen to this interesting NPR interview... the portion on note bending is at 5:52.
Posted Wed, 11/12/2014 - 09:39 by David Barrett Admin
In regards to the 10+ bend... If your tongue moves forward in your mouth, the 10+ bend will start in the fully-bent position (10"+... 10 blow whole step bend)... in this case the Bb. This is due to the fact that your mouth is starting from a low tuning, and as your tongue moves forward the tuning of your chamber raises in pitch until you reach the pitch of the 10"+, and the bend sounds. In order to hear a slide from 10+ (C) to 10'+ (B) and ultimately 10"+ (Bb), you need to start with your tongue forward, tuning your mouth HIGHER in pitch that the bend. continue reading...
Posted Tue, 11/11/2014 - 08:31 by David Barrett Admin
As I spoke of yesterday, your focus is to use the front of your tongue, far forward in your mouth... this creates the small chamber needed to tune your mouth to the blow bend you wish to produce. It's common to hear someone describing their bending process that their tongue moves forward to produce the blow bend. This is consistent with us wanting to create the small chamber, and this will work for holes 8 and 9 blow bends, but not for the 10. Chew on this for a bit... continue reading...
Posted Mon, 11/10/2014 - 07:21 by David Barrett Admin
I helped a lot of students with their blow bends at the Harmonica Masters Workshops and in ever case the student needed to have a much smaller, more frontal chamber in their mouth to produce the bend and control it. Remember back to Bending Study 1 on the site... we're tuning our mouth cavity to the pitch that we're trying to create on the harmonica for a particular bend. Blow bends are very high notes, so when raising your tongue for the bending process it's the very front of the tongue, forward in the mouth, to create the tiny chamber needed to match that very high pitch.
Posted Mon, 08/04/2014 - 09:24 by David Barrett Admin
Last week I spoke of how the middle and back of your tongue is to be lowered to achieve good tone. If you've been reading the forum posts on BluesHarmonica.com you've probably noticed a theme... when students are having issues with notes sounding airy, flat, not at all or squealing... my answer to them is that their tongue is located in a place in their mouth that's offending that reed (commonly trying to bend the note). The fix is to make sure the middle and back of their tongue is lowered. continue reading...
Posted Mon, 07/21/2014 - 07:38 by David Barrett Admin
A student asked in the forum this morning how to achieve good tone while bending. I thought I would share my answer with you, it's a common question. continue reading...
Posted Mon, 07/14/2014 - 07:46 by David Barrett Admin
The root of the tongue and pharynx walls are what move in the vibrato process. The tongue needs to be in a relaxed state as to allow the tremolo action of the throat (vocal folds) to move the tongue sympathetically... this is why it's important not to use tension in the bending process as one advances in their skills. continue reading...