Light touch with the tongue on the face of the harmonica tongue blocking

A quick reminder as to the value of the TBT in the learning process. I commonly hear from students after using the TBT to dial in a technique that wasn't happening on the harmonica, "Wow, it makes it easy when you can see what your tongue is doing."

To Purchase:
http://www.filiskostore.com/page/480389598

Lessons on how to use the TBT:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNNt5HIiN88

Like to save a $. Joe Filisko shares in the Spring 1998 Harmonica Happenings how to make your own Tongue Block Trainer using a 2 gallon milk container.

Tongue Blocking by Joe Filisko - Harmonica Happenings (Spring 1998, pg 12)
http://www.filiskostore.com/files/1900363/uploaded/Tongue%20Block%20Trai...

When I describe the pull technique in Tongue Block Study 2, I state to stick your tongue out slightly to cover the entire face of the harmonica... this creates what Joe Filisko calls a "Full Block," a position where nothing is open and no reeds/notes are sounding. The tongue then release off of the face of the harmonica to create the pull technique (the chord sounds). continue reading...

If when performing the pull (taught in Tongue Block Study 3) you hear a secondary sound, immediately after performing the pull, then you're adding an extra, unneeded articulation.

You're either using the "K" articulation immediately after the pull or closing and quickly opening the glottis (sometimes referred to as a "glottal stop") immediately after the pull. Both actions are not needed and creates a slightly strange "chicken cluck" sound. continue reading...

Now use your teeth as reference for all of your bends. For example, when I perform the 3" on my A Harmonica, if I raise my tongue slightly to see where it is relative to my teeth, I find that the back wings of my tongue will touch my third molar on each side of my upper set of teeth. Take a moment and experiment with finding your tongue location relative to your upper set of teeth.

There are times where we block only one hole with our tongue and times where we block up to five holes with our tongue. Simply stated, the smaller the blockage, focus on more of the front-top of the tongue (which is more narrow) and the larger the blockage, focus on using more of the back-top of the tongue. When playing a 2/4 split, use the tip of the tongue (and a light touch) to block hole 3. For the 1/4 split use the blade of the tongue (on top, behind the tip). For the single 4 draw, use the top of the tongue to block holes 1 through 3. continue reading...

When placing your tongue on the face of the harmonica for the tongue block embouchure, use the tip-top of the tongue (the top of the tongue just past the tip). Since your tongue is commonly blocking the holes to the left (except for hole 1, where your tongue is at the right), you do use a a slight amount of the right side of the tongue, but not much... it's still mostly the tip-top (if you feel like you're using only the side of the tongue you'll need to adjust this). continue reading...