Starting Bending
Wed, 07/08/2020 - 10:02
Hi David
I am starting to have a go at bending. So far the only holes that I can get to bend (after a fashion) are one and two. One came first and two is next. HarpNinja is really helpful and shows that I am getting the bent notes but they sound very rough and strained to my ear. It feels like hard work straining to draw to get the bend going and I am concerned that I may be approaching it in the wrong way. I have followed the lessons on bending and your great videos with Bob and Sharon but despite that the only bends I can get feel very forced.
Is it just a question of practicing or am I missing something? Sorry, this must be a silly question, as you can't see or hear me!
Any thoughts would be much appreciated.
Best wishes
Simon
Hello Simon.
You're correct that you should not feel excessive strain while bending. In the end, you'll be very relaxed while bending. At first though, you'll find yourself giving extra effort to find the bend... but not a lot. So... you are going down the wrong path in the regard.
It's good that you're getting movement out of your 1 and 2. This tells me that the back of your tongue is comfortable with the bending process (the back of the tongue is humping in the back of the mouth).
Where your focus needs to be is in focusing on your upward movement, not back. Work the "K" area of the mouth to get the tongue up (and that requires no force... if you say "K," you notice that it takes no effort... you want your bend to be like this... bending has to do with tuning your mouth, not forcing the air stream).
Also focus on humping up the middle of your tongue, in the middle of the mouth (for bends like the 3 and 4), and the front of the tongue, in the front of the mouth (for bends like the 5 and 6).
The She, Key, Koo exercise is helpful with this.
So, the focus... getting the tongue up to the roof of the mouth without tension, and practicing where you hump your tongue for the various bends.
Lastly... experiment, experiment, experiment... over time... with only slight tension at first. If the note doesn't bend, you're not humping the right part of the tongue and more experimenting is necessary.
Keep it up, you WILL get it Simon, you just don't know when... it's a process over time, and the universal feeling is that it takes a lot more time than one would think it should. Keep on the path, it will come to you.