Tongue block 2 draw full bend tips?
Thank you so much for a great course, I am very much enjoying it. I know variations of this question have been asked a bunch before, but mine is a little specific.
I've been working over the past month on my bends with tongue block (A harmonica, Lee Oskar) and I can get all of them except for the 2 full bend. I can get a strong 2 full bend with a pucker, but not TB.
Here's the rub, I can feel how deep the back of my tongue gets when I pucker a -2", and I feel like i can't physically get my tongue base that deep with a tongue block b/c the front of the tongue is on the comb.
Other than growing a longer tongue, are there any tips on how I can try to get that mouth resonance deeper if my tongue can't go down further?
Hello djma12.
Thank you for the useful tips Rob... all good ideas.
The one thing to keep in mind is that the tongue already inhabits the entire range of the mouth... from the very front (tip) to root (way beyond the spot needed for the 2"). Most likely what's happing is that you're humping the middle-back and trying to stretch the tongue further back (which it can't do without taking the tongue off of the face of the harmonica).
The focus is in becoming familiar with the root of your tongue, which is further back than "K" spot. Place your tongue on the face of the harmonica and practice raising the root of your tongue, which will raise the very back of the tongue behind your molars, almost to the soft palette.
Do keep in mind that the 2" takes very little movement (more than 50% of brand new students accidentally bend to the 2" when trying to just play a clean 2 draw). So, as you're working this, it's not about squeezing aggressively, using lots of muscle (in the face and tongue), it's about training the tongue to raise that far back.
Lastly... reps... time... reps... time... etc. You'll get it, you just don't when (but it's certainly more time than you would think).
Thank you so much David and Rob -- great suggestions!
I was starting to think that I physiologically could not hit the TB -2" so having the reassurance is encouraging. I'll focus on dropping the jaw and the root of the tongue and keep at it.
~Dan
djma12:
I know David will have a comprehensive and practical answer, but in the meantime your question for him got me to pull out a set of harps and focus on what I do, full-step bending, tongue-blocked, on the 2 draw on a D harp down through a LowF. (Everyone is different, so this might not be your experience at all. But just in case ...)
On the higher-pitched harps it's easy to find that note by just dropping the back of the tongue further back in my mouth. But about the time I put the Bb harp in my mouth - and then from the A harp on down - the one thing I was doing differently was dropping my jaw. And litterally feeling that I was dropping the jaw directly down from the joint, not from the front teeth. It opens up a lot of space in the back of my mouth without pulling the tongue back any more. In other words, I'm creating more resonating space with my jaw, not my tongue.
If you haven't watched David's lesson, watched the videos, and read the paper, at his lesson https://www.bluesharmonica.com/lessons/bending_study_level_1 (where he worled with a physician at Stanford to use an all-plastic harp set up by Kinya Pollard - so it wouldn't burn him up while playing in an MRI machine), it will literally blow your mind. At least about what actually happens in one's body when bending notes.
Once David responds and you do some work on his suggestions post again here so that all of us can pick up some new ideas from you. Thanks!
Ukulele Rob plays Hohner™ harmonicas customized by Kinya Pollard, The HarpSmith™