Tongue block bend problems
Sat, 12/26/2015 - 12:41
I've learnt how to tongue block to produce single notes and looked into bending. In all of the videos people talk about pulling the tongue back or away in order to open the air stream and produce the lower pitch. How can you tongue block for the one note if it is necessary to pull the tongue away to bend?
Hello Kalijae. The lesson that teaches this can be found here Bending Study 1 - Science & Technique (http://www.bluesharmonica.com/lessons/bending_study_level_1). In this you'll learn that it's not the tongue that moves back, but the constriction point that moves back, creating a larger and thus lower-tuned cavity that lowers the pitch of the reed. The wave-like motion of the tongue taught in the lesson is needed for tongue blockers, where pucker players can focus more on moving the tongue back. Even with this, the more advanced forms of pucker bending also focus on this wave-like motion, so there are more similarities in movement between the two embouchures the more one advances. Best wishes on this.