touble with 8
Hi,
I've had a harmonica for many years now. I can make melody, though not very appealling over all. Recently, I've had more time to delve into harp lessons. Truthfully I'm quite inept when it comes to music. So, I've started at the beginning with several different harp lessons, including harmonica for dummies. Right now, I'm at the point in my studies where I'm "floating in the high register". I've tended to avoid the high register up til now. The problem I'm having is with hole "8". The same pressure i apply to hole 7 and 9 either causes hole 8 to overblow on the blow or squelch out on the draw. Any help on getting this note to play more smooth would be greatly appreciated. I can blow (or draw) sharp and short and get the proper tones, but I can't seem to play it (ie: incorporate it into melodies) as well as i hear you doing.
Interesting that you describe squirting air out of your mouth. This indicates shallow breathing that can have some of the effects you're experiencing.
My general advice is to open up the path from the harmonica to the bottom of your lungs so that air can flow freely with no obstruction or drag.
If you do this sucecssfully, you can use the same mouth shape for all unbent notes.
- Start by yawning. Notice how your throat opens way up to let in as much oxygen as possible. Keep your throat open like this while you play.
- Let your tongue lie like a rug on the floor of you mouth. Keep it out of the way of the moving air.
- Breathe gently and deeply. Breathe in slowly and take in as much air as possible. Notice how your ribcage expands, and then your abdomen. When you exhale, leave your ribcage expanded and breathe from your abomen - that gets all the air moving.
- Place the palm of your hand in front of your mouth and exhale gently on it. Feel the warmth? Breathe deeply and gently so that your feel the warmth but not the wind.
- Listen to the sound of your breathing. If you can hear the air moving as you breathe gently, you're obstructing the airflow. Open up your throat and let your tongue fall out of the way.
Study Chapter 6 in Harmonica For Dummies for more depth on this.
Thank you for your reply.
I'm afraid I might have picked up some bad habits or technique with the years of tinkering with my harp, with no formal training of any kind. Unlearning this will probably be difficult. The squirting I mentioned before is a deliberate effort to get the proper tone. When I inhale the note, unlike holes 7 and 9, hole 8 just seems as if the reed is so very tight, and, on exhale, the same reed I imagine seems too easy (overblow). I do have several harps and it seems a standard issue with me, though, the lower the key (the longer reed) the more compliant hole 8 seems to be. To be honest, i have a similar issue with hole 3, but the longer reed (i'm guessing) makes it somewhat less of an issue. If it helps to understand my embouchure (<-big new words). Bending the lower and mid register comes quite natural and has from the beginning (not that i can play).
Little Boy Blew, I had the same problem with 8 draw, then I remembered that David said that all good and evil is caused by the tongue. I played around with tongue position and found that if I dropped my tongue to the bottom of my mouth, the 8 draw worked fine. Kevin
Thanks guys,
Off to practice, practice,......and practice some more
I think this needs elaboration. First of all, I dont expect to be able to play as well as Mr. Yerxa at this point, if ever. Secondly, hole 8 seems to require a drastic reshaping of my mouth cavity and a different air pressure/volume from all other holes. I can get the proper tone from 8 by sqirting air out of my mouth or drawing sharp and short into my mouth, but, I can breathe in and out the notes on the other holes including those in the upper register. I have other harps and this is not a reed problem. I understand that practice, practice, practice, is the theme for learning, but any tips here are quite welcome.