tongue block technique - Harmonica and mouthorgan
tongue block technique - Harmonica and mouthorgan
Tongue Block
This article is taken form http://www.angelfire.com/music/HarpOn/
- Typically instructions on tongue blocking I have come across in harmonica pamphlets and some instruction books are generally vague and simply say cover four holes with your mouth and block the three left most holes with your tongue, accomapanied with a simple diagram showing this.
- A number of notable professional chromatic harmonica players cover only three holes (or sometimes only two holes) with their mouth while blocking the left most hole(s) with the front of their tongue.
- The position of the tip of the tongue and exactly where it sits on the mouthpiece varies depending on who you talk too:
- Richard Martin explains "...the tip of the tongue just touch[es the left side of] the lower hole with part of the tongue extending to the next lower hole.".
IE. The tip of the tongue is gently placed on the left side of the middle hole (just to the left of the hole being played) and the front of the tongue completes the seal over the two blocked holes.
I have been informed that this technique is used by Tommy Reilly, Tommy Morgan and Cham-Ber Huang.
On this technique Richard has published further clarification for beginners: Where holes 3, 4 & 5 are the three holes covered by the mouth and the single note played through hole 5:
Courtesy of Richard Martin, Editor of The Harmonica Educator. - Another professional approach explained to me is to achieve an almost symmetrical configuration with the tongue block, keeping the tip of the tongue centered.
So with a three hole embouchure you would place the extreme tip of the tongue on or slightly to the left of the bar seperating the left two holes being blocked.
- Richard Martin explains "...the tip of the tongue just touch[es the left side of] the lower hole with part of the tongue extending to the next lower hole.".
There are a couple of traps with using tongue block.
- When playing on the left most holes on a harp with right TB or on the right most holes with left TB, you don't need to change much in the way that you maintain your embouchure, you will find when playing second & third left/right most holes your tongue will be mostly on the metal of course, and when playing the end hole you will find for the most part you don't need your tongue in place and you may even need to reduce your embouchure to avoid the edge of the mouthpiece.
It is best to simply avoid this by changing to the opposite tongue block when approaching one side of the harp or the other. Failing this then keep your tongue in place so that you avoid having to reposition it when you shift back towards the middle of the harp. - When shifting from hole to hole you want to avoid dragging your lips on the mouthpiece or covers and scraping your tongue along the hole edges. This is part of why you need to maintain a relaxed attitude to your embouchure and keep your tongue relaxed, it means that little effort is required to shift from hole to hole because you don't need to let off your embouchure as much to move about the harp. Again a moist mouthpiece allows your tongue and lips slide better along the harp.
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