[Harp-L] Original Reason for Tongue-Blocking

[Harmonicology [Neil Ashby]]

There has been much long discussion pertaining to Tongue-Blocking versus Lip-Blocking (and Puckering) for the diatonic harmonica.

Tongue-Blocking on the diatonic harmonica is quite useful for Octaves and a few other combinations of separated notes BUT the original reason for Tongue-Blocking seems to be that the old Chromatic harmonica was too _thick_ for Lip-Blocking (or Puckering); that large block of wood simply inhibited any other method of operation.

Comments?

/Neil (" http://thebuskingproject.com/busker/2025/ ")

[Larry Sandy]

Neil,

Was the large block of wood any thicker than, say, a 364? I use both methods on all my harmonicas, including several 364's and the narrower 365's. They work slightly different than thinner combs/covers but once one gets used to them there isn't much noticable difference. I don't have a bass nor two foot long axe so I am not including them in this discussion. Perhaps someone who uses them can chime in?

Lockjaw Larry
Breathing Music daily


--------------------------------------------
On Thu, 8/14/14, Harmonicology [Neil Ashby] <harmon...@hushmail.com> wrote:

Subject: [Harp-L] Original Reason for Tongue-Blocking
To: "harp-l" <har...@harp-l.org>
Date: Thursday, August 14, 2014, 12:42 PM

[The Iceman]

perhaps TB was in the mind of the creator of diatonic harmonicas in Germany...made to play melody and accompaniment for pop tunes of this era.

my thoughts are that chromatics came later.

[Winslow Yerxa]

Tongue blocking is what the diatonic harmonica was designed for, long before the chromatic harmonica appeared.

Splits (notes separated by one or more intervening holes, played by blocking those holes with the tongue) are far from the only reason to tongue block.

The original reason for tongue blocking was to make it easy to isolate the small holes on diatonic and tremolo harmonicas. However, the technique has proved versatile, allowing for several enhancement to playing:

RHYTHMIC CHORDING

The chordal design of the note layout facilitates alternating between a single melody note with the tongue on the harp and a chord with the tongue removed. Rhythmic accompaniment of melody using chords allows the harmonica to self-accompany in solo performance.

ARTICULATION

Tongue slaps used as a chordal way to attack single notes is widely used to enlarge the perceived sound of the harmonica and add texture to note attacks. Its opposite, pull-offs, allow for a strong attack on inhaled chords by temporarily blocking all the holes, creating suction that is released with a strong attack to the following chord when the tongue is lifted.

TEXTURES

By moving the tongue from side to side or on and off the holes while playing a chord, a player can produce several chordal effects, variously known as rakes, shimmers, hammers, flutters, etc.

WIDE LEAPS

By rapidly moving between notes played in the right corner of the mouth and the left corner by shifting the tongue slightly, a cplayer can make wide leaps cleanly and accurately.

WInslow

Winslow Yerxa
President, SPAH, the Society for the Preservation and Advancement of the Harmonica
Producer, the Harmonica Collective
Author, Harmonica For Dummies, ISBN 978-0-470-33729-5
            Harmonica Basics For Dummies, ASIN B005KIYPFS
            Blues Harmonica For Dummies, ISBN 978-1-1182-5269-7
Resident Expert, bluesharmonica.com
Instructor, Jazzschool Community Music School


________________________________
From: Harmonicology [Neil Ashby] <harmon...@hushmail.com>
To: harp-l <har...@harp-l.org>
Sent: Thursday, August 14, 2014 9:42 AM

Subject: [Harp-L] Original Reason for Tongue-Blocking

[Vern]

On Aug 14, 2014, at 9:56 AM, Larry Sandy <sly...@yahoo.com> wrote:

> ----------------------
> On Thu, 8/14/14, Harmonicology [Neil Ashby] <harmon...@hushmail.com> wrote:
>
>

> …... the original reason for Tongue-Blocking seems to be that

> the old Chromatic harmonica was too _thick_ for Lip-Blocking
> (or Puckering); that large block of wood simply inhibited
> any other method of operation.
>
> Comments?
>

> Here is a case where two people can look at the same data and draw opposite conclusions.

Because it requires you to put the harp in your mouth, TB becomes more difficult as the harp gets thicker. I cannot imagine anyone using TB on a big, thick bass harmonica. With pucker, you make a nozzle of your lips that can be placed against the front of the thickest harp.

Pucker results in tense cheeks. With TB the cheeks can be more relaxed and form a variable-volume air chamber that can serve as a pressure regulator and soften the attack part of notes. I find that very high and very low notes respond better to TB. Use of TB for double-stopping and tongue-switching has already been mentioned. Bonfiglio recommends frequent and routine tongue switches. His annotated Bona exercises indicate the side of the mouth to be used for every note. To play like him, you need equal facility with both sides of your mouth.

Bending may be possible with TB but is certainly easier with Pucker.

The well-rounded player will be able to use both. I think that Bonfiglio uses TB as his default mode and Toots uses Pucker as his default mode.
>
Vern

[Rick]

They are all valid techniques, with merits of their own. Learn and grow with each one, mix and match, create!

Sent from my iPad

[Randy Redington]

I dont make any claim to being a pro player....but.
Isn't there a difference between lip block and pucker?
I don't believe they are the same thing. Lip block done correctly shouldn't
require tensing of the cheeks. If fact, you want to keep your cheeks
relaxed. I think it has more to do with the position of the harmonica in
your mouth. Where as the shape of your mouth, by opening your jaws for a
larger or fuller tone or tightening your jaw and cheeks for a shallower
sound (tone)
I would think a "Pucker" would always give you a shallow tone.
My thought of a pucker is that you are putting your lips to the harmonica,
and a lip block, you are putting the harmonica all the way into your mouth.
It is also possible to play chords with lip block by simply adjusting the
position of the lower lip, but its much easier to accompany yourself with
chords by tb.
When I play 2nd position I tend to lip blocking because I haven't learned
to bend notes while tb-ing. But I've heard that it's possible. :-)
Just my 2 sense. $$
RWR.

[rex]

Tongue blocking allows you to play like this:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWkxL5IsiA6wpb-9hTP5NfQ

I made those yesterday. Sometimes I'm playing out the right side, sometimes out of the left side, sometimes out of both, sometimes I make a larger interval leap by switching corners, sometimes I lift my tongue for a full chord and sometimes I just lower it to expose the top row only for a quieter chord that allows the melody to stand out. (I'm using tremolo harps on those videos.) This is an old time style that isn't used much today. Most of the time I play 10 hole diatonics and play single notes pucker  style in second position and use bends. That is a  "modern" way to play. But the old timey stuff can be fun. Think about the way the notes are layed out on the harmonica. It makes no sense unless you want to play multiple notes to get chords or double stops or octaves or harmony notes. If you want a good dose of old time tongue block first position harmonica just search for Sam Hinton on youtube. Sam is no longer with us. He was a master of this technique. I have his double CD set and recommend it to anyone.  

[rex]

There are 17 videos of Sam here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcSLudnKFPA&list=PLDD865B862A06C1BD

Great history of old time playing and good to know even if you never want to play that way.

[DAVID Robbins]

If ur playing Blues, ya gotta TB...I combine TB and Lip Purse on diatonic now and switched to 100% TB on chromatic just over the last several months. Big diff on the Chromatic.

[phil...@aol.com]

The origin of tongue blocking arguably dates to the establishment of richter tuning layout provide a tonic chord (blow) with the notes that make up the tonic chord (I chord) C E G in the key of G. And the Dominant chord (V) G B D or dominant 7 (G B D F).

Before the richter layout, the harmonica was probably closer to a chromatic pitch pipe -- not really suited for playing anything but random notes.

But with the richter layout, two chords -- the I and V -- and a partial IV ( F & A= but no C) in the key of C -- it was now possible to play the popular German folksongs of the mid-1800s. Since the history of the early harmonica is sparse (nobody cared enough to write it down because the harmonica was only a toy or gadget, the real history is lost.

The popular German music in the 1850s was similar to polka style music with a single note followed by two chords.

In America this layout made possible the playing songs like Oh Susanna with single note and chord accompaniment so that the performance sounded like two harmonicas.

This would explain the little piece of paper that still is included in harmonica packages explain the tongue block method but I don't thing any of them ever describes it as a" tongue block method," but rather a tonguing method.

The tongue block vamping method lends itself to the performance of American folk songs and early 19th century music. Thousands of harmonica players over the years have never been able to figure out why anyone with half a brain would come up with a harmonica layout with missing notes -- the F and A -- in the first octave. The reason is that this first octave was designed to play the blow chord C and the draw chord G under the tongue block method.

I spent several years trying to figure out how the tongue block method worked until it finally dawned on me that the term was misleading. It's really "corner playing" which is why when someone plays a note out of the left corner of his mouth and then goes to the right corner it is called "corner switching -- not "double reverse tongue blocking" or some such.

Once I figured out that the solution playing out of the right corner of the mouth it all made sense and I was able to get it under control.

And why should anybody waste time learning "tongue blocking" or "corner playing"? I heard the best explanation at SPAH 2014.

"Playing harmonica without tongue blocking is like playing the piano with one hand."

(Since I have been playing some piano for about 50 years, I can relate to that.)

The other reason to tongue block is for the tongue slap technique. The slap technique is produce by sounding chord briefly (like a grace note) before playing the single note. This provides a "crunch" when amplified and even acoustically adds depth.
I've been told that this is the key to the Chicago harp sound.

The reason tongue block ( or corner playing) works is because when three or four notes are sounded together, the highest pitched note rings the loudest because that is the main note the human ear hears.

The "fake tongue block" produced by pursing is produced by playing the main note first followed by widening the mouth to take in the notes on either side of the main note.This produces a chording sound but is not as effective as the tongue block because the main note is not longer the highest pitched note, the note to the right of it is. And that note is not the main note. With tongue blocking even when the chord (all the notes) is sounded, the main or melody note continues to sound as the lead note.

So the fake tongue block can work, but just not as well as a real tongue block corner playing.

What about the lip pursing players? Many players are confirmed lip pursers.

This means that in some cases lip pursing works better and in other tongue blocking corner playing does. The best solution is to learn both so whatever the situation, it is covered.

Sorry this is so long, I haven't got time to write a short version.

Hope this helps,
Phil Lloyd

-----Original Message-----
From: Harmonicology [Neil Ashby] <harmon...@hushmail.com>
To: harp-l <har...@harp-l.org>
Sent: Thu, Aug 14, 2014 12:43 pm
Subject: [Harp-L] Original Reason for Tongue-Blocking

[Robert Hale]

On Thu, Aug 14, 2014 at 10:40 AM, Vern <jev...@fea.net> wrote:

> Bending may be possible with TB

Yes, I have a student who is successfully learning to draw-bend with TB
embouchure (mouth shape).
And another who is a U-blocker, and learning to bend.

Robert Hale
Spiral Advocate (Fanatic!)
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[Harmonicology [Neil Ashby]]

You might have caught this after posting.

(Philharpn)->"tonic chord (I chord) C E G in the key of G. And the Dominant chord (V) G B D or dominant 7 (G B D F)".

In the key of "G" then "G-B-D" is the I-Chord; "G-B-D-F" is the dominant 7th; "C-E-G" is the IV-chord and the "D-F-A" is the V-Chord.

(Philharpn)->' It's really "corner playing" '.

The phrase "corner-playing" seems to be real useful for instruction.

I have another theory on my Busker page for the missing-note Richter tuning-pattern, but some people prefer that "oom-pah" music explanation.