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beginner forum: for novice and developing blues harp players >
Harp is wrecking my lips?
Harp is wrecking my lips?
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digitalshrub
33 posts
Sep 30, 2016
9:50 AM
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Hi all, it's been a while since I've posted on here, mostly because I've been playing other instruments in lieu of harmonica, lately.
But I've been re-applying myself to harp, especially chromatic, in the last few weeks. And my mouth is not taking to it well, specifically the corners of my mouth, right smack in the halfway point between my upper and lower lips. Currently I've got a not-too-terribly disgusting fissure in the left corner of my mouth, which is unpleasantly reopening whenever I eat. And it doesn't feel great when I'm practicing harp.
This isn't just when I come back to harp after not playing for a while....last time, it happened when I was working on my tongue block embouchure. That at least makes a little more sense, as I'm stretching my mouth and its corners to create that shape. The corner fissures on my lips were bad enough that time to make me stop playing altogether until recently, because they just weren't healing unless I took a break from the harp.
So....is it just me? Do I have woefully inflexible lips? Or is this something that gets better with time, e.g.- my lips will become more malleable? Or is it something I'm doing wrong?
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SuperBee
4154 posts
Sep 30, 2016
4:32 PM
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Ouch! I'm sorry to hear that.
I lost my first attempt to post so lucky us, this should be more to the point.
Obviously I don't know, so the following is entirely speculative based on an unlikely assumption I might have guessed right.
Are you perhaps pushing the harp deep in your mouth in pursuit of 'best tone'?
I suspect you may be correct that you're stretching too wide.
Comfort is important. Relaxation is important. You won't get good tone if you are stressed.
Try to stay loose. I know it's hard to relax when trying to learn something which is fairly unnatural. So settle for not forcing it.
And pay attention to hydration. If you are even mildly dehydrated, the lips become vulnerable to cracking. At least mine do.
I don't recall a crack in the corner but I've had multiple episodes of a vertical split in my lower lip which makes smiling a painful event. Seems more likely in cold weather.
best Chapstick I found is 'burt's bees' made in NC. I'm sure there are many good ones, and I haven't tried many, just this is one I found worked much better than a Nivea brand which didn't seem to help at all, simply made my lips greasy. I dislike that stuff generally but the Burt's Bees stuff really did help.
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ME.HarpDoc
195 posts
Sep 30, 2016
7:25 PM
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When I was practicing dentistry prior to my blues vocation (vacation), I would sometimes see cracking at the corners of the mouth due to vitamin B12 deficiency. This can be caused by lack of B12 in the diet or, more commonly, inability to metabolize the B12 in the body. You'd have to get blood tests for that. If it's only occurring when you play harp though, it could just be irritation from excess saliva.
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MindTheGap
1785 posts
Oct 01, 2016
2:39 AM
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Sorry to hear that. I can only offer sympathy and echo the advice above (although I didn't know about B12, that's interesting).
What a pain though. One of the things I like about harp (lots of things I don't like) is that I'd found it the least uncomfortable instrument to play.
Everything else I've tried has had some element of discomfort/pain associated with it. Often quite unexpected things. Actually I had anticipated that the harp would do bad things to lips, but I've not had that.
So, must be very annoying.
Last Edited by MindTheGap on Oct 01, 2016 2:41 AM
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LSB
200 posts
Oct 01, 2016
6:23 AM
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Two things from my own experience:
1. I've had fissures develop at the corners of my mouth due to allergic reactions - I also play (wood "Irish") flute and am allergic to certain woods. Took me a while to realize that the fissures (irritated cracks) that formed only occurred when I played flutes made of certain woods. So, any chance your harmonica has a nickel comb and/or covers? Nickel allergies are not uncommon.
2. Sharp covers can absolutely cause problems at the corner of your mouth if you tongue block full time, particularly if you tongue switch, rather than pucker, for the 1 hole. At one point I practiced 2 hrs a day, every single day, for a few months, on harps with special 20 covers. The corners of the covers had been smoothed by Joe Spiers (He's the man), but I still developed ongoing irritation at the corner of my mouth, but only on the left side, from constantly having that part of my mouth go over the damn special 20 cover corner. I have no problems with the newer, well rounded MB/Crossover/Thunderbird covers.
Which takes me back to the beginning: I'd suspect allergies if you have problems at both sides of the mouth, or if you are certain you harp is all stainless steel, then you need more lubrication and/or less pressures on the lips as others have mentioned.
Good luck and let us know if you get it figured out!
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digitalshrub
34 posts
Oct 02, 2016
11:49 AM
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Thanks all, for weighing in.
A couple responses:
It doesn't appear that any of my main harps have nickel covers. I play mostly Hohner Blues Harps or SP20s and various Seydels, as well as Hohner and Suzuki chromatics. As far as I know, they all have stainless steel covers. So I doubt what's going on with my lips is a nickel allergy.
I'm probably exerting too much force/strain when I play, which is to say I'm pretty sure it's a technique thing.
However! Now that my lip has healed up, I gave my mouth a close up inspection in the bathroom mirror last night; and I think it's possible that there's something specific to my lips' "design" that might be exacerbating things. When I form a shape with my mouth that could be analogous to a tongue block embouchure, the skin in the exact corners of my mouth stretches long and incredibly thin. (Sorry if this is TMI). I had never noticed this before. Like a super skinny rubber band. The whole lip doesn't do this, just the corners, and it gets taut so that area is what's making direct contact on the harp. Now maybe this is the case for everyone but I'd hazard a guess that mine may be more pronounced. So this could partially explain why playing things like octave splits aggravate the corners of my mouth. Strange that this recent bout happened after nothing but chromatic, lip-pursing for a few days, but perhaps that area of skin is fragile even under those circumstances.
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