jbone
631 posts
Sep 02, 2011
4:49 AM
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well perhaps moderation is a factor. but some key questions you need to address: how hard are you pressing the harp into your lips/mouth? if you are a pucker player, how tightly are you holding your pucker? if you tongue block, are you holding the harp in place and moving it gently or do you chomp on it and move with force?
it's easy to get excited and tense up, everything gets done with more force. it's also faster to fatigue when we do those kind of things. part of your issue may be how "hard" you play- not breath-wise but holding the harp in -place and moving it as you play, etc. part may be a moisture question as well.
mainly, if you're new to extended playing in a sitting- say longer than 45 minutes at a time- this will cause fatigue of the muscles until you develop muscle tone and memory right there in your mouth, lips, throat, etc. a typical set most times i've actually gigged with a band have been 45-50 minutes, then a 10 or 15 minute break, repeated 3 or 4 times in a night. early on i had all kinds of trouble keeping up and having anything left for that last set, both chops-wise and stamina-wise. with time my body adapted to the demands live playing put on it.
my whole way i address harp playing changed some years ago. see, the audience and even band mates are not aware of how hard i may be playing, what they hear is the end result of what i do. if i am wearing out, it's something i need to deal with. if i'm blowing out reeds, same thing,i need to find a way to play softer and still be heard, softer yet with more dynamics etcetc.
i'd say early on, you may need to take some woodshed time to yourself and jam along with whatever tracks or songs you can get hold of, and basically just build some muscle memory. when you go back and play with your partners you can hone in more on the nuance of the songs you all are doing, but probably your mouth and face muscles just need some workout to get toned up.
i also take every opportunity to take the harp out of my mouth and relax my related muscles.
consider this, if you're playing every second, the audience including you band mates will tire of the whole harp thing fairly quickly, where if you play just some accents and fills here or there and the solos you're cued to play, everything will stay fresher. and your muscles will get a bit more rest when they need it most. hence you will last all night on harp.
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