Michael Rubin
778 posts
Jul 17, 2013
8:54 AM
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Help, please. One of my students has a very pinched sounding one draw bend. His intonation on all the other bends is real good. Any suggestions?
Thanks!
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Kingley
2910 posts
Jul 17, 2013
9:44 AM
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First I going to presume that the harp(s) your student is using are in good working order and have no gapping or other issues. If not then I'd be tempted to look at the gapping, etc first. Simply because you say all their other bends are good.
Is your student tongue blocking the other bends or lip pursing them?
If they are going from tongue blocking to lip pursing they may well be tightening up their embouchure on the 1 hole. Even if they are lip pursing everything this could still be the case. As they are playing at the end of the harp they might feel a little more wary of making mistakes and be over compensating by altering their embouchure negatively.
Other than that the only thing I can think of is that, maybe they have an incorrect mouth shape relative to the pitch of that note, which could be adversely effecting the tonality of it.
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SmokeJS
130 posts
Jul 17, 2013
10:47 AM
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Being relatively new to bending I wish my issue was hole one instead of hole three so you might well consider my advice worth what you paid for it! Of the three lowest holes, hole one is my least challenging. I approach the first hole in a manner very similar to the whole step bend on hole two.
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harpdude61
1759 posts
Jul 17, 2013
11:27 AM
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The harp key is relevant here. A one hole draw bend on a low harp is tough for some. BIg open mouth and throat and a lot fo air pull.
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Michael Rubin
780 posts
Jul 17, 2013
2:42 PM
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Kingley,
The problem is on a C harp, I tried a Bb harp, same problem, so I assume it is him and not the harp.
He is puckering everything.
What do you do to create the correct mouth shape to the pitch of 1 bend , C# on a C harp?
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Reed Triller
150 posts
Jul 17, 2013
4:17 PM
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Maybe he is lip pursing too tightly, worried he may go off the left edge/corner of the harp? Let him know if he has to, that corner can go into his mouth?
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Kingley
2911 posts
Jul 17, 2013
10:13 PM
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"What do you do to create the correct mouth shape to the pitch of 1 bend , C# on a C harp?"
It's more of an attitude than an exact science to my mind. He needs to relax and lower his jaw, open his throat and make as much space as possible. Tell him to try playing it almost as if he were yawning. That should open his vocal tract to the point where it will allow the note to resonate correctly. This will also help improve his overall tone.
It does sound to me though that the problem is more likely to be nervousness. I suspect they might be subconsciously worried about losing control as the harp feels different in their mouth around the one hole due to the cover shape altering at the edges. An easy way to test if this is the issue would be to have them play a 4 hole bend on an SBS harp in C. As it's the same note as the hole 1 bend on a normal C harp. If they can make that sound normal and not "pinched" then it's an embouchure issue. In which case I'd try and build their confidence around the 1 hole bend by having them practice some riffs that incorporate it. If that still doesn't bear fruit then try getting them to left tongue block it and bend it like that (block 2,3,&4 on the right and play 1 on the left side). That would also have the added benefit of course of getting them into the beginnings of tongue blocking and also embouchure switching. Which will be hugely beneficial further down the line.
Last Edited by Kingley on Jul 17, 2013 10:17 PM
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Grey Owl
207 posts
Jul 18, 2013
1:02 AM
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It could be that the student is not centring his mouth over the hole and is getting too close to hole 2 thereby 'pinching' the note or he is narrowing his embouchure too much due to the unfamiliarity of having no reference hole on the left. Try suggesting shifting left slightly so that the lips hang more over the end of the harp. As a test try getting them to hold the harp vertically resting the end of the harp on the bottom lip and then play the draw bend.
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Last Edited by Grey Owl on Jul 18, 2013 7:56 AM
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