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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
Visual teaching aid: interactive diagram
Visual teaching aid: interactive diagram
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mlefree
356 posts
Aug 05, 2015
10:00 AM
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I was teaching a beginning student the other day when I ran into the usual brick wall of trying to explain the various things that go on inside a harmonica player's mouth. Not just bending but the proper embouchure, the different lingual actions to produce articulations and so on.
We hadn't even gotten to bending when I recalled an interactive diagram of the oral cavities and airways made for linguists that I had seen years ago. I was delighted to find it and it was as useful as I had remembered.
By changing the configuration of the diagram via the various groups of radio buttons you can demonstrate to a student the different motions that you make with your lips, teeth, tongue and throat both as you speak and as you play (even online if the student is viewing the diagram and mimicking your changes to it).
An example question might be, "what is the action of the tongue as one initiates and then completes a bend?". With the "Tongue-Manner" button set on "fricative," try changing the "Tongue-Place" buttons. You now have a tool to explain in precise graphic terms what you mean when you describe what your tongue is doing when you bend a note. Similar questions can be easily answered about the proper lip-pursing embouchure, how to make a lingual stop (the hard 'g' sound), how and where you close the nasal passage with your soft palate, and so on.
As a byproduct you both learn common (and technically accurate) terminology that you can use to communicate concepts that many students find elusive. Having a common language is essential to good back and forth flow of information between teacher and student.
Anyway, my student an I found it very useful. You might as well. I know I'll keep it around for future new players.
Michelle
Interactive phonetic diagram
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SilverWingLeather.com
email: mlefree@silverwingleather.com
Last Edited by mlefree on Aug 05, 2015 10:02 AM
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Jim Rumbaugh
1158 posts
Aug 05, 2015
10:26 AM
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Great
So now I can say I have been practicing "fricative velar" bending and show them what I mean.
:)
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theharmonicaclub.com (of Huntington, WV)
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nacoran
8605 posts
Aug 05, 2015
11:14 AM
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Very interesting. It's kind of hard to tell what I'm doing in my mouth when I'm playing, but I think this is a good starting point for figuring out.
edit: There is a link on the page to a newer version.
http://smu-facweb.smu.ca/~s0949176/sammy/
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Nate
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First Post- May 8, 2009
Last Edited by nacoran on Aug 05, 2015 11:15 AM
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Ian
60 posts
Aug 05, 2015
4:13 PM
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Thanks for this. Have bookmarked it for my students (dive students, not harp students). Very useful!
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mlefree
357 posts
Aug 06, 2015
9:19 AM
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Jim, I see your smiley but just to be clear, the idea is that you can show a student the features of your oral cavity's anatomy via this diagram to help articulate what you do to achieve various effects as you play your harmonicas.
Further, if the student happens to be remote, viewing it simultaneously or even describing the action in an email the diagram and its terminology allow you to communicate the anatomical information. The actual words are unimportant unless you happen to be a linguist.
So, your efforts to communicate elusive concepts to a student aren't limited to saying such things as, "well you kinda sorta hump your tongue so that it almost touches the roof of your mouth and then move the hump back towards you throat..."
Maybe not for everyone but I find it helpful.
Michelle
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SilverWingLeather.com
email: mlefree@silverwingleather.com
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