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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
Airway mechanics of bending (long)
Airway mechanics of bending (long)
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mlefree
415 posts
Sep 25, 2015
11:45 AM
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I'm in a detailed discussion with a couple other players about the mechanics of what happens in your airways when you bend. We're talking about the action or interaction of the tongue, jaw (to change the volume of the oral cavity), throat and lungs, and how they each contribute to forming a resonant chamber to bend any particular note.
Much of the discussion is rooted in the difference between lip-pursed (LP) and tongue-blocked (TB) bending and how with TB one must exert control over the posterior tongue muscles, the "yawn" muscles in the throat (and potentially even the diaphragm as well to achieve the best resonant tone). This can be a difficult transition since most players learn to bend using phonetics (e's , u's) that mostly take place with the middle and tip of the tongue.
It is hard to articulate the details of what happens in one's airways when one bends a note. For the sake of this post I will separate the airways into 3 zones, the oral cavity which includes the tongue and jaw, the throat where the yawn muscles and glottis reside, and the lung volume which is modulated by the diaphragm.
It is possible to get all 4 bent notes on hole 3 of say a regular G harmonica using only the oral cavity with LP. In fact I didn't know any other way until my first teacher insisted that I learn U-blocking since he didn't know how to teach any other embouchure. UB and TB anchor your tongue to the harmonica, preventing the use of the front part of your tongue to bend. That forces one to bend with the middle and rear tongue muscles and the then new (for me) milieu of the throat muscles as ~active~ participants in bending.
I knew as we all do that "yawning" when you play significantly improves tone. But I'd never considered the use of my yawn muscles to actually change the pitch of my bends. It was one of my most exciting harmonica discoveries! It opened whole new doors to achieving proper intonation, particularly with low keyed harmonicas. It also allowed me for the first time actually to feel the vibrating column of air deep down in my lungs, the first time I realized that my lungs could contribute to tone like the body of a fine guitar. And, as a pleasant side-effect, that produced an instant dramatic improvement in my tone.
Now, to the point of this post, here is my thesis about how these three zones act together to produce bent notes. We should all be familiar with the concept of Helmholtz Resonance even if we don't know it. Most everyone has blown into a bottle and harmonica players quickly learn the importance of tuning one's oral cavity to a particular tone.
Hemholtz Resonance
With that in mind I contend that bending higher pitched reeds takes place mostly in the oral cavities, middle to lower pitches incorporate the throat, which opens the lungs as a resonant chamber. Here is a demonstration in which I bend 1 Draw on a Low F harmonica:
1D on Low F
I begin using only my tongue and jaw and then I open my yawn muscles wide. I think you can hear two things. One, until I open my throat my oral cavity isn't large enough to get down to Gb. Only when I open my throat wide does the pitch descend and in fact further than the Gb "basement." The other thing that is readily apparent to my ear is the enhancement of my tone as my throat opens.
From my side I feel little vibration in my lungs using just my oral cavity as the resonant chamber and my tinny tone reflects that. But as I begin to open my throat I feel an increasing sensation of air vibrating in my lungs. When my jaw and throat are open wide, my lungs are really vibrating. That's an exciting sensation and it's also a signal to me as a player that I'm achieving maximum tone.
So my questions for y'all are: 1) Do you agree with my 3-compartment airway analysis? 2) Do you employ your "yawn" muscles as active participants in bending?; 3) Can you feel air vibrating deep into your lungs when you do such an exercise, especially with a low-keyed harp? (With higher keys, the oral chamber is large enough to excite the natural frequency of the vibrations inside just your mouth. With high blow bends your oral cavity becomes tiny.); and finally, does any of this match your own experience in any way(s) and if so, how?
Thanks for indulging me!
Michelle
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Last Edited by mlefree on Sep 25, 2015 11:56 AM
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eebadeeb
80 posts
Sep 25, 2015
1:27 PM
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Although I have heard bending explained by resonance matching, I have also heard it explained as management of airstream by creating back pressure. Whether tongue tip bending or throat bending, I can feel noticeable back pressure, which is created by constriction somewhere in the cavity, whether at the back of the throat or roof of the mouth or up front against the teeth. So I think this constriction is used to increase air speed which somehow causes the second reed to sound. This seems to me more plausible than cavity volume management.
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WinslowYerxa
959 posts
Sep 25, 2015
2:17 PM
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Bending technique is essentially the same for single-reed bends. So I'm not sure that back pressure is what's getting the second reed to sound. (And how is it pressure when you're inhaling? As far as I can tell, it's suction when you're bending a draw note.)
Also, air speed changes only in the narrowed passage created by the raised tongue. Air pressure goes down and velocity goes up. Once the passage widens again, pressure goes up and speed goes down. That change is what allows you to create a separate acoustic system in the area in front of the constriction. The sensation of pressure or suction is just a byproduct of that change in pressure and velocity where the air enters and exits the narrow passage.
I'd love to see medical imaging (ultrasound, etc.) for throat bending. All the medical imaging produced thus far, at least that I'm aware of (Barrett, Antaki, Bahnson) shows the tongue doing all the work, even on low bends. But then that's where the camera has been pointed. I'll admit that I'm skeptical of throat bending claims. Your sensations may not be a reliable indicator of what's actually doing the work.
Also "tongue tip" bending is really only effective for high notes - like the high blow bends. Anything below Hole 6 should be farther back - about mid-mouth. Theres a lot of real estate between the tip of the tongue and the throat, so discussing those as if they're the only alternatives creates a false dilemma.
And when tongue block bending, you can still making effective bending use of the stretch of tongue between the tip and the constriction point, simply by raising or lowering it relative to the roof of the mouth. Pulling it back is not the only way to use it to change the volume of your oral cavity.
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Winslow
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Last Edited by WinslowYerxa on Sep 25, 2015 2:19 PM
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eebadeeb
81 posts
Sep 25, 2015
3:00 PM
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It seems the constriction causes increased airstream speed whether drawing or blowing. Is it possible the airstream speed is causing the bend?
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WinslowYerxa
960 posts
Sep 25, 2015
3:10 PM
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Indirectly. It's making possible the tuned chamber because of the change in both pressure and velocity that occurs in the oral cavity.
Have you read Robert Johnston's paper on bending?
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Winslow
Check out my blog and other goodies at winslowyerxa.com
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arzajac
1680 posts
Sep 25, 2015
4:27 PM
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A very interesting discussion. There is some evidence out there.
"1) Do you agree with my 3-compartment airway analysis?"
No. I was a Respiratory Therapist in the first part of my career. I'm familiar with the anatomy and physiology of the airways. I'm the guy who would perform orotracheal intubation (stick a tube into the lungs) to folks in cardiac or respiratory arrest in the E.R. when no one else could. I also was an anesthesia assistant and did hundreds of intubations in that role. The hard part of intubation is laryngoscopy. You need to move the tongue out of the way to see the larynx.
Past the base of the tongue, the only significant things that can move are the epiglottis and the vocal cords. And contraction of the muscles can only close things off. So there is no opening up of the airways down there to increase the resonance chamber.
"3) Can you feel air vibrating deep into your lungs when you do such an exercise"
I think the most challenging thing about bending is that you must keep the volume (as in the amount of space, not the amount of sound) constant. The resonance chamber is made up of soft tissue. The harder you draw in, the greater the negative pressure and the bigger the air pocket wants to become. We can counteract this by contracting muscles to close down the size of the air pocket. Also, the softer you draw, the smaller the pocket wants to become and the more we must relax these muscles (cheek, tongue, jaw) to keep the size constant.
These muscles are both voluntary and involuntary (we can change the shape at will with practice but we also can't help the contraction of these muscles if our gag or cough reflexes are triggered). We already use these muscles to speak and making a connection between the sound our ears hear and the size of the resonance chamber can almost become a reflex. We don't need to think about all the little details we just play the note. Just like I don't have to give any thought to how I articulate my wife's name - I just say it and my mouth and tongue do the work to get the word out.
To answer your question directly, when I can keep the perfect size resonance chamber when going through a series of flow changes (dynamics like a crescendo or vibrato) and keep the tone perfectly on pitch, I can feel it deep down. It is like my whole body is cooperating to make the note.
I don't think any extra muscles are directly involved. I just think some magic happens when you can hold it rock solid.
"I'd love to see medical imaging (ultrasound, etc.) for throat bending."
Until I transition to working on harps full-time, I run the heart-lung machine in the OR as a living. We have some pretty sophisticated ultrasound equipment and some really dandy folks who know how to use them. I've asked.
Doing an ultrasound on an air pocket is like staring into the sun. I believe fluoroscopy (X-ray) is the best way to look at those tissues in motion. Another interesting option would be to look down through the nasopharyx with a bronchoscope when the player bends.
"All the medical imaging produced thus far, at least that I'm aware of (Barrett, Antaki, Bahnson) shows the tongue doing all the work, even on low bends. But then that's where the camera has been pointed. I'll admit that I'm skeptical of throat bending claims. Your sensations may not be a reliable indicator of what's actually doing the work."
I agree 100 per cent. But it may also be just a question of your point of view. If the back of your throat starts with the back of your tongue, then using the back of your tongue *is* throat bending.
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Last Edited by arzajac on Sep 25, 2015 4:30 PM
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eebadeeb
82 posts
Sep 25, 2015
4:28 PM
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Have not read Robert Johnston. Will look for that.
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WinslowYerxa
961 posts
Sep 25, 2015
4:35 PM
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Arzajac writes: "If the back of your throat starts with the back of your tongue, then using the back of your tongue *is* throat bending."
Exactly. The tongue can contact or align with the soft palate back into what feels like the throat, and I suspect that this is what people are experiencing when they talk about throat bending.
I've tried doing glottal stops and glottal partial blocks while paying low draw notes, such as Draw 1 on a low F-harp. I don't get any bending effect until the lower part of the tongue starts to participate.
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Winslow
Check out my blog and other goodies at winslowyerxa.com
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Last Edited by WinslowYerxa on Sep 25, 2015 5:02 PM
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WinslowYerxa
962 posts
Sep 25, 2015
4:42 PM
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Robert Johnston's bending paper: http://webdiis.unizar.es/~briz/harps/BendingPhysics.pdf
Bahnson and Antaki:
https://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/antaki/articles/Bahnson%20JASA%201998.pdf
Barrett et al:
paper: https://www.bluesharmonica.com/sites/bluesharmonica.com/files/mri_bending_study_barrett.pdf
video: https://youtu.be/I5kogDrivvQ
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Winslow
Check out my blog and other goodies at winslowyerxa.com
Harmonica For Dummies, Second Edition with tons of new stuff
Join us in 2016 for SPAH on the San Antonio River Walk!
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mlefree
419 posts
Sep 25, 2015
9:33 PM
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Thank you folks for the thoughtful and considered responses. I'm loving it!
I'm particularly grateful to Winslow for both his wisdom and research and to Andrew for sharing his knowledge of the anatomy of the throat and his related experience. I'm learnin' some good stuff!
But I have to respectfully disagree with some of what's been said.
First off, I'll amend my thesis to eliminate the throat semantics and call it the base of the tongue. However, in my way of thinking, since the base of the tongue is directly connected to anatomy below in the throat it it necessarily moves that tissue as well. So I still contend that motion does indeed occur below the base of the tongue, specifically in the laryngopharynx or Adams Apple (I thing I've got that term right).
From the Johnston article:
"For medium to high pitched notes, the size of the oral cavity, controlled by the position of the tongue, seems to be the crucial factor. For medium pitch draw bends the tongue is pushed down and back to flatten the pitch. For the high blow bends, the tongue is pushed forward and as mentioned the pitch drops more or less abruptly. In both cases the higher notes are played with the tongue further forward in the mouth. For very low pitched notes the movement of the tongue the movement of the tongue is less pronounced and it is noticed that the Adam's Apple drops on bending to lower pitch, and this is an indication that the larynx is being lowered..."
This seems to pretty much agree with my thesis, "throat" semantics aside. I'll happily accept Winslow's correction about tongue configuration for medium note draw bends. Not really my point anyway.
Then when I look at David Barrett's MRI video I can see definite lowering of the Adam's Apple and I also see a distinct widening of the throat below that. Check the Barrett video leading up to 1:47 and see if you don't agree. This is what I may have wrongly referred to as "opening the throat." What ever it is called I feel it down below my tongue and down into my throat, practically to my supersternal notch. I admit my "yawn" muscles (and please tell me the correct terminology, Andrew) are well-exercised after holding my throat wide open while playing harmonicas for nearly 15 years. I didn't invent the idea of "yawning" while playing to enhance tone. I'm sure y'all have heard it somewhere or another. Many might even do it.
The main thrust of my post was this: Just as the lingual muscle(s) comes into play with tongue-initiated bends, the muscles that control the position of the laryngopharynx can also be used to help control bends. And that when you use those muscles to drop the Adam's Apple it opens the airways to the lungs more than a relaxed throat. Isn't delivering more air to the lungs the physiological purpose of a yawn anyway? I further believe that this expansion of the throat allows the air cavities in the lungs to participate as part of the resonant chamber, improving tone. That is why I feel vibrations in my lungs and that is a good thing because it indeed indicates that my airways are open.
Finally, as a career Medical Physicist I can confirm that tissue/air interfaces are mirrors to sound traveling through tissue. X-ray or MRI are definitely the ways to go. That thought reminded me of Dr. Henry Bahnson's x-ray fluoroscopic study of himself and Dr. James Antaki playing harmonicas. I am convinced that, once again I clearly see the throat opening up ~below~ the tongue. Look at Dr. Henry tongue and throat at 0:22 and Antaki's at 4:08.
Dr. Bahnson's x-ray floruoscopy
Thanks again,
Michelle
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mlefree
421 posts
Sep 26, 2015
8:37 AM
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Gipsy, how then should one correctly describe "belly," "abdominal" breathing (or what the rest of the world seems to call "diaphragmatic breathing") as opposed to "chest" breathing where the belly doesn't move? Or are you saying that the diaphragm isn't an active component of breathing? If that's the case, your contention seems to fly in the face of a lot of teachings I've read on breathing by singers, wind instrument players etc. The Cleveland Clinic also seems to disagree with you.
Cleveland Clinic on Diaphragmatic Breathing
It appears that you have some explaining to do but I'd appreciate it if you didn't further contaminate my thread in doing so. Also, as the OP, I'd appreciate it if you either contribute meaningfully to the subject matter at hand or lay out.
I recall the instance when you were "accused" of being a troll. It was in a very similar circumstance when you interrupted another vibrant thread. From Wikipedia:
"In Internet slang, a troll (/?tro?l/, /?tr?l/) is a person who sows discord on the Internet by starting arguments or upsetting people, by posting inflammatory,[1] extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community (such as a newsgroup, forum, chat room, or blog) with the deliberate intent of provoking readers into an emotional response[2] or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion,[3] often for their own amusement."
I call your attention to the "otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion" part.
I'd say you're coming pretty close once again...
Michelle
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Last Edited by mlefree on Sep 26, 2015 8:41 AM
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arzajac
1681 posts
Sep 26, 2015
9:20 AM
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There is value in "opening the throat". In your audio clip, Michelle, to my ear, the note doesn't even really bend until you yawn. Yawning creates a big resonance chamber and at pitches that low, you need an air pocket that big to bend.
But I think the relevance stops there.
We can debate where the thorat really ends and what anatomy is responsible for creating the air pocket but I feel that is wasted time. We all use these muscles to speak, swallow, cough, etc... We don't need to think about what muscles to contract or relax. In fact, I beleive focusing too much on those details detracts beginner players from being able to play.
Here's a quick chart I made. This is not original, I stole the idea from someone else...
The trend this shows is that the more specific something is, the less relevant it is to the big picture.
An example of something at point A is "Yawning can create a large resonance chamber in the vocal tract which is needed to play very low bends."
An example of something at point B is "The extrinsic laryngeal muscles can move the larynx inferiorly."
"I further believe that this expansion of the throat allows the air cavities in the lungs to participate as part of the resonant chamber, improving tone."
I don't know. I agree that great tone comes from more than just the harmonica or your mouth. But we are all built differently. Even the way pitches resonate in our heads can vary from day to day because of natural sinus congestion. A 150-pound long-distance runner will not have the same tone as a 400 pound, 6-foot-8 Howlin' Wolf-type player because the sound will resonate very differently in their airways and chest. Yes, the sounds resonate in the chest, but I think that happens all the time to some degree. I don't think there is one particular (bending) technique that can claim responsibility for integrating the chest into creating better tone.
In general, I think the more you relax, the more parts of your body you can involve in playing.
"That is why I feel vibrations in my lungs and that is a good thing because it indeed indicates that my airways are open."
Feeling vibrations in the lungs is good for tone - Yes, I would say that's at Point A.
Opening airways is responsible for feeling vibrations in your chest - Not sure, no clear evidence. And I think that's at Point B.
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Last Edited by arzajac on Sep 26, 2015 9:22 AM
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Gipsy
179 posts
Sep 26, 2015
9:39 AM
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@mlefree. If you wish me to reply to your Cleveland Clinic reference I will, however in accordance with your wishes unless you specifically request, I won't reply in this thread.
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timeistight
1868 posts
Sep 26, 2015
10:11 AM
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Is there a new forum rule about staying on topic? I haven't seen that one.
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mlefree
423 posts
Sep 26, 2015
10:30 AM
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Thank you for that, Gipsy. I'm happy to be educated about this important aspect of the mechanics of something we all do as living mammals. Something that we as harmonica players should know more about and do better than the average Joe. I myself have a dear friend stricken with COPD whom I'd like to help as much as I can. Communicating proper breathing would be step one. It would be great if you'd start another thread and explain that in detail!
timeistight, there's no new rule. It was just a germane quote from Wikipedia. And a point of common internet etiquette.
Thanks,
Michelle
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mlefree
424 posts
Sep 26, 2015
11:40 AM
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Andrew you make a good point and I take it. But I have a different point of view.
All I am trying to do is parse the mechanics of what harmonica players do in bending and use this information to examine ways to improve the accuracy of bent intonation and as a by-product, timbre or tone. I'm not posturing or trying to make ground breaking discoveries -- only to understand and "connect the dots."
I've put forth an hypothesis and asked for opinions in hopes of getting some constructive criticism so that I can better understand this complicated phenomenon, both to satisfy my own curiosity as well as my ability to communicate these ideas to others, including students. What I seek is an understanding that transcends differences in body habitus so that any player can achieve the best bending accuracy and tone they are capable of (with concentration on low key harmonicas).
In the process I've tried to make an orderly connection between the motion of the laryngopharynx and its attendant opening of the airways to the lungs (as evidenced by MRI and x-ray imaging), and the theory developed by scientists as far back and as general as Helmholtz and as recently and specifically as Johnston's harmonica work.
I think that the statement that larger airway volumes yield enhanced tone at lower keys is fairly incontrovertible as is the medical imaging evidence that in bending the throat cavity is enlarged. To make a practical connection between the throat and the lungs in terms of bending intonation and timbre or tone I presented a sound sample in which it's apparent that the full bend doesn't happen until I yawn. I posit that the fact that I didn't experience vibration in my lungs until I yawned and that my tone and intonation improved dramatically when I did is at least empirical evidence that "... this expansion of the throat allows the air cavities in the lungs to participate as part of the resonant chamber, improving tone." That, IMHO, is counter-evidence to your assertion about this connection's irrelevance.
Andrew, I'm not sure what it is that you don't care for about the way I've gone about this. I'd truly appreciate seeing your own start to finish hypothesis about the mechanics of bending (or anyone else's for that matter). I don't really think that we're all that far apart.
Many thanks for your contributions to this thread and my understanding of this stuff!
Respectfully,
Michelle
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nacoran
8724 posts
Sep 26, 2015
1:13 PM
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Hey guys...
Michelle, with all do respect, I don't think Gipsy was out of line. I've always heard it described as diaphragmatic breathing. It may be one of those things where the term originated non-medically. There are lots of times when words have one meaning in one context and entirely another when used in a different field of knowledge. I actually think it's really useful when that happens to take a moment and clarify things.
With a very few exceptions we encourage everyone to participate in any thread they want. There is a phenomena in social interaction- sometimes you get a room of engineers, sometimes you get a room of liberal arts majors or a room of physics professors... it turns out though that if you are building a team to tackle an unfamiliar problem the team that usually does the best is a mixed team. Everyone brings a different set of looking at the problem to the situation. It's like the famous (probably apocryphal) story about the truck that got wedged under a bridge. The firemen couldn't figure it out. The police couldn't figure it out. The engineers couldn't figure it out. Then some kid in a passing car said, "Why don't they just let some air out of the tires". We all have our own ideas and preconceptions. It's fine to try to steer a thread back on track when, say, it wanders from 'how amazing harp player X is' to 'do you think Tom Brady knew about the inflated balls' but when you start shutting out knowledge or trying to micromanage a thread I think something is lost.
This is an interesting thread. Let's take the point of diaphragmatic breathing. If there is a difference, conceptually, between the medical understanding of it and the way the term is used by singers/harpers etc. then if we don't take a moment to clarify the term we can end up using the same words but talking about different things.
"It appears that you have some explaining to do but I'd appreciate it if you didn't further contaminate my thread in doing so. Also, as the OP, I'd appreciate it if you either contribute meaningfully to the subject matter at hand or lay out." This is not an example of treating other forum members with respect, and threads are not 'owned' by the original poster. If you have a problem with the behavior of someone on the forum you are welcome to bring it to our attention and we'll assess it and if we agree we'll step in, but please refrain from asking people to stop participating and never accuse them of 'contaminating' your thread.
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Nate
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arzajac
1682 posts
Sep 26, 2015
1:55 PM
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No, I don't think we are all that far apart.
"I posit that the fact that I didn't experience vibration in my lungs until I yawned and that my tone and intonation improved dramatically when I did is at least empirical evidence that "... this expansion of the throat allows the air cavities in the lungs to participate as part of the resonant chamber, improving tone."
Again, to my ears, the pitch doesn't even go down enough to be considered a bend until you create a bigger resonance cavity. Therefore I don't think there is evidence there to compare two different techniques.
You did not perform an A B comparison of making the same note using two different techniques to create a resonant chamber. You can't say that one note is better if performed a certain way if it can only be performed one way.
If in the first part of the sound sample you were able to make the pitch drop to the same frequency as in the second part of the sample there would be a proper comparison of the different tonal qualities of both techniques. But since you didn't produce enough of a bend in the first half, the two sounds we hear are not suited to be compared to each other.
And that's why I don't agree with your conclusion.
I suggest that the reason you feel the note in your chest is because you created an air pocket with the correct resonant frequency. I feel the most likely explanation of what you feel in your chest is the kinetic energy from resonance. When you find a resonant frequency to which the reed (or reeds) responds, you feel the sensory feedback - that happens with all the notes on harmonica. There's a lot more energy involved in the vibration of a 1D on a low-F than a 4D on a C harp and hence more sensory feedback.
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mlefree
426 posts
Sep 26, 2015
2:17 PM
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Nate, I'll defer to your wisdom and experience doing a fine job of running this outfit. I apologize to you and Gipsy if I overstepped (again).
Therefore I withdraw what I said to Gipsy about responding here. Let 'er rip, Doc! 8^)
Michelle
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SilverWing Leather - Custom leather creations for musicians and other eccentrics.
Last Edited by mlefree on Sep 26, 2015 2:54 PM
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mlefree
427 posts
Sep 26, 2015
2:53 PM
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Andrew, I think we're converging.
I had hoped the recording would demonstrate several things in one shot. One, I agree completely, I couldn't create a large enough resonant cavity to get that bend down to the target Gb note while deliberately avoiding yawning so that I was using just my mouth and jaw. That was the point of that first part of the recording. Then I went ahead and added a wide yawn with the results we both heard.
Even though it didn't take place in two recordings, I'd hoped one could suffice as an A-B comparison, but I understand your point. So here is a new recoding in which I separate the two bending techniques into two passes. First I bend using only my mouth (tongue and jaw), and in the second pass I apply a healthy yawn as well.
1D bends on a low F harp in two passes
And I also agree with your second point, that what I felt was a pocket air of the correct resonant frequency. Yes! This is a major part of the thrust of what I a have been trying to say and demonstrate. It's just that since I feel vibrations down deep into my chest, said resonant cavity includes my lungs. I couldn't find that resonance until I yawned.
I hope you agree that we're almost talking about the same things.
Michelle
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Last Edited by mlefree on Sep 26, 2015 2:56 PM
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arzajac
1684 posts
Sep 26, 2015
5:09 PM
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Again, the second clip only shows a bend of a few cents on the first pass. The second pass demonstrates a bend where the pitch actually lowers to another note.
Maybe it would be easier to demonstrate this using a higher pitched harp - where you can bend the note to the same pitch using both techniques. That would be the way to assess the tonal qualities of each note objectively.
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mlefree
434 posts
Sep 27, 2015
10:50 AM
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Andrew, I just this morning grasped your point and how my second recording failed to address it.
I have an experiment in mind in which I'll try this 1D bend in 3 phases: tongue only, then tongue + jaw, and finally tongue + jaw + yawn (not an easy maneuver ;^) ), on several different key harmonicas. My preliminary results in just fooling around with this idea are quite interesting.
I won't have time until tomorrow to make a recording or series of recordings to share. I'll get back when I do.
Once again I really appreciate your input here, Andrew. I think it will be a big help in sorting this out.
Michelle
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mlefree
441 posts
Sep 29, 2015
6:34 PM
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Sorry I couldn't get back sooner but life waylaid me..
Here is my experiment. Seven harps: Low F, G, A, Bb, C, D and regular F, all Special 20s customized by me (lots of reed work but no embossing).
I bent 1D 4 ways, one after another. I tried as best I to could control my technique from one harp to the next. First unbent, then bent only using my tongue, then adding dropping my jaw and finally adding my yawn maneuver. It's difficult to isolate these different actions and even more difficult making them as uniform as possible over the different keys. But I did the best I could and I think achieved some interesting findings.
In general I noticed a couple of things. One, When I yawned I was able to bend further down than the theoretical basement notes for each key harp might indicate. But this wasn't a bending accuracy exercise. I was more interested in studying lung resonance and if and how the yawn maneuver affected the tone, volume and extent of the bend.
The other thing I noticed had to do with lung resonance. It is also difficult to focus on that sort of thing when you're concentrating on bending but by running through the exercise multiple times with each harp I got pretty good at it. The interesting thing was that, starting in descending order, I felt the sound vibrations descend down, first into my throat and then further and further down into my chest. With a regular F harp, even when I yawned I could only feel vibrations in my throat. By the time I got to the Low F I could feel vibrations deep into the bottom of my chest. That was a bit unexpected but exciting.
Another cool finding, and if you listen closely to the high F recording you can hear it towards the end. That's when I experienced something akin to the abrupt changes in bent tone with high blow bends. That is, as I opened my yawn, the tone started to descend but but by the time I got to a fully open yawn the tone jumped back ~up~! I ascribe this to the possibility that my resonant chamber became too large for the first bent tone on the regular F harp. That was a pretty exciting observation! With the other keys whose frequencies did resonate on yawning, the volume seemed to amplify as well. That's also pretty cool.
I was a bit surprised at how the effect of yawing on tone was recognizably positive to my ear until I got to that regular F harp. I wish I had even higher key harps to try this on but I don't.
Anyway, here are 7 recordings in which my technique was as uniform as I could make it. Unfortunately the files are not arranged in order of key in this Soundcloud playlist, but you can tell from the tones.
4-step draw bends on 7 harps
So take a listen and see what if anything you can make of it all. 8^)
Thanks once more,
Michelle
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Last Edited by mlefree on Sep 29, 2015 6:35 PM
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