Luke Juke
170 posts
Jun 23, 2010
1:01 AM
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For the last few weeks I have been working on improving my tone. (respect, an acknowledgement and a thanks to Oxharp)I want it HUGE. I am doing the usual. Dropping the jaw, opening the throat, putting the harp deep into the mouth, breathing from the diaphragm. I was just wondering if anyone on this forum has any tips or tricks. I have read a few things on various websites about getting good tone but dont quite understand the concept or dont quite understand how to do the things they mention. I have read about keeping a back pressure when you play, resonating the note at the back of the throat? Can anyone explain these things or are these things going to slowly come after a few more years. Buddha mentions that playing low keyed harps can help with tone. How or why? Any tips, tricks, advice or knowledge, however small, on how I can get huge tone will be gratefully received
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Kyzer Sosa
670 posts
Jun 23, 2010
1:08 AM
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ive had a low d for 5 days now, and i can see how it would help with higher tuned harps...it takes MUCH more of an effort to make them truly sing....
ive also been experimenting with a, e, i, o, and u's when i play. in my short experience, tone is unique to the player to some extent. and what you hear when you play is different than what someone else will hear when you play. keep playing diligently and it will come to you. the more i play, the more i realize my 'chamber' is very much moving like how i would sing the same tune...
thats all i got, hope it helps...
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Kyzer's Travels
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5F6H
210 posts
Jun 23, 2010
1:17 AM
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Key of harp is irrelevant to "tone", it's just a different frequency...a player who sounds thin on a D harp will still sound thin on a G or Low F, in comparison to someone with a fatter tone.
Make a "snoring" sound, feel that loose flappy skin around the back of your soft palate? Pull it up tight, you might end up making an exaggerated grin type face, watch out for choking notes overly flat. TB at the side/corner of the mouth, this can be alternated with a more "front of the mouth embouchure" for lighter passagages & tonal variation. I don't wrap my lips around the harp cover plates, I fold them in over my teeth, enlarging the cavity. Play with different pressures, blowing very hard can lead to a strident, brassy tone, but it may lack harmonic richness & depth.
Last Edited by on Jun 23, 2010 1:20 AM
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captainbliss
224 posts
Jun 23, 2010
1:21 AM
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@Luke Juke:
Take all the things you mentioned (dropping the jaw, harp deep in mouth, opening throat, breathing from the diaphragm) and apply them to a train piece.
In in, out out.
Start slow, build up speed. Keep it in time. Make each "in" or "out" as huge as you can.
Do this a lot.
Like, really.
A lot.
(This isn't my idea. It's Joe Filisko's. It works.)
xxx
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MySpace | Facebook | Calendar | YouTube | London Harmonica Group | My Main Gig
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Oisin
579 posts
Jun 23, 2010
1:32 AM
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Attend loads of jams....in London...before it's too late!
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Oisin
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Oxharp
329 posts
Jun 23, 2010
3:15 AM
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Luke,
Thanks for the shout out but from what we did on the day that you came up I thought that your tone was great it was just your cupping technique that needed adjusting.
Are you asking for acoustic tone or amplified tone tips?
What in your opinion is wrong with your tone?
Is it because you think you don’t sound like the cd’s you listen to or are you trying to sound like someone else and wonder how they get THAT tone?
We worked West’s song for quite a while and you were getting on great and we made some real progress in listening and the subtleties of his playing style.
Remember you are learning a new language that requires an understanding deeper than just being able to repeat / copy a style.
I suspect that what you are hearing in free air from your harp to your ears and resonating in your head is not the same sound that I heard when you were playing at mine.
I have often wondered if what I hear in my head and ears is the same as what other people hear.
Set your self up with a sound card you can plug your mic in on the pc like mine then you can start to hear in the headphones your tone in a more concentrated manor and you can then look at ways of improving various aspects of you tone and technique much quicker than in free air. This will also help your amplified technique to develop faster.
You tone is fine and we all need to work on it ALL the time.
It’s a personal journey with lots of twists and turns and only you can ultimately decide which path to go down.
You just need to focus on and really listen for those very small changes in tone that you get when you play.
I agree with both 5F6H and captainbliss its not the key of harp though lower keys will teach you about breath pressure and how much or little you need to get good tone and the train exercise is great for consistency and balancing your breathing so are chugging exercises.
I would suggest you need to focus more on playing softer and not to try and go for the power and big attack I know you like. Huge tone does not come from blowing hard and I know I am guilty of that when I get carried away sometimes but comes from lots of different variables that time spent playing and experience will teach you further on up the road.
Maybe we should take up Oisin’s suggestion and get out to more Jams.
I am up for it how about you?
I remember from my Army days the saying that you should ‘train hard to fight easy’ well the same goes for Harp ‘practice hard to play easy’
Cheers
Russ
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Oxharp
Last Edited by on Jun 23, 2010 3:20 AM
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Buddha
2124 posts
Jun 23, 2010
4:24 AM
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don't do anything, you already sound great. All is blissful.
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"Musicians are the architects of heaven"
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Diggsblues
368 posts
Jun 23, 2010
5:21 AM
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Find a harp player who's tone you like that teaches and
take some lessons.
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How you doin'
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Honkin On Bobo
326 posts
Jun 23, 2010
6:52 AM
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Buddha: "don't do anything, you already sound great. All is blissful."
I see you working Chris.
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tookatooka
1465 posts
Jun 23, 2010
6:57 AM
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H U G E tone. needs H U G E hands.
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scojo
61 posts
Jun 23, 2010
7:22 AM
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Tooka, please don't post pics that show me when I'm hungover. :)
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5F6H
211 posts
Jun 23, 2010
7:39 AM
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Ho ho ho...you know what big hands means?
That's right....big gloves.
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tookatooka
1466 posts
Jun 23, 2010
7:53 AM
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In actual fact this is a serious scientific model of a human being with the body parts modelled in proportion to the amount of nerve endings, rather than their actual size.
It shows that the hands, lips and tongue have the highest proportion of nerve endings. I wonder if this has anything to do with why the harp can be played with so much sensuality.
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scojo
62 posts
Jun 23, 2010
8:15 AM
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Tooka, if that's true, shouldn't the (as Buddha calls it) "pee pee" be bigger? :)
But seriously, that is an interesting question... and might apply to other wind instruments as well, at least from the standpoint of the lips and tongue.
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5F6H
212 posts
Jun 23, 2010
8:18 AM
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@ tookatooka....hmmm...you sure?
Make cup of tea...whilst it is still very hot, tentatively touch it with your lips & tongue whilst as hot as you can stand...then your hands/fingers...now with your dick...let me know how the practical test mirrors the sculpture (that's if I don't hear the screams from here first).
Last Edited by on Jun 23, 2010 8:51 AM
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