Posted by Marc (216.119.41.127) on May 31, 2000 at 18:21:27:
In Reply to: lipping vs. tongue blocking posted by Niels Hartog on May 29, 2000 at 23:21:25:
: Hi all, thanks for reading this.
: I've been harping for over two years and made some slow but solid progress.
: I just discovered this GREAT! site recently and have come to the conclusion that I've
: been LIPPING my way through all this time. Can anybody tell me WHY tongue blocking is the preferable technique to produce clear single notes?
: I made a start on trying tongue blocking last night and think I need that WHY to get me there.
: Hope someone can help!
: Thanks and the best to you all,
: Niels ~ The Netherlands
Niels -
The choice of technique depends on the type of music you are playing. For most standard blues-type music, whistle-method (lipping) is what I use. Tongue-blocking allows you to periodically lift the tongue, thus allowing several notes to play at once. This can give you a rhythmic accompaniment to your melody. This works best in straight harp, because of the way the chords lay out. Some people learn tongue-blocking only, and use this as their preferred method of single notes. There is nothing wrong with this, but it is more difficult to learn to bend notes while tongue blocking.
Good Luck
-- Marc