Lips

["Stephen Shaw" <moorcot@xxxxxxx>]

I wouldn't mind betting that this topic has been addressed in the dim and 
distant past, before my list days, but here goes.  Today I played outdoors 
with my folky pals in a pub garden.  Idyllic, except for one thing.  I 
couldn't get through fifteen seconds without my lips completely drying up, 
even though there was only a light breeze.  I'm used to having to lick my 
lips at strategic intervals in the music in order to lubricate, but this was 
ridiculous.  At times it was positively hurting to get to the end of a 
phrase with lips as dry as bones, before I could lick again.  As a matter of 
information, I do not use tongue-blocking (though I'm working on it).  I 
used to suffer dry lips in my green-behind-the-ears days, but the 
nervousness that led to that has long since disappeared.  If any other 
outdoor players have any advice on overcoming this I'd be very glad of it.

Apropos lip problems generally, several years ago I discovered that my lips 
were extremely prone to sunburn in summer (meaning any time from mid-March 
to late-September: I live in Cornwall in the UK, 50 degrees north).  I 
hadn't associated my sore summer lips with sunburn before that.  Therefore I 
use a sunblock stick religiously during the summer months.  I recommend 
non-flavoured, hypo-allergenic ones.  I also find it beneficial to use a 
certain brand of lip-balm a couple of times during a hard evening's playing. 
  The stuff I use is called Cymex, which is a cream that comes in a tiny 
tube for squeezing out, and sparing use of it doesn't significantly bung up 
my harps with unpleasant goo during the course of an evening.  It does seem 
to preserve my lips for another day though.

Any comments/advice/comparing of notes on these matters would be 
much-appreciated.  Or you could simply tell me that I'm a big softie.  I 
don't mind.

Steve Shaw.


Want more than the blues?  Try Irish!
http://mysite.freeserve.com/trad_irish_harmonica

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