re: Chromatic octave/single note switch



<quote>
Date: Mon, 15 Dec 2003 23:05:26 -0600
From: Dina Janzen and Jim Rossen <dlj@xxxxxx>
Subject: Chromatic octave/single note switch

Still in my chromatic infancy, I have trouble switching between an octave
embroucher to single note tongue blocked embroucher.  Any
suggestions/helpful drills?

thanks-
Jim R
</quote>

If you're moving from octaves to tongue block its simply a matter of
relaxing your smile, lets say you're playing octave  blow holes 2 and 6 (E),
and then you want to simply play the G on blow 7 - relax your mouth as you
let the mouthpiece slip your tongue into a right tongue block position while
using the transition from hole 6 to hole 7.

I don't know about you but I've found that after learning how to corner
switch at a moderate rate (eg. playing a chromatic scale up and down an
octave switching corners for each note - purely as an exercise), that
playing octaves becomes an act of smiling and opening up the other corner,
your tongue doesn't need to be centered between the two octave holes to
work - given enough practise - you can maintain either a left or right
tongue block and simply widen your range to include the octave note.
You'll need to practise it a bit.

Also you may want to read "The Next Note"
http://www.angelfire.com/music/HarpOn/playing.html#thenextnote
to give you more ideas of how to become more aware of your relationship with
your instrument, and working to reduce the effort involved between any given
change, switch or movement, and to some extent (depending on the style of
music you play) plan ahead.

If any of what I've said above is unclear, please ask for clarification.

Best,
G.





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