Re: [Harp-L] nose plug



Using nose plugs may help you experience the benefits of not directing air through your nose when playing. Those benefits include: 

-- more efficient use of breath (it all goes through the harmonica) and the ability to sustain notes longer as a result
-- stronger volume (again, all the air going through the harmonica)
-- more control over such reed influencing actions as articulation, vibrato and note  which depend on air passing through the oral cavity.

However, the potential problem in using such an external device is in coming to rely on it instead of on your own internal capabilities.

I might suggest that when you play while using the nose plugs, you take note of anything that is different from when you don't use them, such as:

-- louder sound
-- ability to hold notes longer
-- greater effectiveness of articulations (starting a note with a "Ta" or a "ka" for instance or sharp cutoffs at the ends of notes)ver 
-- greater control over vibrato and modulating the pitch of a note.

You can get all those same benefits by using your soft palate to close off your nasal passages, and you already know you're capable of using that method.

So the next step is to focus on getting all those same benefits without the nose plugs.

It's a sort of three-part feedback loop of desired result, awareness, and action.

Winslow

Winslow Yerxa
Author, Harmonica For Dummies ISBN 978-0-470-33729-5
Harmonica instructor, The Jazzschool for Music Study and Performance
Resident expert, bluesharmonica.com
Columnist, harmonicasessions.com


________________________________
 From: Toni Macaroni <macaroni9999@xxxxxxxxx>
To: Bob Cohen <bob@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> 
Cc: harp-L list <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx> 
Sent: Thursday, December 29, 2011 3:36 PM
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] nose plug
 
Hi Bob

Thanks for the reply.

I have not done a recording yet and maybe I should.

I don't have a problem with closing off my nasopharynx. I think that I have
just developed some habits (possibly bad) of frequently allowing air to
escape
or enter through my nose to facilitate breathing (bad habit, that breathing
while
playing. So the nose-plug is a device that I am using to break that habit
in hopes
of achieving better tone.




On Thu, Dec 29, 2011 at 3:19 PM, Bob Cohen <bob@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>
> On Dec 29, 2011, at 4:49 PM, Toni Macaroni wrote:
>
> > I notice that my tone changes for the better when I pinch my nose closed
> > and play.
>
> Curious? Did you verify this with a/b recordings? Also, can you close your
> nose when you put your head under water?  If so, it's the same muscles.
>
> -Bob
>
>
>
>


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