I am a beginner - one year in - I have mainly Lee Oskar harps and a C Hohner Blues Harp. My question is this: I run out of air quickly which I recognise as lack of technique but this seems to be much more of a problem on the Oskars, especially the A. OK, they have bigger holes, but is this the main reason or can the problem be cured with a change of technique. I know a lot of you play Lee Oskars, and I like their sound, but are they maybe not the right harp for a beginner? I am thinking of ordering some Marine Bands but have been put off by constant articles about poor "out of the box" quality. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks guys!
by your statement, do you mean that your lungs fill up with air, or conversely, are they more or less empty before you hit the end of a line? if you're filling up with air before the end of a line, you can slip air out through your sinuses and nose at particular places in the line. if you're running out on the blow side of things, you may be using too much air to get your sound. do you have a good seal, lips to harp?
and another question is, how much air are you putting across the reeds? if you use the least amount to get the sound, your breath will last longer.
i have some LO's. they don't seem particularly different from other harps and i use them quite a bit.
i think the biggest question you must ask yourself is, where are you breathing from? most people use about the top 1/3 of their chest cavity to breathe. if you are familiar with yoga, martial arts, or voice exercises, you will realize that using all of you chest capacity possible gives you more air, more stamina, and ultimately more control. finding that depth takes a little practice but it's worth while. also learning to relax your muscles from diaphragm all the way to tongue and lips gives you a more workable column of air.
making a harp work is not just about how much air goes across the reeds, it's also about control of that air. more control equals less volume of air 99% of the time. this lessens your fatigue and lengthens harp life. using just what you need to make the harp sound means reeds are less stressed.
In 5th grade, my band director used to hit my shoulders with a ruler if I raised them while breathing/playing my instrument. Then poke me in the gut to emphasize where my diagphram is. That would get her arrested today. If she did that to me now, it might get her dinner and a movie.... :-)
Jason posted this. I thought I'd seen similar from Adam but can't find it/them. He does mention in many videos (I think) technique to work on the balancing of drawing and blowing relative to breathing (not all air goes through the harp - balance with what you pull/release through your nose so you don't pass out)
Practice playing something that you play all the time. But, play it as if somebody was asleep in same room and you didn't want to wake them. It's harder than it sounds. It will help you to understand where your wind is going. You can also work on getting it back by working the appropriate 2 draw/3 blow.
The Lee Oscar harps I have played are not very air-efficient. You may have other difficulties, but that may be a contributing factor.
Your physical condition, cardio-vascular health, lung capacity, whether or not you are a smoker, etc., all can contribute as well.
One thing I find helpful, as well as being fun, is to take a walk while playing. But as others have said, technique is important. It might be a god idea to get a lesson or three before you develop bad habits.
I've said this before. I breath and am acutely aware of my breathing as part of what I do for a living. One of the best training methods I ever stumbled upon was to maintain my breath in and out through the harp for as long as possible. I've driven for multiple hours just allowing the air to come in and out of my lungs via the harp. It doesn't really matter what you're producing for tunes. The point is to discipline your airflow and induction pressures. After a while, you'll notice that there are very comfortable note patterns that will show up without taxing your breathing effort.
Breath in your chest, and be careful, I've notices sometimes the harp promotes bad techniques, since both hands are foreword on a small instrument you may slump your shoulders a bit. Don't.
Try practicing softly. Use as little breath as possible. You want to control your breathing with your diaphragm instead of just letting lose.
Exercise. Make sure you don't have asthma, and if you do, get it treated (and rejoice! one of the newer treatments for asthma is playing the harmonica.)
Practice, practice, practice.
You also need to plan when you will need to breath. Harmonica is actually a harder instrument to plan breathing for than other instruments. Play tuba? Then whenever you can, sneak a good breath in. Play harmonica and take a deep breath and then realize you need a draw note and you are in trouble. Of course, this can work for you, too. You can add a blow note if you are overinflated or a draw if you need a breath.
I'd also recommend learning some circular breathing, except it's hard. I'm just getting it now. You hold some air in your mouth and blow out with your cheeks while you sneak a breath with your nose. You can also let more air out through your nose or around the harp to get rid of extra air, or in through your nose if your short.
In an instruction book by David Barrett, there's a song called "Out of Breath." It's mostly draw notes. (Hmmm...I wonder how he got that song title...) There might be one short blow note in a phrase. I figured out I could play the song more easily if, when I come to that blow note, I blow a little harder than I usually do for blow notes and, at the same time, let some air escape through my nose.
(Edit): I just listened to the Ricci video, above. At 9:00 he mentions exhaling through the nose while playing blow notes.
Last Edited by on Oct 07, 2009 3:43 PM
I'm approaching this from the perspective of a long time didjeridu player/teacher - allowing excess air to escape out of the nose can help fight the sensation that you're overfilling. As a novice harp player, I've not yet figured out how to apply this to the diatonic 10-hole where the amount of backpressure is considerably less than in a tight necked yidaki from North East Arnhemland. Control is everything - and I need to remind myself of that often.
Yes and no i'm not going to touch on Breathing technic it's coverd above in Full,,Harmonicas i run 2 sets Lee Oskar and Hohner Special 20's,,you will find the reed slots on the Lee Oskars are Longer than the reed slots on special 20's,,so playing the Lee Oskars you will expell more air through a Larger Hole or longer reed Slot than you will on the Hohner SP20's smaller Hole or smaller reed slot,,Grab a Special 20 in the same key you are playing now give it a try you will see what i meen,,if you are just sarting out like you say don't get hung up on the out of the box debate,,you got plenty of time yet to let that start messing with your head just the standard out of the box Harmonicas will do fine fore now,,as a say the two Harps i mention are my Prefferd Harps to play and am speaking of these harps only..
Most newbies who start out and teach themselves often have absolutely no idea as to how much breath force they're using and most of the time it is often quite a lot harder than they realize and most players who use too much force will often feel very winded very quickly, and so I suggest thinking along these lines:
Play it just loud enough that you don't wake up a baby sleeping in the next room. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
OK Bob - but how do I get that darn baby to sleep in the first place!!!???? I think 94.7% of harp players use too much breath force because they had to play loud enough to be heard over that darn screaming baby. So it's not our fault - if 76.3% of babies would just go to sleep and stop that screaming we would all play with much less breath force!!!! Am I right or am I right!! ;-) ---------- If it ain't got harp - it ain't really blues!!!!
Something I've noticed in my own development is how I've gone down deeper for the muscle that I use to drive the air. Used to breath from my chest, a lot of work, now it is like I drive everything from my belly (diaphragm). It avails the entire airway to be open and ready to respond. Think about bringing your control of the harp down to the belly, if you felt it, it will literally be moving when you play, and that is as it should be, as it is the core of your being.
Keep the harp in your mouth and breathe like they're saying, you will get second nature with your airflow, and will have all the air you need. ---------- http://www.youtube.com/1shanester
The diaphragm is very important and also playing very physically relaxed along with that as well.
Hey Jawbone, maybe scaring them to sleep might help!! LOL (just kidding!!!) ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
