Corner switching

Já que essa técnica tá sendo discutida paralelamente na Gaita-L e na Harp-L, coloco aqui alguns posts de autoridades no assunto. Se alguém quiser traduzir pro português, é só falar.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Robert Bonfiglio
Date: May 11, 2006 4:17 AM
Subject: [Harp-L] Corner switching
To: harp

Since I studied with Chamber, who taught me corner switching, I happen to know that neither Adler, Reilly or Sebastian used corner switching in their playing to any extent. They all jumped. I will corner switch hundreds of times in a single Harmonica Concerto movement.

The only new part of this is I have developed a technique to tongue out of both sides of my mouth while using corner switching. This technique keeps the notes in tune even in the high register where tonguing tends to bend the pitch.

The big question is - Do I believe that one should corner switch in jazz? Absolutely! I play blues harp going back and forth between tonguing and spit position all the time. I even sometimes use switch corners on blues harp. What's the big deal? When you need to leap, go out of spit and into switch corners and back to spit. You can learn to do leaps over the corners like D-G-D-G-D-G by going left to right then up left to right then up left to right. You can also play A-D-A legato by going left to center to right. Don't get caught in dogmas. If you learn both spit and tonguing, you can play back and forth for different passages and you expand what you can do on the harmonica.

Toots uses whistle or spit position only, but in the 70's when I was at his apartment, he noticed that I used switching on some passage and commented how legato it was.

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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Winslow Yerxa
Date: May 11, 2006 2:42 AM
Subject: [Harp-L] Speaking of corner switching
To: harp-l

Corner switching, and the skills that support and extend it - are included as a part of my series of articles at http://harmonicasessions.com The series is titled "Chromatic for Diatonic Players," but the techniques described work for both chromatic and diatonic.

To alternate between playing out of the right corner and the left corner, you need to be able to play an entire melody out of either side, left or right. Anything one side can do, the other side should do equally well, in all registers of the harp, and with the same tone, articulations, bends, and anything else. Switching back and forth can then be done with full confidence and flexibility. Having a dominant (strong)side means having a weak, poorly developed supporting side, and what's the point of that?

The associated skills of playing split intervals - notes or chords on both sides of the tongue simlutaneously extends the possibilties of corner switching. So do the various chordal texture techniques done with the tongue - rakes, shimmers, lifts, slaps, and hammers.

Corner switching describes one apect in a continuum of enbouchure capabilities that allow the tongue to do on the harmonica mouthpiece what a hand does on the piano keyboard or on the strings and fingerboard of a guitar. Why play with one finger when you could have two, or three, or five?

The series at harmonicasessions.com presents simple exercises and audio examples that let you sample and learn the basic embouchure skills described. It's not an exhaustive method - there isn't space for that.
But it should give you an idea of how to develop your abilities with these important and powerful techniques.

Winslow