How to Scan a QR Code on an Android Phones – Learn how to use the built-in camera on your Phone like Samsung, Nokia, Google Phone… to scan a Quick Response (QR) code.

QR codes give you quick access to websites without having to type or remember a web address. You can use the Camera app on your How to Scan a QR Code on an Android Phones – Learn how to use the built-in camera on your Phone like Samsung, Nokia, Google Phone… touch to scan a Quick Response (QR) code. to scan a QR code.

These days, QR codes are everywhere. These modern-day barcodes let you quickly open a web page, download an app, send text messages, and more. All you have to do is scan them with your smartphone camera to get access to all this helpful information. Here’s how to scan a QR code with your Android phone.

How to Scan a QR code on an Android Phone

If you’re running Android 8 or later, you can scan a QR code by long-pressing the home button and selecting Lens. Then point your camera at the QR code, tap the magnifying glass icon, and tap the pop-up notification.

1. Press and hold the home button.
2. Then tap Lens. This is the circle surrounded by lines to the left of the four colored buttons at the bottom of your screen.Note: A prompt will appear if it’s your first time to use this feature. If it does, simply choose Allow. If you don’t have Google Assistant on your Android, you can download the Google Lens app from the Google Play Store.
3. Point your camera at the QR code. You don’t have to fill the entire screen, but make sure that all four corners of the QR code are in view.
4. Then tap the magnifying glass icon to scan the QR code. You can find this at the bottom of your screen.
5. Finally, tap the pop-up notification. You will then be directed to the information or action embedded in the QR code. This could open a webpage, open the Google Play Store, save a contact, and more.

Scan a QR code with your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

Learn how to use the built-in camera on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to scan a Quick Response (QR) code.

QR codes give you quick access to websites without having to type or remember a web address. You can use the Camera app on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to scan a QR code.

How to scan a QR code?

1. Open the Camera app from the Home screen, Control Center, or Lock screen.
2. Select the rear facing camera. Hold your device so that the QR code appears in the viewfinder in the Camera app. Your device recognizes the QR code and shows a notification.
3. Tap the notification to open the link a*sociated with the QR code.

Harmonica Buying Guide – Harmonicas can be supplied in multitudes of makes, types, sizes and musical keys. A number of the popular types include Diatonic, Chromatic, Tremolo and Octave tuned.

To create it quick and simple for your first selection of harmonica, Eagle Music explains here the types of music that may be played to them and the best option type of harmonica to choose.

If you are an absolute beginner we advise that you get a ten opening single reed diatonic harmonica in the key of C (they are also our cheapest harmonicas. But don’t go for the least expensive in the number! The better the grade of the instrument you buy, the greater reliable and easier it’ll be to play).

Diatonic harmonicas are also known as ‘Harp’ or ‘Blues Harp’, they may be utilized by many experts playing Rock and roll, Blues, Jazz, Folk and Country Music. Diatonic harmonicas are ‘Richter’ tuned this means they don’t have all the records of the scales throughout their selection of octaves, they just have one full major level.

Nearly all tutor books for beginners are written for a C harmonica and on any a*sociated CDs or Dvd disks the player (on the Compact disc/Dvd and blu-ray) will be playing a harmonica in the main element of C. At Eagle music we’ve an extensive range of teacher books, music books,CD’s and DVD’s for the complete newbie,intermediate and advanced player.

Extra reed plates are plentiful for many of the numerous of the diatonic harmonicas that can be purchased by Eagle Music Shop. If you are ‘useful’ it is less expensive to fit an upgraded set of reed plates than it is to displace the complete harmonica.

A Chromatic Harmonica is the decision if you are a proficient musician. They have an array of notes including sharps and flats that are accessible by pressing in a slider that opens another group of reeds in the harmonica. The Chromatic harmonica may be used to play all types of music. Typically you play more of the primary melody of a track or tune on a chromatic rather than playing chords as on the diatonic.

The chromatic harmonica may also be used to great impact in blues, but its musical versatility also helps it be ideal for countless other styles and it‘s additionally noticed playing jazz, classical music, pop, spirit or requirements. Accomplished players have the ability to play practically any type of music upon this instrument.

Solo-Tuned harmonicas are great for playing tunes and solos because they have all the notes of the scale (in accordance with the key that this harmonica is tuned in) throughout their selection of octaves. They could be considered in the same course as the chromatic harmonica in its use, therefore ideal for Classical, Irish, Jazz, Rock, Pop and the Blues.

Harmonica Buying Guide

A straightforward guide for choosing the right harmonica for different music styles

Irish and Scottish folk music

Diatonic Harmonicas

Popular models for Irish music to play reels, jigs etc is a diatonic in the main element of ‘G’ it can help if you come with an airtight, responsive, well-tuned harp. For Scottish music, harmonicas in the key of the are much used.The very best available ‘off-the-shelf’ models have the plastic or metal comb (the bit in the centre!). Models we recommend are: Seydel, Mix Harp, Meisterclass, Golden Melody, Suzuki Pro Grasp, Lee Oskar by Tombo and Hering Blues & Dark Blues.

• You can read Diatonic Buying Guide to see more.

Tremolo Harmonicas

Tremolo harmonicas are also a great choice for Irish music because they have a nice, accordion-like sound, suitable to folk music. They are usually tuned like diatonics e.g. on the 3-octave harp – the very first octave is DO RE MI SO TI DO. 2nd octave is full. 3rd octave is DO RE MI FA SO LA DO. This is restrictive, for example, many tunes played on a ‘D’ whistle would fall beyond your scope of the ‘D’ tremolo.

And yes it is very hard to bend records on the tremolo harmonica. One answer is to buy a great big one (four to six 6 octaves!), another is to buy a model which is solo-tuned, ie all its octaves are full. The Tombo ‘Music group Deluxe’ is an excellent choice.

• You can read Tremolo Buying Guide to see more.

Chromatic harmonicas

Physically easy and simple kind of harmonica to try out folk music with as it isn’t necessary to perform difficult bends and a complete chromatic scale is available. They may be however, an extremely different device to the 10 gap diatonic. At |Eagle Music shop we recommend the Seydel, Hohner and Hering range. If you’re ever round the Manchester area, research Mat Walklate: a great traditional player of the instruments.

• You can read Chromatic Buying Guide to see more

Blues Music

A diatonic. Choose a quality harmonica made by Seydel, Hering, Hohner, Suzuki and Lee Oskar by Tombo.

R&B, Rock and roll and pop music

A diatonic. or in some cases a chromatic. Select a quality harmonica created by Seydel, Hering, Hohner, Suzuki and Lee Oskar by Tombo.
Classical Music

A Chromatic. Choose a quality harmonica made by Seydel, Hering, Hohner and Suzuki.

Jazz Music

A Chromatic and in some instances a diatonic ..Select a quality harmonica created by Seydel, Hering, Hohner, Suzuki and Le Oskar by Tombo.
Here we’ve given you some Q&A’s to help expand a*sist your buying decision.

Harmonica Buying Guide FAQS

Q. I am not used to the harmonica,which should i buy?

A: Typically the most popular harmonica for an entire newbie is a 10 hole Diatonic or Blues harmonica in the main element of C. Most beginner tuition books are along with a CD for the reason that same key (C) with music and instruction that you should play along to.

Q.What do prices begin from?

A: Beginner harmonicas in comparison to most devices can be quite affordable. You can purchase a good quality harmonica for under £10.

Q. I am an enhancing player and need to get a much better harmonica.

A: Amazon stock the world’s top brands including Hohner, Seydel, Suzuki and Hering. We’ve dedicated personnel who play all sorts of harmonicas with many years of experience both on / off stage who are able to help you opt for more professional quality harmonica.Turn to pay £30 upwards for a good professional quality harmonica

Q. What about after sales and maintenance of my harmonica?

A: There is certainly hardly any maintenance needed on a harmonica if properly taken care of. However we can provide you advice on what things to consider and any improvements or repairs you might need.

Q. What type of warranties do harmonicas include?

A: Once you obtain a harmonica from us we offer you 7 days to ensure it’s playable. We are always open to talk with if you have a concern further down the road for advice. Producer warranties differ but do include cover. Regrettably harmonicas aren’t protected for wear, unintentional harm, negligence or tampering.

Q. How about harmonica accessories. Do Amazon Music sell accessories too?

A: Absolutely. At Amazon Music we bring a large collection of quality accessories including top quality alternative reed plates, throat brackets, maintenance kits, pickups, instances etc. All you will ever need!

Q. What will the ‘Key’ mean?

A: This implies ‘Key personal’ and put will regulate how high or lower in the music scale you desire to be.

Q. I wish to play the blues. What harmonica is most beneficial for me?

A: The blues can be played of all types of harmonica. Mostly it is performed on the 10 opening diatonic or blues harmonica and it was called! The harmonica key you get depends upon what key the tune you would like to learn or play along to.

Q. Where will be the best harmonicas made?

A: Harmonicas today are designed all over the world. The oldest manufacturers are Seydel located in Germany as are Hohner. Suzuki and Lee Oskars are Japanese and Hering are Brazilian. These big 5 manufacturers have condition of the artwork factories producing several different types of harmonicas. Certainly Germany has a good reputation and background of producing fine harmonicas.

Tab Action Notation

Tab is short for tablature and is the term you’ll usually see. Tab
is a shortcut notation that indicates how to play which hole
on the harmonica.  This is different from standard musical
notation, which indicates what note to play, including its relative
duration.  The difference is between
how to play a hole
and what note to play.  How to play a note on the harmonica
is specified by several things:

• which hole to play,
• whether you are inhaling (i.e. drawing) or exhaling (i.e. blowing), and
• what alteration to apply,
• be it a bend,
• overblow,
• other harp specific effect.

Of course, how to play a note on a harp is equivalent to what note pitch
gets played, so tab is a kind of shortcut or aid to standard musical notation. 
What tab doesn’t show well is timing and rhythm, which is why standard
notation is better for really communicating just how something is supposed
to sound.  Ways to show timing for tab include providing the lyrics,
when possible, or indicating the measures (bars) and the beats.  Tab
can also be used in conjunction with standard musical notation to augument
the standard notation with harmonica-specific techniques and effects.

I have considered several important factors for good tab notation conventions,
including:

• Using standard ASCII characters (instead of arrows or other special graphic
  characters, as is seen so often) so the tab can be easily typed on a standard
  keyboard and e-mailed or posted on web pages, etc.
• Keeping all the characters for a note or chord on the same line, for ease
  of reading
• Not using letters like B, D, b, etc., which can be confused with note names
• Selecting characters that maximize “white space”, which makes the tab easier
  to scan
• Minimizing the number of characters needed to specify the way a hole is
  played
• Making it as obvious as possible.

Here is the notation I use for describing how to play a hole:

Here is an example of some tab.

• Blue Midnight as by Charlie McCoy in his
  “Tribute to Little Walter”

Listen
to my version in Real Audio.

“Misty”

Lyrics by Johnny Burke, Music by Erroll Garner

Listen to my version in Real Audio.

verse:

Look at me,

 ~4    3   2’…

I’m as helpless as a  kitten  up a tree,

1   2> 2″    5>.. 5> 6> 5> 4.. 3 
2 2>…

And I feel like I’m clinging to a cloud;

1>   1 2>  2     3     
4  4    4   4′ 4..

I can’t un-der-stand, I get misty just holding your hand. (repeat for
2nd)

4> 3   4>  4      2     
3″ 3  4> 2> 2>  2′   2     
3″     2

Bridge:

You can say that you’re leading me on

2       3″   3    
4      5>     5    
5     5   5…

But it’s just what I want you to do.

5>   5   ~6    6>  4 
5>   5>  6> 5>

Don’t you notice how hopelessly  I’m lost,

6>       6    7 
8      8>    9>’ 9>’ 9>’ 8> 9>’…

That’s why I’m foll-ow-ing you. (DS for 3rd verse)

9>’       9>’ 8> 10>” 9>’ 8> 8 (fill
for turnaround)

I just wanted to add a couple comments about Jerry Portnoy’s rendition
of Misty. I heard him do it at SPAH 97, and–despite not being that
fond of the song before hand–I was blown away by how great a job that
Jerry did. He was so attentive to the details.. rhythmic, pitch–especially
on the embarrassingly exposed intermediate bends (3 draw whole step (3″)
and 2 draw half step (2′) bend), and tone (see note with pitch). It’s a
piece where “the slow” is definitely in evidence, less is more. His tone
on the bends was just killer.. very horn like I thought. It’s great practice
for those intermediate bends because 1)the melody is so well known, you’re
familiar with what the note must sound like, and 2)the bends are right
out there on important sustained notes.. you’ve got to get them clean and
strong and pure. There is also some good work on the top end. The 9 blow
bend (9>’) is the key note of the melody on the bridge.. you have it hit
it without ever getting the unbent 9 blow.. same with the 10 blow whole
step bend (10>”).. but you go from 9>’ to and from 8>, so you’ve got to
keep hitting the 9>’ plain, without bending into or out of it.

How to Make Your Own Harp Tab

Here’s a great way to easily make your own harp tab.

1. Get the shareware program, Melody Assistant, from http://www.myriad-online.com

Available in several languages for Mac or PC.

(1a. If you like it and use it, send them the $15 registration
fee. Unbelievably reasonable price.)

2. Search the web for any MIDI song you like, and download it.

There are thousands of MIDI files out there for just about any music
style you could want, including blues, jazz, classical, pop, rock, country,
hymns, etc.

3. Open the MIDI file in Melody Assistant, select the part with the melody,
   and give the “Edit Tab” command.

Melody Assistant offers 3 different harp tab styles (as well as guitar
tab), and will optionally optimize for breath direction and show overblows.
You can specify the key of the harp, so you can get the tab for any position
you want.  Plus, it supports all the standard commercial special tunings,
or you can define your own tuning!

Presto! That’s it! Now you’ve got tab for any song you can find in MIDI,
in any position, for any tuning of harp!

You can even play the MIDI and follow the tab along with the melody
as the song plays. This is a  great way to learn new songs. 
There are even options that allow you to color the notes, say making blow
notes, draw notes, and bends a different color, making the music easier
to read.

AND, you can learn to a*sociate standard notation with the harp tab! 
This is a super way to learn how to read standard notation, since the harp
tab’s right there with the music notation.  It’s also nice because
you can get the timing and rhythm information from the standard notation,
and use the tab to get the right pitch.

If you don’t find the MIDI song you want, you can always go buy a book
of sheet music, quickly enter in the melody, then use Melody Assistant
to generate the harp tab.

Bending is a basic diatonic harmonica playing technique used to produce notes not otherwise available in the standard tuning of the harp, and to provide various sliding-note effects.  Bends are, in large part, what give the diatonic harp its unique character, and are intimately related to the blues tradition.

Bends, whether draw bends or blow bends, produce notes lower in pitch than the natural, unbent note.  I think that part of the “trick” to bending is knowing what note will result, and unconsciously anticipating that sound. If you think about singing for a second, paying attention to your vocal tract, when you sing a low note versus a high note your body sort-of automatically adjusts according to the pitch of the note.

You get the note in your “mind’s ear” and your body tends to adjust without thinking about what you’re doing. Try to feel how there are more physical actions than merely your vocal cords buzzing at a different frequency. You tend to “sink” lower and open up “bigger” for singing low notes as opposed to high notes, and it’s similar for harp. What is happening is that your body is naturally adjusting to a shape that is more suitable to the pitch you know ahead of time you want to sing.

Bending notes on the harp is much the same way. You have to adjust your vocal tract shape—the position of your mouth, tongue, jaw, throat, and soft palette, to be suitable for the pitch of the bent note. It’s easier to do that if you have a mental idea of what the note will sound like ahead of time. If you’ve never done bends before, that can be tough!

How do you know what the note will sound like? It helps to play the note on another instrument, like a piano or guitar, to get it in your ear while you are working on trying to bend. Various computer programs can play different pitches, so that’s another way to try to get the pitch in your ear if you don’t have any other instruments available.

It helps to play the note on another instrument, like a piano or guitar, to get it in your ear while you are working on trying to bend. Various computer programs can play different pitches, so that’s another way to try to get the pitch in your ear if you don’t have any other instruments available.

The amount you can bend a note depends on the pitches of the two reeds
in the hole.  The higher pitch note in the hole can
be bent down to just above the lower pitch note in the hole. 
For example, the notes on a C harp in hole 2 are: blow-E, draw-G. 
The higher G note can be bent down to Gb and F–and just a little lower. 
It is best to only bend down to the desired note, and not further, in order
to minimize stress on the reeds.  When you practice your bends, it
is good to use a piano, guitar, pitch pipe, electronic tuner or whatever
to check that you’re hitting the correct pitch.

Bending is not something that is easy to describe how to do—and it is
difficult to show because all the movements are hidden inside the mouth
and throat.  It takes practice to be able to do bends at all, and
lots
more practice to do them well.  Bends are the first major hurdle
in playing the harp, and you should not expect to “get it” in a few minutes.
It may take months. That’s okay. Don’t be in a hurry, and don’t get discouraged.
If you keep at it, you’ll get it. You’re learning new control of your breath
and your mouth, your breathing and your body’s resonance, your tongue and
throat, and of your focus. Bends are something you’ll keep working on,
probably for as long as you play the harp. Bends aren’t hard, but like
anything else you have to get familiar with how to do it. You have to get
familiar with how the harp responds to different vocal tract positions,
and if you’re just starting you’re not yet familiar with how to set your
mouth, tongue, and throat in different positions, much less particular
positions needed to modify the air stream to produce different pitches.
If you’re not “getting it” don’t get down on yourself! You just haven’t
put in the practice to get familiar with what your need to do yet.

There are draw bends available on holes 1 through 6, and
blow bends available on holes 7 through 10, each of which require
different playing techniques.  To make matters more interesting, different
key harps require different bending techniques, depending on the pitch
range of the harp.  Lower key harps (e.g. A, Ab, G, and low F) require
more mouth/throat/tongue (or simply “vocal tract”) movement than the same
holes on higher key harps (e.g. C, D, E, and F). Learning your bends not
only gives you more notes and effects, it gives you more control over your
notes, air stream, resonance, and tone.

So, celebrate when you finally get your first bends!  But remember–that’s
only just the beginning.

Draw Bends

Draw bends are available on holes 1 through 6–but hole 5 will not bend
as much as a full half step.  (Don’t try to bend lower than the note
will go or you risk damaging the reeds.)

Here are some tips for getting your first draw bends. Remember these
are tips to help you get started with bending since I can’t show you what’s
going on in my mouth (and if probably wouldn’t help if I could, since you
can’t see what’s happening inside your mouth!) These are things
to help you get the right feel, to help get your mouth, tongue, and throat
in the right bending position.

Like Pulling On Springs

Draw bends feel like pulling down on a spring that’s pulling back. You
can yank it all the way down till it won’t stretch any more, it pulling
back as long as you hold it there; or you can slowly pull it down, starting
at the top (or somewhere in between), and stopping at the bottom (or any
in between place); or you can yank it down then slowly let it back up.
The harp, or more properly the air stream, is going to act like a piece
of exercise equipment for your vocal tract, your mouth, tongue, throat,
and diaphragm.

Think of pulling down on an exercise spring.

As you get used to the feel of the device you learn just how hard you
have to pull it to get it just to the bottom; how much strength you have
to use to just hold it down all the way; how you can use your leverage
and balance to gently let it up to the top, without it jerking it’s way
up because your strength wasn’t enough to control it at some point, and
how to pull it smoothly down the same way. As you work out with the machine
your muscles get stronger, your balance gets better, and your coordination
improves to give you better and better control of the spring. Eventually
you become strong enough and familiar enough with the feel of the equipment
be able to quickly pull the spring right down into any intermediate point
you want. You can pull it down and let it up smoothly, quickly, in rapid
succession, as fast or slow as you want (vibrato). You can pull it part
way down and work it up or down from there, or pull it all the way down
and work it up and down to the bottom. You can apply just the right amount
of force to where the spring won’t quite move down, but it’s right on the
edge, ready to move down at the slightest increase of pressure, under your
full control.

This is bending on the diatonic harp. There are a row of these springs
hanging side by side, and they each pull differently, with different strengths
and depths. You first have to select one spring and hold it firmly before
you try to stretch it. If it’s swinging or bumping into neighboring springs
you don’t have a firm enough grip to try to stretch it.

At first you probably won’t be able to budge the spring. It’s not that
it’s difficult, it’s just that you haven’t learned which muscles to use
and how to coordinate them to pull hard enough on the spring. After a while
you’ll finally budge the spring and it will pull down a short way before
pulling back away from you. After a while longer you’ll pull it farther
down, and a little farther until finally you snap it all the way down to
the bottom. Or you may find the right muscles and coordination right off
the bat and quickly be able to yank to spring all the way to the bottom.
You may move to a different spring and not be able to budge that one at
first. But your experience with the other spring helps you learn how to
control the current one. As you practice and exercise you become familiar
with each of the different springs, and can quickly move among them, pulling
each one just the way you want as quickly as you move. Somewhere in the
process you’ll change equipment and add more sets of springs that don’t
quite act like the ones you’re used to. Some of these new set-ups have
springs that you can’t handle yet, so you have to work with them and figure
them out too.

Requires Strong Single Notes

First, be sure you can get a good, clean, pure, loud,
single note before going any further!

Don’t even worry about bends if you can’t get a consistent pure single note. One good approach to strong single notes is to use the “lip block” embouchure. It helps you relax and get your mouth open, which helps improve your resonance and makes bending easier.

Open your mouth wide enough to cover about 3 holes, with your upper
lip coming about 2/3 the way back over the top cover. Tilt the harp up
in back at around 45 degrees, and let the holes nestle into your lower
lip. Relax. Breathe slowly in and out, deeply. First, empty your lungs
and as slowly as you can, breathe in, with the harp settled onto your bottom
lip. With a little fiddling with the harp position, not trying to force
anything, you should be able to easily get a clean single note. Once
you’ve mastered that, try your bending from this mouth position embouchure.

Set Mouth Shape from Speaking Articulations

While breathing in slowly from your diaphragm, shape your mouth and vocal tract as if you were making a long “eeee” sound followed by a long “oh” sound. Notice how your jaw drops on the “oh” sound, and pay attention to the feeling of “opening up” in your throat. Feel the “oh” drop down as deep in the back of your throat as you can. The bend happens when you change your vocal tract shape from the “eee” position to the “oh” position. Try holes 2, 3, and 4 for your first bends.  You can also try holes 1 and 6.

The “Oh” articulation should feel like you’re singing a deep full low
note. Try saying “Orange”, and exaggerate your mouth movement and enunciation. 
Your throat should feel like the first “Or” part.   Whisper
it.  Orange.  Whisper it louder.  Whisper it breathing
in.  Try bending with the mouth/throat position of the “Or” part.

Go back to the “eee” position. Feel how much tighter your throat is.
Say “sweet orange” over and over. Concentrate on your throat. Feel how
it closes and opens. Accentuate the opening, and drop the pitch on the
word “orange”. Sing “sweet orange” while breathing in.

Now, play a strong clear draw note on hole 4 with your mouth in the
“eee” shape. Very slowly change to the whispered “orange”. The pitch not
the note should bend down when you articulate the “or” part of orange,
and bend smoothly back up as you articulate the “an” part. The final “ge”
sound isn’t part of the bend, but the word orange seems to open up the
throat more than the name “Orin”. (It might depend on what part of the
country you’re from…)

Another thing to do is try articulating the word “TOE” to bend and clear
draw note on hole 2, 3 or 4. Start with a nice pure single draw note, then
suddenly say a deep pitched TOE, still breathing in.
The “T” in toe gets your tongue tip in action, and this ticking the top
of your mouth with your tongue just as you go to the deep “Oh” mouth/throat/tongue
positioning can help get the bend started. Draw with “eee”, then pronounce
“toe”.

Say NO! as if giving a command to your dog. Bark
it out there, as if the dog was about to chew up your expensive sofa, or
was ready to snatch your favorite harp off the coffee table. Notice how
your voice naturally gets lower and deeper in pitch when you’re giving
a command? Use that feeling from your diaphragm, the strong breath, the
drop in pitch to command your bend to work. Start playing a clean steady
single draw note on hole 2, 3, or 4, and then just say No! as if commanding
your dog, while still breathing in. If you don’t have a dog, pretend it’s
your child doing something wrong, or the neighbor’s kid about ready to
pluck your favorite flower from your garden, or steal your newspaper.

Whistle Practice

Whistle a little bit. Now try whistling while breathing in.  Now bend
the pitch of your whistled note down.  That’s what it feels like to
do draw bends. Practice bending notes while whistling breathing in. Focus
on your mouth and jaw position. Match the pitch of your whistle to the
pitch of the natural unbent note you’re practicing bending, then bend the
pitch of your whistle note down (while breathing in!). Now go back to working
on your harmonica bend, while applying the feelings and vocal tract changes
you used to bend your whistle down.

Don’t Pinch Your Lips

Don’t let the whistle practice fool you into thinking you have to pucker
up or pinch your lips. You don’t, and you shouldn’t. The danger is that
you can actually get a note to bend a little by pinching your lips, but
that’s usually not the right way to play a bend. If you find yourself pinching
your lips to get your bends, stop it. You’re only learning something wrong
that you’ll eventually have to unlearn. The sooner you stop, the easier
it’ll be.

No Air Leaks

Make sure NO AIR leaks in through your nose.

  This is very important, and a very common cause
of problems.  If air leaks in through your nose it essentially prevents
a bend from being able to occur. Try gently pinching your nostrils closed.
Does it make any difference to your normal draw note? If air is coming
in while you play, you need to work on controlling that air leak before
you proceed with trying to bend. Focus your awareness on your nose, and
practice breathing just through your mouth from your diaphragm. Control
of your breathing, and of your venting of air in or out while you play
is a basic requirement of playing the harp, so any practice time you put
in now working on those muscles, that focus and control, is not wasted
time, but valuable practice.

Also, make sure you have an air tight seal of your mouth on the harp. 
Any air leaks get in the way of bends, whatever their cause.

Air Direction

Hold the harp in your left hand and put it in playing position. Hold out
the index finger of your right hand like you’re making the number 1 sign,
then point to the left so your finger is parallel to the back of the harp.
Put your pointing index finger a few inches behind the harp, parallel to
it.

Now, hold your head up, look straight ahead, draw a natural note and
visualize that you are pulling the air straight from your finger. When
you do a draw bend, visualize that you are pulling the air from underneath
your finger. The farther below your finger you draw from, the lower the
pitch of the bend. Visualize pulling the air from 45 degrees below your
finger, then from 30 degrees, 15 degrees, and so on.

Bending All the Way Down Should Feel Effortless

Don’t try to force it.

  Bending doesn’t require
force, or loud hard play.  If your mouth/throat/tongue shape are right
the bend will naturally happen. 

Think about holding
an egg in your mouth during a bend

.  Keep playing with
the shape of your mouth and your tongue position.  Very minor changes
in mouth/throat/tongue position make all the difference. Higher notes use
smaller eggs, or even yolks. Low holes on special low harp tunings need
ostrich eggs…

Still having problems?

The tongue is the key (for beginners). Start with it flat and forward in
your mouth. While drawing in with the “eee” mouth shape,

slowly

pull your tongue back, keeping the front low and flat in the mouth, and
humping it gradually more and more in the back as your tongue pulls in.
At some point the sound should begin to choke a little. That’s the crucial
spot. Treat it like the “friction point” on a clutch car… if you move
too fast you’ll stall the car—or in our case miss the bend.  At that
crucial spot, adjust your mouth position from “eee” to “oh”, or say orange
or toe or no (still breathing in).  At first, it may help to increase
the air pressure a little. But,

you don’t have
to play loud or hard to get bends.

You can bend notes playing quite
softly.

Breathe in while making a hard “K” sound, as in Coke. Notice where you
make that sound in your throat. That’s one place in your vocal tract from
which you can get a draw bend. Focus on that spot, and articulate the “Co”
part of Coke, or cocoa. The hard K articulation, like the T articulation
discussed with saying “toe” above, can help kick-start the bend into action.

Breathe from deep within your body–from
your diaphragm.  Feel your stomach push out a little bit.
This will help your resonance and make bending easier.  Lie on your
back and slowly breathe in.  Put your hand on your stomach and notice
how it moves up and down–that’s the location of your diaphragm. 
Draw in your air from there. Try playing the harp while lying on your back,
and get the feel of your diaphragm in action.

Try different key harps.  The mouth position is different for different
pitch notes, and if you’re having trouble with one key harp, another key
might work better; might be a better fit to the particular degree of mouth
changes you’re doing.  For example, if you can’t seem to get it on
a C harp, try an A harp or a D harp.

It ain’t as easy as it looks! Don’t give up! It can take a while to
get it, and you just have to practice, practice, practice.  And remember,
don’t try bending unless you can get consistent pure clean single notes—you
have to master that first.

Exercises

Practice smooth dip bends here, and work on your speed for this exercise.
You also need to be able to hit each bend cleanly, without bending the
pitch to get to the note.

Intermediate Bends

The intermediate draw bends (2’, 3’, and 3″) are more advanced techniques
because it is difficult to hit them cleanly on pitch with good tone. It
takes good diaphragm support, resonance, and control of your playing pressure.
You need to develop your ear so you know the correct pitches and can easily
recognize the note relationships. Repeat these patterns over and over,
paying attention to distinguishing the bends in the same hole from each
other.

It’s good to use a tuner or a piano to check
that your are hitting each note on pitch

.

It is extremely valuable to play simple little tunes you are well familiar
with utilizing the intermediate bends, because you know how each note should
sound before you play it. For example, try it with “Mary Had a Little
Lamb”, and try to make it sound good. Don’t forget that part, making
it sound good. Don’t just stumble through the exercise quickly. Take your
time with this or some other simple tune, and work to make it sound right,
and good. Come back to practice like this from time to time, and see how
well you’re doing. Don’t expect to get it sounding good right away, and
don’t get discouraged because is “should” be so simple. It’s not easy to
play simple things and make them sound good. It’s a major goal.

Here’s something a little blusier. As you get better at it, double up
on each note and swing the beat. Repeat these each over and over, don’t
just play it once and go on.

Blow Bends

Blow bends are normally learned after draw bends, because the low end of
the harp (holes 1 through 6) are used more, especially by beginners, than
the top end of the harp, holes 7 through 10, where the blow bends are available. 
Note that hole 7 will not bend as much as a full half step, so don’t try
to force it or you could damage the reed.

Blow bends are done by constricting the air stream by

tiny
movements toward the front of the tongue

. Smooth downward bends
can also be controlled with a very slight tightening at the back of the
throat. Sometimes the blow bends have a tendency to “snap” into place,
with little indication that a smooth bend is lurking there. A well set
up air tight harp helps, and remember, the tongue movements are very slow
and very tiny indeed.

Start the natural blow note with your tongue flat in the bottom of your
mouth.  Slowly, keeping the tongue flat, lift the tongue toward the
roof of the mouth.  Keep the air stream constant, and where you feel
the note start to choke–that’s the crucial spot.  Very tiny changes
to your tongue position cause the note to transition from the natural note
to the bent note.  You have to experiment and remember your exact
mouth position.  The vocal tract is more constricted in the mouth
and throat for blow bends than for draw bends.

Try whistling a note and bending the pitch upwards.  A similar
tongue movement happens when doing blow bends on the harp.

Exercises

The blow bends are easier on lower key harps, so I suggest practicing them
at first with an A or a G harp. After you can play them on the low keys,
then move to higher key harps like C and D. I show smooth dip bends in
this exercise. You almost must be able to play each bend cleanly, without
sliding down to the bent note.

How Bends Work

In a normal bend on a diatonic harmonica, both reeds can participate in
making the sound.  Consider a draw bend (blow bends work the same
only the reeds are the other way around).  At first, the draw reed
is doing most of the speaking.  As the bend gets lower the blow reed
starts taking over, and at the bottom of the bend the blow reed is producing
almost all of the sound.

Bending lowers the pitch of the natural note of the highest reed in
the hole.  However, since both reeds participate in producing the
bent note, the natural note of the lower pitch reed in the hole actually
raises while the higher pitch reed lowers in pitch.  For example,
for a draw bend the pitch of the draw reed gets lower while the pitch of
the blow reed gets higher.

The note in a hole can be bent down to about a semitone
higher than the lower pitched reed in the cell.

This is the best I’ve been able to determine on the physics of how bends
work on a diatonic harp.

1. The blow/draw air flow contains a broad spectrum of air compression wave
   frequencies.
2. Each reed has a range of vibration frequencies to which it will respond.
3. Resonance adds energy to a frequency because of reinforcing wave forms.
4. The range of frequencies to which a reed will respond overlaps for both
   reeds in a cell.
5. By adjusting the resonant frequency of the “playing tract” (tongue, mouth,
   throat, and other airways) we alter the frequency that has the most energy.
6. This frequency with the most energy will dominate the random broad spectrum
   of frequencies produced by the blow/draw air flow.
7. The reed will respond to the driving compression wave frequency with the
   highest energy.
8. Both reeds in a 2-reed cell will respond to the same driving frequency
   because that driving frequency falls in the range of frequencies to with
   each reed will respond, that is, where the response frequencies overlap
   for the two reeds.
9. So the note that sounds depends on the resonant frequency of the airway
   tract, subject to the mechanical response characteristics of the reed pair.

Thus, bends are induced by changing resonance characteristics in the vocal
tract, and the reed vibration rate is coupled to the playing tract.

If one uses only mouth adjustments to the resonance chamber,
the range of resonant frequencies is smaller than if adjustments to other
parts of the airway are included.  When the other airways in the vocal
tract, e.g. the throat and below, are tuned to the same resonant frequency
as the mouth, this will accentuate the frequency energy advantage, and
the bending range and tone of the note will improve.  This is why
it is best to play “from the diaphragm”, using as much of the vocal tract
as possible.

One of the few scientific papers on the physics of harmonicas is at:

http://www.bs.monash.edu.au/staff/johno/acust2.html

Also, see the section on “Harp Physics” in the chapter on “How a Diatonic
Harp Works” for some interesting experimental results.

Synopsis

Born in Colombia on February 2, 1977, hugely successfully Colombian pop singer and dancer Shakira has won two Grammy Awards, seven Latin Grammy Awards and 12 Billboard Latin Music Awards, and has been nominated for a Golden Globe Award. Known for hits like “Whenever, Wherever” and “Hips Don’t Lie,” Shakira is the highest-selling Colombian artist of all time, and the second most successful female Latin singer after Gloria Estefan. By 2012, her U.S. album sales had reached nearly 10 million.

Early Life and Career

Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll was born on February 2, 1977, in Barranquilla, Colombia. With a Lebanese father and Colombian mother, Shakira honors both her Latino and Arabic heritage in her music. She wrote her first song at the age of 8 and signed her first record deal at 13.

After her first two albums flopped, Shakira took the reins of her third album, becoming involved in every aspect of its production. Released in 1996, Pies Descalzos, meaning “bare feet,” sold more than 3 million copies. The album featured her trademark sound, a blend of Latin, rock and Arabic musical styles. Her follow-up record, Dónde Están Los Ladrones? (1998), which translates as “Where are the thieves?”, reached the top of Billboard’s Latin charts. Not long after, Shakira won her first Grammy Award (best Latin pop album) for Shakira: MTV Unplugged (2000).

With the success of her albums, Shakira became a music superstar in the Spanish-language markets, known for her strong vocals and incredible hip-shaking belly dance moves.

International Stardom

While hugely popular throughout much of the rest of the world, Shakira had not yet achieved a major record on the U.S. pop charts. In an attempt to increase her American fan base, in 1997, at the age of 20, the singer moved with her family to Miami, Florida, and taught herself to write songs in English. There, she enlisted Emilio Estefan, of Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine fame, to act as her manager and producer.

In 2001, Shakira released her first English-language album, Laundry Service, which quickly brought her the success in the United States she had been waiting for. The album reached No. 3 on the charts, selling more than 200,000 copies in its first week of release. Laundry Service’s big hits included “Whenever, Wherever” and “Underneath Your Clothes.”

Shakira returned to the Top 10 of the albums chart twice in 2005. She released the Spanish-language Fijación Oral, Vol. 1 in June of that year, followed by the English-language Oral Fixation, Vol. 2 in November. Fijación Oral, Vol. 1 garnered Shakira her second Grammy, this time for best Latin rock/alternative album.

Touring extensively, Shakira went on to release two concert albums: 2007’s Live and 2008’s Oral Fixation Tour. In July 2009, she put out a new single, “She Wolf,” from her studio album of the same name. The album hit No. 15 on the Billboard charts in 2009, and went platinum in 2010. Around the same time, her hit “Waka Waka” from 2010’s Sale el Sol became the theme song for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Shortly thereafter, the now-global superstar headed on tour to promote her album.

By 2012, Shakira’s U.S. album sales had reached nearly 10 million and her worldwide album sales had reached more than 70 million. She is the highest-selling Colombian artist of all time, and the second most successful female Latin singer after Gloria Estefan. In March 2014, Shakira released a self-titled studio album. The album includes a song with Voice co-star and country singer Blake Shelton. The same year, she took her signature grooves to the global stage again when she closed out the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

‘The Voice’

In late 2012, Shakira was confirmed as a judge/coach on NBC’s popular singing-competition show The Voice. Along with R&B singer-songwriter Usher, Shakira made her Voice debut on the show’s season 4 premiere, which aired on March 25, 2013. Replacing Christina Aguilera and Cee Lo Green, Shakira and Usher joined returning judges/coaches Adam Levine and Blake Shelton. “Usher and Shakira are coming into it as a big frickin’ institution,” Levine said in late 2012, according to The Huffington Post. “So it’s different, but it still feels good, because they’re legitimate artists.”

Shakira quickly became popular with TV audiences. Both she and Usher were not part of the show’s fifth season, however. Christina Aguilera and Cee Lo Green returned for that season. She and Usher made their return to the panel in season 6 of The Voice.

Personal Life

Outside of her busy career, Shakira created the Pies Descalzos Foundation to help children in her native Colombia receive a quality education. She is also a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, and was honored by the United Nations’ International Labor Organization for her philanthrophic efforts in 2010.

I always ask myself, what was the real purpose to my life? I always knew it was not to shake it endlessly, you know what I mean?
Shakira is in a relationship with Spanish soccer player Gerard Piqué. The couple welcomed their first child together on January 22, 2013. They named their son Milan, which means “dear, loving and gracious” in Slavic; “eager and laborious” in Ancient Roman; and “unification” in Sanskrit, according to a statement on Shakira’s website. In August 2014, the couple announced she was pregnant again. Their second son was born on January 29, 2015.

Shakira previously dated Antonio de la Rua, son of former Argentine President Fernando de la Rua. In April 2013, de la Rua made headlines when he sued the Latin songstress for $250 million, charging that he had helped create some of his ex’s hit songs as well as the “Shakira brand.”

Synopsis

Born Robyn Rihanna Fenty, on February 20, 1988 in Barbados, Rihanna signed with Def Jam records at age 16 and released her first album, which sold more than 2 million copies worldwide, in 2005. She went on to release more albums and hit songs, including “Unfaithful,” “Disturbia” and “Umbrella.” Rihanna has also won multiple awards including Grammys, MTV Video Music Awards and Billboard awards.

Early Life

Singer Robyn Rihanna Fenty was born on February 20, 1988, in St. Michael Parish on the Caribbean island of Barbados. She is the eldest of three children born to Monica Fenty, an accountant, and Ronald Fenty, a warehouse supervisor. Rihanna’s childhood was marred by her father’s struggles with addictions to alcohol and crack cocaine and her parents’ marital problems—they divorced when she was 14 years old.

However, since that time, Rihanna’s father has managed to conquer his addictions and the pair are now very close. “Now my dad is like the coolest person on the planet,” Rihanna says. “He doesn’t smother me. He lets me live my life. And he’s been like that a lot, even when I was younger. He would watch me making a mistake and he wouldn’t stop me. My dad, he lets me make it and then I learn.”

Rihanna also struggled with crippling headaches for several years during her childhood, a condition she attempted to hide from her friends and classmates so that they would not think she was abnormal. “I never expressed how I felt,” she remembers. “I always kept it in. I would go to school … you would never know there was something wrong with me.”

As a teenager, Rihanna turned to singing as a release from her troubles at home. She formed a girl group with two classmates; when they were 15 years old, they scored an audition with music producer Evan Rodgers, who was visiting the island with his Barbadian wife. Rogers was awed by the precociously beautiful and phenomenally talented Rihanna, to the unfortunate detriment of her two friends. “The minute Rihanna walked into the room, it was like the other two girls didn’t exist,” he admitted.

Less than a year later, when Rihanna was only 16 years old, she left Barbados to move in with Rogers and his wife in Connecticut and work on recording a demo album. “When I left Barbados, I didn’t look back,” Rihanna recalled. “I wanted to do what I had to do, even if it meant moving to America.”

Def Jam Records

In January 2005, Rogers landed Rihanna an audition for Def Jam Records and its newly minted president, the legendary rapper Jay-Z. “I was in the lobby just shaking,” she recalled. However, once Rihanna opened her voice to sing she regained her composure. “I remember staring into everybody’s eyes in the room while I was singing, and at that point, I was fearless,” she said. “But the minute I stopped singing, I was like, ‘oh my God, Jay-Z is sitting right in front of me.’”

The hip-hop icon was every bit as wowed by Rihanna’s stunning voice and commanding presence as Rogers had been two years earlier, and he signed her on the spot. “We made a little Godfather joke,” Jay-Z remembered. “We said the only way she could leave was through the window.”

Only eight months later, in August 2005, Rihanna released her first single, “Pon de Replay,” a reggae-influenced club track that skyrocketed to No. 2 on the Billboard singles chart and announced Rihanna as the next big up-and-coming pop star. Her first album, Music of the Sun, released later that month, reached No. 10 on the Billboard albums chart and also featured the single “If It’s Lovin’ That You Want.” Rihanna released her second album, A Girl Like Me, the next year, spawning two major hits in “Unfaithful” and “SOS,” Rihanna’s first No. 1 single.

‘Good Girl Gone Bad’

In 2007, Rihanna effected a transformation from cute teen pop princess to fully fledged superstar and sex symbol with her third album, Good Girl Gone Bad, fueled by its smash hit lead single “Umbrella,” featuring Jay-Z. “It shows such growth for her as an artist,” Jay-Z said about the track. “If you listen to the lyrics to that song, you know the depth and how far she’s come.”

“Umbrella” topped the Billboard singles chart and earned Rihanna her first Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration. The album reached No. 2 on the charts and also featured the singles “Don’t Stop the Music” and “Shut Up and Drive.” Good Girl Gone Bad: The Remixes, released the following year, scored two new further hits in “Disturbia” and “Take a Bow.”

Continuing her onslaught of hit albums, Rihanna released Rated R in 2009 with the singles “Hard” and “Rude Boy.” Her 2010 album, Loud, was once again an enormous commercial and critical success behind the songs “What’s My Name,” “Only Girl (In the World)” and “S&M.” Besides her own laundry list of hit songs, Rihanna is also featured on a host of mega hits by other artists, including Jay-Z’s “Run this Town,” Eminem’s “Love the Way You Lie” and Kanye West’s “All of the Lights.”

In 2011, Rihanna released her sixth studio album: Talk That Talk. The album included the song “We Found Love,” which features DJ Calvin Harris and won the 2013 Grammy Award for best short form music video.

Rumored Relationship

Rihanna has also made headlines in her personal life, although often for circumstances beyond her control. Rihanna first made gossip column headlines in 2006 when rumors swirled that she was having an affair with her mentor, Jay-Z. Both she and Jay-Z have always dismissed such allegations as ridiculous. “At first I was like, ‘Ha ha, it’s funny,’” Rihanna said. “Now I just ignore it and I’m numb to it. You cannot stop people from saying what they want to say.”

Personal Life

In 2009, Rihanna again made headlines again, becoming the center of a media firestorm after a domestic violence incident in which her then-boyfriend Chris Brown a*saulted her before an awards show. The incident sparked a huge public outpouring of support for Rihanna, and she has since become a spokesperson against domestic violence. “This happened to me,” she said in an interview with Diane Sawyer. “It can happen to anyone.”

Rihanna was later romantically involved with Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp, but the pair have since split ways.

Since she first appeared on the pop music scene in 2005, this Barbadian pop star has enjoyed a nearly uninterrupted run at the top of the music industry. For nearly six years, it has been virtually impossible to listen to the radio or enter a dance club without hearing one of Rihanna’s infectiously catchy songs. But beyond the constant stream of hits and her unflappable public image, Rihanna acknowledges that she is still just a vulnerable young woman who has experienced much adversity in recent years, and often struggles to keep it together.

“I put my guard up so hard,” she said of the aftermath of her domestic violence incident with Chris Brown in 2009. “I didn’t want people to see me cry. I didn’t want people to feel bad for me. It was a very vulnerable time in my life, and I refused to let that be the image. I wanted them to see me as, ‘I’m fine, I’m tough.’ I put that up until it felt real.”

In 2012, Rihanna appeared to be reconnecting with Brown. The pair worked together on the song “Birthday Cake” released that year. Rihanna also spoke very candidly with Oprah Winfrey about her relationship with Brown that August. She told Winfrey that Brown may have been the love of her life and she has developed “a very close friendship” with him.

In Recent Years

On her 2012 hit album Unapologetic, Rihanna turned out such hits as “Diamonds” and “Stay.” She also worked with Coldplay on the hit “Princess of China” and rapper Eminem on “Love the Way You Lie.” The following year, Rihanna reached the top of the charts with another collaboration with Eminem entitled “The Monster.”

Known for her wild style, Rihanna made headlines for the sheer dress she wore to the Council of Fashion Designers of America Fashion Awards in June 2014. She was there to receive the CFDA’s Fashion Icon Award and told the crowd that “Fashion has always been my defense mechanism,” according to an Associated Press report. Rihanna acknowledged that there were some rules to fashion, but  explained that “rules are meant to be broken.” Around this time, Rihanna made a bold professional move as well. She switched from the Def Jam label to Jay-Z’s Roc Nation.