When someone is speaking or singing, if they are sloppy or unintelligible it distracts from what they are trying to say. Harmonicas, like all musical instruments, are vessels used to express the feelings and ideas of the player. A great player is one who masters the ability to express those feelings and thoughts clearly through his instrument, without obvious technical errors, and a big step toward that goal is being able to play notes cleanly.

Creating rhythms also requires an ability to control the attack on the harp, so at this point it becomes more important for you to have a good understanding of how to create a sharp attack on your notes using articulation syllables. Articulation syllables are letter sounds like “D” and “T” that you make with your mouth at the beginning of each note to release a concentrated amount of air that produces the hard attack. Using these non-words like “duh” and “tah” to create better sounding notes will allow you to play more cleanly and is most important to playing well.

The word attack is used in music to describe how a note starts. It can start smoothly using just breath, or it can start suddenly. Articulation syllables are letter sounds used to create a sudden attack. The “T” sound is used for sudden blow notes. The “D” sound is used for sudden draw notes.

FIGURE 6-2: Articulation syllables

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