[Alan Brinton]

Hey Quetscher, that sounds good. I mentioned my dentist earlier. I asked him and his technician how they have such control while working in my mouth. I forget the term they used, but they said it’s all a matter of anchoring the hand, in effect having a reference point from which it’s working. The same kind of principle is applied in handwriting and in art. If you try to write without your wrist resting on your writing surface, for most of us the results aren’t too good. This relates to the other hand and how you’re holding the melodica, for which reason it’s much easier when you’re holding the melodica in your left hand and even up against your body than if you’re playing with a tube and the melodica sitting on a table. It’s not like playing a piano keyboard in any case. I think in terms of squeezing the keys, and so, in addition to resting other fingers on the keyboard, for practice at least, it also helps to secure your thumb under the bottom of the melodica. I think one other thing that applies here is that it’s easier to get the feel of bending by just working on keys rather than (initially) on bending while playing a melody. It doesn’t take musicianship to bend notes. It’s mechanical, and I’m guessing that once an accomplished musician gets the feel of it, incorporating the bending into playing is no big deal.

Thanks! I’ll try what you’re suggesting.