Hey Lili - I recognize you from the website, and so happy that you found your way over here to the forum! You don’t look old enough to be a grandma!!
I used to be against U-blocking because I had a student who wanted to play blues, but the U-blocking seemed to prevent him from being able to bend well, and so I became frustrated with the technique.
But then I learned that Norton Buffalo was a U-blocker! So I agree with @Slim, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it, but also with @KeithH that the more techniques you learn, the more colors you have in your palette to choose from.
Octaves, also known as “splits” on the harmonica are accomplished by blocking 2 holes (or more, but start with 2 to accomplish what’s called a Split-4) with your tongue, and playing one hole on either side.
So you could play holes 1 and 4 at the same time, and block holes 2 and 3. I learned this technique pretty early on, and it creates a HUGE POWERFUL sound that can be a lot of fun.
A couple years before creating the Beginner to Boss course, I started learning tongue-blocking from my friend and mentor Joe Filisko. IT WAS SO FRICKEN DIFFICULT AND AKWARD. I felt like I went from working on a PhD back to having to sit in a circle in a kindergarten class. Ugh! It required a lot of patience and humility.
This past Friday night I played a harmonica gig, and I bet I was tongue blocking easily 30% of the time or more. There’s just certain things you can only do with that technique.
All this to say:
LEARNING NEW TECHNIQUES IS FRUSTRATING and puts a huge demand on our patience, humility, and perseverance.
HOWEVER, TECHNIQUE is the only thing that stops you from being able to play with as much expressiveness as you desire.
That’s a very long-winded answer to your question, Lili. Hope some part of it is helpful!
Rock on,
Luke