Mouthpiece-Placement/Embouchure
NOTE: "embouchure" is not a "face" you make – and then blow through.
It is what your face does while you blow through it.
It is a part of the entire gestalt of tone production.
Embouchure absent air is fiction!
NOTE: "embouchure" is not a "face" you make – and then blow through.
It is what your face does while you blow through it.
It is a part of the entire gestalt of tone production.
Embouchure absent air is fiction!
There are many theories about mouthpiece-placement/embouchure. The majority of – but not all – trombone players use more upper lip than lower. Most place the mouthpiece at or near the center of the mouth horizontally. Those are certainly good starting points, but everybody – every – body – is different. Donald S. Reinhardt identified three basic embouchure types (there are more). The Set-Up drill and Buzzing, can help find an individual's "sweet-spot" for optimum vibration. The International Trumpet Guild published Credit Where Credit is Due: The Life and Brass Teaching of Donald S. Reinhardt in June, 2000; it's a great read. A good teacher can be very helpful. A bad teacher can be a disaster.
Canadian trombonist, Jim Hopson, offers some useful information here.
It is best to find a student's "sweet-spot" early on. After one has been playing awhile, changing mouthpiece placement and or embouchure can be an issue. New York trombonist, Sam Burtis has written, “. . . ill-considered dabbling with 'embouchure' has ruined more good brass players than you can possibly imagine. . . . If it ain't broke, don't fix it.” If it sounds good, it is good.
Starting out with a good teacher is a very good idea! (Note to band directors: have brass students quietly buzz any song they know on the mouthpiece for a minute first thing when they practice. Don't worry too much about how it sounds! An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.)
I have two rules* regarding embouchure change:
(*Not everyone agrees. So it goes.)
There is a story about Indiana University trumpet professor, Herbert Mueller, coming to his IU colleague, William Adam, for some help. He insisted Adam not change his embouchure. After a two-hour lesson, problem solved. He looked the mirror and said, “Damn it, I told you not to change my embouchure!" Bill Bergren, who is carrying on the Adam tradition, says, “I change students’ embouchures all the time without ever mentioning it to them.”
Jean-Baptiste Arban’s thoughts on the topic:
Canadian trombonist, Jim Hopson, offers some useful information here.
It is best to find a student's "sweet-spot" early on. After one has been playing awhile, changing mouthpiece placement and or embouchure can be an issue. New York trombonist, Sam Burtis has written, “. . . ill-considered dabbling with 'embouchure' has ruined more good brass players than you can possibly imagine. . . . If it ain't broke, don't fix it.” If it sounds good, it is good.
Starting out with a good teacher is a very good idea! (Note to band directors: have brass students quietly buzz any song they know on the mouthpiece for a minute first thing when they practice. Don't worry too much about how it sounds! An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.)
I have two rules* regarding embouchure change:
- Rule One, never, under any circumstances, change a student’s embouchure.
- Rule Two, if you absolutely, positively, must change a student’s embouchure, do NOT tell them that’s what you’re doing.
(*Not everyone agrees. So it goes.)
There is a story about Indiana University trumpet professor, Herbert Mueller, coming to his IU colleague, William Adam, for some help. He insisted Adam not change his embouchure. After a two-hour lesson, problem solved. He looked the mirror and said, “Damn it, I told you not to change my embouchure!" Bill Bergren, who is carrying on the Adam tradition, says, “I change students’ embouchures all the time without ever mentioning it to them.”
Jean-Baptiste Arban’s thoughts on the topic:
Position of the Mouthpiece on the Lips
Some teachers make a point of changing the position of the mouthpiece previously adopted by the pupils who apply to them. I have seldom known this method to succeed. To my own knowledge, several players, already possessed of remarkable talent attempted what we call at the Conservatoire, the "orthopedic system,'' which consists in rectifying and correcting the wrong placing of the mouthpiece. I consider it my duty to say that these artists, after having wasted several years in uselessly trying the system in question, were compelled to return to the primitive mode of placing the mouthpiece, not one of them having obtained any advantage, while some were no longer able to play at all.
From all this I conclude that when a player has commenced his studies faultily, he must, of course, endeavor to improve himself, but must not change the position of his mouthpiece, especially if he has already attained a certain degree of proficiency, it being a known fact that there is no lack of performers who play perfectly, and who even possess a most beautiful tone, and who, nevertheless, place their mouthpiece at the side, and even at the corners of the mouth. All that can be done is to beware of acquiring this faulty habit. In short, there is no absolute rule for the position of the mouthpiece, for everything depends upon the formation of the mouth and the regularity of the teeth. [emphasis added]
Arban’s Complete Celebrated Method for Cornet, newly revised by Edwin Franko Goldman, pub Carl Fischer, New York, 1893.
And then there's Arnold Jacobs . . .
Also see Tone Production and Embouchure Shifts.
From all this I conclude that when a player has commenced his studies faultily, he must, of course, endeavor to improve himself, but must not change the position of his mouthpiece, especially if he has already attained a certain degree of proficiency, it being a known fact that there is no lack of performers who play perfectly, and who even possess a most beautiful tone, and who, nevertheless, place their mouthpiece at the side, and even at the corners of the mouth. All that can be done is to beware of acquiring this faulty habit. In short, there is no absolute rule for the position of the mouthpiece, for everything depends upon the formation of the mouth and the regularity of the teeth. [emphasis added]
Arban’s Complete Celebrated Method for Cornet, newly revised by Edwin Franko Goldman, pub Carl Fischer, New York, 1893.
And then there's Arnold Jacobs . . .
Also see Tone Production and Embouchure Shifts.