Correcting an Air Pocket

[KHH73]

Greetings,

I'm wondering if I can get some ideas on how to help one of my trumpet students.
The student's embouchure has a pooched out upper lip as if he is forcing an air pocket into the space between his teeth and lip. His response on the horn is quite poor and his tone is very inconsistent.
I would imagine that fixing this issue with his embouchure would go a long way toward getting some consistency to his sound and response.

Have any of you ever overcome the same issue or successfully worked with a student to overcome the same issue? Are there any techniques or pointers you could share that could help me get him to a more stable chop set-up?

Thank you,
Kevin Hilman
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Kevin Hilman

[abontrumpet]

As with any issue, often times the issue is not the issue. For every issue, there is somebody who does it with success. So, what must we do as teachers to "correct" it? There are a few schools, but the one I subscribe to has the student think about the things we "ought" to do well instead of things we are not.

1) Work on a beautiful concept of sound, model the sound, listen to recordings together etc.
2) Work on great breathing habits
3) Encourage self worth and self confidence.

You'd might be surprised to find that it's not really the lip. Or that the lip is caused by a lack of one of the above things. Ultimately the body will find a way to produce the sound we desire and I would only address the physical issue head on with about 6 months of solid work on the above. If you look at Barbara Butler, she plays like that and makes it work enough to have a wild career on the trumpet.

Lets say you want to address it. Have the student focus on it ONLY 5 minutes a day. The rest of the time to have fun and just enjoy. It will slowly work its way out as a habit and it will keep them mentally healthy instead of analytical.

Good luck!

[TrpPro]

Does the air pocket look anything like this guy, especially at :48

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4VEkR-5tL0