Teeth Touching Exercises - Purpose

[Steve A]

Many people here will be familiar with the Cat Anderson "long G", played for 20 minutes at a whisper volume with your teeth touching, but Thomas Hooten has recently had some online masterclass content in support of his Embosure device in which he demonstrated lip buzzing with his teeth touching to develop a Maggio-inspired embouchure set.

My question is - can anyone explain what it is about having the teeth touching that makes these exercises function the way the do?

I get that there's an alignment aspect to this, and also that it makes relying on overblowing or mouthpiece pressure less effective, but I feel like there's something else going on with these exercises that I don't understand.

[Uberopa]

Hi,
I worked on the Cat Anderson method for a number of months. I wasn't successful with it unfortunately. However, I don't think that my time was wasted. The whisper G made me more conscious of my aperture and helping me play at lower volumes. I think that the teeth touching requirement served to bring the lower jaw forward. I tended to play with a receded jaw and downward playing position. Neither of these conditions contribute to good upper register playing. So I think the teeth touching method helped eliminate these techniques.
My take only.

[JayKosta]

[jkarnes0661]

I had the same experience of Uberopa, I didn't get much out of Cat Anderson's method but I did do the whisper G with the teeth touching every day for 4 months. That was the basis of a long development (7 years) of a second embouchure for upper register playing and I've since switched to that embouchure for all of my playing.

I've continued to do the whisper G warmup on days where I'm going to be doing a lot of upper register work but I don't follow Cat's method with the teeth touching any more. I find that doing the whisper G helps focus the muscles that form a small aperture but allows me to gently work them with a extremely low volume, in-the-staff note. I do that first thing in the morning and when I come back to the horn an hour or two later, I'm generally more efficient with my upper register playing than I am if I don't do the whisper G warm up.

Back to Steve A's original question and similar to what Uberopa said, for me, having the teeth touching was simply a way to train my embouchure with a more jaw-forward position. I also think it forced me to play at the very low whisper volume since I couldn't get a large volume of air through the aperture with my teeth touching. Once I'd established a strong set in that position I didn't feel the need to continue to have the teeth touching.

All that said, I don't have Cat's range and I know there are others that have found greater success by sticking to his method more closely. Geoff Winstead did a great job putting the revised version together and I know he's personally helped a number of people find success with Cat's method book.
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[kalijah]

[kehaulani]

"I couldn't get a large volume of air through the aperture with my teeth touching."
"I think you mean a large flow of air through."

I say tomaytoe and you say tomahtoe. Come on, kalijah. Everyone doesn't speak Engineer. How about a moratorium on all of us Illiterati?
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[Steve A]

[chase1973]

I think it's important to first know your playing type. Are you a downstream or upstream type? Cat Anderson was an upstream type, so the jaw formation of an upstream type will vary from a downstream type. However, I always recommend you at least try it. If it works, stick with it, if not, discard and move on.

[JayKosta]

[chapahi]

[Bethmike]

This thread caused me to try the Cat Anderson Whisper G for the past week. I kept my teeth in their normal position. What I got out this was realizing that I often allow my upper lip support to go a bit flabby, and the Whisper G (after the first few minutes) required me to be conscious about keeping the right amount of firmness in my upper lip.

I also became more conscious of my aperture. Maybe more so than crescendo / decrescendo long tones.

After a week of this, I have done quiet, smooth, controlled 2 octave arpeggios up to Eb above the staff.

Very nice to a basement amateur / community band Trumpet 2 guy.

Mike
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[tomba51]

[Doug Elliott]

I'm sure that is exactly what he was referring to.

Getting back to the original question about the value of playing "at a whisper volume with your teeth touching"

Reinhardt didn't use that specific exercise, but he had some similar ideas.

Many players like to get a big sound, and do it by playing with their teeth too far apart which limits other aspects like high range development. It's nearly impossible to close down from that "too open" position because it just doesn't feel good to do that. Spending some time playing (or trying to play) at the other extreme of having the front teeth clenched "too closed" helps to train the required muscles in a more closed position. It's easier and more effective to open from that position than it is to close from the "too open" position.

That's why it's useful.

[Steve A]

Thanks for your thoughts, Doug - that makes a lot of sense.