Aperture Control.

dbacon · Heavyweight Member Joined: 11 Nov 2001 Posts: 8592

Apertures fall in 3 types= Flat causing a thin shrill sound. Oval causing the full sound we all seek. And Round causing a dull too dark sound. Aperture is controlled by the mouth corners. If they pull out from normal then it is flat. If they stay put or come in slightly it is oval. And if they draw in to make a fish face it is round. When you draw the corners to make a more rounded or oval aperture then you must use a little more vertical lip compression or the lips separate.

These aperture shapes as well as the size are completely controlled by the muscles forming the embouchure and are independent of tongue level. There is a study involving a floroscope machine done in the 60's that was published in the Instrumentalist. The arch of the tongue (tongue level ) can affect the direction of the airstream and certainally the airspeed but not the shape or size of the lip aperture.

Finally aperture size can be affected in two directions height and length. It is the ability to control the length that most people ignore. There are some remarkable results to be found here by those willing to work on this. Jake said it very simply "think of making a fist with your mouth". It draws in from all sides.

One should give some reference to the author on direct quotes. Especially ones this big.

Page 25 of Trumpet FAQs published 1998; cc 1999
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Sorry, my bad! I pulled this off another data base and did not go down all the way to Pops reference!! With the discussion of apertures I thought this was excellent info.

I find important information in everything Pops has out, I'd recomend his books to anyone.

_________________
Dave Bacon

[ This Message was edited by: dbacon on 2004-08-21 12:06 ]

Pops · Posted: Sat Aug 21, 2004 6:14 am Post subject:

One should give some reference to the author on direct quotes. Especially ones this big.

Page 25 of Trumpet FAQs published 1998; cc 1999

Aperture shapes:

Apertures fall in 3 types flat causing a thin shrill sound. Oval causing the full sound we all seek. And Round causing a dull too dark sound.

Aperture is controlled by the mouth corners. If they pull out from normal then it is flat. If they stay put or come in slightly it is oval. And if they draw in to make a fish face it is round. When you draw the corners to make a more rounded or oval aperture then you must use a little more vertical lip compression or the lips separate.

These aperture shapes as well as the size are completely controlled by the muscles forming the embouchure and are independent of tongue level. There is a study involving a floroscope machine done in the 60's that was published in the Instrumentalist. The arch of the tongue (tongue level) can affect the direction of the airstream and certainally the airspeed but not the shape or size of the lip aperture.

Finally aperture size can be affected in two directions height and length. It is the ability to control the length that most people ignore. There are some remarkable results to be found here by those willing to work on this. Jake said it very simply "think of making a fist with your mouth". It draws in from all sides.

'Pops'

_________________
Come see the books everyone talks about; "30 Minutes to Better Trumpet Playing", "How the Chops Work". Plus my other 8 books at http://www.bbtrumpet.com

Pops

It is the Smart application of hard work that gets you there.

[ This Message was edited by: Pops on 2004-08-21 09:15 ]

_dcstep · Posted: Sat Aug 21, 2004 6:40 am Post subject:

Agreed.
_________________
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Atomlinson · Posted: Sat Aug 21, 2004 7:05 am Post subject:

I think Dave must have just forgotten to give the reference. If you look at some of his other posts, he normally gives the name of the person making the quote.

Andrew Tomlinson

Pops · Posted: Sat Aug 21, 2004 7:28 am Post subject:

I like Dave.

I'm just yanking his chain on this one

_________________
Clint 'Pops' McLaughlin
You can always Google me.
50 years Teaching. Teaching and writing trumpet books is ALL I do.
7,000 pages of free music. Trumpet Books, Skype Lessons: www.BbTrumpet.com

dbacon · Heavyweight Member Joined: 11 Nov 2001 Posts: 8592

Rightly so, I try to give the source for my posts all the time. Just a mistake I'll correct in the future.

Atomlinson · Posted: Sat Aug 21, 2004 9:45 am Post subject:

I agree about Pop's Books.

I bought "The Pro's Talk Embouchure" and even after reading it from cover to cover, I seem to be dipping into it quite often.

Good one Pops!

Andrew Tomlinson

dbacon · Heavyweight Member Joined: 11 Nov 2001 Posts: 8592

Easily the most misunderstood aspect of brass playing is what is "supposed to be happening" with the lips and embouchure in general when we play. For years we have been told that our lips are supposed to be buzzing at all times when we play any notes. In fact, the lips must vibrate but NOT in the close configurations as when we do lip buzzing. The air, once compressed, must have a pathway to be released in a controlled manner from the body.

The air actually initially aims at the surface of the top lip, hopefully as far forward as sensibly possible. When it moves at a high velocity, it causes the lip to vibrate from the impact of the air hitting it. The air doesn't just go past the lip, it "spins" into an eddy (a kind of whirlpool) which "bounces downward" as it spins out of the eddy and this downward movement activates a vibration on the surface of-the-bottom lip which also then spins into another eddy. These are called vortices (vortex is singular) and they are the basis of a "sympathetic vibration" occuring between the two lips...which IS WHAT PRODUCES SOUN D.

The closer you put your lips together, the softer, smaller, thinner, or more "pinched" your sound will be. When you open up the size of the aperture, the first thing you will notice is the freedom of the movement of the air, then the opening up of the sound. Once the aperture is opened, the player must also increase the tension in the ab support to increase the air flow which in turn must fill the larger gap in the aperture opening. This forces the player to USE THEIR AIR which IS the more efficient way to play. All people ever taIk about is AIR but then the confusion hits when they try to explain how it works and what the player is "supposed to be doing". Soft, delicate playing requires that the player close the aperture down as the airflow is also dimished but understand enough to know that when you "shift gears or hats" as a player into a more demanding situation such as playing lead trumpet, the key is to balance the support and air flow with the aperture.

These aperture muscles need to be developed properly as well. The best exercise I know for this is lip buzzing as long as the player doesn't start to confuse the tightly pursed lips necessary in lip buzzing with what is necessary and different when actually playing. Lip buzzing also must not be done in long hard sessions. It is best done conservatively, usually 30 second sessions done around 10 times a day, alot less to NONE on busy playing days.

Bobby Shew