front teeth stop my high register

[haybale]

I notice that when I play, my bottom lip contacts my top front teeth after 5 minutes of playing. This stops the bottom lip from vibrating totally in the high register and gives me a horribly harsh sound in the middle register. How can I stop doing this?

[_londonhusker]

Welcome, Haybale!

As long as you keep in mind that any e-answers any of us can give will be approximate at best, this might be a useful place to start.

Why is the lower lip touching your top teeth after 5 minutes? If it is because of swelling, there is far too much mouthpiece pressure being applied. Even if the lip is not swollen, mouthpiece pressure could be deforming your embouchure from where you want it to be. You might want to check out how you are holding your horn.

One good experiment to detect excess pressure would be to line up your teeth vertically and drop your jaw a bit (keep those teeth open), and being conscious not to apply undo pressure, play long tones and deliberate slurs for a while in the lower and middle register to see if that makes a difference. What do they sound like? Does it sound more vibrant? Resonant? Free and relaxed? If it sounds better, move the register up a bit. Then go back and try to replicate the original problem/sound. Look for the differences...

The good thing to know is that there is a cause to every performance problem on your instrument. Once you identify what you are doing incorrectly, you are on your your way to a solution.

There is a wealth of knowledge available in this forum. Carefully consider each answer you receive.

Best wishes for your success,

Dave
londonhusker

[Liad Bar-EL]

Hello Haybale,

It would be rather hard to "treat" your condition from remote control. There are some TH chop doctors on this forum who might chime in to give you some information. You could take this information to a good private teacher for him/her to see what exactly the situation is and how this information could apply.

My guess would be that you are retracting your lower jaw and not keeping it out so that your teeth remain parallel.

Good luck,

Liad

[ This Message was edited by: Liad Bar-EL on 2003-01-05 11:17 ]

[_bugleboy]

Haybale,

I have three questions for you.

• How long have you been playing trumpet?
  
• What kind of training have you had in the past?
  
• What is your present training/practice schedule like?

[haybale]

i have been playing the trumpet for 7 years and have had this problem the last year, I am the section leader in both jazz and concert band. I have a solid E above the staff for the first 5 minutes after I warm up, then my front teeth stop my bottom lip from vibrating and I have difficulty obtaining a Bb below that, and that sounds extremely thin. I have band for an hour and a half then I practice at home for 20 minutes a night

[Tass]

hey i was wondering, where do your lips fit in when playing. more of the bottom and less at the top. less at the bottom and more at the top. or right in the middle. equal..?

[haybale]

more on top than bottom

[haybale]

I have solved this problem, after playing extremely poorly for the last 8 months. I found that my trumpet was at horizontal, I require it to be a bit below that so I have equal pressure on my top and bottom lip. Because of my slight overbite having the trumpet at horizontal required my bottom lip to move up to close the aperture and instead it contacted my upper teeth and stopped vibrating. I hope this helps some other members of this forum because I remember coming across someone with the exact same problem and could not solve it.
Now that I know what it is, my tone is as pure as it has ever been, and my range is increasing. I have been doing Pop's pencil excercise every other day, having a heavy day, light day schedule, and everything is working out well. I hope this helps
-T.J.