Upper lip curls up infront of teeth in double register

CRJAZZMAN · Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2003 5:40 pm Post subject:

As my signature says, I use SuperChops embouchure. I believe I use the original version. I can play in the double range and am happy with that but....
If I play 'up there' for any lenth of time, sometimes my lip can get stuck and I have to pull the horn off my face, do a quick horse-flap and carry on. Not a huge problem, but not very convenient.
I have been a fan of Pop's writtings and plan to send in a video tape lesson. In the mean time...here's my question.
Pop's says his method of setting for high G and working from there allows you to use the same umbouchure all over the horn. Any one out there have experience with a roll-in embouchure AND a static embouchure? What are your personal observations. What do you use now?

_________________
SC gave me a double C!
Matt Canfield

[ This Message was edited by: CRJAZZMAN on 2003-08-14 20:42 ]

MarchardFerguson · Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2003 6:14 pm Post subject:

If you have a double C, even if you have to reset every once and a while, don't change, it could screw you up and you would not be any better in the long run

_Don Herman · Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2003 5:24 am Post subject:

For any number of reasons I keep fooling around (and that's a pretty apt description) with embouchure issues. Those of you questioning my Chicago-ness, just wait a paragraph or two...

For me, while I can get a "static" embouchure (my original) to sound very nice, it severely limits my range and endurance. Range, because it's hard to set for the middle and reach the very lowest and very highest notes. Endurance, because so often I seem to have intervals and/or phrases which cross my "comfortable" range and end up pressing harder to reach the high notes. Playing across 1 1/2 to 2+ octaves (seems to happen much more often than I'd thought) takes a reset, which leads down the dark and muddied (sound) multiple embouchure path.

A more "dynamic" set (which needn't have a huge range of motion, btw; we're talking about a relatively small amount of flesh, after all) allows me to cover a wide range much more readily. It has the added benefit that, because the lips must be able to move, less pressure must be used to make it happen. This results in a much better (fuller, richer, etc.) sound because I have to play more relaxed to make it work.

I try to get a mental image of full, relaxed sound and body, exhaling through the horn, and in this "relaxed" state play that sound. So, I try to guide myself by sound, rather than physical manipulation. Sometimes, I play a mid-staff G softly and easily to rejuvenate that "this is easy" state and return to practice (tip from Jim Donaldson). Charly (Caruso Forum moderator) advocates a low F# which could serve the same purpose. If I start thinking too much when playing, I'm doomed...

FWIWFM (for what it's worth from me) - Don
_________________
Don Herman/Monument, CO
"After silence, that which best expresses the inexpressible, is music." - Aldous Huxley

_Don Herman · Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2003 8:47 pm Post subject:

p.s. Clyde Hunt's book Sail the Seven C's spends a bit of time describing static vs. dynamic embouchures.

(Sorry for the 2nd post -- couldn't edit my post above for some reason???)
_________________
Don Herman/Monument, CO
"After silence, that which best expresses the inexpressible, is music." - Aldous Huxley