Mouthpiece placement

[Max Reverb]

Well, I tried SA today. Spent about 75 minutes or so working on getting the embouchure set. I've found that in order to make the pedal tones speak which in turn are supposed to give you the right set, I had to move my placement more onto my upper lip. Claude says thats what he did also and Clarke as well. I've seen footage of Lee Loughnane as well and he clearly plays with more mouthpiece on the upper lip and pretty much stays put. I've probably been a 50/50 set all my life, with the mpc moving to more of a 40/60 as I'd go into the upper register. I wouldn't do that on purpose, it just always shifted. I read in Claude's literature somewhere that his mpc would shift also as he went higher in a letter to Clarke. But Clarke didn't seem too concerned about it if it wasn't harming his playing. Just reset at the next break in the music, I guess. But to my earlier statement, this placement of more on the upper lip is very foreign. But it does make the pedals speak as I said and I was able to play my highest note which seemed easier, however I knew that the endurance would not be there if I chose to continue playing in that manner. The higher I placed the mpc, the greater ease I had with the pedals, heck, I even got down to double pedal C. But the higher the placement, the more stress was placed on my lower lip to the point it was pinched between the mpc and my lower teeth,(at times it seemed like the mpc was above or at least equal to the top of my bottom teeth) providing discomfort and a real concern of splitting my lip in future sessions. Of course this would not be an option. All seemed to work if I moved the mpc up, but of course, then the pedals were harder to get. Any advice would be appreciated.

I've been doin the Caruso for 2 months and have experienced improvement. Maybe I'm just too impatient. It just always seems I hit a wall tho in the range department. Very inconsistent. Maybe I push too hard and need rest. I dunno.

[pedaltonekid]

I think the most critical part of the set is to make sure that the red part of the top lip is not in contact with the rim of the mouthpiece. The mouthpiece rim should be outside of the red part of the lip. If that is not the case even light mouthpiece pressure will restrict blood flow to the chops and this will have a very negative effect on endurance. Outside of this I do not think that it is that significant.
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Best Regards, Play Well!!

[Bill Hicks]

Claude would never tell a student to place the mouthpiece anywhere, rather by doing the routines correctly the mp would gradually shift to where it works best for you. Most of his students ended up very high on the top lip but not all. Be patient, do the routines as prescribed and allow the mp to shift if it wants to, but don't try to force it.
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Bill Hicks
Claude Gordon student 1970-1987
Harry James Orchestra 1976-1979
American Music Theatre 1997-2008
Big Band Nostalgia 1990-2010
www.billhickstrumpet.com