Balanced Embouchure Lessons With Jeff Smiley

Lex Grantham · Posted: Fri Nov 14, 2003 9:59 pm Post subject:

It has been some months, but I am re-posting my first BE lesson with Jeff Smiley to help all to see what some of the concepts are:

On Saturday afternoon, February 9, 2002, I was very pleased to go to Jeff Smiley's home in Garland, Texas (on the northeast side of Dallas) for a session in his "Balanced Embouchure (BE)". When I met Jeff, I was very delighted to meet a man whose concern for trumpet/cornet students and their progress is very profound and genuine. As the time with him passed (far too quickly), I discovered a very kind and patient man... very knowledgeable about various trumpet players and the methodologies with which many of us are familiar.

I have had a copy of Jeff's book "The Balanced Embouchure" for several months, and to me, it is one of the best designed and clearly-written trumpet documents that I have ever experienced. I have read the manual 3 times already, but I have always preferred to have a face-to-face encounter with a teacher (if at all possible)...in addition to having read the book. I told Jeff that (initially) the ability to hear and perceive (in person) what the teacher can demonstrate has much impact for me. That does not infer that once I went back to my home I would NOT still have questions later. However, it would be almost like trying to cure one's ails without a doctor visit when deemed proper.

The session started by Jeff asking me what I wanted to achieve in the lesson. My answer was that I wanted him to show me the basic movements of his BE, the types of concepts that he would possibly teach students who are new to his ideas. He knew that I had been following Superchops for some months, but his published exercises seemed to be worthwhile for my consideration in my desire to learn more about current trumpet/cornet pedagogy.

For you that have the BE manual already, I have been impressed with the pictures of his students on the cover of the book. I told him that the young lady at the very top of the cover appears to have an embouchure that has things "under control". He assured me she DOES, and plays quite well for being ONLY a seventh grade student in middle school. She already experiences 'high C" playability. Remarkable!

THEN, we commenced the lesson.

Roll-In Concepts
-------------------

I was instructed to form a Lip Clamp by rolling in both lips just ABOVE the upper teeth. That gives a foundation against which the lips can form more properly. And it might be necessary to place the lower lip (slightly) over the edge of the upper lip for compression. Jeff suggested that I press the lips together and hold in this postion until a slight burning sensation occurs. It is only necessary to do this a couple of times a day, but not just before practicing or performing. The isometric exercise will aid in strengthening the embouchure. A picture of the "clamp" appears on page 80 of the manual.

Once the lips were "clamped", it was now time to blow air for attaining a "high squeak". As I blew the air through the "Clamp", I then placed the trumpet (while still blowing air) to my lips to discover what happened next. Almost immediately (real luck), a G just on top the staff sounded softly and nicely...with very little effort. Jeff advised me that it was the DESIRED result of the endeavor. He was very encouraging. Besides, he had a nice smile pointed in my direction. He stated that if the player starts to get a real lip buzz while trying this exercise, that would be incorrect, and one should immediately stop and try again. The idea is to let the highly-compressed air do its job.

Then I was instructed time and time again to "Lip Clamp" above the lower edge of my upper teeth, start the air, keep it going, put the horn to my "Clamp", and sound the G on top the staff. I was not as successful (several times) after the good first attempt. It was a matter of some fine adjustments (experimentation) to find the "sweet spot" for everything coming together. I have a tendency to (sometimes) play just to the left of center of my embouchure. I think I am able to get a fuller sound that way. Jeff said that is fine. He recalled some professional players and teachers that were able to play "anywhere" on their lips and do quite well. It is a matter of finding what works "best" for the student...some experimentation.

At any rate, when I used trial and error, I was able to attain the soft G on top the staff once again. Then it was a matter of seeing if I could consistently sound the pitch...not always successful, though. One other suggestion was that once the G sounds, keep the "Clamp" by breathing through the nose to replenish the air supply within the body. That maneuver assists in retaining the formation of the lips. As Jeff was assisting me with the roll-in concept, he demonstrated the importance of loose corners by having me press my index finger against both lips in the center. That was stressing the role of the mouthpiece in playing. It was also very important NOT to use too much mouthpiece pressure. He told me to allow air to escape out both corners of the lips freely as I blew. He was constantly reminding me of the importance of loose corners by putting a mirror to my face to indicate what I should look for. I rather looked like a chipmunk with jaws full of acorns to be stored somewhere for the winter, but Jeff's kind words were "it is a means to an end"...a VERY patient gentleman.

Jeff also pulled out his copy of Jerry Callet's preamble to SuperChops..."Trumpet Yoga"...which by the way, is no longer in print. By showing me some of the pictures of a younger Jerry Callet, it was rather evident that the man had LOOSE corners when he played trumpet. The old saying..."a picture is worth a thousand words"???

As time passes for his students, Jeff stated there is a tendency to lessen the exaggerations that may be needed for accompishing the roll-in aspect of BE. He said the "Lip Clamp" will naturally move from its initial position above the upper teeth to the place that will accommodate the individual player. Pages 83-93 in the BE manual explain and present exercises for the player to use in becoming proficient (and efficient) in roll-in techniques.

Roll-Out Concepts
--------------------

The second major facet of BE is that of learning roll-out techniques for pedal tone playing. There are pictures of students on page 63 of the manual. The exaggerated formation of the lips is needed for success and is another "means to an eventual end". What must be done is to place the mouthpiece rather high on the upper lip and turn the lower lip far out to accommodate the lower rim of the mouthpiece on the inside (fleshy) tissue. Jeff stressed to me to try to get plenty of upper lip into the mouthpiece and the upper lip well down toward the lower part of the mouthpiece for attaining an almost "guttural" sound on pedal tones. It is also recommended that the bell of the trumpet/cornet be up as if pressing the horn (but not overdone) into the upper lip. Some experimentation may be necessary for this maneuver. I had to try different positions (with Jeff's suggestions) to get the type of sound he was wanting to hear from me. The roll-out instructions and exercises are on pages 62-73 of the BE manual. Do not expect the pedal tones to be beautiful...I do not believe they are supposed to be for all intents and purposes here.

Tongue-On-Lips Concepts
-----------------------------

The third major concept that Jeff presented to me was that of tonguing with the tip of the tongue against the inside of the upper lip. That idea is explained on pages 123-125 of the BE manual. Exercise 1 (page 125) consists of two-bar phrases ( 4 quarter notes and one whole note) on each diatonic pitch of the staff from low C to G on top the staff. The idea was for me to play VERY full and pop the tongue tip behind the back of the upper lip. And the difficult thing I found was to keep the upper lip down (below the cutting edge of the upper teeth) for articulation. The tendency was to allow the upper lip to move upward as I ascended...possibly due to what many of us have grown accustomed in the past. But this simple exercise is great (and simple enough) in that a player can play it from memory and concentrate more on the tongue tip articulating behind the (downward) inside of the upper lip. When the exercise has progressed to being played more correctly, Jeff suggested adding a "zip" to the third count of the whole notes each time and allowing the fourth count for taking a breath for the next phrase. It is really surprising just how much air is used up in a short time because of energy used in executing new ideas. A "zip" is merely a stopping of the note with the tip of the tongue...rather abrupt and not what a band or orchestra conductor would want to hear from a trumpet player. Jeff's take on the "zip" is that it helps to strengthen the action of the tongue and also gets the lips more forward to the mouthpiece...again, a "means to an eventual end".

It is the Roll-In and Roll-Out exercises, done in combination, which eventually guide the embouchure to an efficient balance point...hence the very appropriate title of the methodology, "The Balanced Embouchure".

By that time, the sun was well down in the west, and it was time to leave a much-too-short a session for a very interesting BE lesson. I do appreciate what Jeff Smiley has done for the trumpet player by writing a very excellent book and helping others to interpret its contents for much important progressing toward achieving one's musical goals.

Sincerely,

Lex Grantham

[ This Message was edited by: Lex Grantham on 2003-11-15 01:03 ]

Lex Grantham · Posted: Fri Nov 14, 2003 10:01 pm Post subject:

And here is my second BE lesson with Jeff Smiley on May 23, 2003:

The first time I saw Jeff Smiley was when I had a Balanced Embouchure lesson with him on February 9, 2002 at his home in Garland, Texas.

I saw him again this week at the International Trumpet Guild Conference at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas. He was one of the many enterprises that were exhibiting instruments, printed music, recordings, and accessories. Jeff, of course, was in attendance to promote his fine book (with CD), "The Balanced Embouchure". In talking with him, the relationships between the roll-out and roll-in exercises (pages 60 and 75 in the book) were discussed. The ability to incorporate the two extremes into one continuous flow from low to high and back down is the desired goal of the trumpet player.

To me, the roll-outs have always appeared easier to accomplish than the roll-in exercises. In approximately 30 minutes, Jeff was able to view my embouchure setup and make a few suggestions for development and improvement. This is what he said:

1) Make the "old man" grimace (page 80 in the book)
2) Blow air (but do not allow a buzz) -and-
3) Put the mouthpiece (with horn) to the lips
4) Put mouthpiece as low as possible on the upper lip to aid the air in initiating an easy sound. Since the red of the lips has been rolled in, a lot of upper lip is not necessary.
5) Keep blowing until a sound (ever so slight) starts on its own
6) Repeat steps 1-5 if necessary, but keep the mouthpiece in place all the time, and breathe through the nose to maintain the setup.

With patience and about 5-10 minutes of this procedure for each practice period, one can look forward to success in improving his/her playing the upper register of the instrument.

I was very encouraged by the potential results with such a short amount of experimentation. Jeff did say that players are very individual, and different people will (may) take varying amounts of experience in order to attain the same types of goals.

His suggestions were specifically for me, but they might also work for others.

In his "Balanced Embouchure" book, Jeff Smiley says that he prefers to instruct a student on how to position the lips and then let him/her experiment by moving the lips more or or less in the right direction to discover the details for him/herself. These instructions are more general in nature, but also keep in mind that he was looking directly at my face to tell me "specifically" what I needed to do for my "own" development. In the book, he offers ideas for a player to consider when attempting BE, based upon his experiences with many students over many years. There are various amounts of experimentation needed with different players. Each person has to try to find out what works for him/herself. A doctor may not necessarily prescribe the same medication for two patients with sinus/allergy symptoms. So it is when a trumpet teacher prescribes what must be done to learn some aspect of the instrument.

Another point is that when a player is trying to attain a gentle sound from the roll-in setting, the initial note could be a second-line G in the staff or any other pitch (open valves) above that. It is not necessary to be able to play an E above high C right away...but good if it does occur. However, over a period of time, the player should try to ascend higher in the staff so that pitches above high C will eventually be relatively easy to attain.

Jeff told me months ago that eventually the lips will figure out what to do in terms of the roll-in and roll-out exercises working together in a smooth union, and that is WHY it is called the "Balanced Embouchure".

Thank you, Jeff Smiley, for your continued interest.

Sincerely,

Lex Grantham

P.S. One important fact that came out of the conversation with Jeff was that a player should attempt to determine if he/she might be able to play on more than one horizontal position on the lips. It is very possible that a better, more efficient buzz point could be discovered. In my case, to the left of center was good for me. Rafael Mendez was quite astute at multiple settings. He did so because of an injury to his mouth that was sustained in 1929, when he was only 23 years old. He basically had to relearn the instrument, and that made experimentation an important requirement for success.

baker · Posted: Sat Nov 15, 2003 12:45 am Post subject:

Hello Lex,

thanks for your post. That makes a new sight for Jeffs book from the view of a student.

Welcome Jeff, it is great to have this forum here.

I recived Jeffs book in Dezember last year and have to say, it is very clearly written and easy to understand. The CD with it helps a lot.

To my shame I have to say, I haven't practised very much till now. But I decided now to go for it and try it.

So this forum will be a good source to go on the right track.

Lex, pleace keep us informed, how it works out for you.

Best wishes

Henning

_________________
_______
Holton LT 302
Courtois Flugel
Wiseman Case

[ This Message was edited by: baker on 2003-11-15 10:02 ]

Ricetrpt · Posted: Sat Nov 15, 2003 8:15 am Post subject:

Lex-
Do you know if Smiley was at all influenced by Armando Ghitalla? I ask becuase the "clamp" idea, followed by the effortless upper register is exactly what Ghitalla had me do when he changed my embouchure 5 years ago. The whole concept was to start with an easy upper register and move down from there. I just thought the coincidence was too much.

trumpetteacher1 · Posted: Sat Nov 15, 2003 8:50 am Post subject:

Rice,

You were lucky to have studied with Ghitalla. As a teacher, he was often treated poorly by his peers, which was totally unjustified.

I hope to contrubute several posts about Ghitalla here in the coming months. Inspired by Ole Utnes, I've spent quite a bit of time talking to Ghitalla students. Unfortunately, I've had an unfilled Ghitalla review link on my website for over a year, but maybe this forum will get me going!

To answer your question, no, I was not influenced by Ghitalla. I only learned about his pedagogy after he died, which was about 6 months after I published the book. Had I known - mentally kicking myself - I would have visited him at Rice long ago. Some things aren't meant to happen, I guess.

Do you know Zach Enos? He was a grad student at Rice last year, who has the BE book. Zach is a great guy who I hope will check in here from time to time.

Jeff Smiley

[ This Message was edited by: trumpetteacher1 on 2003-11-15 11:53 ]

Ricetrpt · Posted: Sat Nov 15, 2003 8:54 am Post subject:

I do know Zach Enos very well. He and I were at Rice together for both years of his masters work. Last I heard he was suffering the cold in Michigan.

I think there should definitely be more mention of Ghitalla's teaching on this website. Any teacher that can produce students like Bob Sullivan, Ray Mase, and Rolf Smedvig must have been doing something right. Well, look forward to learning more about BE.

ljazztrm · Posted: Sat Nov 15, 2003 12:56 pm Post subject:

I apologize if this is a repeat posting...I can't remember where I was last posting about BE. The BE book is the best embouchure development book I have ever come across...and I am familiar with most of the ones that have been out there. For my own development I have come to realize that lip slurs are the key for me and I have a regimen I practice out of the Irons book. I decided on this approach after being influenced by a tremendous lead/commercial player in my area named Chris Jaudes and I got the specific Irons routine I do from another herald member with the user name Quadruple C. Because I have developed a very good embouchure I feel the lip slurs are the key for me now. I assume most of you have Jeff's book and Jeff states that: 'What I eventually figured out was that lip slurs are most successful when the embouchure is already more or less balanced.' (pg.94) Jeff has some great suggestions for the slurs...including 'snapping' the notes...I was re-reading BE the other day and realized that the Irons was automatically making me do this when I got to a very fast, even speed.

There has been some mention of Ghitalla...my old college teacher, Ray Mase, had his embouchure changed/modified by Ghitalla with this lip clamp/mmm approach. I also have heard that Ghitalla helped Bill Chase in this way as well.

Jeff, glad to see you have a forum here on the Herald! All the best, Lex.

ljazztrm · Posted: Sat Nov 15, 2003 1:00 pm Post subject:

p.s.- I wanted to add that over the last few years I had done exercises that have similarities to Jeff's at different points in time...I think that is what led to an efficient embouchure approach. Of course usually I would come across one teaching saying to do one thing (i.e.-pedals) and another teaching talking about something else (approaching from the high register down..etc). The beauty of Jeff's book is that ALL the elements are combined to form a BALANCE! So much better and quicker results I think follow in getting the embouchure to move in the most efficient way.

trumpetteacher1 · Posted: Sat Nov 15, 2003 1:29 pm Post subject:

Hi Lex!

I've seen some of your posts lately. Man, you seem to be on the mouthpiece safari through eternity. LOL!

For those that don't know, Lex is a freelance lead player/jazzer in NY. At least, I think you are still in NY. Knowing you, you could be in Tibet or something!

I have an extensive background with the Irons material, as well as Irons slurs modified by Claude Gordon. In fact, for years, that's what I taught. But eventually I wrote out my own more streamlined lip slurs, which fit in more easily with the other BE exercises. Still, Colonel Irons was a hoss in his day, and his exercises will live on forever. I credit him in the preface of the BE book.

For a little extra range workout, you might check out #13 and #14, which start on a higher partial than Irons does. I have three high school students who can do them this year.

Thanks Lex, for the nice words. Your input is always interesting, and appreciated!

Jeff Smiley

[ This Message was edited by: trumpetteacher1 on 2003-11-15 16:31 ]

ljazztrm · Posted: Sun Nov 16, 2003 1:37 am Post subject:

Hey Jeff..Lex here...thanks for the reply:) Yeah, wish I was in Tibet...but, as you know, wherever you go..there you are;)

The slurs from 11-14 are exactly what I think benefit the advanced player with an already Balanced Embouchure. From studying with Chris Jaudes and seeing his routine, I watched him doing amazing Irons-like flexibilities..usually not above high c though. It seems to me that the most important aspect is covering the range of motion from low f# to the mid-high register. Again, I am not a teacher but more of an experimenter of techniques to see what will enable me to play what I want to play musically on the horn in the most efficient manner, so I do not know exactly why this is working. My theory is that it is strengthing the tongue to hold the level necessary for the notes being played.

As far as my mouthpiece safari...wow! I don't know exactly why...but I love to experiment with mouthpieces....I have been doing so since, believe it or not, 9 years old! Just recently I feel I have found a mouthpiece that can do very well with both lead and jazz...a Mark Curry 8.5DE...The DE cup is a medium shallow double cup design which is working great for me....I wish Bobby DeNicola's pieces were moer available as well...and, as you mention in your book, Radtke does some outstanding work as well.

Here is an interesting post from a user called 'Fast Freddy' about Irons:
"Don't know about double 'C' but I had a very solid double 'B' my junior year of high school. I nailed that note everytime we played the 6/8 section of West Side Story (right after the triplet section). My story is a little bit on the strange side... see, I never really knew what my "highest note" was and didn't even know I could play the 'B' until the jazz band director asked, "Think you can play that B up an octave?". For me, it was never halfway there... the note was either a solid note or it was nothing at all. I never had a private teacher, was just told about the Earl Irons book my freshman year and really woodshedded that book from then on. Luckily for me I had a lot of things going my way "naturally". That said, the upper register wasn't something I necessarily dwelled on as I hardly ever worked on playing as high as I could during practices. I'd say that most of the studies I worked never pressed my range beyond 'F' above high 'C'. I never saw a lead part that required anything higher than the double 'B' from West Side Story

[ This Message was edited by: ljazztrm on 2003-11-16 04:39 ]

Lex Grantham · Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2003 2:06 pm Post subject:

From my two BE lessons with Jeff Smiley (posted above), I have extracted the following excerpt for additional comment:

<<One important fact that came out of the conversation with Jeff was that a player should attempt to determine if he/she might be able to play on more than one horizontal position on the lips. It is very possible that a better, more efficient buzz point could be discovered. In my case, to the left of center was good for me. Rafael Mendez was quite astute at multiple settings. He did so because of an injury to his mouth that was sustained in 1929, when he was only 23 years old. He basically had to relearn the instrument, and that made experimentation an important requirement for success. >>

What I have done (on and off) for some time now is to see if there truly is a better buzz point for me. It makes sense that the basic horizontal positions for "my" mouthpiece on my lips are:

center
left of center
right of center

Like so many players, I have gone many years with a "center" placement because of traditional (???) ideas...what many teachers have probably encouraged since Noah built the ark. The feeling for me has been that by placing the mouthpiece in the center of things, I have about an equal amount of strength coming from both sides of the mouthpiece for support.

When I have tried placing the mouthpiece to the "left" of center, the sound has a tendency to leap out of the horn with a nice clarity and smoothness... particularly as I move scalewise...up and down. My pitch level appears to remain more constant there, too. Who doesn't desire a more-stable and in-tune sound from a trumpet? The drawback to this (at times) is that my strength in that position just is not always there yet. And being that the lips may be a tad bit thinner away from center, it can be very easy to push the mouthpiece into the lips too hard...no one wants sore lips either.

The "right" of center is fairly good, too, but the sound has not quite the "openess" that exists with the "left" of center. More experimentation with this "right" of center idea might possibly yield more-positive results than currently.

One evening a few weeks ago, I was sitting in a band rehearsal, and I actually went from one horizontal position to another during the course of the evening. That reminds me of an interesting story that was once relayed to me by a trumpet teacher/friend of mine.

When he was a trumpet student at Juilliard many years ago, his trumpet professor was Edward Treutel. Once in a lesson, my teacher asked Mr. Treutel is there was a recommended horizontal position for the mouthpiece on the lips. His answer was:

"Somewhere between both ears!"

And with that, Professor Treutel commenced to start on one side of his mouth with a buzz and move the mouthpiece all the way across the lips, producing a tone as he progressed.

Sincerely,

Lex Grantham

[ This Message was edited by: Lex Grantham on 2003-11-19 17:09 ]

oj · Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2003 10:59 pm Post subject:

Jeff,

Yeah, it would be great to have something about "Mundy" (Ghitalla) in this forum:

Btw, I sent this to Jeff in January 2002:

Jeff,

Are you a member of ITG?
Or, more precisely have you read an interview by Jean Moorehead (in ITG Journal Feb. 1987) with Armando Ghitalla?

If not - you should.

It is the closest I've seen so far to your own thinking.

Mundy is in favor the "clamp" (roll in as he says) and he also likes the Callet pedals.

He does of course not combine them into a "balanced system" as you do.

Regards,

Ole

P.S.
You all should read this great interview from 1987! If you are a member of ITG you will find the interview on the ITG Journal CD (1976 - 1999).

Warner · Veteran Member Joined: 20 Sep 2005 Posts: 125

hmmmm im now a bit confused, i didnt realize that when u do the lip clamp squeak there isnt meant to be any kind of buzz at all, so its literally just meant to be a continuous squeak hiss sound? Guess ive been doing it wrong then

trumpetteacher1 · Posted: Mon Nov 21, 2005 7:08 pm Post subject:

Warner,

A hiss is a hiss.
A squeak is a squeak.
A buzz is a buzz.

A hiss is like wind whistling through a crack.
A squeak is a high-pitched sound similar to the sound made when releasing air in a balloon while the opening is stretched.
A buzz is the sound made when more of the full lips are engaged.

You don't need to buzz or even squeak the lips to get RI to work. As it says in the book, the hiss is most important.

Does this answer your question?

Jeff

Warner · Veteran Member Joined: 20 Sep 2005 Posts: 125

Yeah thanks Jeff i think i understand now, think i just need to take a step back and try getting more of a hiss sound on the lipclamp than the squeaky buzz i have at the mo. One final question though, when i have the clamp set with the lips rolled in above the teeth and i blow air through it i get the air pockets which you state is natural but are these air pockets meant to have pushed the roll in lips away from above the teeth?

trumpetteacher1 · Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2005 6:45 am Post subject:

I think that you are looking for detailed answers that nobody can give you, similar to the question, "exactly how many centimeters apart must my teeth be to play correctly?"

The best the BE book can ever do is get you in the ball park. Exact details are the responsibility of the player.

To answer your question, the degree that air pockets will push the lips away from the teeth will vary from player to player.

Jeff