| Franz,
Welcome to TM first of all; enjoy the site on behalf of myself and the other moderators.
What you're doing is not unusual. You probably used to do it when you were younger but now notice it more since you're not playing every single day. My advice is for you to practice using a Hooooh (like "who") away from the horn. While you intone that, imagine that you are ascending into the upper register. If you maintain that "HooH" you'll get out of that habit and start to think of yourself as a very stable force as you ascend. The first couple of times you'll notice that you want to clamp and shut your mouth as you ascend. That's normal. Notice it and move on. Keep working at it until you notice that you're doing it correctly even when you imagine yourself playing in the altissimo register. Your surrounding muscles will ache a little but that's to be expected as they're doing something new.
The other thing that will happen is that your "stomach" will very quickly shrink since this literally knocks away all the resistance the horn, mouthpiece, and embouchure create naturally. Your aim is to dissolve that resistance so you can blow past the horn as though it weren't there.
Be well, Franz
ML |