mazzrick

Not that this is too much on the point of this director's statement, which should be disregarded as everyone says as he/she clearly has no clue... but is there such a thing as a perfect embouchure? Some people have overbites, underbites, crooked teeth, or are just simply not symmetrical. So with that being said, isn't the best thing we can strive for is a comfortable and efficient embouchure that allows us to easily handle our playing demands. These differ from high to low players and chamber music soloists to big band players, so the main point is that there is no such thing as a perfect embouchure.

Warren Deck, ex tuba player of the NYP who developed facial distonia and no longer plays, told me that he was overly type A with his embouchure and tried to over-control every movement his mouth made when he played. He thinks that was the cause of the general problem with him playing, worrying too much about the actual embouchure itself.

Matt