ndelson

Manny,

I have a question regarding my initial breath.

I am always concerned with breathing out of the corner of my mouth while leaving the mouthpiece set on my chops, but I find that when I do that, I tend to over-do the smile thing, lose endurance, and my tone suffers.

When take a full breath with my corners relaxed or even slightly pushed forward (without my embouchure set), the tone opens up, but I am concerned that it take too long to breathe, then set, the start the pitch. The start of the note is too "airy" and the tongue takes a split second to engage.

Hopefully this makes sense and thanks for your input!


Best,
Neil

Manny Laureano

Neil,

You and I differ when it comes to breathing.

When I go to play, I put the horn up to my face and take a breath from the center of my mouth, not the corners. Secondly, I don't "set'. I play the moment I'm done breathing. Go to monette.net and watch what I do if you're interested in that perspective. There are several different shots of me playing and you can decide for yourself how comfortable/effecient it all seems to you.

Your method (as you described) seems too troublesome for me. I prefer a more simple approach such as I described.

ML

ndelson

Thanks for your reply-- I did check out the videos and I understand what you are saying.

I think you have achieved an ease of playing that I clearly have not, so I guess that is why my breathing seemed so different or complicated. I will do my best to simply breathe in as much as possible and let the music happen.

Thank you for your help!
Neil