chrisvenditti

Manny,
Could you give me your thoughts on corners, and their function. I have never really understood the function of the corners. My understanding is that if you bring your corners in than the center of the lips in the mouthpiece will relax and become more elastic. If this is done wrong can it mess with your sound? Do you have any exercizes or ideas you could give to me.
Thanks!
Chris

Manny Laureano

Go get a rubber band. Yeah, fine, I'll wait...

Okay? Grab two ends and stretch them equally apart. Notice the tension in the middle? Right. Now, create some slack. The middle point gets looser. If you continue to slacken the tension you'll have none. Now, the question is, how far do we carry this analogy? Not to terribly much because embouchure are far more complex and subject to, under ideal conditions, musical stimulation not just physical machinations.

There are several variations on corner involvement. The bottom line is producing the sound that is appropriate to the style of music you're playing. The only time to actually worry about the corners is when the sound consistently desn't speak. It's either too slack or too tight. I happen to prefer my corners in a bit and if a note goes to air I adjust by remembering to keep things a bit more stable.

But see, here's the thing: by consistently pronouncing TOO or TOH I accomplish the same thing without thinking in terms of physical matters. I prefer that method.

ML

chrisvenditti

Thanks Manny, I really appreciate it! Question....

"The only time to actually worry about the corners is when the sound consistently desn't speak. It's either too slack or too tight. I happen to prefer my corners in a bit and if a note goes to air I adjust by remembering to keep things a bit more stable. "

How does you adjust to keep things more stable?

-Chris

samdaman

Toh, Too, Tee, Tu, Tah, Tutti Frutti....

And also to piggy back on this question, in Scholossberg's Studies, the preface talks about pronouncing notes in the lower register with a Tah, the middle register with a Tu, and the upper register with a Tee. Does this have anything to do with corners tightening or is it just a mental thing???

Manny Laureano

It has to do with an approach to playing to which I don't particular subscribe. It's best to ask someone else. I approach tonguing by saying Tooh or Toh irrespective of register. Many don't agree with me. Many do.

ML

dbacon

Mr. Jacobs taught me to listen for "OOH-tOOH."

Hear the sound the air makes on the inhalation (OOOH, an open rushing sound) with the "tOOOH" articulation sound at the end of the inhale. All one motion, all a similar sound. The smaller t for me because I'd tend to hit it hard!!

Keith Johnson, my trumpet teacher then at Northern Iowa, taught this as well. How it sounded out front of the bell dictates what goes on physically. We would spend plenty of time matching articulations, back and forth, just listening to what's the same, what's different, what's the goal.

Thanks Keith!

cornetguy

I find the whole tongue thing to be one of those centipedal things. I think I "anchor" tongue but not 100% sure. I have know Idea I know I am thinking tAH or tOH but I don't really know what is going on physicallyl. At least for me this is one of the things to go by sound and not think about what is going on physically to avoid the dreaded "paralyis by analysis"

Eclipsehornplayer

I've learned over a short period of time that corners are just about everything!

I've found that if I don't support my corners properly by keeping them drawn firmly I tend to be very sharp in the lower register.

Of course if you don't pull them back you'll most certainly loose range above the staff.

I can't underscore enough the importance of the corners in your embouchre and their proper support.

Manny Laureano

Here's what this all reminds me of:

How to win at golf--- if you're not having a good day or your opponent is doing better than you and the score is close, at about the 9th hole say to him, "So, I love your swing, man, it's great. Show me what you do... I mean can you break it down? Oh, yeah, and how do you hold the club to get that loft on the short shots?"

Works every time. You'll catch up by the 12th hole and beat him by about 3 to 4 strokes.

ML

Mikey

ie: Over-analysis can lead to paralysis.

This technique also works great on cattle-call orchestra auditions, when everybody is waiting in one room......

(Which is why you see some experienced players wearing headphones and sitting in a corner with their eyes closed...)