trumpetband

Hello all,

I have trumpet student who came to me with a bad embouchure. He kisses the mouthpiece therefore he uses the inside of his lips to play. As we all know this can lead to a stuffy sound with no range and no endurance.

I know this embouchure doesn't produce these effects in all cases but it is in his. I have chagned my emb. back in college with the help of my professor...I have never changed a students of my own because I start them correctly!

Any help to get him turned around would be greatly appreciated. I have told him him this would be a long process and we have started on baritone to focus attention on using the other parts of his lips.

That's where I have begun...can you help?

Eugene

kdawg

I've always wondered why it would be so bad to do this - there's a trumpet/f-horn player at our university who does it and he has no problems with his tone (its like butter)

now comes the fun of fixing it... what I would have him do would be to freebuzz in front of a mirror, focusing on a "rolled-in" feeling/look. I'm going to assume he's a downstreem player (if he isn't don't try this, it'll hurt more than it'll help) if he were a downstreem type player i would have him freebuzz then put the horn up to his lips while buzzing.
other things I would try would be to have him focus on the way it feels when his embechoure is "normal" with the mouthpiece on his face, then always try to duplicate it.
this is all off the top of my head, it'll be interesting to see what more experienced teachers say.
Oh, and you might want to have him try some of the BE approach too, that helps focus the embechure.

MUSICandCHARACTER

I agree, buzzing can do a lot. A clear Kelly mouthpiece can show a lot too!

I think a great way to help would be with a set of Chop-Sticks embouchure training weights. These weighted sticks have a twelve week program that trains the embouchure muscles. It will work the embouchure AWAY from the mouthpiece which is good since it is a temptation to go back to the old way.

It also has an advantage that the instructor can see the embouchure. Using these weights as stated in their manual, the the embouchure will develop nicely and correctly. I have used them personally with great success.

M&C