tpter1

We had one of those just now in a lesson that I wanted to share with you, Manny. And as so often happens, one good thought raises new questions.

I was reviewing one of the suggestions you made to me with her (making fishface...) and the question of mouthpiece placement came up. I helped her re-place her moputhpiece (she was fairly high...almost all upper lip), and then she mentioned what came to be our epiphany: (student) "Do you feel your teeth on the mouthpiece when you play?" says I. How could I have missed that?

Anyway, to my question(s) (sorry to have taken the scenic route): 1. have you ever seen that before? 2. If so, how did you help the student solve it? 3. If not, any suggestions to help her?

Manny Laureano

Wow, Glenn,

That's a new one. I just tried to do that and found it impossible. What that makes me wonder is whether her nomenclature is right. Maybe it's as simple as how she's labeling the sensations but I'm stymied if she's accurate.

Maybe, since she's a newbie, she's overly aware of the teeth against her lip? Is she an upstreamer?

ML

tpter1

I was pretty stumped, too. I asked her 3 times what she meant. If by "upstreamer" you mean a slight tip of the head ...no. She's fairly level. She is using excessive pressure to compensate for a misformed and improperly placed embouchre. (There's a bit of a bee's nest building here, I think; it all seems to be surrounding this teeth problem).

Might it be that the pressure is causing her to percieve that her teeth are on the mouthpiece? (This seems consistent with what you are saying). So, then, aside from "palming" the horn (which we tried...she got to MAYBE middle C; normally she can do up to about Bb above the staff), any suggestions on alleviating pressure?

Manny Laureano

Well, Glenn, pressure is always alleviated by the following:

a full bank of air subsequently released in a supported, relaxed way

the corners of the lips going out to meet the mouthpiece instead of pulled back in the extreme smile position (smile advocates will note the use of the word "extreme"- no irate e-mails).

I like to think, to explain further, of the mouthpiece as having four points of contact rather than the two up and down ones we often think of. So, like a compass, it's N, S, E, and W. Bringing the lips to the E and W points make a nice cushion that eases pressure when all is backed up by a good, healthy approach to wind instrument breathing.

Hope there's something in there you can use, my friend.

ML