mctrumpet

Some director or trumpet player once told me that if you can play the trumpet with the tuning slide all the way in and play in tune you have the perfect embouchure. Any truth to this?

wiseone2

None at all. Who thinks this stuff up?
Wilmer

Brekelefuw

People who can talk the talk but can't walk the walk.

et_mike

Clarinet players...

mctrumpet

hahahahaha thats exactly what i thought. hahaha thanks for the info

Trumpet guy

Playing in tune with the tuning slide all the way in only happens when either the instrument is cold or you are forcing the pitches down with your embrochure. lipping the notes down adds difficulty to playing the trumpet as well as for endurance.

flugelgirl

Actually, it can be a real pain! I tend to play on the flat side and rarely have much tuning slide showing. Most of the guys I work with live on the sharper side of life, and some days it's a real challenge to stay in tune with them, especially when it's cold! In the words of one of my former teachers "Just play and don't think about it so much." Just play in tune - end of story.

Pete

Trumpets are inherently designed to play in tune with the slide out a bit.If they weren't, most trumpets would not be usefull in playing situations.

Maynard had his tuning slide out. Wayne has his tuning slide out. There is so much misinformation out there.

This comment about the slide would more likely come from a band director than a trumpet player.

Pete

Solar Bell

That person is a perfect imbecile.

-cw-

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