On Embouchure Changes

One of those “hot button” topics is that of mouthpiece placement. Last week I certainly pushed that button. With that post I also had a question come in on the topic of changing the embouchure, as a reader found a reference to an article in my website on the topic but it was not there now. It has actually been off the Horn Articles Online site for at least five years but the text will be back eventually, it has been expanded and worked into an upcoming publication.

The article that was in the site in the past had to do with telling my story of two major embouchure changes that I did during my studies. As noted yesterday, I started on trumpet so my initial setup was not really a horn embouchure setup; it was in fact about 2/3 lower lip. Early in the article I noted,

There are solid reasons why practically 100% of professional horn players play with more upper lip in the mouthpiece and the majority of professionals play with 2/3 or more upper lip in the mouthpiece. While nobody really wants to change their embouchure, for some horn players there will be nagging questions relating to tone, range, or endurance that may eventually have to be addressed with embouchure work.

Most commonly what I see students struggle with that would indicate that an embouchure change should be investigated is a very weak low register. To make it in horn performance the low register must be quite strong, and the low register is very sensitive to mouthpiece placement issues. There are things to try first and I always take a while to get to know a student and to see how far we can go without a major change. I do know how hard it can be. For example, in text recently added to the original article I note that

It is especially important to try the larger inner diameter mouthpiece as an option while you explore the low range, as it may open up the vibrating surfaces of your lips in such a way as to totally solve the problem. But if the problems are at their foundation the result of a too low basic mouthpiece placement the fact is that it may not be possible to solve the problem in any manner other than to actually change the embouchure.

Returning to my story, as I wrote in the original article a

Too-low placement of the mouthpiece was my own central embouchure problem that I had to fix as an undergraduate. I really did not want to change my embouchure; in fact, I was a bit stubborn and quite determined to make it work, and it actually did work fairly well over most of the range of the horn.

But early in college I could hardly play at all below low C; I was hardly conservatory material at that time. It is a large topic to consider carefully. I went into my changes with a clear idea of what walls were in front of me if I did not make some changes, and that the changes would be keys to reaching my goals on the horn. In a way I wish I had made the changes sooner, I would have progressed more quickly, but then again I was not ready to make the changes earlier so who knows.

Changing the embouchure will always be a difficult and very personal topic. The main things I would close with are 1) the goal should never be to make your embouchure look like a photo or a description in a book–what you need to adjust to get the results desired will be variable and related to your lips and prior setup, 2) changes should be made with clear goals in mind, and 3) remember that depending on the amount of actual change it may take you six or more months to be comfortable with the new placement. It is not something to go into lightly.