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While getting back in shape from summer chops, I am playing the horn with the bell-off-the-leg (or even standing up, as my conservatory teaching had me do) almost exclusively. It really helps to line things up faster, even though I am an occasional on-the-leg player when I play gigs.
Dave Wilken makes a good observation that I think is related:
Many horn players rest the bell on their right leg. I try to discourage this because it more or less locks the player’s horn angle in one place that may not be ideal for the particular player. Players who do rest the bell on the leg tend to make their embouchure motion more like tubists or euphonium players by leaning slightly forward or backward.
Similarly, I try to discourage horn players from slouching and straightening to make their embouchure motion. Ideally, I think horn players should try to hold their instrument with both hands (the left hand on the valve grip and the right hand in the bell), keeping the instrument off the lap if possible. The embouchure motion can then be made by raising and lower the hands, rather than changing the position of their body (and potentially interfering with good breathing).
(More.)
[Extracted from a “Random Monday” post, 2021, JE]
