Some more embouchure questions I got via email. It’s very hard, if not impossible in some cases, to help someone troubleshoot embouchure problems via email. He asked some good questions, though, and others may be interested in this too.
My mouthpiece placement is slightly off to the left, but you would have to look closely at me to be able to see it. Do you recommend that I play with the mouthpiece directly into the center, or keep it where it is at?
Most players, in fact, play a bit off center. Human beings aren’t as perfectly symmetrical as we like to think we are. The teeth, gums, jaw malocclusion, and other factors that aren’t so obvious, all have an effect on just where the mouthpiece placement works best. Centering your mouthpiece placement because you think it looks best there is probably not going to be helpful. In fact, some players will find that by moving their placement off to one side makes things much easier, even without an obvious protruding tooth or other obvious anatomical feature.
You can try moving the placement more centered and see if it works better, but in and of itself a centered mouthpiece placement shouldn’t be a goal. You should also try moving the placement further to the left side, or even off to the right side. Sometimes this will do just the trick for a player.
Since my lower lip is slightly bigger than my upper lip, does that qualify me as a low placement embouchure based on my features?
There are some observable physical characteristics that do appear to correlate with a player’s embouchure type, but lip size is not one of them. Some anatomical features that do appear to affect embouchure type include the relationship of the lips to the teeth and the general shape and position the player’s lips have naturally. But there are really too many factors working together to be able to just look at someone’s face and tell them which embouchure type they should be playing with.
As an aside, don’t let anyone tell you that you would be suited for low brass because you have thick lips or high brass because you have thin lips. Successful brass players work with their anatomy, which is much more important to how well you play on any brass instrument than how thick or thin your lips are.
You said that if there is an embouchure change make sure that it is only practiced during the practicing session and not in performances.
What I generally recommend is a time and place (the practice room) for spending time practicing technique and not letting that become your end goal. It’s important to spend time practicing playing with musical expression, since that is what we want to focus on while we perform. You can’t perform in a way that you haven’t spent time practicing.
Sometimes, though, it might help during a performance to take a moment or two to evaluate how you’re playing and adjust accordingly. If making a particular embouchure correction helps you play better, then by all means go ahead and do it during a performance. If playing “wrong” (e.g., on an old embouchure type if a new and correct embouchure type is still adjusting) helps you play better during a rehearsal or performance, then go ahead and do it. Just don’t rely on doing this during your practice sessions.
How long or what will I need to do for my embouchure to take adaption to its new placement?
Never, if a new mouthpiece placement isn’t correct for your face. Many teachers make a big deal out of “fixing” an embouchure by moving a student’s placement to where the teacher plays and “letting the muscles develop.” If the embouchure type isn’t correct for the player, however, no amount of practice is going to make that student’s embouchure work better than playing consistently on the correct embouchure type.
Assuming that a new mouthpiece placement is correct for you, it really depends on the particular situation. My personal experience changing from improperly playing on a Medium High Placement embouchure to a Low Placement embouchure took about 3 or 4 months before I felt completely confident playing on my correct embouchure. Some players have an almost immediate boost in their playing, while others struggle for years. Probably the 3 or 4 months adjustment period is typical for major embouchure corrections, but that’s just my best guess. Everyone’s different.
The above answers are probably a little unsatisfying, because I can’t really offer any specific answers other than to say, “It depends on the player.” Still, if all you come away with is that every brass player is different, that’s an important lesson to learn. You shouldn’t try to model your embouchure after that of another player because it’s not going to fit your unique face. You shouldn’t teach your students to play with your embouchure because it’s equally not going to work best for all your students.
Thanks for your questions and for reading.
