{"id":2896,"date":"2012-02-06T04:47:08","date_gmt":"2012-02-06T09:47:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wilktone.com\/?p=2896"},"modified":"2023-03-29T11:48:55","modified_gmt":"2023-03-29T15:48:55","slug":"avoiding-the-bunched-chin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wilktone.com\/?p=2896","title":{"rendered":"Avoiding the Bunched Chin"},"content":{"rendered":"
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I’ve recently had the chance to work with a couple of players with embouchure issues that are both in part related to a bunched chin.  Both of these players have their chin disengaged and moving around separate from their jaw as they play.  Both have trouble holding the pitch steady when this happens.  This is a common issue with many younger players and sometimes, as in the case of the above mentioned two players, sometimes musicians will play this way for decades.  For some reason this seems more common with the two basic downstream embouchure types<\/a> and isn’t so frequent with the basic upstream type.  When it happens to very high placement type players there is frequently some type switching going on, so they may look like very high placement types in one register and medium high placement types in another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like some other embouchure problems (such as the smile embouchure), bunching the chin usually develops unconsciously because it works, to a certain degree.  What seems to be happening is that the player is compensating for a lack of lip compression while ascending by using the chin to push the lower lip up, rather than properly focusing the muscular effort at the mouth corners.  Sometimes there are other issues that accompany a bunched chin, such as holding the jaw in too open a position, allowing the jaw to recede too far (which then is followed by a loosening of the mouth corners, more pressure on the top lip, etc.).  You can see what a bunched chin looks like in the following video<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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