{"id":7346,"date":"2010-03-04T01:30:57","date_gmt":"2010-03-04T01:30:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wilktone.com\/?p=183"},"modified":"2023-03-26T10:52:25","modified_gmt":"2023-03-26T14:52:25","slug":"the-balanced-embouchure-a-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wilktone.com\/?p=7346","title":{"rendered":"The Balanced Embouchure: A Review"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I’ve recently got a couple of email inquiries about my thoughts on Jeff Smiley’s text and trumpet method, The Balanced Embouchure<\/em><\/a>.  I’ve gotten questions about it in the past, so I thought I’d reread this book and compile some of my thoughts here while they’re still fresh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Published in 2001, Smiley’s book is 149 pages (5 1\/2 inches by 8.5 inches).  He divides his text into two basic sections, an overview followed by his specific exercises.  The book is physically put together very well.  It’s spiral bound, contains several photographs and charts, and is accompanied by a CD of some of Smiley’s students performing many of the exercises contained in this text.  Smiley charges<\/a> $45 plus $5 shipping.  Additionally, Smiley has made much of the text from his book available on his web site, including excerpts from his Introduction<\/a> and chapters on Mechanics<\/a>, Performance<\/a>, and even some of his exercises<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I could have done without Smiley’s chapter “Mind\/Body.”  While it contains some common sense health advice (healthy diet, get plenty of sleep, keep your horn clean), a lot of it is highly questionable.  I showed this chapter to a friend who is a licensed S.T. (speech therapist).  She found several misleading or false statements just skimming through a couple of pages.  This book would be much stronger if he simply removed this chapter entirely, as Smiley is clearly not qualified to give medical advice (neither am I, for that matter, consult with your doctor).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smiley’s trumpet exercises are based around his philosophy of a “balanced embouchure,” detailed in his chapter on Mechanics.  However, the bulk of this chapter covers Smiley’s personal impressions and speculations based on playing sensations and don’t accurately depict what actually happens with a functioning embouchure.  My main complaint with his description of proper embouchure mechanics is his revolutionary hypothesis that tight corners create a flat chin and that this is only useful for 3 in 10 players.  First of all, I’m skeptical whenever anyone starts to throw around statical data based purely on their personal impressions<\/a>.  If Smiley used a properly controlled methodology to collect his data and a valid statistical analysis to come up with this figure he’s silent about it.  Since my embouchure research (and that of most others) suggest completely opposite, Smiley has the burden of proof here.  I imagine that most other brass teachers will want to see more than a summary of someone’s personal impressions before altering our instruction to something that is seen as doing more harm than good.  Particularly if you claim that your system “works for every trumpet player.”  If it’s so effective I’d expect to see at least a few really fine players around that have those embouchure characteristics, but I don’t.  Even among jazz brass players, who are much more likely to be self-taught and use what works, not what’s taught as “correct.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other elements from the Mechanics chapter are also questionable, although some of it may be related to a lack of accurate and common terminology to describe embouchure characteristics.  For example, what appears to be a “flat” chin on one player may not be the same look for someone else.  Glancing at the four photos of trumpet players on the cover of Smiley’s book shows one player whose chin looks OK to me (although her corners appear to be pulled back into a smile position, which correlates with range and endurance issues), but the other three examples have the muscles below their lower lip disengaged and moving separately from the bones of the chin (they have the characteristic “peach pit” look of a bunched chin).  This correlates with embouchure problems too, by the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Much of Smiley’s discussion about the use of the tongue are acknowledged to be greatly influenced by the teachings of Jerome Callet (who I’ll get around to discussing in more detail eventually<\/a>).  Briefly, Smiley feels that positioning the tongue at times so that it touches the lips can provide valuable feedback and help position the embouchure appropriately.  Again, since there are playing issues associated with doing this (more than just the split attacks that Smiley recognizes), I feel there may be better ways of getting the desired results that don’t risk the distortion of the embouchure formation when the tongue is regularly held in contact with the lips.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The exercises Smiley gives in his book are mostly variations of typical brass technique exercises, including lip slurs and tonguing exercises.  Some of his instructions and details for these exercises are unique to Smiley’s approach, such as his recommendation to “snap” the top note of an ascending to descending lip slur or tonguing on the lips.  The more unique exercises rely heavily on playing pedal notes.  His instructions with this regard I find particularly troubling.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Smiley’s instructions for this “roll out” lip position is to pucker your lips, place the mouthpiece almost all on the top lip, roll the bottom lip out under the mouthpiece,and tilt the horn up.  Why this embouchure formation is valuable for practice I don’t understand.  I don’t feel that it has any benefit that outweighs the risks associated with using more than one embouchure in the player’s normal range.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At this point, to understand some of my criticisms it might be helpful to take a look at a video of a trumpet player performing one of Smiley’s exercises from The Balanced Embouchure<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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