I am kind of tired of looking at "re mouthpiece question"; so I'm changing it; but not before I say this:
The one thing common to all of the pro embouchures pictured in the Farkas book is not 1/3 to 2/3 or vice versa; it is the 'flattened oval aperture' inside the ring. All that wonky looking lip stuff on the outside; that is just muscles pushing other muscles out of the way to make the hole in your lip the right shape. Okay, now here is the reason I deserve to have the last word: When I was in high school, I decided that one of the other horn players had a really 'nice looking embouchure'. Actually it looked exactly like his lower lip was stuffed below his upper lip; but since he was a better player than I was, it didn't matter. I did not do anything to imitate his lip position, however, because I was doing 'okay' just the way I was. One evening, I attended a horn chorus that was being run by this guy who used to be my second horn teacher (the first one only gave me one lesson). I was happily playing along with the rest of the fourth horns while this guy rambled up and down the line giving advice. When he got to me, he told me that I should be playing with my lip 'this way' (he demonstrated by stuffing his lower lip below his upper lip) **Stern Warning! Kids or anyone who is not a sax or clarinet player; I can't tell you not to do this; but if you do and your chops fail, that is your own fault** Trusting lil' ole me-I did as the guy asked. We played for another half hour, and I found my strength waning really fast with the 'new improved position'. But I thought it looked 'nice'; like my high school horn player buddy (who I had just beaten in state honor band two weeks ago by 26 chairs). In less than two days, I could no longer get a buzz on my horn; nor could I play above a third space C. It was a sort of good thing that school was out forever for me in any case (I was off to college on a music scholarship); because maybe I would be able to play again by the time school started. What happened is I spent two years in remedial training for my freshman and sophomore college years; on the Farkas book, no less, doing everything exactly as the book said. Two years later, one fine day, I suddenly found I could play up to a G on the staff; easily. It got better after that. Still better was that IHS workshop they held in Claremont in 1975 where Farkas gave each of us a 5 minute lesson on whatever we wanted. He sure was a nice guy. He showed me how to play up to a high C in only five minutes. Then he asked me to demonstrate in front of the entire workshop that afternoon. I was able to play a scale from third space C up to high C doing the simple little thing he told me to do. It is no secret; what he told me to do was: Stay Relaxed as possible in your mid range and Save the Tension for your High Range. So when I see posts from people about whether 1/3 or 2/3 or 0/3 is best, I hit the old Delete key. simply put, each of us is different. That is what Farkas wanted to show; that we may all be different on the outside of the mpc rim, but we are all the same on the inside. oh, and don't forget about *air support* That is a whole 'another book!' ardee The one thing I'd like to contribute here that is intended to keep some of the newbie players from hurting themselves unnecessarily is: 1. When you get tired, don't shove the mouthpiece harder against your lip to keep playing. You will stop your buzz from working properly. _______________________________________________ post: [email protected] unsubscribe or set options at https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
