Dear Fellows, I been following the BE thread with great interest. I hope you do not mind me sharing my recent BE experiences so far.
I am a band instructor and a specialist horn tutor in secondary schools (junior high?). I ordered my BE book months ago (February?) and decided then I was too busy for BE; and I admit it also seem radical then. I thought I was managing 'well' despite my struggles on my instrument. Recently I am going through both a career change and hence have more time for playing the horn; and also a much needed embouchure correction under guidance from a friend who is teaching French horn in Germany. I was struggling with the embouchure change to what that should be proper (flat/pointed chin and einsetzen), and was incapacitated for past couple of weeks. Having the luxury of time now, and watching with interest the recent BE controversy in the forum, I thought I might as well use the BE method that was collecting dust on my shelf. I have nothing to lose really, so I read carefully and struggled with the roll-out exercise #1 to #3 for one whole day and manage also to effect the lip clamp squeak. I then went for a rehearsal the next evening not knowing what to expect and tried playing the concert repertoire of about 12 crazy pop pieces with my 'normal and proper' setup. Nothing BE about it, but the facility of the 'normal' embouchure increased many fold. I hop around between 4th horn and 1st horn parts with growing confidence. I enjoyed surprisingly good tone with no distortion, greater flexibility and accuracy. and I can now take my mind off to focus on articulation and more musical expression. a very real zero to hero experience for me. The next evening which was yesterday, I only did 5 minutes of the roll-out exercises as clumsy warm up and used a mouthpiece totally different from what I used the day before. I had the same success with this mouthpiece (which I felt wasn't a good mouthpiece before). The change in the sound, efficiency and facility is equally dramatic but my colleagues observed little or no visible change in my einsetzen setup. Tomorrow is the 3rd repertoire session, Mozart Serenade in C minor, I did nothing today save a couple hours of BE RO exercise #1-#4 and lip clamp squeaking. I look forward to tomorrow and I am going use the most un-preferred mouthpiece in my inventory. I have to say I still sound terrible when I struggled with the BE exercises for the 3rd day so far, but when it comes to 'normal' playing, the positive changes is both so dramatic and sudden, I can only attribute it to the effective of the BE program. It give me back the same sparkle like how i fell in love with horn as a child 25 over years ago. Hope this testimony is useful Yours sincerely Colin Ng Hornfellow Singapore ________________________________ From: valerie wells <[email protected]> To: horn list 2 memphis <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, August 15, 2011 4:42 PM Subject: Re: [Hornlist] BE issues and spamming. I'll try to answer the questions below, but I'm not sure my answers will make sense to anyone not familiar with the principles of BE. I've been accused of being cryptic or "teasing." I'm explaining things as clearly and openly as I can both in here and on my blog, but the problem is BE is one of those things that must be experienced to be understood. I practiced BE for a couple of years before I even began to understand how it works. I'm afraid I may only add to the confusion, but I'll try my best. Simon wrote: >>If you want to watch someone who uses BE, go on You Tube and watch >> Steven Park. I did. Amazing! But I don't see him rolling his lips... TaDah! That's the way it's supposed to be in performance! The rolling is small and mostly confined to the inside of the mouthpiece. However the BE exercises themselves, involve HUGE amounts of lip rolling, but ONLY as agility exercises to teach the player how to move out of a flat, one dimensional embouchure. Howard wrote: > So if Mr. Park exemplifies playing using BE, what does he do that gets > everyone so upset, and what is so revolutionary about what he's doing > (or about BE, for that matter)? This question has three parts. I'll break it down: (1) > So if Mr. Park exemplifies playing using BE < This goes along with what someone else wrote about Mr. Park >>>>Does this guy use BE?<< Steve Park is not "playing using BE." BE is not a technique or a specific embouchure we USE when we play. Rather BE is a set of exercises we practice to develop our embouchures. You cannot look at a person and see a "BE embouchure," because there is no "BE embouchure," but you may recognize some of the results of BE training in their playing. This is very difficult to understand, even for people who study BE. Early students of BE often think they are "doing BE" if they roll in for high notes and roll out for low notes. This direct application of rolling in and out is NOT "doing BE" and is of limited value. "Doing BE" really means doing the BE exercises. (2) >what does he do that gets everyone so upset,...<? If Steve Park does anything that upsets people, it's most likely because he's helping me, an amatuer, horn-playing grandma promote a method written by a trumpet teacher with no advanced music degrees or outstanding playing credentials. I can see how it is difficult for some to accept the notion that a legitimate method would have such humble origins. I also see why it may be irksome for some to see it growing in popularity. (3) >... what is so revolutionary about what he's doing (or about BE, for that matter)?< Good question, Howard. There's absolutely nothing revolutionary about the way he plays. Mr. Park (and many others) developed balanced chops using principals taught in BE without using the method in a formal sense. Mr. Park actually struggled with a challenging lip architecture that impeded his progress earlier in his career. He creatively corrected the problem using an unconventional technique he developed on his own. When Andrew Joy saw Steve's videos, Andrew was familiar enough with BE to recognize what Steve was doing. (Those not familiar with BE wouldn't.) Steve then began studying BE and found information in the book that specifically addresses & describes the principles & techniques he had used to develop his embouchure. He was pleased to find a simple, user friendly method to teach his students what he does. Steve Park is actually the first person I remember to apply the word "revolutionize" in the context of the BE method. See these links: http://beforhorn.blogspot.com/2010/09/be-can-revolutionize-teaching.html http://beforhorn.blogspot.com/2011/07/how-steve-park-came-to-be.html If not revolutionary, I do believe BE is radical. Here's why: The first note the horn student is taught to play in the BE method is a pedal F using an extreme embouchure set up. Soon after, they learn to play a high C, using a completely different embouchure set up. Then the student works from the downward from the top and upward from the bottom towards the middle. Every other method for horn I have ever seen starts in the middle and works outward. This is one reason I call BE "radical." Another reason I believe BE is radical is I know of no other horn method that uses the extremes of lip motion BE does. Milton wrote: >>So what is new. 2/3 1/3 has always been the norm for the horn!!..I THINK... << This statement reflects a common misconception of BE. Please understand that BE is not a specific embouchure. Mouthpiece placement is a personal choice for the brass player to make. Milton wrote: >>Smooth chin.... means you are not pinching!!!.... And if you can do it a,"formed" opening in the embouchure that looks like the opening of an oboe reed. Also means you are not pinching.<< "Sound", not "looks" or chin shapes is what BE students are encouraged to use to determine if their embouchures are functioning well. As is often misunderstood, chin shaping in BE is allowed to form and proceed naturally w/o being forced to any particular norm. Some have mistaken one of Jeff Smiley's observation on the flat chin to be a directive of his method. An observation & a method are not the same thing. About "pinching": BE exercises use the opposing forces of roll-out, roll-in and special breathing & tonguing techniques to help the player develop range without "pinching." Regarding 2/3's 1/3 mouthpiece placement, Milton wrote: >> Is there something very different in the BE that is different than that???<< Or is the method in the BE a way of moving to that configration??<< Great questions. YES to both! Yes, there's something very different in the BE method that improves the embouchure without dictating mouthpiece placement; it's the exercises. Yes, BE is a method that helps the brass player move towards an efficient configuration! That's a great way to say it, Milton! Thanks. Valerie Wells The Balanced Embouchure Method http://BEbabe.wordpress.com <http://bebabe.wordpress.com/> http://www.BEforHorn.blogspot.com <http://www.beforhorn.blogspot.com/> http://ComfyHornStrap.blogspot.com <http://comfyhornstrap.blogspot.com/> _______________________________________________ post: [email protected] unsubscribe or set options at https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/hornfellow%40yahoo.com _______________________________________________ post: [email protected] unsubscribe or set options at https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
