My deepest sympathies are extended to the tender hearted gentlemen --Steve F., Paul, Mr. Reptile, Hans and Daniel-- who have been brutally forced to read my abusive posts as I have answered listers' questions regarding the method I use. I'll instruct my thugs to temporarily stop the beatings. You tender fellas may now use your delete buttons... but just this once. ;o)
Steve has asked some legitimate & thoughtful questions and he deserves answers. Now to Steve M's questions: >Q to that A: I'm sure there is, some other people seemed to not like the concept of rolling in and out, I was hoping to hear some alternatives. Popular idea or not, lip rolling is a very effective part of the method. The beneficial lip shaping skills developed by these techniques are further enhanced by the incorporation of specific tonguing & breathing techniques to balance the effects of rolling (and avoid pinching). XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX >Q to that A: I asked that because you mentioned using a distorted embouchure on purpose for the lowest note. My question is, since that wouldn't be a good way to play that note, why would you Practice it that way? Good question. The BE exercises with the distorted lip positions are used to train the lips to move, more or less, in the right direction. These exercises develop skills & flexibility by extending range of motion, training the lips to maintain an air seal while freely moving, etc. They help the horn player break out of the flat 2 dimensional embouchure box. BE students are not directed to use these extreme settings in actual performance, but they will benefit from the training. It's like this: a football player would not execute push-ups and agility drills during a football game, but the results of the training will help him be more successful in play. These exercises are also like three octave scales in the circle of fifths. You never see this in literature, but they are still very beneficial to developing musical skills. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX >>Here's a link to a video of a John Graas.? Look at his unusual embouchure. [John Graas clip.] >Q to that answer: You can always find exceptions, but I've found over years of teaching and observing, if it looks really weird, there are usually going to be some limitations.? Yes, I know what you mean....like Bruno Schnieder & Dennis Brain. ;o) Some people, who are not familiar with the BE method, imagine that BE transforms the embouchure into something peculiar just because the BE agility exercise are odd looking. I haven't seen this happen in the five years I've taught BE. I've been practicing BE exercises longer than any other horn player I know and from all outward appearances, my embouchure looks much the same as before i started BE -- a 2/3-1/3 set up. [Milton actually told me in San Francisco, that my embouchure looks like "classic Farkas."] I'll repeat, There is no such thing as a "correct BE embouchure" because BE is not an embouchure, but rather a set of developmental exercises to develop the embouchure, regardless of what it looks like. But, honestly, the real reason I included this clip is to show that there's no evidence of "damage" to John Graas's chops from playing with a bunched chin as Mr. Snake declared there would be. >>Ok, sorry Valerie, tell me if I'm being too much of a pain.<< Not a problem, Steve. And I believe my torture victims seem to enjoying the break I've granted them. Last I checked, they were crunching on Grape Nuts. Warm regards, Val -- Valerie Wells The Balanced Embouchure Method http://bebabe.wordpress.com/ http://www.beforhorn.blogspot.com/ _______________________________________________ post: [email protected] unsubscribe or set options at https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
