Posted by Jay Bertolet on December 08, 2001 at 17:08:52:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Help with high register please! posted by Doug Elliott on December 08, 2001 at 14:00:40:
It is an interesting question, to be sure. I try to be really aware of exactly what is going on with my face all the time. I've never subscribed to the theory of just hearing the sound in your head and then letting your body do the rest. It just never worked for me. As a result, I tend to be very circumspect in evaluating and studying my embouchure. I suppose you probably could find some movement in my embouchure when studying two notes produced at opposite extremes. I'll concede that having no motion of any sort may be impossible. I can't assert otherwise yet because I haven't been able to do that myself. Yet.
That said, I will say that I have to look very closely to see any movement in my face when playing two octave scales and two octave slurs, something I practice regularly in the Bell Scales. The only motion I've noticed is extraneous facial muscle movements on some notes (eyebrows, upper cheek, nostrils) but nothing I can see that is functional to the process. Whatever motion is occuring is happening inside the mouthpiece which is exactly where I was taught such adjustments needed to occur.
What you won't ever see is the tipping motion described by Roger. The idea of the forehead moving back and forth as the range changes is something I absolutely do not do. It is this pivoting, invented system or not, that I do not agree with. I was doing this pivot in college and I learned later, here on the job, that it was a very bad thing. I found that after I learned how to play without it, I began to miss a lot less notes. My playing became much more consistent and it was these results that led me to my current belief that keeping as much of the playing environment as consistent as possible yields consistent playing results. Or so I believe at this point.
Thanks for the interesting discussion!
My opinion for what it's worth...