Posted by Eric on December 03, 2003 at 14:45:26:
In Reply to: question posted by Mr. Sad McHighnotes on December 02, 2003 at 17:21:40:
I have an overbite and I figured out a way to play high notes. My lower lips was inside my upper lip and just swung further inside the higher I tried to play. It was a geometry and leverage problem. I needed muscles to push my lower lip forward to tighten up the embouchure, but those dont really exist so I decided to stick my bottom lip out farther so that I could use the strong muscles that push vertically. It worked, and now I can play an D fine. The low register embouchure doesnt change, you just have to think about blowing the air stream straight down the bore of the mouthpiece for the high notes.
That said, most of the time I cheat. For high playing I usually use an embouchure I learned from high trumpet playing where the lips are blown into position rather than supported by teeth. It sounds weak on the low notes and doesnt have much dynamic range, but on the other hand it is incredibly smooth sounding and lets me play super high forever.
The bottom line is to figure out why your lips wont push together and experiment