Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Mouthpiece Question


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Posted by Jay Bertolet on April 01, 1999 at 18:47:38:

In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Mouthpiece Question posted by Draig Hall on April 01, 1999 at 01:45:17:

Well, I do a jaw vibrato and I try to discourage all my students from doing the air vibrato. My whole premise in the discussion about embouchure stems from an assumption on my part that as a player, I will over-react to any given situation. That is to say that, faced with any task, I will instinctively apply more adjustment than is neccesary. It is my belief that we all do this as a function of how we as humans operate. The analogy that I use is that of an archer shooting at a target. If I hand the archer an arrow and I say that the arrow is heavier than normal, the archer will instinctively overcompensate and shoot too high on the target. The trick is to discipline yourself not to overcompensate. A really good tuba playing example of this is that of trying to slur between 2 notes that are a large distance apart, like more than an octave. If you're not thinking about it, you might instinctively make a large adjustment in your embouchure to accomplish the slur and cover the interval. I strive not to do this. In fact, I've taken to "shooting low" or leaning the opposite way than the direction I'm moving on the target and what I usually get is 2 opposites that cancel each other out. Generally, the result is no noticeable motion whatsoever. If you ask my students, they'll probably say that they can hear my jaw vibrato but they don't see my jaw moving much, if at all. In a way, the jaw vibrato proves my current thinking about the embouchure. The vibrato is manifested in changes of sound timbre through movement in the embouchure and jaw. This proves that changing either can change the sound to a noticeable degree. How can one hope to maintain a consistent sound when you move either? Most people that do this don't notice the change because they're playing different notes in the process of moving and/or because they have become accustomed to hearing things that way.

I hope this all isn't too cryptic for you. These are my personal experiences and I'm sure that others have found ways that work for them. If you're ever in the Ft. Lauderdale area you could certainly contact me and we could set up a lesson. My experience is that such techniques work best when demonstrated. One of the biggest obstacles to learning new techniques in playing is overcoming the "disbelief" factor. I don't think I would have pursued the high range as aggresively as I did if I hadn't heard Roger Bobo play the Kraft Encounters II. Alot of the success in learning new playing techniques is based in believing in them and seeing them in action. Good luck!


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