[Trombone-l] Embouchure

[Jackie Harris-Stone]

I did most of my early training in Chicago, under the "song and wind" "doesn't matter what it looks like, go for the sound" style "ignore the embuochure- if you know what you want, your body will figure out how to do it" approach.  I kept the basic "don't smile for high notes" "Keep your corners firm" approach of my really early training, but am basically a Chicago-style player this way.  And I like a lot of this- I find that if I can start a student off myself with teaching him/her how to buzz and breathe and stay relaxed, they get a WAY better sound Way faster than those whose parents or friends or band directors have told them about the "correct" embouchure before I have taught them, and left them with moscule tension.
   
    I then moved to Mexico, where they still often have the old-school "It has to look a text-book way" embouchure approach, where you "Don't move at all"  and spend hours looking in a mirror to get your embouchure certain ways, ignoring the sound.
   
     I have seen a better approach, which can be described as "informed Embouchure correction".  For example, I watched Alessi address several student's embouchures in weekly master class, and saw their improvement.I have had one student interact with a few of these type players and come back the better for it.  I have also had the same student interact with those who still have the old-style approach, spend weeks in front of a mirror trying not to move, and ending up not knowing what he was going for enough to make the switch, or play correctly, and it would end up the best thing he could do was forget it and go back to the Chicago-style I taught.  I think the difference is a deep or shallow knowledge of the embouchure dynamics from those who gave him the lesson.
   
    I am starting to do more embouchure correction than I was trained to do, starting with one student who had visible, audible wiggling in his face.  With him, to stop that, I made a couple basic corrections (ones I'd make with anyone such as firm corners and the "elegantly eating a lemon face" for high notes (sounds better in Spanish!)), and did a lot of free buzzing- which although the free-buzzing would have given Jacobs a heart-attack, is basically the Chicago "figure it out from doing and tranferring from other situations" approach.  
   
    I am thinking that I could use a more systematic approach to knowing what is and is NOT good embouchure visually.  I get sudden insights into "try this" sometimes that work, but don't have as much of a systematic approach as I would like.  Whereas intuition is okay, I like to KNOW what I would teach in a given situation.  I still intend to keep the relaxation, air, sound basics of the Chicago style 90% of the time, but would like to know more of the informed embouchure style, too. 
   
    So, I'm hoping to stimulate discussion, from all 3 camps.   For myself, I've noticed with "good changes" you can hear the difference immediately, and the student can really assimilate it within a few days, even if it takes weeks to make a habit, and get the range back up again.  I'm especially interested in those who have things they do with their students, or have had their teachers do to them, that fit in these catagories.   

    What do you do when you DO correct embouchure?  Teachers, what are your criteria for doing an embouchure change?  Students, what did your teachers do to you?  Did it work for you?  Given that facial structure is so different, and there is no one "right" embouchure, what do you look for and not look for universally?  Do you have insights into visual clues- students with thick lips, thin lips, small face, broad face?  When do you leave it alone, and when do you change things, and are you thouroughly convinced your approach works?   
   
   


Jackie Harris-Stone
Bass Trombone, Orquesta Sinfonica de Monterrey 
Professor of Trombone, Escuela Superior de Musica y Danza, 
Professor of Low Brass, UANL
		
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