[Trombone-l] Teaching embouchure to beginners

[Stuart Collidge]

Dear Bonists,

I find myself in the position of teaching a lot of young beginners to learn the trombone (an awesome responsibility indeed).  One concept that I find quite difficult to impart is the concept of embouchure.  Well, not so much the concept, as the description of how to manipulate the embouchure that young people (10-12 years old) can grasp.  In the past, I have taken the tack that they should just play and let the lips sort themselves out as they go, but I am currently thinking that this is just too important to trust to fate.

Does anyone have a successful way of getting beginners to adopt a suitable embouchure?

Stu Collidge
Freelance Bonist, Sydney, Australia