[Trombone-l] Teaching embouchure to beginners

[Stuart Collidge]

Thanks all for your responses to my enquiry.  Some particularly helpful 
advice.

As with everything we do beyond a competent level, our theories and 
philosophies move around in circles as we grow until we have done a full 
360.  I have moved from the "embouchure is very important and should be 
taught as a first" to the "let it be and it will happen in time", back to 
"embouchure can potentially address a lot of breathing problems and a lot of 
pressure problems later, and should be setup well at the start".  A lot of 
2nd and 3rd year players that I see (who, by the way, tend to develop a 
little slower in Australia due to the fact that they often only get group 
tuition once per week for 30 mins and rehearsal once per week for 60 mins, 
couple that with a proclivity for a "she'll be right, mate" attitude and you 
get some sssslllloooowwww travellers), have embouchures that are too tight, 
coupled with mouthpiece pressure to pin the chops open a little, and hence 
constricted air.  Getting them to breath deeper achieves nothing, because 
their embouchures are too tight to let any more air out, so it sets in the 
lungs getting stale.  Getting them to relax the chops achieves nothing 
because it is pinned open by the mouthpiece, and getting them to reduce the 
pressure  causes the notes to fall off because they end up blowing their 
chops out.  Getting them to combine all three seems to involve explanations 
that I can't make work for young players.  I'm working on the theory that if 
I can correct embouchure issues before that habit of pressure settles in, 
you get a player who will enjoy a nicer sound, have some dynamic control 
(most young trombonists have two dynamic settings, on or off), and have a 
range and volume that isn't hampered later on.

John Cather was very right when he points out that this is a bigger issue 
for trumpet players, and I am thinking that a similar approach will yield 
significant benefits for them (perhaps more so than for us).

Jackie, your vibration idea is a good one, and will be one that I try.  I 
may help that feeling of control of the musculature that may allow them to 
back off the pressure.  I guess that, after clarifying the issue a little 
for myself, mouthpiece pressure is the problem that I am looking to correct. 
I'm having a suspicion that some level of pressure is essential while 
muscles develop (and there are other issues pertaining to the size of the 
player and how much of the weight of the instrument that they can take, the 
length and balance of the instrument, and the difficulty of controlling the, 
at best, unwieldy lower positions), but often I see students who never 
develop out of the pressure habit, using it as a crutch and slowing 
themselves down.

Wayne, I agree that motivation is a BIG one (I guess that should be in a 
thread of it's own).

Does anyone have any further thoughts?

Stu

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Stuart Collidge" <scollidge1 at optusnet.com.au>
To: <trombone-l at server5.samford.edu>
Sent: Monday, June 25, 2007 8:16 PM
Subject: [Trombone-l] Teaching embouchure to beginners


> 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
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