One of my very best friends has asked me to write about embouchure. “Yikes!” I thought. “That is taboo.” I'm going to try do so anyway.
Late one night, another one of my very best friends said to me, “Bro, It’s all in the air man. Face doesn’t matter.” I responded matter of factly, “Nah, It’s 50/50 man.” This is probably a controversial statement, but hear me out! This is an article you will have to read all the way through to get the point. Let’s not discuss embouchure like we discuss politics…
If you squeeze your lips as tight as you can…
If you stretch your lips as far as they go…
If you roll your lips all the way in over the teeth…
Pucker them as far as you can out….
Play with your tongue as the bottom lip…
you almost certainly will not make a competitive sound.
Most things, taken to an extreme are wrong. How could embouchure not matter? If the embouchure is extremely dysfunctional, no matter what air you use and what amazing song you have in your head, you most likely won’t make a classical sound that people are looking for. If you can contort your face in such a way to be extremely limiting to your success, embouchure must matter.
Mr. Arnold Jacobs, talked about the firm corners and flat chin shared by members of the famed Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He talked about paralysis by analysis and Song and Wind, (which some people think means, never think about embouchure. I do not think this is what he meant.) Paralysis by analysis is a concept stating that if you think too hard about things that are not the song in your head and motivating your wind, (such as physical formation of embouchure) you can become paralyzed and perform worse. Motivating the body through refined song in the head is what song and wind is all about. I am fundamentally based in song and wind pedagogy. However, I think song and wind is an end goal, not the be all and end all. It would be great to have trained the body (embouchure is part of the body) and mind (ear) to be so in tune with the instrument that anything you think can speak out of the bell clearly.
I also believe that the tongue, jaw and way that the air interacts with the meat (jaw, lips, cheeks, throat, tongue etc...) is part of embouchure. I don’t think embouchure can exist without air being put through the lips. In some ways, I believe embouchure is a verb. It is the way that the whole system interacts together. Your face can be doing all the right things, but if your tongue is tense, bunched and way too high, things won’t function as well. There are so many infinite variations of efficient embouchure.
My friend who asked me to write this article wanted to ensure that he was teaching embouchure correctly and not “messing anyone up.” I should spend some time speaking about teaching embouchure.
Generally correct statements about embouchure:
Firm corners
Flat chin
Minimize motion
Air goes up for low notes (chin, lower jaw comes out) (Facilitates slower air)
Air goes down for higher notes. (chin may recede) (Facilitates faster air)
Aperture becomes more open for low notes, smaller for high (facilitates slower/faster air)
Tongue position raises for higher notes, lowers for lower notes (facilitates faster/slower air)
Jaw opens somewhat for lower notes/closes for higher notes (facilitates faster, slower air)
One trend I notice about all of these statements, is that a lot of them affect air speed. You generally want faster air for high notes and slower air for low notes. This is why many teachers default to saying “it’s all in the wind”. It can be. Often by changing wind speed we subconsciously make changes with our face. Blowing slow air through a very small aperture is counterintuitive! The simplest answer is often the best and I’d say for most students, the air is what they should have their attention on. Making the relationship of air to pitch and volume clear by doing wind patterns through firm corners (note the firm corners) and buzzing will almost always ensure a good embouchure. Teaching that it’s all in the wind is the most effective teaching strategy, until it isn’t.
When a student stops responding to air speed/volume coaching in a positive way, it could be time to look to embouchure rather than wind. However, before I address embouchure, I go to singing, to ensure concept of sound is doing well and then look for body excess body tension in the neck, shoulders, chest, and abdomen. If those things fall through I will look to the embouchure and start explaining some of the aforementioned “generally good” things. It should be noted that some students will take generally good things too far. A jaw that is too open can also create a “nasal” sound. Try to ensure this is not the case.
Things I will immediately address in embouchure development:
No corners, extreme puffed checks
Extreme “bunched chin” in all registers (in extremes, especially lower extremes, can be okay) often resulting from really squashing the lips together. You can see the chin contorting.
Extreme facial shifts between registers
These three embouchure characteristics can make it difficult to obtain an ideal classical sound because they can make achieving an even, consistent sound difficult without massive shifts. That being said, some jazz players succeed with this embouchure. Drastic color changes are embraced and almost required in that art form though. There are a slim number of classical players that may do some gigging that do these things with their embouchure. I have not met or heard these players. I have only seen pictures of pedagogues claiming “since this one guy does it, it could be correct” (the player often plays jazz as well). I try not to rule things out, but trends are trends.
Things that are ALWAYS correct:
What sounds good in the present moment.
Ultimately, do and guide your students to do what sounds good. If there are embouchure inefficiencies, guide them gently. A lot of teachers use a very strict approach to changing embouchure and it works for some. I’ve never been a huge proponent of “taking steps backward to go forward” in embouchure development. Embouchure is something that can take years to hone and refine. Gentle guidance and awareness is best even when there are apparent large problems. Anything more will usually discourage the student and cause resistance to fixing the inefficiency. Often “paralysis by analysis” is caused by teachers being a little too forceful and dogmatic. Above all, go for the sound! Keep it simple, unless simple isn’t working!
I don’t know if it’s 50/50, but I do know embouchure matters.
Brendan Ige
Edited, James Long