Embouchure the way in which a player applies the mouth to the mouthpiece of a brass or wind instrument.

Visual, Auditory, Verbal  From this lesson you should be able to:  Visually see when you or someone else is producing a correct embouchure.  Hear whether a you or someone else is producing a proper tone with correct embouchure.  Verbally correct yourself or others in embouchure formation.

Facilitation not Magician  Embouchure concepts will not magically be fixed.  You have the responsibility to correct yourself and others in the production of embouchure and sound.  From these non negotiable concepts, we should be able to teach alter and refine embouchure and tone. It is a continuous process, that’s why it is facilitation and not magic.

Flute  Pick up your head joint only. Your bottom lip should cover ¼-1/3 of the tone hole. Take time to correct the person next to you by moving up and down as necessary to achieve the feeling.

Flute con’t  “Buzz” words-  “Whee”  “Too”  With your own facial expression make a silent “Whee”. This pulls the corners of the lips outward and flattens the lower lip which is resting on/over the tone hole.  Add “Too” following the “Whee”  WHEE-TOO should 1) set the embouchure and 2) give the feeling of properly starting the first tone.

The Not So First Tone  Air should be directed INTO the tone hole, NOT ACROSS it. The more directly the air goes into the hole, the more likely a clear pleasing sound will result.  Think of your airstream pointing directly down into the backwall of the tone hole. The “Buzz” word for this is “FOCUS”  This “Focus” air creates the best possible tone.  The tone that the flute makes with a proper embouchure should be an in tune A2. If it is flat roll out, sharp roll in. This covers or uncovers the tone hole a little more properly.

Oboe  Imitating an English accent, say, “No oboe,” bringing the corners of the mouth firm and forward, against the teeth. The jaw will be separated, the chin down and firm, the tongue down. The syllables “oh” and “oo” are helpful in making a resonant relaxed acoustical chamber.  Think of your lips as a firm springy cushion. Avoid the tight-lipped “E” configuration which produces a thin tone and high pitch.

Crowing the Reed  Lay the tip of the reed at the line on the bottom lip, the part that distinguishes wet and dry areas. Gently roll the bottom lip in so that the reed barely extends into the mouth. The top lip should cushion and seal the reed from above. Thinking “No Oboe” provides some resistance, to set the reed into vibration once the breath is activated and will also help discourage the reed from slipping into the mouth more than 1/16 to 1/8 th of an inch. Keeping the reed anchored firmly on the bottom lip, inhale deeply and blow into the reed. Articulate with a soft “D” consonant helps with initial crows.  A proper crow should sound two C’s an octave apart.

Clarinet Embouchure  Using your facial expression and voice, form an exaggerated, facial ‘A’ sound. The muscles which control the chin and lower lip must visibly move. The lower lip plus the muscles and tissue covering the chin becoming VERY FLAT. To be certain that a facial ‘A’ is formed, think of showing a deaf person the letter ‘A’ with your facial muscles. Or imagine that you are putting chapstick on your lower lip. Run your finger over your lip as if it were a tube of chapstick. Your partner should see that your chin is flat because of this.

Clarinet Embouchure Con’t  Maintaining the facial ‘A’, add a facial ‘Q’ on top of it. (moreso we are interested in the oo sound.) this instantly brings your facial muscles which surround the lips and completes the formation of a great clarinet embouchure.

The Not so First Tone  Using the reed, ligature, mouthpiece and barrel.  The reed should rest on the lower lip, while the upper teeth contact the mouthpiece. Take about a half an inch of reed into the mouth.  Head up level and mouthpiece barrel towards the body.  The correct sound with just mouthpiece and barrel should produce a top line concert F#

Saxophone Embouchure  Place the upper teeth on the mouthpiece.  Think an exaggerated “A” to firm up lips to the teeth.  Add “Q” which brings in the corners of the lips and results in even pressure of lips from top, bottom, and sides.  (notice how similar to clarinet this is, oh wait, it’s the same!)

Saxophone Embouchure con’t  HERE IS THE DIFFERENCE FROM CLARINET… While air is directed at the reed with clarinet it is more parallel to the neck pipe of the instrument into the mouthpiece.  Any uneven lip or facial tension will cause distorted tones. Tones will be thin if embouchure is too tight and tone will be a duck-quack if the embouchure is too loose. Lower the teeth biting into lower lip will result in the bunched chin, a sore lip and thin tone. Keep lip pressure even and the lower lip controls comes from jaw strength, not from bite of the teeth.

Trumpet Embouchure  Brass instruments as opposed to woodwind instruments must remember that they have to create their own vibrations. This is meant to be completely natural and unrestricted.  Practice a sigh breath without any hissing sound. This means that the throat is too closed. If this happens look up and yawn.  Say “HO” under your breath when exhaling from the sigh.

Trumpet Embouchure  Say the word “banana” (focusing in on the consonant “B” the syllable “buh” is what we are most interested in.)  The “B” is the most important in the initial formation of the embouchure.  Form the “B” without saying “Banana”. If you do this properly, the lips will be together naturally—not tight, not limp, but very supple. You will have your own facial characteristics, and you will look different. DO NOT MAKE FACES!  Then you must sigh through the “B”

Trumpet Embouchure Con’t Failure of trumpet players- Playing with a mouthpiece that is dry or dry lips. The lips should also be centered inside of the mouthpiece. Trumpet is a “straight down the pipe” instrument.

Horn Embouchure  Much like trumpet, however, to set the lips use the syllables “Dim” or “Em”. Saying it several times, vigorously or even angrily, gives a good feeling for “set” of lip corners and placement of teeth. (there should be enough room to fit the tip of your tongue between your teeth)

Horn Embouchure Con’t  The low register of the horn requires that a 2/3 to 1/3 ratio of upper to lower lip within the mouthpiece be used.  A common problem of horn players is that they habitually use too little upper lip.  Once you are buzzing freely with the mouthpiece only then work with flexing the lower jaw. Think of a “chewing” motion. This should give you a siren sound on the buzz.

Horn Con’t  Syllables are important with the horn, always remember for the upper register use an “ee”, middle an “oh”, and lower an “aw”.  The lower jaw should pivot up and inward, or down and outward.

Horn Con’t  Setting of the mouthpiece rim above the lip-line on upper lip, thereby making effective use of the underlying muscle.  A downward, rather then horizontal, angle to the lead pipe, thereby allowing free vibration of the upper lip.  A flexible lower jaw, thereby establishing the basis for easy register shifts and oral cavity adjustment.

Trombone/Baritone Embouchure  The corners of the mouth are firmed exactly where they are on an expressionless face. The degree of firmness should benot unlike that of a warm, friendly handshake. Neither the limpness of the “dead fish” nor the tightness of the “hungry tiger” handshakes is appropriate. The corners of the mouth do not move nor should the degree of tension change from one register to another.

Trombone/Bariton Con‘t  The mouthpiece should be centered on the lip and placed approximately one half on the lower and one half on the upper lip. Many low brass players place slightly more upper lip in the mouthpiece. Problems in range can result from extreme vertical placement.  Mouthpiece pressure on the lip should not exceed an amount necessary to establish the area that will do the vibrating. Excess pressure will result in reduced range and endurance. Another result will be strained, edgy tone quality and an aperture in the embouchure that is too open, thus requiring even more pressure to reach the upper range.

Trombone/Baritone Con’t  Tone quality of a low brass instrument is similar to singing a rich letter “O”. The throat is open in an “O” consonant and the embouchure buzzes the “song” in an efficient, resonant manner. Once good tone as been produced it can easily be reproduced.

Tuba Embouchure  There are two concepts that all tuba players must grasp.  Breathing  Tongue placement  Relax the Stomach and diaphragm muscle and blow a large quantity of air onto your hand. Very little diaphragm support is needed for tuba, quantity of air is more important.

Tuba Con’t  Tongue placement is a culprit which prevents the process of breath from being efficient.  Say the Vowel sound “Oh” and notice the position of the tongue. The production of the “OH” sound causes the tongue to lay down flat in the botom of the mouth, thereby causing no obstruction to the air stream. This is the ideal placement of the tongue for ALL RANGES in tuba playing. The “AH” sound will also cause the tongue to rest in the correct position, but if exaggerated, gagging results. “OH” is always preferable.

Tuba Con’t  Place the ring of the visualizer or mouthpiece on the lips and say “OH” and then gradually change to an “OO” sound. This forms the lips into the correct position.  Grasp a small tube or pen in the center of the lips. This causes the lips to tighten toward a central point and will also bring the corners of the mouth to a firm set.  Remember “OO-OH-Squeeze the tube with the lips” Once you have gone through this procedure carefully, the student is ready to make the first sound.

Tuba Con’t  Ideally the mouthpiece placement should be 2/3 on the top lip and 1/3 on the bottom lip.