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FantasyKate
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Question on embochures...I've taken private lessons from two different teachers and both of them taught me to hold my mouth the same way, which is to fold your bottom lip over your teeth. Recently I took a lesson from someone who told me not to do that, that your bottom lip should not curl over your teeth. He said that that his way was the way the saxophonists in the Glenn Miller Orchestra played. I was just wondering which way was correct, or which way will get a better tone from the instrument.
Thanks!
~Kate
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Tully
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Re: Question on embochures... | FantasyKate wrote: | | I was just wondering which way was correct |
The one that makes you sound better. Try both ways and see. There are some things that are so fundamental that there really is only one correct way, but subtle embouchure things like that are not among them IMO.
That being said, there is one thing I've come to realize lately that has made a huge difference for me--take in a lot of mouthpiece. Whatever your embouchure, put the mouthpiece as far as you can (within reason) into your mouth. That is how players a while back were able to get such a huge sound out of a large chamber, low baffle mouthpiece with a small tip opening. Just look at photos of, say, Coltrane playing. When you start playing that way (assuming you don't already), it will sound blatty and obnoxious for a couple days, but as you adjust, you'll find that your tone is more open and projects better, and you'll also find that you can color your sound much better than when you don't take in very much (pull the mouthpiece back out a little, for example, when playing ballads).
I was jamming on some kinda modern, Brecker-style funk stuff with a friend the other day--he was playing a Berg 0 chamber (pretty high baffle), and I was on a Jody Jazz HR 7* and a Lamberson L7 (both fairly low baffle, Link-based designs)--and by taking in a lot of mouthpiece, I was able to get more volume that him, despite his inherently brighter, louder mouthpiece, but unlike his sound, mine didn't thin out due to a high baffle mouthpiece. This "taking in a lot of mouthpiece" approach has been the best thing that's ever happened for my tone--I've gone through several mouthpieces in the past couple months trying to find something that will be dark and fat but still have a huge sound, and then I realized that the secret is to take in a lot of mouthpiece, not to play a pea-shooter and always have to hold back a little.
Now, to tie it all together--when you play without your lip covering your teeth, it puts your lip farther forward on the mouthpiece, which has an effect similar to that of putting your lip over your teeth and taking in a lot of mouthpiece. To an extent, they're two different way of going about the same thing (although with your lip over your teeth, I find that the sound is a little darker), but like I said initially, you'll have to try both ways.
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