From
the first day of beginner band, getting the embouchure right may
be the biggest concern for the future of each young trumpet player. The
proper initial embouchure combined with frequent reinforcement will
best assure that a young player will be successful in the future. A
poor embouchure might allow a young player to succeed at the earliest
stages, but sooner or later it will cause the student to hit a wall. I
have had to “re-teach” embouchure to high school and
college students whose bad embouchure habits have raised insurmountable
barriers, and the frustration with which they deal is almost overwhelming
for them. In fact for some of them it is overwhelming to
the point that they decide to quit playing altogether rather then
start over.
By
high school, the results of a bad embouchure will be a deficient
tone quality, poor intonation, lack of endurance, weak range (both
low and high) and no flexibility. With the proper embouchure
all of these aspects of trumpet playing are almost guaranteed to
be at least pretty good, and they certainly all have the potential
to be great. Naturally, there is more to good trumpet playing
than just a good embouchure. A constantly moving air stream
is essential to good playing, but sufficient air cannot overcome
a bad embouchure.
Here
is a 7-step embouchure checklist that teachers of beginners should
reinforce daily.
-
Flat
chin. (I
sometimes tell students to think of pointing their chins
toward the ground.)
-
Firm
corners.
-
Teeth
apart (about
the same as the width of a mouthpiece shank. Inverting
the mouthpiece and placing it between the teeth
makes for a good way to check the distance.)
-
Bottom
lip slightly curled in (make
the bottom lip shiny.)
-
Wet
the lips. (The
lips need moisture as lubrication to allow them to
vibrate more consistently. A dry embouchure tends
to provide a drier, raspier tone quality.)
-
Don’t
puff the cheeks.
-
Keep
all of the red of the lips inside the cup of the
mouthpiece.
Number
seven is the deal breaker for the student’s future. If
your student takes his/her horn down and you see a semi-circle on
the red of their upper lip (see figure A),
their days are numbered. The inside rim of the mouthpiece must
rest no lower than the line that divides lip from skin (see
figure B). I have seen some students play with the mouthpiece
so low that some red of the top lip is actually above the outside
rim. In this case it may be worth considering switching to
an instrument with a larger mouthpiece, such as the euphonium or
tuba if the student is only in the sixth or seventh grade. This
is less of an option by high school. Also, a little deviation
to the right or left of center is of no major consequence, and is
generally the result of the student's teeth formation.
When
all is set properly, the student’s face should have a natural
look. There should be no excess tightening, twisting, etc. The
band director should spend five to ten seconds of every class period
reinforcing the above checklist on an individual basis. Have
each student play something short (perhaps even a single pitch),
then give them one or two points to address for improvement. One
might even have chair tests based on embouchure formation on occasion,
since nothing seems to motivate young players more than a good, old-fashioned
chair test. The total time should take only a couple of minutes,
but there is no better way to spend part of your class time.
Finally,
the reinforcement of a good embouchure should continue every year. Some
of the worst embouchures I have seen in those ninth grade and up
are on students who had satisfactory embouchures earlier in their
band career. Sometimes embouchure placement begins to migrate
as students grow physically, or as more demands are placed on them. When
younger students start to do well and are asked to play in a fairly
high register, they frequently start pulling the mouthpiece down
further on their upper lip. The smaller surface area of the
upper lip within the mouthpiece cup often allows students to play
higher a little easier at first, but there will be consequences later
if they are allowed to continue in this manner. Reinforce the
idea of learning to play high on a properly formed embouchure. They
can do it, and the future remains unlimited for them if they do so.