Embouchure Closeness

By Author: Clint 'Pops' McLaughlin
Total Articles: 4762
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Arban page 125 first exercise. It is a C Major scale with every other note jumping down to low G.

When we get too relaxed and open for low notes the high notes don't play well. In fact many people will sound thin and under pitch before they even get to the middle c.

The high notes respond better if we set for notes in the middle of our range and not for low notes. This is after all the setting you started at. The mouthpiece pinned the lips at this setting and you just relaxed to play the low notes.

I make my students do a 2 octave C scale. They set and play a G on top of the staff and without resetting they start the exercise.

It is easy to compress the lips to play a half an octave higher than your set point. (The high c.) It is easier to compress and get the High G (only an octave away from the set point.) It is easy to learn to relax to get to a full low g.

The middle C should be the starting lip set point for most players.
The G on top of the staff should be the starting point for experience jazz players. That way you have a base from which to judge where every note is in relation ...
... to your starting aperture/tension level.

If G is not easy for you yet then use 3rd space C as your set point. Go up to the G when you can.

Don't use a higher set point. (Come on trumpet players often go overboard.) Trying to use setpoints higher than this tend to give really poor results with low notes. And some people even try to set so high that they can't play a decent middle c. This is useless.

You have to play the full range of the instrument and it is much better if done on 1 setting.

This is far more than just something to get more endurance. It keeps your sound constant in all registers. I hear lots of players who play 30 different embouchure settings. They set for whatever the first note is.

If it is a low note then as they play higher they get thin and below pitch. If the first note was a high one then they play low notes above pitch.

Having 1 and only 1 set point makes everything solid. The sound stays the same and you gain consistency because you learn exactly how every notes feels. You also learn how every interval feels and you stop missing notes.

The other way every note feels different because you are always setting at a different tension level and lip aperture.
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Clint 'Pops' McLaughlin
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