Tight corners

Tight corners

Posted on July 27, 2004 by Clint McLauglin

1. The corners of your mouth can be tight in more than one way. They can be tight pulling out from the center, pulling in toward the center or flexed in any position inbetween the two extremes. All of these conditions are tight.

2. Which of these are correct depends on the embouchure that you play. A smile would pull out. ( I hope that no one does this.) The Farkas is flexed a bit on the stretched side, Superchops is drawn in toward the center , Stevens is flexed but on the drawn in side…..

3. Now what does this mean. Well for one don’t obsess with your setting. You can easily worry to the point where playing is all but impossible. A friend of mine did this last year. He was convinced that switching to the SC embouchure would take his super g range to triple c. He was playing lead 8 shows a week. I told him that NO one cared if he could play a triple c. He did it anyway. Too much worry and looking for perceived problems forced him to quit for a season. He is now back to normal on the old Stevens playing to g over super c.

4. Don’t get crossed input. If you play the Stevens don’t seek advanced embouchure help from a Farkas player. The reverse is also true. A surprising small number of teachers play more than one embouchure well enough to teach the finer points.

5. If it is not broken DON’T fix it. I get a lot of email that states ‘ My playing is better than it has ever been and I was wondering if I changed ____ if it would get better.’

6. Remember that you are in a band to make MUSIC. Unless the band is named after you then you should be working to play musically instead of looking to show off. I heard a Big Band 2 weeks ago play a Glenn Miller chart and right where the lyrical Bobby Hacket solo should have been was a train wreck of squeeling and self gratification. It did not go over well.

7. Have some FUN. Thats why I played. I hope that helps some.

Pops