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Embouchure

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The embouchure of a trumpeter.

Embouchure or lipping[1] is the use of the lips, facial muscles, tongue, and teeth in playing a wind instrument. This includes shaping the lips to the mouthpiece of a woodwind instrument or the mouthpiece of a brass instrument. The word is of French origin and is related to the root Template:Wiktfra, 'mouth'. Proper embouchure allows instrumentalists to play their instrument at its full range with a full, clear tone and without strain or damage to their muscles.

peepee

Woodwind embouchure

Flute embouchure

Flute embouchure

A variety of transverse flute embouchures are employed by professional flautists, though the most natural form is perfectly symmetrical, the corners of the mouth relaxed (i.e. not smiling), the lower lip placed along and at a short distance from the embouchure hole. It must be stressed, however, that achieving a symmetrical, or perfectly centred blowing hole ought not to be an end in itself. Indeed, French flautist Marcel Moyse did not play with a symmetrical embouchure.

The end-blown xiao, kaval, shakuhachi and hocchiku flutes demand especially difficult embouchures, sometimes requiring many lessons before any sound can be produced.

The embouchure is an important element to tone production. The right embouchure, developed with "time, patience, and intelligent work",[2] will produce a beautiful sound and a correct intonation. The embouchure is produced with the muscles around the lips: principally the orbicularis oris muscle and the depressor anguli oris, whilst avoiding activation of zygomaticus major, which will produce a smile, flattening the top lip against the maxillary (upper jaw) teeth. Beginner flute-players tend to suffer fatigue in these muscles, and notably struggle to use the depressor muscle, which necessarily helps to keep the top lip directing the flow of air across the embouchure hole. These muscles have to be properly warmed up and exercised before practicing. Tone development exercises including long notes and harmonics must be done as part of the warm up every day.

Some further adjustments to the embouchure are necessary when moving from the transverse orchestral flute to the piccolo. With the piccolo, it becomes necessary to place the near side of the embouchure hole slightly higher on the lower lip, i.e. above the lip margin, and greater muscle tone from the lip muscles is needed to keep the stream/pressure of air directed across the smaller embouchure hole, particularly when playing in higher piccolo registers.

Reed instrument embouchure

Clarinet embouchure.

With the woodwinds, aside from the flute, piccolo, and recorder, the sound is generated by a reed and not with the lips. The embouchure is therefore based on sealing the area around the reed and mouthpiece. This serves to prevent air from escaping while simultaneously supporting the reed, allowing it to vibrate, and constrict the reed preventing it from vibrating too much. With woodwinds, it is important to ensure that the mouthpiece is not placed too far into the mouth, which would result in too much vibration (no control), often creating a sound an octave (or harmonic twelfth for the clarinet) above the intended note. If the mouthpiece is not placed far enough into the mouth, no sound will be generated, as the reed will not vibrate.

The standard embouchures for single reed woodwinds like the clarinet and saxophone are variants of the single lip embouchure, formed by resting the reed upon the bottom lip, which rests on the teeth and is supported by the chin muscles and the buccinator muscles on the sides of the mouth. The top teeth rest on top of the mouthpiece. The manner in which the lower lip rests against the teeth differs between clarinet and saxophone embouchures. In clarinet playing, the lower lip is rolled over the teeth and corners of the mouth are drawn back, which has the effect of drawing the upper lip around the mouthpiece to create a seal due to the angle at which the mouthpiece rests in the mouth. With the saxophone embouchure, the lower lip rests against, but not over, the teeth as in pronouncing the letter "V" and the corners of the lip are drawn in (similar to a drawstring bag). With the less common double-lip embouchure, the top lip is placed under (around) the top teeth. In both instances, the position of the tongue in the mouth plays a vital role in focusing and accelerating the air stream blown by the player. This results in a more mature and full sound, rich in overtones.

The double reed woodwinds, the oboe and bassoon, have no mouthpiece. Instead the reed is two pieces of cane extending from a metal tube (oboe – staple) or placed on a bocal (bassoon, English horn). The reed is placed directly on the lips and then played like the double-lip embouchure described above. Compared to the single reed woodwinds, the reed is very small and subtle changes in the embouchure can have a dramatic effect on tuning, tone and pitch control.

See also

References

  1. ^ Merriam-Webster.com
  2. ^ Marcel Moyse (1934). De la Sonorité. A. Leduc.

Further reading

  • "Brass Playing Is No Harder Than Deep Breathing" by Claude Gordon[1]
  • "Super Chops", "Trumpet Secrets" by Jerry Callet[2]
  • "Screamin - The Final Embouchure Method" video by Bill Carmichael[3]
  • "Sail the Seven C's" Book & CD by Clyde Hunt[4]
  • "Embouchure Enhancement" by Roddy Lewis[5]
  • "A New Approach to Altissimo Trumpet Playing" by John Lynch[6]
  • "Trumpet A-Z", "Trumpet FAQ'S", "Pros Talk Embouchure" by Clint Pops McLaughlin[7]
  • "Brass Tactics" by Chase Sanborn[8]
  • "The Buzzing Book" by James Thompson[9]
  • "The Complete Stevens-Costello Embouchure Technique, 2nd Edition" by Roy Stevens & Bill Moriarity[10]
Look up embouchure in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
  1. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-08-30. Retrieved 2012-01-31. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. ^ http://www.super-chops.com
  3. ^ http://www.screamin.net
  4. ^ http://www.bflatmusic.com/
  5. ^ http://www.r-o-d-d-y-t-r-u-m-p-e-t.cc/home.html
  6. ^ http://www.asymmetric-mouthpiece.com/the_book.htm
  7. ^ http://www.BbTrumpet.com
  8. ^ http://www.brasstactics.net/
  9. ^ http://userwww.service.emory.edu/~mmoor02/ABSPress.html#studies
  10. ^ https://www.amazon.com/dp/1469955911/ref=cm_sw_su_dp
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