Posted by Doug Elliott on December 11, 2001 at 13:10:10:
In Reply to: Pivot system, from discussion below posted by Mary Ann on December 10, 2001 at 13:05:20:
Reinhardt recommended playing totally wet, with very few exceptions. It is not necessary to be dry to keep the rim in its "groove" on your embouchure. The "pivot" motion only pushes or pulls the lips a small amount, hopefully not enough to change the rim's position on the lips. Some strong players appear to have no motion, but the proper small amount of upward or downward pressure creates stability, which really is the idea - when the embouchure is working properly, less motion is better.
Reinhardt was the only one who ever taught this so far as I know.
He wrote some beginners books, long out of print, and a book called "The Pivot System", in trumpet and trombone versions (which has his early ideas, not quite what he taught later on), and the "Encyclopedia of the Pivot System", which was a complete question-and-answer format explanation of his ideas. Most people would think it's tedious reading and over-analytical. It is hard to understand, but for me it was a great introduction to studying with him. I have since then simplified the whole thing in my teaching. We talked about that a lot, and he totally agreed that he had made it too complicated. In 1989, shortly before he died, I made a film (with a National Geographic cinematographer) showing several examples of each of the embouchure types playing on clear plastic mouthpieces. If anybody's interested, I'm available for clinics with it.