Posted by Mary Ann on December 03, 2003 at 13:32:19:
In Reply to: question posted by Mr. Sad McHighnotes on December 02, 2003 at 17:21:40:
People with a severe overbite might want to experiment with holding the instrument so that the angle of mouthpiece to teeth is as close to the same as if they did not have the overbite; that is, tilt the bell out (or the bottom bow in, however you want to think about it) enough so that the alignment is better. This is a whole lot easier to do on a French horn than a euphonium. (And you can do it with changing the angle of your head, instead of the instrument, if that works better.)
You didn't say if your front teeth "stick out," that is, angle out away from you, or if your lower teeth lean inwards, or both, or neither. Overbites can be due to a jaw that lacks bone length, or to protruding upper teeth, or to inward-inclined lower teeth, or all of the above.
At least that's something to try, if you haven't already. If it helps your high range, it will probably also necessitate re-learning the low range with the new "base" angle.
MA