Posted by Mary Ann on February 18, 2004 at 12:52:46:
This is about a horn lesson, but it applies to all brass instruments, and has corollaries to violin, too.
I took a lesson (hopefully first of many) from about the only person in town I had not yet taken lessons from. I wonder why I waited so long.....
But. About the very first thing that I was "shown" was that when I put the horn on my face, I do it just about any old way and then "adjust" to get where I need to be. Involving several minor movements, lips pulling in and out, scooting here and there. No large movements, just several little tiny ones, on the way to playing whatever note is first in the phrase.
So...first we practiced putting horn on face s l o w l y with no contortions or lip movements allowed before, during, or after. Then just four (4) rather simple exercises to play, that covered either one or two octaves, and the "rule" was....once the horn is on your face, you _cannot_ adjust it. You must play the entire exercise without adjusting, to the point of breathing only through the nose. No movement, nada, nothing. Set and go.
Well. My but THAT was an eye opener. Over the course of a week....I have HAD to settle into a single embouchure position. Now for you guys who have been playing for decades, that is a no-brainer (or should be) but what with my starting horn at 45 and mostly teaching myself, and being an engineer, well, I simply never have stopped "experimenting." I realized that this experimentation had brought my progress to a halt because I could not decide "which" embouchure to use....and had not, in the past, been able to find a teacher who would tell me which one. So the experiments and frustration continued. Now, this teacher did not "tell" me what embouchure to use, but he gave me 1) a method of setting on that made me stay at it long enough to see if it worked, and 2) exercises that would force me to choose one that did work for those two octaves.
It will be interesting to see what happens when we extend that another octave, but for now I am trusting the teacher to lead me down this path at the rate that seems best. It is far and away the best results I've ever had from a lesson. I had gotten so frustrated with horn that I gave it up for most of the last year, due to lack of progress, and have been playing mostly tuba, which seems to be somewhat natural for me, or I'm not advanced enough that the mistakes matter yet. Of course with a tuba mouthpiece, a whole lot more of my lips are inside it....and I can make rather large adjustments of lip position without having to actually move the mouthpiece.
So I was wondering, to make this tuba-related, has any of you gone through something similar? I scoot the tuba mouthpiece around a little bit when I play, just as I did on horn. It just hasn't really gotten in the way yet, what with the vast majority of tuba parts not covering two octaves or more in one phrase.
And to relate to violin: where the "set on" thing comes in for strings, is that most amateur string players, when they put the bow on the strings, sort of "aim" at the string and make a flying attempt at contact. In the very first lesson I teach a rank beginner on violin, s/he learns to set the bow on the string at a "dead halt." Then to start the tone....it's the only way to learn control. I see that as the parallel to the "set-on-you're-stuck-with-it-for-two-octaves" exercise I got from my horn lesson. I don't think I've ever had an advanced student who could put the bow on the string at a "dead halt" either; I didn't learn myself it until I went to IU as a violin major.
Well....hope at least someone finds this interesting.
MA