Re: Re: Re: An interesting lesson


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Posted by Andy on February 20, 2004 at 12:31:55:

In Reply to: Re: Re: An interesting lesson posted by Rick Denney on February 19, 2004 at 18:26:51:

Wow. That was a mouthful. I appreciate your insights. Thanks for a spirited discussion. And, as I indicated in my post, there are obviously certain parameters that will be consistent from one person to another with "good" embouchures that produce the desired musical results. My suggestion was to remind the player that one should focus on the result desired, not on the physical manipulations.

Your example of how Mr. Jacobs learned to play the high G (for Benvenuto Cellini, I think), I believe reinforces the ideas I presented earlier. Mr. Jacobs was trying to play the high without changing his mouthpiece position because he thought you weren't supposed to allow such a change. When Mr. Donatelli would move his embouchure lower, toward the bottom of the cup, thus shortening the length of the surface of the lips which vibrated, it allowed them to vibrate faster, resulting in a higher pitch.

When Mr. Jacobs stopped focusing on where the mouthpiece should be placed, he was able to produce the musical result desired, the high G, and more. I know this is an example of which came first, the chicken or the egg. But I think it was more of Mr. Jacobs allowing the musculature to determine the placement of the mouthpiece based on producing the desired result, rather than making a physical change to obtain the desired result.

In other words, once he stopped focusing on the physical aspect of maintaining an arbitrary pouthpiece placement, he was able to achieve the desired musical result. In everything he did or taught, this was always his main emphasis. Make a statement and allow the body to do whatever it must to achieve the result.

Changing the mouthpiece placement didn't cause the high G, it allowed it to occur.



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