Posted by Mary Ann on January 24, 2003 at 12:02:09:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Breaking through that Barrier posted by Bill (Long Post) on January 24, 2003 at 10:35:54:
Bill,
What do you mean by "if your jaw compensates?" .... do you mean changing pitch by moving your jaw instead of your embouchure, in addition to your embouchure, or ???
In (french) horn playing, the position of the jaw moves quite a bit over the register, even a slight amount for every note. The jaw is noticibly lower and jutted farther out in the very low register than it is in the high register. Do these concepts not apply to tuba? On horn, I have seen only one (1) person who played well with zero visble movement of his face. The most moving playing I have seen/heard was by Jamie Sommerville (BSO) who shows face movement when he plays; definitely not the no-motion player. I don't mean his face looks like a series of grimmaces, just that it is not motionless. I still remember his coming in on a hauntingly soft high B in a solo piece in Kalamazoo two summers ago....I was in the front row. He screwed up his face (i.e., "set" his embouchure) and then started the note at pppppp. Wowza.
MA