Re: Re: Re: Mouthpiece Question


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Posted by Roger Lewis on March 29, 1999 at 08:38:50:

In Reply to: Re: Re: Mouthpiece Question posted by james on March 28, 1999 at 17:09:51:

The exercises that I used to improve my upper register were (are): The Remmington wamr up book, original 10 page edition, in the octave written and taking some of the exercises above what is written. Eventually you will be working up to an F over double high C and ocassionally to b flat over that.
Also the Rochut trombone studies done down two octaves, down one octave and in the octave written. Dilligent practice will show vast improvements quite quickly. Now a word about embouchure. I have three differrent embouchure settings that I use with a very large cross-over area. When playing in the low register you want to slightly pucker into the mouthpiece to expose more of the soft inner tissue of the lips. Like the difference between a snare drum and a bass drum, low register requires a slower vibration and the softer tissue is ideal for this. THe mid-register embouchure is basically how you r lips appear when your face is completely at rest - your normal lip positioning. For high register playing you want to slightly curl in both lips so that you are playing entirely on the weathered tissue of the lips. Because the tissue is firmer it will allow a faster vibration which is necessary for high register playing. As to cross-over, your low embouchure should be able to go from the pedal register to about F in the staff. Your
mid -register setting should be able to go from about a low F or E flat to F above the staff. Your high register set-up should be able to go from F just below th estaff to double high c and beyond. The cross over allows you to shift where necessary when you take breaths and quickly becomes second nature. I have seen too many students try to do everything on one setting and it just doesn't work effectively.
A word of caution - practicing a lot in the high register will cause your attack in the middle register to become a bit unclear. Balanced practice between the high and low registers is a great exercise but it won't cure this. It will just take a little while for it to get back to normal over time. If you notice it, good - but don't worry that you've done any permanent damage - it's perfectly normal.

I hope this diatribe answers your questions. If not drop me another e-mail.

Good luck.

Roger Lewis


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