Author: ohsuzan
Date: 2007-08-06 13:25
Yes, vboboe, it was an "Aha!" moment for me, too (the idea that the lips are more-or-less passive receptacles for cushioning the reed). No one had ever put it to me that way before. I was always trying to "do something" to get the embouchure just right, and ending up with either a too tight or too loose valve (too far on one or the other side of the Mack X, if you want to use those terms). It seems that the lips, of and by themselves, are already "just right" for the job, if we let them be.
And, mark well, the lips are NOT where the tone comes from. The air is where the tone comes from, modified by the shape of the throat and the competency of the reed and instrument. The take-home message here is that we need to allow the air to produce and support the tone, rather than interfering with it via the musculature of the throat, lips, face, whatever. To my mind, it's not that the lips do nothing, it's just that you have to get excessive tension out of the way and let the air do the work.
It is relatively easy to add the tongue and other bits of facial or abdominal musculature, once the airflow is established. It is less easy to establish the airflow if your first focus is on setting the tongue and facial and/or abdominal musculature just so.
One of the cryptic things my teacher has always told me to do is to "play against the resistance of the reed." But if the reed is too resistant (either too heavy or not responsive), you will most likely overcompensate and force the air. Likewise, if the reed is too light, you will hold the air back. Neither of these situations makes for good music. This is why the "huff" test seems valuable, for assessing the readiness of the reed to accept whatever amount of air you may have to give it.
In my case, I have plenty of air. The single most common comment in regard to my playing over the past three years has been that I force the tone, play too loudly, or "blow too aggressively". It's not that it was necessarily bad tone (although sometimes it was), just that there was way too much of it, so that my pianos were fortes, and my double fortes would peel the enamel off your teeth.
My learning to back off may be almost a Zen thing -- something about not trying to control the tone, or trying to MAKE it happen, but LETTING it happen. The "huff" exercise is a good place to start for this, too.
Air first!
Susan
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