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Re: How Much Air Do You Hear

Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2015-01-29 10:21

There was a comment that sort of "woke me up" made by Tony Pay which was, "the lower lip doesn't just sit there like a dead piece of meat." Since then I have thought a lot about how to describe air vs. embouchure.

There is a balancing act that occurs between the amount of air we use vs. the amount of embouchure control exerted. The more I think about it, the more I am convinced that this RATIO remains similar as we move dynamically, note-wise, register-wise.

Of course we don't consciously manipulate this balance (which must happen ALL THE TIME) based on some internal awareness of these forces (separately or in unison), we manipulate these forces based on WHAT THE NOTE SOUNDS LIKE.

Now, there may be a bit of "airiness" in the sound particularly as you diminuendo to nothing, but this is much more desirable than allowing the embouchure to dominate the sound which would make the note sound "pinched-off" or "wheezy."

............Paul Aviles

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