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Re: Acquiring Good Tone

Author: ohsuzan
Date: 2011-08-21 14:22

Rachel,

The "yawning with your mouth closed" is a great analogy! I was using "feel like you are trying to swallow a balloon," but I think yours is more sensible and will get immediate results.

The other thing is about your lips. The feeling needs to be of "roundness." My teacher taught me to "surround" the reed with the lips. Some people have said it is like how the lips feel when you are drinking a milkshake through a straw. That's good, too.

My favorite advice, reputed to have come from John Mack, is to "just put the damned thing in your mouth and blow". That may sound too simplistic, and without having a good concept of the sound you are trying create, it probably is a bit simplistic. Note it doesn't say "blow hard," for example. You actually want to blow with moderation.

But it is a wonderful corrective to the idea too many of us begin with, that you have to "do something" abnormal to the air. You don't. You just "put the damned thing in your mouth, and blow". With round lips and no biting. With the suppressed yawn inside.

Susan

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