Is your embouchure flexible?
Does it adjust to the octave in which you are playing?
The embouchure is an amazing
thing. It has the ability to move and adjust to help us get the best tone. The
problem comes when we don’t move the embouchure but leave it static. The reality
is that our embouchure needs to be in a state of
flexibility all the time while we’re playing. It needs to be able to
change and move depending on where we are playing in each octave.
If
you’re playing in the 2nd or 3rd octave, you need to have the
embouchure that helps to get high notes. But
what if right after that high section you need to play down in the first
octave? So many players keep that high embouchure to play those low notes – and
it doesn’t work. if you’re immediately going
low, you’re embouchure needs to be able to move and be a low embouchure.
This
is probably the number one problem that I see with my college students when
they come to study with me. Their embouchure is stable. It is static. As if to say, “my
embouchure is going to be this way from now on and forever.” It is
always my pleasure to teach them about flexibility and watch how their tone
opens right up in all the octaves.
I
had the same problem when I was in college. My embouchure was set. I thought I could make my
sound better just by doing long tones. There had to be some other miraculous way to
get the low notes to sound so booming, and to get beautiful resonant
high notes.
Thankfully,
there was another way!
I
was at a flute convention one time and I heard
Sir James Galway talk about tone. He was leading this whole group, of about a thousand people that
went to hear him speak. He was talking on
Moyse’s long tones. He told a story
about a student that was studying with him. Sir James was telling him
that you adjust for high notes and then again
for your low notes. This student asked
“but wait, in the middle of the piece, I have to
change your embouchure?” Sir James
practically yelled when he replied, “well, if there’s one thing I have to tell you, YOU
HAVE TO CHANGE YOUR EMBOUCHURE”. Of course, he said that with
a great Irish accent which brought the house down and everybody laughed.
But
it’s true. Your embouchure has to be changing all the time. If you keep a high embouchure when you’re playing a low
note, you’re going to lose the low notes. I
remember playing a solo or two and wondering
why I would lose my low notes. The problem ultimately was that my embouchure was so tight
that those low notes were stuck. None of the
low notes would just boom out the way they could in the practice room when I
was completely relaxed, probably had taken a break and come back in and played that low section. It didn’t happen
until I played the entire piece and then the problem was revealed.
I
have a Köhler Etude Op. 66 #5 in front
of me. If you don’t have this etude then go to
my downloads page and you can download this etude to work on it with me. This etude begins changing octaves right away
especially between the high G and low D. I need
to think about keeping my embouchure flexible between those two notes or my
low D will not sound great. Getting a low note with a high embouchure leaves
that low note weak and covered. When I plan to play this etude with the
different octaves, I think about opening up in
all octaves, but in the upper range I keeping the airstream straight
out, while maintaining space between my lips
so that the air doesn’t bounce between them creating that fuzzy sound.
Now
there is a downward arpeggio. So, I move my jaw down, and lower the airstream as I go.
By the time I reach that D, I’ve lowered my
jaw, relaxed my embouchure to aim the airstream
down. Even in so little an area I’ve already
changed my embouchure.
When I practice this etude
or any piece for that matter, I practice it slowly to work on embouchure
changes especially when I feel that tightness creep in. Be very conscious of
what the embouchure is doing. It is both a feel and sound. I always analyze
what the embouchure feels like as well as sound because sometimes my ear
doesn’t tell me truth.
Listen to your high notes.
Are you fighting them? If so, is it because you didn’t adjust to a high
embouchure? If your high register comes out but is very small, then your
embouchure is too small and tight and will never get that resonance you are
looking for.
How about your low notes,
are they sounding rich and full? In the middle of a solo, can you belt out
those low notes as if you just began fresh on that spot? If not it’s because
you didn’t adjust to a low embouchure. The embouchure has to loosen, teeth
lowered and the air stream moves down.
If you can get the
embouchure in the habit of adjusting when you are going slowly then you can
make this happen when you are up to tempo. It’s just practice. The embouchure
needs practice, just the same as the fingers.
Experiment
with your embouchure. Listen to yourself. Let your ear tell you when it’s not
sounding right.
Enjoy
working on flexibility in your embouchure.
Have fun!
DoctorFlute
Watch me demonstrate this Making Your Embouchure Be Flexible While You’re Playing FluteTips 87
Tight Embouchure No Problem – FluteTips 182
How to Form a Great Flute Embouchure – FluteTips 132
