I've been playing trombone for the past 7 years with the rim of the mouthpiece resting on the upper lip, giving me a somewhat of an upstream embouchure. I played fine, range was decent and so was my sound, but my flexibility and stamina we're hindered by the mouthpiece digging into my upper lip deeper after hours of rehearsal passed. I finally decided to place the mouthpiece half and half after discovering I play tuba the best with that setting.This made me play with a downstream, which I've experimented with before but never decided it was worth taking 10 steps back to do. So it's been day 4, I can't really play a lot of high stuff, but when I can it sounds and feels better than what the past 7 years have been. And for the first time in my 3 semesters in college, I've actually felt happy with the sound I've produced. Hopefully I can get back to play those pesky french horn subs again!
Anyways, anyone have experience and tips for this? How long did it take you to get back into shape after a change?
Adjusting my mouthpiece position
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ttf_Emisaumell
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ttf_Wilktone
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Adjusting my mouthpiece position
Are you certain that it's not better to learn how to play correctly with the upstream/low placement embouchure and improve flexibility and endurance? Most (not all) players who play with a low placement embouchure type on their own do so because that's actually correct for them.
Dave
Dave
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ttf_Emisaumell
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Adjusting my mouthpiece position
Dave, I've watched your video's on youtube over a thousands times and I've asked myself that question for the past 3 years. And honestly, I would've never tried this until I started play tuba with a middle to high placement that I noticed it work so much better and I was actually able to play two octave scales without adjusting my face at all (I can even successfully get through Symphonie Fanatastique) . I've been playing tuba on the side for orchestra for about 3 weeks, and I play it better now with that setting than when I played it back in highschool for a whole year with a low placement setting. And that somewhat opened my mind to what if I have the same effect on trombone? I tried a 6 1/2 al and had better results with range and such but now I'm sticking to Heritage 4abl. So here's hoping that my bolero Bb sings soon!
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ttf_Doug Elliott
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Adjusting my mouthpiece position
"somewhat of an upstream embouchure" ????
If I saw you I would do quite a bit of testing to see what effect different variations have, to fully diagnose your likely best embouchure type. It's not just about "upstream" and "downstream," there are two distinctly different downstream embouchures and full testing would likely reveal important details of how your face really needs to work.
AND, I would test you on tuba, trombone, and maybe trumpet too.
Otherwise you're just guessing.
If I saw you I would do quite a bit of testing to see what effect different variations have, to fully diagnose your likely best embouchure type. It's not just about "upstream" and "downstream," there are two distinctly different downstream embouchures and full testing would likely reveal important details of how your face really needs to work.
AND, I would test you on tuba, trombone, and maybe trumpet too.
Otherwise you're just guessing.
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ttf_harrison.t.reed
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Adjusting my mouthpiece position
50/50 is super rare -- true 50/50. I think that's because it's unstable and causes a lot of double buzzing.
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ttf_svenlarsson
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Adjusting my mouthpiece position
Just my comments. Lots of student do "rest the mothpiece" on the upper lip without being upstreamplayers at all.
Many "upstream players" do rest the mouthpiece on the lower lip. I think it is a good idea to take a lesson with Doug.
May players, students and professionals who hade problems with "doubble buzzing" did not have 50/50. All kinds of placements can be played with doubble buzz. If close to 50/50 works don´t worry about it, if it does not work, do something about it.
Many "upstream players" do rest the mouthpiece on the lower lip. I think it is a good idea to take a lesson with Doug.
May players, students and professionals who hade problems with "doubble buzzing" did not have 50/50. All kinds of placements can be played with doubble buzz. If close to 50/50 works don´t worry about it, if it does not work, do something about it.
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ttf_svenlarsson
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- Joined: Sat Mar 31, 2018 12:35 pm
Adjusting my mouthpiece position
Just my comments. Lots of student do "rest the mothpiece" on the upper lip without being upstreamplayers at all.
Many "upstream players" do rest the mouthpiece on the lower lip. I think it is a good idea to take a lesson with Doug.
May players, students and professionals who hade problems with "doubble buzzing" did not have 50/50. All kinds of placements can be played with doubble buzz. If close to 50/50 works don´t worry about it, if it does not work, do something about it.
Many "upstream players" do rest the mouthpiece on the lower lip. I think it is a good idea to take a lesson with Doug.
May players, students and professionals who hade problems with "doubble buzzing" did not have 50/50. All kinds of placements can be played with doubble buzz. If close to 50/50 works don´t worry about it, if it does not work, do something about it.