I listened. I though isn´t that E played with low placement embouchure sharp? Then I messured with cleartone and found that to be true.
(there is an old joke in Swedish wind orchestras "It is better to sharp the to be out of tune)
You're right, when I used a tuner to check those pitches low placement E is quite a bit sharp, but then again the higher placement E is also sharp, just not as much. The real question is where the intonation is relative to each other and the rest of the instrument at that moment.
Even though I'm emphasizing the physical embouchure characteristics, don't neglect what you're hearing. Listen for tone (which is tough on these videos, the mic on the camera isn't meant for music, plus who knows what speakers you might be using to listen to them) and listen for intonation. Intonation is another objective clue into whether what that player is doing might be working for them. In the case of the tubist playing his highest possible notes, the usual placement (high register downstream) sounds flatter (lower) than the low placement (upstream) setting. This suggests two possibilities to consider, both of which give us some clues to help us figure out what's going to work best.
1. His normal setting is flat because he's playing the very top of his range and he can't quite get his lips to vibrate fast enough to get the note in tune.
2. His upstream setting is sharp because it's now easier for him to play (which he verbally stated) and also suggests that perhaps he can more easily get the lips to vibrate for those high notes.
In and of itself, I wouldn't say these are definitive clues, but teachers working with a student's embouchure can use intonation as a clue to discover which direction to go.
The tubaist has embouchure problems both with high and low placement.
Yes, but the bulk of those problems are the same, regardless of which placement he uses. The major two noted problems (the high range cap and the flip of air stream right in the middle of his range) are only present on the higher mouthpiece placement. Furthermore, I don't think that anything other than a lower placement will actually get rid of those two major embouchure issues.
In my opinion, fixing the air stream direction is the first step. Then make the other corrections.
But it should go without saying, the best solution for this tubist would have been if he had been taught this much earlier. It would have saved his struggles in a high pressured academic situation and probably made it easier for him to develop good embouchure form much faster. He wouldn't have needed to replace years of physical habit.
I think what we heard was okay and then it is difficult to have a clue what correct. I would leave it with no comments if there wasn't any particular issue they brought up.
If it sounds good and it is not obviously wrong then I would not suggest any changes. Why did they seek your help?
Tom, you're making assumptions and that's making you miss what I was hoping you'd note. Sure, the overall embouchure stability you pointed out is an important part of a player's embouchure technique, but let's leave that discussion aside until later.
The two trumpet players in the second video didn't actually come to me for help, I went to them to video record them. Pretty much all of the videos and photos I have of brass players' embouchures come from one of two research projects I conducted. The photos from the first page of this topic were taken in the late 90s as I was collecting data for my dissertation research ("The correlation between Doug Elliott's embouchure types and selected physical and playing characteristics"). The videos are from 2008-2010 and was a general project to record as many different brass players' embouchures to present a workshop on brass embouchures at the North Carolina Music Educators Conference in 2010.
The players in both of these studies range widely in age and playing experience. The time I spent with each also varies from regular lessons for years to a quick 10 minutes.
You're not seeing the exact things that define an embouchure type, and that is the key to understanding how to improve playing or fix problems.
Doug, of course, knows exactly where I was going with this.
If you're still confused (or even just for extra practice) go back and watch the 2nd trumpet video with the two players. The first player is pushing his mouthpiece and lips together up to ascend and down to descend. He does this consistently throughout his range. The second trumpet player is doing the reverse, pulling down to ascend and pushing up to descend.
This motion is an important part of a brass musician's embouchure, yet the vast majority of players don't even know it exists. I have yet to be able to closely observe a brass player of any experience level who doesn't use an embouchure motion. It really appears to be a universal feature, like the upstream and downstream types.
Now go back and look closely at the first trumpet player with the high range struggles. Can you see a consistent embouchure motion? From about the G on top of the staff and below he looks to be pushing up to ascend and pulling down to descend (much like the 1st trumpet player in the second video). But when he gets above the staff he begins to reverse this motion and starts pulling down to ascend. And he works really hard to play up there and has a limited high range.
I'll follow up in a bit after I can find the appropriate video clips.
Dave