Is there any meaningful correlation between whistling and embouchure? It seems to me that there is in terms of tongue placement at least, and maybe aperture. This is anecdotal, but when I was younger and playing all the time I could whistle like crazy. My range was great. I could whistle the opening horn solo from Till Eulenspiegel. Years after quitting the horn I noticed I couldn’t whistle anymore which leads me to believe even more that there is a correlation.
Mike
Re: Correlation between whistling and embouchure
Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2021 8:25 pm
by harrisonreed
Yes. The tongue and throat form what is called the formant, shaping the speed and direction of the air, and influencing the overtones.
Re: Correlation between whistling and embouchure
Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2021 6:05 am
by baileyman
PosauneCat wrote: ↑Wed Feb 17, 2021 8:00 pm
Is there any meaningful correlation between whistling and embouchure? ...
Mike
Sure seems that way to me.
I spend a great deal of time controlling my pitch using a whistling style tongue motion. It dominates pitch choice over quite a range over which the chops feel like they're not doing very much. (I'm certain they're doing something along the way, but it does feel like it's all tongue tuning the mouth cavity, just like whistling.)
The primary difference seems to be that whistling aperture seems relatively fixed, at at least mine is, so whistling range is fairly small. (Maybe I need to work on it and find new apertures.) The chops readily adjust to different ranges and within ranges the tongue can select any pitch accurately and rapidly.
Incidentally, the whole scheme works on freebuzz and readily transfers to the piece and the horn in almost every range. The extremes are different somehow, but maybe that just means more time and repetitions.
Re: Correlation between whistling and embouchure
Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2021 1:31 pm
by timothy42b
I still can't whistle. When we had this discussion about a month ago I gave it another shot. I practised my pitiful attempt at it every day as I did my lunch hour walk.
After two weeks straight, zero improvement.
Re: Correlation between whistling and embouchure
Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2021 2:08 pm
by Doubler
timothy42b wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 1:31 pm
I still can't whistle. When we had this discussion about a month ago I gave it another shot. I practised my pitiful attempt at it every day as I did my lunch hour walk.
After two weeks straight, zero improvement.
Lunch hour? Aren't you supposed to whistle while you work ?
Re: Correlation between whistling and embouchure
Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2021 3:24 pm
by Wilktone
timothy42b wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 1:31 pm
I still can't whistle. When we had this discussion about a month ago I gave it another shot. I practised my pitiful attempt at it every day as I did my lunch hour walk.
After two weeks straight, zero improvement.
Can you hiss air and get it to sound an airy pitch without puckering your lips? I can't whistle very high pitches, but I can hiss the air and derive similar benefits from checking tongue position for notes.
timothy42b wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 1:31 pm
I still can't whistle. When we had this discussion about a month ago I gave it another shot. I practised my pitiful attempt at it every day as I did my lunch hour walk.
After two weeks straight, zero improvement.
Can you hiss air and get it to sound an airy pitch without puckering your lips? I can't whistle very high pitches, but I can hiss the air and derive similar benefits from checking tongue position for notes.
I have a great hiss. That's about all I have right now.
