Embouchure and Primary Control

Mapping the embouchure…

I would like to encourage the mapping of the brass players’ embouchure as including the air stream. In other words, an embouchure is not simply a “setting” of muscles as might traditionally be construed, but rather an entity in motion. An embouchure does not exist unless air flow is present. This is an important distinction and is a movement-based approach. I have seen far too many young players gripping, clamping and all manner of squeezing in an attempt to “form an embouchure”.

Along the same lines, one needn’t think in terms of tightening or loosening the “embouchure” in order to change registers. After all, does a vocalist think in terms of tightening or loosening the vocal chords to move from low to high or vice-versa? Even someone not trained as a vocalist knows instinctively that this is a ridiculous concept. The mechanism which facilitates moving the voice up or down may also be used by brass players to move up and down their range. Perhaps we could call this “pitch recognition”? I like to think of this as a musical form of Primary Control. It includes pitch recognition but it also requires a higher degree of pitch sensitivity. I love to stop my students in the middle of whatever they are playing on their trombone and ask them to sing the next note. If they can’t then they are flying without radar and hoping for the best. Developing this “musical primary control” has the added benefit of greatly enhancing intonation – difficult especially on trombone.