I'm only playing with one side of my lips
- clementid
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Dec 21, 2022
Hello everyone
I started playing the trombone 4 months ago, and I was having trouble playing hight notes, and what turned out to work for me is playing with only one side of my lips. I place my lips symmetrically in the mouthpiece (or at least the asymmetry is very subtle), but only one side vibrates when I play. This technique currently works for me, but I feel like I'm developing a very bad habit that may be very hard to difficult to break later. Is this habit really that bad and how can I get rid of it ?
I started playing the trombone 4 months ago, and I was having trouble playing hight notes, and what turned out to work for me is playing with only one side of my lips. I place my lips symmetrically in the mouthpiece (or at least the asymmetry is very subtle), but only one side vibrates when I play. This technique currently works for me, but I feel like I'm developing a very bad habit that may be very hard to difficult to break later. Is this habit really that bad and how can I get rid of it ?
- Doug_Elliott
- Posts: 4155
- Joined: Mar 22, 2018
In general, put it where it works. I am nowhere near the middle.
- Crazy4Tbone86
- Posts: 1654
- Joined: Jan 14, 2020
With asymmetrical embouchures, I sometimes find that there is a logical reason for them to occur. Here are a couple of examples:
*I knew a very fine trumpet player who had a spectacular career playing in a military band, a symphony orchestra, and doing solo work. He eventually ended up teaching at a conservatory. His embouchure was very much off to the side. When questioned about his embouchure, he simply explained.....when he was younger, his embouchure was dead center, but he cut his lip badly near the center. After that, he had to play off to the side because the scar on his lip would swell every time he would play in the center, making it difficult to play longer than a few minutes.
*I have had several students who played off to the side, some of them would explain that it feels like the mouthpiece is in the center. When I asked them to smile, I observed that the center of their teeth was not lining up with the center of their lips. In essence, they WERE playing exactly in the center.......the center of their dental structure!
There are so many anatomical variables that lead to many different embouchures. Since the OP is still quite new to the instrument, my recommendation is to seek the advice of a qualified teacher to determine if your embouchure is working efficiently for you.
*I knew a very fine trumpet player who had a spectacular career playing in a military band, a symphony orchestra, and doing solo work. He eventually ended up teaching at a conservatory. His embouchure was very much off to the side. When questioned about his embouchure, he simply explained.....when he was younger, his embouchure was dead center, but he cut his lip badly near the center. After that, he had to play off to the side because the scar on his lip would swell every time he would play in the center, making it difficult to play longer than a few minutes.
*I have had several students who played off to the side, some of them would explain that it feels like the mouthpiece is in the center. When I asked them to smile, I observed that the center of their teeth was not lining up with the center of their lips. In essence, they WERE playing exactly in the center.......the center of their dental structure!
There are so many anatomical variables that lead to many different embouchures. Since the OP is still quite new to the instrument, my recommendation is to seek the advice of a qualified teacher to determine if your embouchure is working efficiently for you.
- BGuttman
- Posts: 7368
- Joined: Mar 22, 2018
Depending on your embouchure type you may rely on having one lip or the other do the majority of the vibrating. This is not unusual or bad unless you discover it is causing problems.
I am a downstream player (i.e. I point the air more and more to the lower inside rim of the mouthpiece as I play higher). I find the upper lip does most of the vibrating for me.
I am a downstream player (i.e. I point the air more and more to the lower inside rim of the mouthpiece as I play higher). I find the upper lip does most of the vibrating for me.