Embouchure Video on YouTube

[ssking2b]

Please take a look at my YouTube video on tenor trombone embouchure:



No I don't get paid for spelling, and I do get a bit red in the face!

Comments welcome - good, bad, indifferent - let me know your opinion.

[Doubler]

I've never seen a better demonstration. I've never seen a demonstration nearly as good. Thank you!

[AndrewMeronek]

I agree - very nice video content.

My only criticism is to see if you can manually set your camera's focus distance and turn off auto-focus.

[Pre59]

I agree - very nice video content.

My only criticism is to see if you can manually set your camera's focus distance and turn off auto-focus.

.. and up the volume level.

[Wilktone]

Nice! Thanks for sharing.

For what it's worth, here are my thoughts:

Very nice description of overall embouchure formation (e.g., the beginning of the word, "mother."). Rather than using a word that starts with the letter M, why not use a word that ends with that letter, for example, "charm." Personally, I usually describe this as if saying, "em."

Excellent demonstrations. By the way, I would guess that your have what Reinhardt called a IIIA embouchure type, or what Doug Elliott (and I) prefer to call the "very high placement" embouchure type.

Much of your video, perhaps most, deals more with breathing and tongue position rather than embouchure. This is pretty common for a lot of embouchure resources. It's not that those factors are unimportant, but your video deals more with the "forest" of overall trombone playing, rather than the "tree" of embouchure.

And as has been mentioned already, the camera focus is distracting. You'll need to either turn off the auto focus on the camera or record in a space where there aren't things on the wall behind you that the camera is likely to try to focus on over you. While you're at it, it would be nice if you could have the camera more centered and zoomed/closer to focus on the embouchure area when you're demonstrating embouchure technique.

Thanks again for sharing. If you make more trombone videos, please let us know about them.

Dave

[ssking2b]

Thank you for your comments! I can probably do better with the mic, and will turn off the auto focus. And the content comments are great, too! I appreciate all of them!

This is the first time I have attempted to do a video and my wife was running the camera. She was not sure what she could do while shooting. Perhaps we can do better on the next one!

I have no idea what Reinhardt called a IIIA embouchure type, or what Doug Elliott (and Wilktone) prefer to call the "very high placement" embouchure type. OK, if you say so! I took lessons in high school from an excellent player/teacher who studied with Reinhardt. He used the big Reinhardt bible to figure out my type (I don't remember what it was, just that I have a slight overbite and am a downstream player), and we learned how a pivot could help my playing - or distract from it. His lessons were excellent!

With regards to the forest and tree thing - IMHO the embouchure is the focal point for all these things. If they are working at an optimal level, the embouchure can do its job - focus air and create buzz/notes. If your embouchure looks great but the support for it doesn't work, you're a pretty picture holding trombone, not a player. I'm sure you all remember the other homily "You can't separate the forest from the trees".

Finally, why did I choose the word "mother"? Making the embouchure is near the beginning of playing, so I wanted a word that reflected that. M(other) is leading somewhere precisely because it is the beginning of a word. After the initial contact of your lips to pronounce the M, the next step is let the word come out - turn on the air - articulate the first note - you get the picture. It's also the example one of my excellent teachers used on me that helped the light bulb go on.

I'm a firm believer in body rhythms...and breathing, embouchure, tonguing, et al, has to fit into that structure to work the best! At least, that's what I think!

I hope all of you that have commented so far I can put on my friends list. I appreciate your input!!

[norbie2018]

I'm a firm believer in body rhythms...and breathing, embouchure, tonguing, et al, has to fit into that structure to work the best! At least, that's what I think!

What do you mean by "body rhythms" and how do you utilize them when playing?

[AndrewMeronek]

This is the first time I have attempted to do a video and my wife was running the camera. She was not sure what she could do while shooting. Perhaps we can do better on the next one!

Maybe I need to 'walk the walk' and make some of my own videos before criticizing too much . . .

but, in a previous job, I had to deal with a lot of industrial cameras. For contexts of videos like the OP, one thing that strikes me as worth paying attention to is the 'depth of field'. That is, the distance range from the camera lens where everything appears to be in focus, as opposed to 'focal length' which is the range of focus the lens is capable of by adjustment. Longer or shorter is not necessarily better - it depends on what you're intentions are. But, if you have a relatively small space where you may want both your face, the trombone, and your hands to be in focus, a larger depth of fiend may be desired, and that goes with some specific classes of lenses - depending on what's compatible with your specific camera. This can be a deep rabbit hole, though.

[ssking2b]

With regard to body rhythms...I believe all parts of my performance should be coordinated and working together to produce. When I am playing I even breath rhythmically in time with the music. For example why choose mother over charm as word to demonstrate natural embouchure? M(other) implies follow thru which embouchure requires, i.e. Articulate the note. Something like (char)m is closed ended, no where to go from here - thus ending the rhythm of producing the note.

Body rhythms may be a poor choice of words, since it doesn't really express what I meant. But when I play I want to have all my focus, both physical and mental on playing, so my rhythms are all working toward the same goal: trombone.

Thanks for some on-site on depth of field. I will try to use that to my advantage in the future!

[baileyman]

With regard to body rhythms...I believe all parts of my performance should be coordinated and working together to produce. ...

Body rhythms may be a poor choice of words, since it doesn't really express what I meant. But when I play I want to have all my focus, both physical and mental on playing, so my rhythms are all working toward the same goal: trombone.
...

Perhaps it makes sense to say that is a full-body dance, though some of the steps are not heard.

[Wilktone]

ally, why did I choose the word "mother"? Making the embouchure is near the beginning of playing, so I wanted a word that reflected that. M(other) is leading somewhere precisely because it is the beginning of a word. After the initial contact of your lips to pronounce the M, the next step is let the word come out - turn on the air - articulate the first note - you get the picture. It's also the example one of my excellent teachers used on me that helped the light bulb go on.

Thanks for sharing that idea. I've always thought of it in the reverse, that by putting the embouchure formation at the end of the word it could be "drawn out" into a trombone embouchure and make it easier by slowing it down. I really do like your analogy better that the embouchure leads towards sound, rather than conceptually at the end of it. Maybe students who need to draw out this idea out would do better with thinking of forming the embouchure by thinking of EM-pathy, or something similar.

Dave

[ssking2b]

Thanks, wilktone! I just like all my paths moving forward. Em(pathty) should do the trick, too.

[ssking2b]

Baileyman, you are exactly correct!