Warning: this post gets a little esoteric so feel free as always to hit the <Delete> button. --------------------- [quote]I was unable to effectively widen my mouth cavity, Indeed trying to do so badly affected my delivered tone. -snip- Tone quality appeared to depend entirely on my lip embouchure and/or my mouthpiece. I was unable to locate any other factors relevant to this. [/quote]
You can change the oral cavity system merely by opening or dropping your jaw or raising/lowering your tongue. You can also change the cavity and the tension (or not) that is injected into the sound by changing how you breathe. If your breath is only in the upper gate like many beginners the sound is completely different than when breathing only in the middle gate or indeed only in the tan tien. The quality of sound changes yet again if one opens all the gates in a fluid manner. We agree I am sure through our various trainings martial, meditation and otherwise that proper hou tien chi involves filling the lungs like filling a pitcher of water from the bottom up through all three gates. Despite the body's natural proclivity of wanting to empty the lungs from the top down (again like the pitcher), we see all the time people trying to force the breath out from the bottom. This has a dramatic change in the timbre of sound, the production of misaligned overtones at the embouchure, and general endurance. Shien tien chi while not obviously applicable (and certainly not easily so) can mature the understanding of this process as well. That said, one wouldn't try to instruct a beginner or even the average musician in these concepts in anything resembling an obvious way. We would lock the brain up in paralysis every time. It is also important to remember that while we be experts in one or many fields and although achieving thoughtful expertise helps us to learn faster in other fields or subjects, that this same fact can influence or cause predisposition in approaching a newer subject. To bring another martial arts analogy, though I have twenty years or better training in taiji and about twelve years in pakua I am continually refining my understanding of chi flow and application-especially if I learn a new style or weapon. Would I have thought in the beginning this were so? Probably not. Yet things of which I thought I was aware fairly early on evolve into deeper elements as time goes passes. Some of it even applies to playing the horn. Understanding the horn is a lot like a zen koan. Playing the horn is a lot like zen archery. In my opinion of course. Blah blah blah...... The Jack Attack! _______________________________________________ post: [email protected] unsubscribe or set options at https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
