One other thing about your mouthpiece. Something I learned much later in my career. Amazing how much we think we know and learn later how much we don't know.
It is very important how the shank of the mouthpiece fits the lead pipe!!! That can make all the difference in the way the mouthpiece will work with the horn. You can find yourself working yourself to death and even when you change mouthpieces, it doesn't help. I learned that one from Tom Greer at Moosewood, and man did it ever make a difference to the way the horn responded. I have two Alex 103. Totally different lead pipes. I use exactly the same mouthpiece for both horns, but until Tom made me two mouthpieces with shanks that fitted each horn, I would always have trouble. Just a thought. And, I can't wait for the next learning round. Milton Milton Kicklighter 4th Horn Buffalo Philharmonic Retired ________________________________ From: Ralph Hall <[email protected]> To: The Horn List <[email protected]> Sent: Tue, April 5, 2011 4:15:39 PM Subject: Re: [Hornlist] Lip quivers Hi Molly, Try a smaller mouthpiece. I have had some success with this with pupils who think that big is best and have gone too far. I believe that all players have an optimum size and that to exceed it (for what ever reason) can bring on this sort of muscle tremor. A suitable (but hardly exact) analogy might be trying to push for more speed from an engine that is not designed for it. Unfortunately, there is not a prescriptive answer to this problem (hence the lack of response!) but do experiment with a different sized mouthpiece - it's worked for my pupils in the past. Ralph On 1 Apr 2011, at 03:36, Molly White wrote: > Yes I always have this problem when trying to play softly, exactly > those > same notes. My embouchure (good lord I have no idea how to spell > that!) is > quite funky in that range. Attacks are awful! At piano I am more > successful > w/attacks above the staff than in this middle register! If I play > loud, I > have no problem. If I play on the B-flat side, it's not nearly as > bad, as > far as lip trembling, but tone and pitch are more troublesome. I > have had a > little success changing practice routines to spend more quality time > in this > trouble area, and exercises from Wendell Rider's book seem to help > me - more > concentrated on middle register drills. Of course that means less > quality > time to spend on other important things. Stupid 24 hour day! I hope > they fix > that soon! > Molly in Missouri > > On Mar 31, 2011 8:10 PM, "Jeremy Ristow" <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > Lately I've noticed a quivering in my lips when I play, usually > around the c > just below the staff down to around g and f, sometimes even lower > than that. > Has anyone had this problem? I have no idea why this has started all > of > sudden and I don't know what to do about it. Thanks. > > Jeremy > _______________________________________________ > post: [email protected] > unsubscribe or set options at > https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/mlw2026%40gmail.com > _______________________________________________ > post: [email protected] > unsubscribe or set options at >https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/ralph%40brasshausmusic.com > Ralph R. Hall [email protected] Ralph R. Hall http://www.brasshausmusic.com _______________________________________________ post: [email protected] unsubscribe or set options at https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/kicklighgter%40yahoo.com _______________________________________________ post: [email protected] unsubscribe or set options at https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
