Opening of throat, changing embouchure

dior · Post by **dior** » Sun Nov 12, 2006 6:41 am

hi. how do you exactly open your throat? is there an exercise for it? my senior asked me to do this all the time but i seriously have no idea how to. do you actually push down the back of the tongue to open it? and i was thinking of changing my embouchure because i was taught the wrong way in my 1st year- the smile embouchure- i'm trying not to stretch my embouchure so much by puffing cheeks and push more air when i play high notes...but usually after 1hour of practice i tend to stretch again. this is my 7th year playing the flute and i'd like to know if it is advisable to change now. thanks.

flute.and.picc.are.love · Sun Nov 12, 2006 11:32 am

Well, I'm no expert, but as far as I know, in order to open your throat, you must lift your soft palliate. That's the part at the back of your throat by your uvula (that's the scientific name for that punching bag thingy that dangles at the back of your throat in case you didn't know). I think you can push down the back of your tongue slightly to aid this. As far as your embouchure goes, I'm not really sure how I can explain it on here. Sorry! Perhaps someone else can help.

Anybody else-feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

I tried! Hope it helps a little!

Bumpbert · Post by **Bumpbert** » Sun Nov 12, 2006 11:34 am

I'm curious about that too. I've tried "yawning" as an experiment. It seems to give me a better tone but it also tires me out, maybe I'm just too tense when I'm lifting the soft palate.

EDIT: Is there an ideal larynx position for flute playing? My voice teacher has me lift the soft palate for singing with the "ng-ah" sound, which doesn't exaggeratedly depress the larynx like a full-out yawn, giving the voice a less forced and dark color.

Is it the same for flute or should the larynx be especially low or high?

ick27 · Post by **ick27** » Sun Nov 12, 2006 12:24 pm

I recommend doing some singing and playing (at the same time.) Your throat must be open to do this, and I think the best larynx position for a particular note is close to the position it would be in if you were singing the note (obviously just for the lower octave.) This concept is sometimes called "throat tuning."

After doing some low octave singing and playing, play the same thing normally, without singing, and see if you like it.

flutepicc06 · Post by **flutepicc06** » Sun Nov 12, 2006 1:07 pm

There have been some good examples of opening your throat, so I won't go into that beyond saying that the "yawning" experiment yields the closest results for me, though that may not be the case for you. As for the embouchure, your cheeks should not be puffed out for any instrument, brass or woodwind, so that's definitely not the way to fix your embouchure. Also, the amount of air you move for the high notes matters far less than the accuracy and focus of the airstream. Forcing as much air through the flute as possible will not yield the same results as a focused airstream blown at the proper angle, and with good support behind it. Your face should be pretty relaxed when forming an embouchure. Only the muscles in the center of your lips should really be involved in forming the aperture, not the corners (which is how you get the smiley embouchure). Of course other facial muscles, like those that move your jaw must be employed to a certain extent, but for the most part your face should be relaxed. It depends on how satisfied you are with your current embouchure, and what your goals are in music whether this change is advisable. Things like this can be frustrating, especially without the guidance of a good teacher, so if you have no real musical aspirations beyond high school, and your embouchure is working okay for you, you might decide not to change it. If you want to major in music, then changing it as early as possible is probably a good idea. In my mind, there's no such thing as a "wrong" embouchure if it lets the player using it do what they want to do, so don't feel the need to change it just because you've heard that the smiley embouchure is "wrong." If you're set on going through this change, as soon as you start to notice that you're tightening again, stop playing. If you keep going, that will only reinforce the old embouchure, rather than the new. This change is likely to take a few weeks or longer to be fully complete.

remnantpark · Post by **remnantpark** » Sun Nov 12, 2006 2:13 pm

Yeah "yawning" works for me. And then I got tired of it. Now what i do is pretending to sing like an opera singer in a way. And I also pretend to let out warm air on my hand for a couple times and I do the same thing to my flute...

Meredith · Post by **Meredith** » Sun Nov 12, 2006 5:37 pm

Re: Embrochure Changes

It's never a bad time to change your embrochure for the better, but, do it under the guidance of your teacher.

I just changed mine last week after 16 years (oh, God, am I really that old) from the "smile method" to one with more tension in the upper portion, less tension in the lower lip. It's slow going work, esp. b/c I also changed my tonguing, but the benefit was immediate and obvious.

MeLizzard · Post by **MeLizzard** » Sun Nov 12, 2006 9:04 pm

More accurately, make more space between your back teeth.

flutepicc06 · Post by **flutepicc06** » Sun Nov 12, 2006 10:21 pm

MeLizzard wrote:More accurately, make more space between your back teeth.

I don't think that's necessarily the best explanation possible. Just sitting here, I experimented with that, and I have no problem opening the gap between my back teeth while leaving my throat closed, or in fact, closing it more. That certainly opens the mouth, creating a larger resonance chamber, but the throat must be open as well.

nashvilleflute · Post by **nashvilleflute** » Sun Nov 12, 2006 11:17 pm

SING - it's like changing vowels when you sing - and yes, you're soft pallate is what changes...if you can sing it, you can probably play it...

dior · Post by **dior** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 6:27 am

thanks for your advice on embouchure. ok im still quite confused with opening of throat. so i just need to have the feel of yawning when i play the flute and by not pushing down the back of the tongue/ pallate? when i do vibrato, i made used of throat and pushing of diaphragm. do i actually open my throat when doing vibrato?

flutepicc06 · Post by **flutepicc06** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 9:49 am

dior wrote:thanks for your advice on embouchure. ok im still quite confused with opening of throat. so i just need to have the feel of yawning when i play the flute and by not pushing down the back of the tongue/ pallate? when i do vibrato, i made used of throat and pushing of diaphragm. do i actually open my throat when doing vibrato?

You can depress the back of your tongue to help open your throat. Your throat should be open all the time when your playing to achieve the best tone, so don't open it only when doing vibrato (though it should be open then too).