Why? Why? Why?

[Becky]

I find high notes really hard to play, (mainly from Top E
upwards) and it always sounds forced, and then when I try to realx, nothing
comes out at all. Or I would have to pause and then ''punch'' the air out
fast. Aggggrh! I once heard that thinking that you have a delicate egg in your
mouth whilst you play these notes helps... But how is the embrochure meant to be
when these notes are played? Tight? Or real relaxed? Or does it depend on that
particular person? Thanks for your help, Becky xXxXx

[damjan]

Dear Becky, Don't let the high notes discourage you.
They take time and practice. Regarding the embochure, it definitely needs to be
RELAXED for the upper register. Otherwise it will sound forced. You just have to
spend time "finding" each note with your lips. This will give your lip muscles
time to remember what they need to do for those notes. There are several posts
on the board regarding this, so if you do a search on the board for "high
notes", you will find some other useful information. Best of luck.

[BandSlave]

Hey there, Another thing to do is make sure that your
lips are placed correctly on the lip plate. If the hole is too high on your lip,
it won't work, but if it's too low, the same thing will happen, try to make
sure the hole is right on the line where your lip meets your non-lip-colored
skin (sorry that I can't find more eloquent words to explain it...). I hope
this helps you because high notes are beautiful and fun when you can get them
out, same with low notes, I LOVE playing low notes! Good luck, Abby