tight embouchure

concertino · Post by **concertino** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 8:12 pm

I recently took a long break from flute, because of hand troubles, and now that I am playing again, I find that my embouchure has gotten tighter than it used to be. I had a pretty good embouchure before.
Are there any good embouchure exercises in the Trevor Wye omnibus that can help? Or any other exercises?

thanks

remnantpark · Post by **remnantpark** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 10:19 pm

I kinda had that problem too, but after spending some time on Trevor Wye, I recovered most of the things.

Book 1 Tone is good. Starting with the low register is probably the best idea, the 1st 4 exercises help a lot and you should also work on "Middle Register" section, #11 and #10 helped me a lot. #10 especially since it goes from High B to Low C (i think??) Just try nailing those down bit by bit everyday.

How long did you take a break from the flute by the way???? Hope your hand's okay...you don't want to hurt them...

fluteguy18 · Post by **fluteguy18** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 10:44 pm

Good advice!

I definately recommend those, and also ordering a book published by MelBay... on learning flute [for beginners]. There is and EXCELLENT chapter in the beginning about embouchure. Also, working on whistle tones will give you the basic structure and looseness for an embouchure that really suits you.

Also, if you have any more problems with your hands, feel free to post on here. A fair few here have had hand problems [ myself included], and we could quite possibly give tips on how to releive any discomfort based off of our expieriances.

MonikaFL · Post by **MonikaFL** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 7:49 pm

Great advice here already! I'd just like to add...

"Like putting your head down on a pillow so you can relax..." this is a visualization my college flute professor used to helped me with a tight embouchure (and tension in general). Our tone being the head needing rest, our lips being the pillow which provides the rest.

That just clicked with me, and really helped me get a full, rich sound... but I had to really think about that while practicing my tone studies (Trevor Wye/Moyse exercises being my tone studies of choice)!! She also suggested walking slowly and gently around the room while playing the tone studies, or scales, because I was having issues with tension in my shoulders and back as well... which probably spilled over into my embouchure (the "whole body" approach thing).

I've always wanted to look into Alexander Technique... but my massage therapist friend says I just need a weekly massage! LOL