Do lip muscles matter?
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Do lip muscles matter?
Does a flutist have stronger lip muscles than an ordinary person? Is strengthening the lips part of learning to play the flute? I'm not asking which predominates, as one learns to play, the mental development or the physical. I'd assume that the mind is more important. But imagine that you have had a brain transplant into the body of a person who has never played the flute. Would you be able to pick up a flute and play it just as well as ever, or would there be a period of physical conditioning necessary, before you could play as well as before the transplant?
Re: Do lip muscles matter?
I don't think lip muscles matter so much as memory. Having put down the flute for a long period of time and coming back to it, there was a lot of memory and a lot of lip muscle burn from trying to use muscles that had not been used for a while. So long as you know what to do to make a good sound you will get a good sound. You'll just tire fast and lack as tone/depth you might have had when in a good state of practice.
And having had oral (UPPP) surgery, I became very aware that there is other muscle memory at work. When I came back into playing I played a 3rd octave D and my soft palate shot up and shocked the heck out of me (and hurt like the dickens!). It's something you don't realize is happening, but your mouth is doing a lot of passive work for sound/intonation.
And having had oral (UPPP) surgery, I became very aware that there is other muscle memory at work. When I came back into playing I played a 3rd octave D and my soft palate shot up and shocked the heck out of me (and hurt like the dickens!). It's something you don't realize is happening, but your mouth is doing a lot of passive work for sound/intonation.