BEyond Description

When I first began studying BE, I enjoyed an instant boost to my embouchure performance because I was "allowed" to roll my lips in and out. I remember thinking how grateful I was to Jeff Smiley for letting me in on the big "secret." At the time, I thought that's what BE was all about: rolling in and out. I shared this idea with others in the French horn world and some began experimenting with the idea and teaching their students to roll in and out. Of course, they reported success from this simple intervention because it is based upon a universal principal of embouchure function -- rolling lips inward raises pitch, rolling lips outward lowers pitch.

It wasn't until later, after working the BE exercises consistently over time, that I began to see the bigger picture and realize that the power of The Balanced Embouchure is found in the system, not one specific technique. BE is much more than rolling in and out. BE is a comprehensive method using multiple techniques that can stimulate a faulty embouchure to self correct. Consistently following Jeff Smiley's instructions can actually provide guidance for the hornist to find a new and more efficient embouchure set up. Sometimes this improvement comes with a subtle repositioning or reshaping of the lips; other times it often comes with radical changes in embouchure mechanics.

BE uses a variety of specific techniques including rolling in and out, to provide a wide range of experiences for the embouchure components (lips, tongue, teeth, air, cheeks, breathing apparatus, etc) that the BE student can experiment with and choose from. Using sensory feedback (hearing, touch, proprioception, etc.) and innate intelligence, the player is guided, both consciously and unconsciously, to make choices that optimize embouchure performance. Simply rolling the lips in and out cannot provide the horn player as comprehensive a range of experience.

Through the past five years I've been working BE, I've enjoyed discovery after discovery, AHA moment after AHA moment. Most of the details of the changes and improvements are beyond my ability to analyze and describe, but can only be personally "felt." When I try to share the specifics of what I've learned through BE, I often find myself "tongue tied" by the effort. There's little more of substance that I can add to this simple statement:

"Do the Balanced Embouchure exercises because they work!"

Those who only apply rolling in and rolling out to their regular playing may get a boost in embouchure performance, like I did. But if they don't work the whole BE system, they are missing the bigger picture, the remedial and long term benefits that the complete Balanced Embouchure development system provides.

(I wish to thank my son, Aaron, a philosophy student, for sharing the quotation in the comments section below. This quotation provided the inspiration for this article. Since I can't accurately describe what goes on inside the mouthpiece of any single horn player, I chose to remain silent about the details!)

Go back home.

Embouchure Experience and Discovery

For some, The Balanced Embouchure system brings an overall, general improvement to the established embouchure by enhancing the various elements of playing such as range, endurance, tone, flexibility, security, accuracy, etc. But, for others, the BE system enables students to make major embouchure transformations as they discover fundamental flaws in and subsequent solutions to their embouchure settings. Such was the case for and Jonathan and me.

In my very first week on BE, I discovered a fundamental flaw in my set up. The flaw was not discernable to visual inspection, appeared ideal by Farkas standards, but did not deliver Farkas results. In spite of several years of qualified instruction, I only discovered the flaw when I began to practice the roll-in exercises in The Balanced Embouchure.

For Jonathan, it wasn't as quick. Jonathan struggled for months almost quitting at one point. After taking a little time off his horn, he came back fresh and began BE anew. That's when he discovered a critical element he needed while working with the roll-out exercises. Here are Jonathan's latest comments to add to his testimonial:

I'm still working with BE off and on (more off than on, lately) ... but it led me to an embouchure setting that gives me a much better tone, more flex, and more volume.... still working on the upper range. It is a much more relaxed setting and fits with my theory that it's more about discovering and practicing a setting that allow better playing with less work, rather than try to "muscle up" the notes with a poorly chosen embouchure. It also seems to explain why accomplished players "make it look so easy" .... because for them, it IS easy! And I don't believe it's just because of years of physical toning of the supporting muscles; I believe they have developed a setting that they can easily leverage to do whatever they want with tone, volume, range, pitch, etc.... Just my rambling thought here....

This reminds me of something I once heard in church: "There are some things that can not be taught ... these things can only be learned." I don't believe anyone could have directly taught, "shown" or described to Jonathan or me what a well functioning embouchure looked or felt like for us individually. But Jeff Smiley's simple exercises guided us to discover what we needed through a wide range of embouchure experiences provided in his method.

Thanks, Jonathan, for sharing your insights.
See original article, "Huge Breakthrough" with Roll-Out Exercises here.

Pressed for Time?

There's no need to find a huge block of time free of extra responsibilities, gigs and rehearsals to start BE. Of course, working the whole program is the most ideal situation, but as little as 3 to 5 minutes a day on one or two BE exercises can make a difference.

One horn player I know who had been playing horn for 7 years had very limited range & endurance when she started BE. She had a job, young children at home and was very limited in practice time. She could only dedicate 3 to 5 minutes of her daily practice to BE studies. After three years, she developed a formidable range and played first horn in a community band like the Energizer bunny beats his drum!

I recently introduced the first BE Roll-Out exercise to a high school horn student. He came to the next lesson apologizing for not practicing much during the week due to unexpected & disruptive events including an automobile accident. But, he was still pleased because he said his high notes were definitely becoming easier and more secure. All he had been able to do that week was take a minute or two before or after each daily band rehearsal to run through one Roll-Out exercise!

In my first two years of BE, I was a come back maniac. I played in 6 ensembles and numerous ad hoc groups. I stripped down BE to 7 minutes a day including what I considered at the time, the BE basics. I progressed very nicely with this schedule. Of course, when I cut back on some of the ensembles, leaving myself more time to concentrate on the finer details of BE, I made significant advancements in all aspects of my playing. But, my point is this: a little BE can go a long way.

How can just few minutes of an exercise or two make such a big difference in embouchure function? Every little bit of BE helps because each BE exercise is targeted to efficiently teach and develop a specific, universally beneficial embouchure skill. When one skill is developed in an exercise, part of it can then be incorporated into every day playing with or without the player's knowledge of how it's done.

So, if you're pressed for time, start with something small, BE patient, BE persistent and watch big things happen!

Valerie Wells

Back to home.

The Terror & Thrill of Horn Playing

I think every horn player can identify with the sentiments my friend, Doug, recently shared with me in a spontaneous and unsolicited email.

Valerie,

Our Castle Rock Orchestra had a Christmas concert today. . . The concert was great fun, and if you recall, I was principal. What made that remarkable was that I stewed about it for several weeks. I practiced everything that mattered. I practiced fingerings, I thought about phrasing, dynamics, articulation, and intonation. And I psyched myself up, so determined to play as well as I could.

Today arrived, concert day. Yikes! I tried to avoid thinking about what it meant not to do this well, and I stayed just this side of being really nervous. I turned that wonderful corner where nerves turn into determination and concentration, and adrenalin is your friend. Of all the things I thought about, there was one thing I never thought about. The one thing that it most depends. I never gave a single thought to my chops.

After a year of BE, and weeks of practicing those parts, I never questioned whether or not I could slur up to a high A and hit it cleanly. I'm not saying I didn't chip any notes, but I hit all those high A's as clean as a whistle!

I had several thoughts occur to me as the concert went on. The first was, "What a fool I was to quit playing for all those years." The second was, "This is where I really belong, it doesn't get better than this." The third was about what a stretch it is for me to be playing these first part solos and that I had to bring everything I knew. And finally it cocurred to me that if you're lucky enough to be a horn player, then you're lucky enough.

I'm close to a year past discovering BE, corresponding with Jeff, and exchanging the first email with you. What a year of discovery it's been! I've never been bungee jumping, but I don't believe it could hold a candle to playing the horn, either for the terror or the thrill. I wouldn't trade any experience on earth for the thrill of playing the horn this afternoon. I don't think I have the words to describe it. It's that feeling deep down inside that something came into your life and made such a huge impact, that you wonder how you could have accomplished something so personally meaningful if you hadn't been touched in that way. . . I couldn't have risen to the challenge today without it.

Joyful Christmas to you and your family, and God bless you and yours for all that you do.

Doug
Doug's testimonial

Unconscious Control

Here's a new comment to an older post. Thanks, Kenny.

A lot of playing the trumpet is controlled by the subconscious. Think about it for a moment - if we had to have an aperture setting of .015 of an inch high by .015 of an inch in width with 4.7 psi of air pressure and lip compression of .0025 pounds to achieve note X - how could we possibly do this? We could not. It would be physically impossible. We do not posses the conscious control over our bodies in this extreme. Only the subconscious mind can control things on this level. It's like picking up a glass of water. You don't think about how much grip the fingers must exert or how much lift your arm must provide - it just happens because we let it happen. It is learned through feel as there was a time when you were a toddler that picking up a glass of water (or tying your shoes) was quite a challenge; yet we now perform these task on a subconscious level. Thus the reasoning behind Jeff's method - the exaggerated extremes of RO and RI kind of sets where the stops are. Once your mind conceives these stops it then tries to refine the whole range of motion to find ones particular balance point. Some people may have a natural balance that falls in the motion exerted in the RO, some will have it to fall within the RI, some it will be somewhere between. The old saying - get out of the way of the horn and let it play - has merit. Our body wants to achieve the sound concept that we have in our mind if only we will let it.

Kenny Clawson
By clawsonk on I don't get it. on 11/29/10

A Music Therapist's Perspective

From Lyle Sans, Music Therapist

Hi, Valerie - Since leaving that comment over on Horn Matters, it's dawned on me why Jeff's method is so appealing to me as a music therapist. All the neuroscience that's coming out points to how there's all kinds of things going on simultaneously when we make music, and Jeff's book does a way better job of addressing all the different things going on than any other method I've ever encountered. Plus, he respects the student enough to lay out the tools and approaches and let the student find their particular way. Here's a post I did when I first realized all this. http://registeredmusictherapist.blogspot.com/2010/10/jeff-smiley-neuroscience.html

Also, was delighted to see the note down below talking about the F horn. I spent most of the summer (when community band was on hiatus) just on the F horn, just trying to get the best tone I could on the octaves on either side of middle C. It's made all the difference in my playing. Sort of going back and making sure I was walking really well and naturally before returning to the leaping and running involved in 1st horn parts. And I discovered I prefer the tone of the F horn to that of the Bb, maybe because
somehow I think it resonates more in my upper body. So that note down below
was validating.

By Lyle Sanford, RMT on "Horn Matters" Linked My Blog - Wow!
10/24/10

testimonial

One Year on BE, a Cheery Update

I love getting emails like this:

Valerie!

Just wanted to give you a one year update on my progress. BE has truly changed my playing for the better and while I was also one of those "freaks" that saw immediate improvement, my playing continued to improve throughout the past year of doing the BE exercises. Even though I was able to perform at a relatively high level prior to BE, I always struggled with endurance issues and good and bad days and had to use separate embouchures for regular playing vs extreme upper register work. Now my playing is much more consistent and my balanced embouchure allows me to play low to high to extreme without changing my embouchure. My endurance is so much better that it almost feels like I'm cheating sometimes! haha.

I can just imagine if I had started BE earlier and think it's almost a crime that BE isn't taught to more beginners and students to maximize their potential faster. There would certainly be alot less brass players quitting out of frustration if they had only tried BE from the start!

Ron

In a few years, Ron will be even more pleased with his progress. The improvements will continue. BE is dynamic system that keeps on giving for years to come.