The Balanced Embouchure for Horn: BE in San Francisco

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

BE in San Francisco

A few things:
(1) I've been invited to do a presentation on The Balanced Embouchure (BE) at the upcoming IHS symposium in San Francisco. Since Steve Park is an accomplished horn player, music educator and very enthusiastic about BE, I invited him to assist. He has agreed and will be performing a solo as part of the presentation. Whoo hoo! I can hardly wait for that. For information about the Symposium see: http://symposium.hornsociety.org/

Steve recently gave a presentation about BE to the Utah Horn Club. He wrote me this about the experience:

"Hi Valerie - The BE presentation went very well last Saturday. I got some great feedback from Larry Lowe and Jeb Wallace. They said that the most impressive and convincing part of my presentation was the video that shows all of my young students playing a pedal F and a high C. Larry said everyone knows that young students can't play a high C. And yet there were 12 of my young students doing it. -Steve"

(2) Since I've been invited to present BE formally in SF, I've decided to attend the symposium as an exhibitor rather than a participant. This means I will have a table where participants can purchase a book and stop by for a chat. (Please, please stop by!) I will make myself available to as many BE students as possible for extra help with the exercises while I'm in San Francisco. I don't know how I'll work the logistics, but even if it means using my husband's and my dormitory room as a make-shift studio, I'll do it! I plan to have a "Help w/ BE" sign up sheet on my table.

(3) I have designed a Comfy Horn Strap which has become quite popular in my home town among students and my horn friends. It's fully adjustable, lightweight, non bulky, strong, requires no professional installation and, most of all, very comfortable as it takes the pressure off the left hand while playing. It fits every horn and hand I've tried it on so far. I'm testing the market to see if it's worth my while to make and sell these. I'll have a limited number available at the symposium, but anyone who orders one before the symposium is over will get the "introductory price." Email me if you're interested. ValerieW78 "at" gmail "dot" com. (I've used mine for four years & it's holding up well.)

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Welcome to The Balanced Embouchure For Horn

Hello and thanks for stopping by. I’m Valerie Wells, a horn player starting this blog to share my success using The Balanced Embouchure (BE) and to provide a place for other horn players to share their positive experiences with BE. The Balanced Embouchure is an embouchure development system originally written for trumpet by Jeff Smiley. BE is now helping an ever growing number of horn players improve their embouchures, too. To learn how I came to BE, see this. There is only one BE book. The same book is used for both horn and trumpet.

For additional information about BE in general, please see the following links:

Jeff Smiley’s website
http://www.trumpetteacher.net/
The Balanced Embouchure Forum http://www.trumpetherald.com/
Michael Camilleri’s website
http://users.actrix.co.nz/mcamilleri/BE/BEFAQ.htm
Bert Loch’s website
http://bertlochs.com/

Ko de Rooj's website (Netherlands)

www.balanced-embouchure.eu

Skype lessons available

Bruce Lee: teatro333 "at" gmail "dot"com

Valerie Wells: ValerieW78 "at" gmail "dot" com

Common Misconceptions about BE

For various reasons that seem inherent in our approach to the instrument, French horn players (self included) often develop misconceptions about The Balanced Embouchure that can potentially impede progress.

Misconception #1: BE is written for trumpet, therefore much of it will not apply to French horn.
Some exercises need transposition or adaptation for French horn, but the principles and techniques taught in this book are as applicable to French horn as they are to trumpet. (I learned this lesson the hard way.)

Misconception #2: BE is all about rolling the lips in and out.
Lip rolling is only part of BE. There are tonguing exercises, snaps, zips, breathing exercises, etc. All these elements combine to form a development system that is greater than the sum of its parts.

Misconception #3: Roll-Out exercises are for developing the low register. Therefore a horn player with a secure low register, need not practice Roll-Out exercises.
Roll-Out exercises are designed to develop tone, flexibility, endurance and balance in all the registers, not just the low. A balanced embouchure has elements of roll-out in every note of every register.

Misconception #4: Roll-In exercises are for developing the upper register.
Roll-In exercises are designed to develop tone, flexibility, endurance and balance in all the registers, not just the high. A balanced embouchure has elements of roll-in in every note of every register.

Misconception #5: “Doing BE” means rolling out for low notes and rolling in for high notes.
“Doing BE” means practicing the BE exercises and following the program as designed. Directly applying lip rolling to your regular embouchure is not BE and will be of limited value.

Misconception #6: The correct BE embouchure has a bunched chin and puffed cheeks.
There is no, one correct “BE embouchure.” The balanced embouchure you develop following the BE system will be unique to you. There is no way to predict what your final embouchure will look like. Horn players need to avoid preconceived ideas of what their balanced embouchures will look like.

Bert Lochs has taken the above #6 misconceptions and elaborated upon them for trumpet players.