Jill K. Brown Pleased with BE

The following is a recent email exchange between Jill K. Brown and me.  

Hi Valerie,

Thought I would check in to let you know how BE is going for me. I've been at it since January and had a 5-day recording session at the beginning of July. Normally, on an extended recording session like that, I am constantly conserving my lip, hoping and praying that my endurance will hold out. The stress of pacing myself while needing to be able to really PLAY when needed has always been exhausting (both physically and mentally). Well after 5 months of BE, I was able to get to day 5 without sweating it. Don't get me wrong, there were still some moments of gauging how many more takes vs. how long my chops will last, but on Day 5, they pulled out some overdubs with high B's in them. I was a nervous wreck (old habits die hard), but was shocked that the Bs were there, over and over. At least 6 takes on a lick that normally would have had me using your Comfy Horn Strap as a sweat towel : ) I can only say that it had to be the BE that gave me the endurance (and confidence)! My section mate was using a descant and even remarked at how well I was holding up with my double.

My next question is how to turn what I call 'circus tricks' into everyday playing. I can squeal up to the F above High C now and can crawl down to the A below Double Pedal C. Unbelievable to me, honestly. But if I practice high stuff in etudes, I find that I must reset to the Rolled-In set up or else revert to my old ways of using pressure. How do I get to a place where I can roll in smoothly as I ascend? My lower lip is pretty fleshy, so it's quite a distance I must roll in for, say, RI #3 (my preferred RI exercise).

Thanks for any suggestions.
Jill

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Jill, this is wonderful news, indeed! Congrats! This is what we all hope for when we start BE.

About your questions, all it takes is time to develop. I think I needed about 18 months to get to the point that playing high for a good long time felt so natural that I no longer obsessed over my chops. Of course, I was a much less experienced horn player than you at the time, so you will likely get to that point sooner than I did. Jeff Smiley says we're not supposed to think about BE when we perform, but that's kinda like telling people not to think about little brown monkeys. It's almost impossible for someone new to BE.

About resetting vs not resetting: as long as you're getting the job done with nice tone, good phrasing, etc., what does it matter how you did it? Hah! Getting it done is what counts. But, I think I had studied BE for three years before I made a serious attempt to learn to traverse all the ranges with a unified embouchure setting. I wanted my "continue flex", rolling in and out, to be more subtle & "inside the mouthpiece" so to speak.   I took my cues from Steve Park who plays all the ranges with a quite rolled-in setting. I wanted to see if that would work for me.  I learned it over a six week period using 3 octave arpeggios that started on fundamental F with both lips inside the mouthpiece, ascended to staff top F then went back down to the lowest F using a rolled-inish embouchure throughout. (Each "lap" started one half step higher until high D was the highest pitch.) But I have never needed to use this skill in actual playing. Doing it, however, did bring improvements in my overall flexibility and confidence.  This rolled-inish embouchure setting doesn't work for everyone.  Some people (like Lou Denaro) prefer using a more rolled out setting though out the registers.  Everyone is different, but BE will give you the tools you need to discover what will work best for you.  

Does that help?

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Thanks for your reply, and yes! that does help. I tend to lean towards being an overachiever in life, so knowing a generic time frame of "keep doing what you're doing" is helpful. My goal is to eventually be able to gradually roll in as I ascend (rolling out while descending is so much easier!) until I can smoothly get my fat lower lip neatly tucked in without resetting. Whenever I scrutinize professional players' embouchures, most look like a smooth line while playing, which I can achieve with a completely rolled in lower lip. And for me, that RI setting produces powerful and clear notes above Bb, so I am definitely motivated.

Jill K. Brown   

The Balanced Embouchure Book with CD is $45.00.
The BE for French Horn booklet and/or PDF of horn adaptations is $3.00 (with book purchase).
Shipping & handling is $5.50 to $25.00 depending on location. (The quoted prices are in US dollars.)

Those who purchase The Balanced Embouchure with a Comfy Horn Strap, receive a $5.00 discount (as well as break on shipping).

To Order:

Step 1. Email me: ValerieW78 “at” Gmail “dot” com. Please tell me what instrument you play and the country you live in.

Step 2. I send you an invoice with payment options (credit card, PayPal, check or money order).

Step 3. You pay the invoice.

Step 4. I ship your BE book.

Happy horn playing!

Valerie Wells

My Comfy Horn Strap

I've just launched a blog with pictures and ordering information for my Comfy Horn Strap.

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.)