The Balanced Embouchure for Horn: music education materials

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Restoration!

It's fun and very satisfying to see a horn player who's lost his range for whatever the reason, find it again with the concepts Jeff Smiley presents in The Balanced Embouchure. Andy's not only recovered lost ability, but has progressed beyond his previous abilities. I received this email from Andy only yesterday. (BTW, take the time to check out his concerto linked below. It's darn cool.)

Hi Valerie

Thanks for sending me all the BE stuff. I haven't followed the prescribed programme really but I read the text thoroughly and the 3D aspect of embouchure had never really been in my mind. I wrote to you on October 8th...

...Struggling with an embouchure that goes from pedal D to F at the top of the stave with no problem whatsoever, but can't get above an A on a good day - even though a couple of years ago I could play top Ds on a good day!!

I have played my own exercises for roll out and in and spent much driving time looking like an old man or daffy duck!! No surprise really, but what I got from the BE book made the exercises I was given by Tony Halstead make sense. (He gave me a couple of lessons when I bought a second hand Paxman off him). I am now aware that there are muscles in my top lip that were completely unused!

I only do a bit of occasional amateur playing (I concentrate on conducting and composing these days when I'm not running a school music department) and have had no gigs since the end of November so was able to throw myself into it without fear of disrupted embouchure problems.

I have just played Mozart concerto No 2 and No 3 back to back (previously, the first movement of either would have finished me off.) After finishing I played a three octave Bb arpeggio and held the top Bb for a couple of bars. I am so grateful that for the first time in my life I am starting to be able to play in a way I'd only dreamed of. I'm sure I've still a long way to go and playing orchestrally will be the real test in a couple of weeks but at least now I have enough stamina to do enough practice to improve my playing. In the past it seemed that the more practice I did the worse I got! The top Ds have returned on a good day but I have even squeaked a couple of top Fs since reading the BE book. I can start a pedal C without slurring down to it and a couple of days ago I was able to start a pedal B on the F side and slur down to a Bb!!

I've pasted a link to the horn concerto 'Orion' that I wrote last year for Richard Watkins (ex-principal of Philharmonia now top UK session player and soloist).
http://soundcloud.com/andymeyers/orion-concerto

Best Wishes

Andy Meyers

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

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

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.