Admirable Brevity

"BE is just a set of exercises helping the overall mechanics of any embouchure." 
~Bruno Fernandes

Julia Rose writes about The Balanced Embouchure

Here's an article Julia Rose recently published on her blog. I'll classify this as a positive BE testimonial!

I'm impressed with Julia, not only for the quality of the article's content, but also for her integrity. I appreciate that she took the time to give BE an honest, thorough investigation and trial period rather than dismissing it as some have without reading the book or trying the exercises.

Many thanks to you, Julia Rose.

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.

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.

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