Originally Posted by
haydenrizzo
Hello! I am currently a Junior in high school, and plan on majoring in music. However, I do have quite a big problem. I have been told by multiple people that my mouthpiece placement is incredibly low, with about 10% of my lips on the mouthpiece, which is actually about on the rim. This is affecting my range and flexibility, and I need to change it. I have been working on it for a couple of days now, and just wanted to get some extra advice. When I play with my mouthpiece 50/50, it is very difficult, and I can barely play anything. Any tips on this or things I can do to help this process go as quickly as possible?
For your own sake, don't think of going as quickly as possible. You are re-training muscles to work in a different way. Progress will be slow, with setbacks. You may have breakthroughs or you may have none. I'll defer to the better players/teachers in this list for specific advice, but it seems to me that long tones in the middle range are the place to start. I don't know if you'll find this relevant, but I played piano/organ/keyboards professionally for about 15 years and when I was in my 30s I went back to my high school teacher to correct the many inefficiencies I had in my technique. I practiced pieces at perhaps one-quarter full speed. It was only many months later that I noticed the difference, and that was by listening to recordings I had made of my practice session.
Patience, hard work, practice, guidance from a good teacher.
Dean L. Surkin
Mack Brass MACK-EU1150S, BB1 mouthpiece
Bach 36B trombone; Bach 6.5AL and Faxx 7C mouthpieces (pBone on loan to granddaughter)
Steinway 1902 Model A, restored by AC Pianocraft in 1988; Kawai MP8, Yamaha KX-76
See my avatar: Jazz (the black cockapoo; RIP) and Delilah (the cavapoo) keep me company while practicing