Re: [Shaku] Embouchure, sound, exercise

From: James Jennings (jennings@megaseattle.com)
Date: Thu May 12 2005 - 16:57:32 PDT


At 9:36 AM -0600 5/12/05, Peter Ross wrote:
>Let's talk about embouchure, ...

Thanks Peter, for a well written summary of the issues.

I've been thinking about this a lot lately, and I think I still have
a problem somewhere in the back of my mouth or in the throat. I've
had teachers say to "relax" or "open the throat" or "pretend to
yawn", but I don't get enough feedback to tell what is going on. I
think I'm open and relaxed, but then I'll sub-vocalize (the vocal
chords kick in for a moment), which means I'm probably not.

I should mention that "opening the throat" and "yawning" seem to be
the opposite of "relaxing" to me. Yawning tenses things up.

>Think WAAAAAAH. Or AAAAH to fully open inside

>1) Always sing internally what you are playing

I've tried singing the note just before I play it, and keep the
internal feeling the same as I play. I'm not sure my singing is the
best though. I wonder what a voice teacher would suggest. (I did
think it interesting that my fingers could feel the flute resonate
with the sung note.)

>5) Try to get full ringing sound esp. on RO without blowing hard, but by
>opening fully and adjusting to get that ring, willing it to ring.

When I reach for a nice ringing Ro-otsu I often get a sort of
turbulence, an instability in the sound. Some people have suggested
that it's because I'm constricting the airflow so it might be related
to the above. I'm still stuck with the question, how do I learn to
feel if my throat is properly relaxed?

James
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