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At 11/14/01 09:30 AM, Stav Tapuch wrote:
>I have been told that one needs to practice for at least several months to
>develop one's embroucher to be able to produce high octave notes with
>clarity and consistency. I have a few questions on this issue:
>
>a) Is this true? Is hitting the high octaves a matter of developing the
>muscles of the lips- or is it a matter of training yourself to create
>precise, minute and exacting lip positions? In other words- is this an
>issue of brains or brawn? If Riley Lee was suddenly given my lips - would
>he still be able to play the same way - or would he have to start all over?
This made me laugh, "if Riley had your lips"! What do your lips look like?
What do you use them for? Are they big? Small? Weak? Tight? Flexible?
Responsive or non-responsive? Aside from loosing his award winning
smile, ;-), and his wife's disappointment because his kissing isn't the
same, :-{, he most likely would play a little differently because the
anatomy of your lips and his are different. Would he have to start over
again? It depends on the condition of *your* lips? But if he retained his
*knowledge* when he got *your* lips, I suspect he would be able to get his
NEW lips to do most of what he wants. I suspect he will still need to
"condition" them some, since there -is- some musculature involved, but
probably not as much as we would think. Unless your lips are outstandingly
weak, or excessively tight and unresponsive, I think your lips could play
just fine; better on him than on you since he *knows* how to use them properly.
Yes, there is some muscular conditioning involved, but more of it is
knowing how to use them.
Remember also, that the masters in any sport are always working for
relaxation in the midst of activity. Excessive tension kills
responsiveness. So, do your lip "weightlifting" but be soft enough to kiss
a baby.
>b) If it is an issue of muscle development, or at least partially so, are
>there exercises to excel the development process? Has someone created the
>equivalent of a weightlifting regime for the lips to speed up the
>development of the embroucher?
Yes, Riley himself gave some basic exercises at the world Shakuhachi
festival some years past. They were breathing exercises but used the lips
in some of them, eg blow out as if you had the thinnest silk thread coming
out your lips and blow the thread as far out into the universe as possible.
Or, purse your lips and blow the air like a laser beam.
But other exercises work too: moving your lips back and forth from a tight
smile to a forward pursing; blowing air out with the tiniest hole in your
lips possible; with shak in position move lips in and out of the
mouthpiece, ie further and closer to the utaguchi / teeth; what is the
balance between how much of the inner lips are involved vs just the dryer
outer lips?
For the relaxation part, stretch your lips with your fingers. Blow out of
them like your were imitating a horse blowing/flubbering its lips. Blow
"raspberry" lips. Blow "motorcycle" lips. Anyway that allows for complete
relaxation of the lips while the breath alone flutters them.
And Kissing helps: kiss your loved ones; kiss a baby; kiss your cat; etc.
As every kiss is different, so there are different nuances in your
embouchure when playing. Note the differences in the way you kiss. Note the
differences in the way your embouchure needs to be to play different
effects. Kiss your notes as you play.
>thanks a lot for the help.
>
>Stav Tapuch
Herb
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<html>
<font size=3>At 11/14/01 09:30 AM, Stav Tapuch wrote:<br>
<br>
<blockquote type=cite cite>I have been told that one needs to practice
for at least several months to develop one's embroucher to be able to
produce high octave notes with clarity and consistency. I have a few
questions on this issue:<br>
<br>
a) Is this true? Is hitting the high octaves a matter of developing the
muscles of the lips- or is it a matter of training yourself to
create precise, minute and exacting lip positions? In other words- is
this an issue of brains or brawn? If Riley Lee was suddenly given
my lips - would he still be able to play the same way - or would he have
to start all over?</font></blockquote><br>
This made me laugh, "if Riley had your lips"! What do your lips
look like? What do you use them for? Are they big? Small? Weak? Tight?
Flexible? Responsive or non-responsive? Aside from loosing his
award winning smile, ;-), and his wife's disappointment because his
kissing isn't the same, :-{, he most likely would play a little
differently because the anatomy of your lips and his are different. Would
he have to start over again? It depends on the condition of *your* lips?
But if he retained his *knowledge* when he got *your* lips, I suspect he
would be able to get his NEW lips to do most of what he wants. I suspect
he will still need to "condition" them some, since there -is-
some musculature involved, but probably not as much as we would think.
Unless your lips are outstandingly weak, or excessively tight and
unresponsive, I think your lips could play just fine; better on him than
on you since he *knows* how to use them properly.<br>
<br>
Yes, there is some muscular conditioning involved, but more of it is
knowing how to use them.<br>
Remember also, that the masters in any sport are always working for
relaxation in the midst of activity. Excessive tension kills
responsiveness. So, do your lip "weightlifting" but be soft
enough to kiss a baby.<br>
<br>
<blockquote type=cite cite><font size=3>b) If it is an issue of muscle
development, or at least partially so, are there exercises to excel the
development process? Has someone created the equivalent of a
weightlifting regime for the lips to speed up the development of the
embroucher?</font></blockquote><br>
Yes, Riley himself gave some basic exercises at the world Shakuhachi
festival some years past. They were breathing exercises but used the lips
in some of them, eg blow out as if you had the thinnest silk thread
coming out your lips and blow the thread as far out into the universe as
possible. Or, purse your lips and blow the air like a laser beam. <br>
<br>
But other exercises work too: moving your lips back and forth from a
tight smile to a forward pursing; blowing air out with the tiniest hole
in your lips possible; with shak in position move lips in and out of the
mouthpiece, ie further and closer to the utaguchi / teeth; what is the
balance between how much of the inner lips are involved vs just the dryer
outer lips?<br>
<br>
For the relaxation part, stretch your lips with your fingers. Blow out of
them like your were imitating a horse blowing/flubbering its lips. Blow
"raspberry" lips. Blow "motorcycle" lips. Anyway that
allows for complete relaxation of the lips while the breath alone
flutters them.<br>
<br>
And Kissing helps: kiss your loved ones; kiss a baby; kiss your cat; etc.
As every kiss is different, so there are different nuances in your
embouchure when playing. Note the differences in the way you kiss. Note
the differences in the way your embouchure needs to be to play different
effects. Kiss your notes as you play.<br>
<br>
<blockquote type=cite cite><font size=3>thanks a lot for the help.<br>
<br>
Stav Tapuch</blockquote><br>
<br>
Herb</font></html>
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