Lower lip flexibility: "Airplanes" exercise

Greetings,
Reposting of an older video by request.
Catherine

Buzzing and Balanced Embouchure

Greetings,

Correct body mapping of the atlas occipital joint (versus the jaw) is helpful in creating a balanced embouchure and assisting with your buzzing. Remember that your atlas occipital joint (where your skull balances on your spine) is located between your ears--BEHIND your tongue and soft palate.



Balanced use of the zygomatic major and triangularis muscles of the face also contribute to a balanced embouchure.






Check out this link at Google books to see part of The Artist's Complete Guide to Facial Expression by Gary Faigin. A Great resource!

Hope these thoughts are helpful.
Catherine

How to Have "Just Ducky" Tonguing

Hello,

You probably guessed it...this is Keith's latest on tongue-controlled embouchure.

It always fascinates me that when I have a long Keith hiatus (this last one was October 2007-June 2008) my own process parallels that of my mentor.

I have noticed in recent months that my tongue contact area includes a place of contact between my upper molars and the surface area of my tongue.

From this place my tongue rests in a slightly downward trajectory onto my lower teeth, with the surface area of my tongue still touching both lips across the front of my mouth when I play.

I had been noticing that my double tonguing was even more stable with the tongue somewhat higher in the back and that the 2nd syllable of the double-tonguing felt close to the duh, but in front!

I thought, "The "back" tonguing is in the front. hmmmm. A bit confusing."

Then, in the recent Cape Cod classes,Keith described his new tonguing syllable as "duh." Then he went on to say that his double tongue syllable is actually even farther forward than the duh...like a "Key"

So, we called it "ducky tonguing!"

It felt great to hear Keith express so precisely and enthusiastically the same things I had been experiencing in recent months. Whew! What a relief.

"Key" is a brighter sounding syllable than "kuh" or "guh" and helps keep my tone more even and the sound clearer on the second syllable.

It also helps keep my embouchure stable and not too open in the front. This really saves air!

This tonguing approach also helps me get my rhythmic "ducks in a row." creating very crisp and rhythmic articulations.

All the best,
Catherine

"Uplifting" Embouchure Practice Technique

Hello,

In this video, I share with you my discovery of the week, a simple way of increasing your awareness of the use of your upper lip while practicing!

I found this to be enlightening during my own practice, and each student who tried it in their weekly lesson found it helpful in identifying the action of the zygomatic major and caninus muscles of the face.

To better understand the location and function of these muscles, I suggest you visit the interactive Dataface website.

Let me know how this idea works for you!

Catherine

Skull/Jaw "Mapping" and Lifted Embouchure

Greetings,

This past week I have had some seemingly simple, yet profound realizations.

When "mapping" the skull/jaw relationship, it is useful to remember that the jaw is an appendage of the skull, much as an arm or leg is an appendage to the torso.

While reaching around your face with your hand and pressing gently just under the cheek bones, imagine your tongue as related to your skull, rather than your jaw. This helps activate the zygomatic major and caninus muscles, lifting the embouchure and keeping the upper lip flexible.

Another approach to feeling this relationship:
If you place a finger on each side of the upper lip, just inside the corners, gently pressing upward with your fingers, then relax your entire face to be supported by the upward pressing fingers, you can feel many muscles of the face and head relax as the upper lift is lifted and remains soft and flexible. Wow!

This is a great position for buzzing, leaving lots of room for the tongue.

it is a good idea to also activate the triangularis muscle slightly to stabilize the lower lip.

A good interactive webpage for understanding the function of the facial muscles is found here. This wonderful website created by Joseph C. Hager, Ph.D., has many detailed illustrations of the anatomy of skeletal and muscular structures of the head and face.

I invite you to post your insights and questions as always.

Best,
Catherine

A Great Flute Embouchure (according to Keith Underwood)

Greetings,

Last summer in a Ghost Ranch class Keith mentioned that an ideal flute embouchure was a combination of the facial features of two late night hosts:

Jay Leno on the bottom (lower lip lifted above lower teeth and tongue)












and


David Letterman on the top (zygomatic major muscle activated and air sizzling through the slit in the front teeth)




I have found this to be an enormously helpful image.
Let me know if it helps you!

As my chopstick and buzzing exercises have improved, my embouchure has actually begun to take on this appearance.


Best,
Catherine

Jerome Callet Master Superchops DVD

Greetings,

I have just finished watching (for the second time) the new 2-DVD set by Jerome Callet, advocate of the tongue-controlled embouchure and author of " Trumpet Secrets, Volume One."


The DVDs include

• 3 lessons with Jerome
• 6 testimonials, demonstrations, and round table discussion by professionals on trumpet, trombone, French horn and flute (Keith Underwood)
• printouts of images, exercises, and more

It is very interesting to see and hear how each professional has used the information learned from Jerome. Today, I kept hearing reminders about the importance of the lower lip in forming the embouchure-- what I am focusing on right now.

I will continue to share my insights on this resource in coming weeks.

For more information, or to purchase your own copy, visit Jerome's website.

Best,
Catherine

Buzzing Hints

Hello,

Here are some buzzing tips that have been helping my students.

Try buzzing with a chopstick under your tongue. This helps teach a wide, forward tongue position and "3-way stop" of the lips and tongue, while developing a happy path for the lips to travel on to create intervals.

Try getting different pitches while buzzing with the chopstick under your tongue. Start out holding the chopstick with both hands (or stay away from breakables!)

Many students who have not been able to get much buzzing resonance, volume, or pitch change have found this to be quite helpful in speeding up the learning curve (learning new habits).

Other students have been finding it useful to whisper "emmm" and continue the exhale with a buzzing sound. This also teaches a wide, forward tongue position and "3-way stop" of the lips and tongue.

Let me know how these ideas work for you!

"Buzzing off" for now,
Catherine

Facial Muscle Quiz

Here is a great, interactive, quiz-style facial muscle diagram.

Facial Muscles

The seemingly obvious omission for flutists is triangularis, but the diagram uses its other name, depressor anguli oris.

In case you have not visited the DataFace website yet, it also has an interactive facial diagram. When you click on a muscles you see a short movie of a man activating that muscle.

For more information on the Alexander Technique and its benefits you may visit these sites:

http://alexandertechnique.com
http://www.alexandercenter.com/
http://www.stat.org.uk/

Do your homework now, so you will be ready for my comments on embouchure, buzzing, and more, from the September 28-30 Keith Underwood/Anne Waxman Flute/Alexander Technique Workshop. Look for them soon!

Best,
Catherine

"Airplanes" and "Chopsticks"

Hello,

Today am publishing new videos to the LeGrand Virtual Studio.

"Airplanes Exercise"(in Category C)

My version of Keith Underwood's "Chopstick Exercise" which helps flutists learn to better organize their embouchures by playing with a chopstick in their mouths. Very weird exercise, with wonderful results! (in Categories B and C)

Practice "Bytes": short examples of using chopsticks and buzzing to improve embouchure function, tone , and breathing in musical excerpts. (under Advanced Lessons)

I use the "Chopstick Exercise" as a "prelude" to teaching buzzing, especially for advanced flutists who are beginner buzzers.

In the video I demonstrate the exercise, along with some buzzing and it's results, in short Practice "Bytes." Todays nibbles include:

* Texas High School All-State Band Flute Etudes:

Joachim Andersen, Op. 21 #10
Sigfrid Karg-Elert, Op. 107, #17
Theobald Boehm, Op. 26, #6

* Honegger’s Dance de la Chèvre (North Carolina High School All-District Piece)

For those of you who can't wait to download the files to watch them, here is the excerpt I am posting on the public blog.


More Practice "Bytes" will be posted in the near future. Send me requests for spots in your repertoire to chew on!

Bon appetit!
Catherine

Upper Lip: "Suppressed Smile"

Cheshire Cat . here is The Cheshire cat as John Tenniel envisioned it in the 1866 publication of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland.

A helpful hint for "beginner buzzers": Keith Underwood suggests that the ideal upper lip position for buzzing feels like a suppressed smile. Imagine something is funny and it is not appropriate to laugh. Feel how your upper lip feels like a combination of smirk and and sneer.

He also sometimes refers to the upper lip as part of a "cheshire cat" grin.

Give it a try!

Catherine

Flute Embouchure: A Rather “Square” Subject

For many years I have taught that a good flute embouchure has 4 corners: 2 corners by the upper cheekbones, one by each nostril, and, the 2 corners on the chin, below the lower lip. The location of these muscles forms a square on your face.

The exercise I call “Tongue Sandwich,” activates the Levator labii superioris (Rabbit Face muscle) and Depressor labii inferioris (Lizard face” muscle) at the same time, drawing the lips away from the tongue and encouraging an active embouchure without jaw tension.

Think of your upper and lower teeth as the pieces of bread for your sandwich and the tongue as the very generous serving of your favorite sandwich filling.

(See Dataface website, mentioned in a May post, for illustrations, descriptions and video of these muscles at work.)
http://face-and-emotion.com/dataface/expression/muscles.jsp

I have posted a video of the “Lizard Face” and “Tongue Sandwich” exercises in the LeGrand Virtual Studio for your information and amusement. “Rabbit Face” Exercise video can also be found there.

Here is a Blogger Beta trial of an embedded video. Let me know how this works.


Good Tongue-Controlled Embouchure spit-buzzing technique, as advocated by Jerome Callet and Keith Underwood, creates a rather “boxy” feel in the embouchure—a "box " INSIDE the “square,” creating an active, yet flexible, embouchure.

Spit-buzzing encourages the use of the orbicularis oris muscle (the ring of muscle around the lips) to engage by curling gently inward creating compression of air with the wide, forward tongue.

This is also a type of “sandwich.” Try thinking of it as 3 layers of Tootsie Rolls:

• Top layer: upper lip curling downward (feel with your tongue the thick tube-like band of muscles on the inside of your upper lip).
• The middle layer--the forward, thickened and widened tongue with downward trajectory.
• The lower layer—lower lip raised slightly by the mentalis muscle and curled slightly back over the tongue to support the tongue position.

I hope these ideas are useful.

Hmmm…all this talk of sandwiches...Time for lunch!

Catherine

"Spit-buzzing" with Jerome Callet and Csaba Kelemen (Trumpet)

It appears that tongue-controlled embouchure guru (and author of Trumpet secrets, Volume 1) Jerome Callet uploaded this short demo featuring Csaba Kelemen, Associate Principal Trumpet of Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra, Germany, to Google Video on June 14.

Please visit Jerome's website for more information on his teaching and more previews from his soon to be released teaching DVD.

Great stuff!
Catherine

Keith Underwood and Jerome Callet Video

This video of Keith working on Bach Sonata in B Minor, BWV 1030, with tongue-controlled embouchure expert Jerome Callet. The focus of the session is articulating off the top of the tongue.

It appears that Jerome uploaded this to Google video.

Please visit Jerome's website for more information on his teaching and more previews from his soon to be released teaching DVD.

Great stuff!

Catherine

Mentalis Muscle of the Face

Mentalis Muscle of the Face

This is a great short video clip demonstrating the use of the mentalis muscle of the face.

Its use in forming embouchures is valuable in pairing with the tongue to create compression of air and stability of tone and technique.

The mentalis muscle pushes the lower lip up towards the tongue. Its use can also prevent excessive dropping open of the jaw and/or bending forward to the head.

This is an important muscle for developing good "buzzing" technique, according to Keith Underwood.

Catherine

Upper Lip Images: "Trunk and Snout"

"Buzzing" the upper lip against the tongue seemed to be a frequent prescription for tone and articulation issues in lessons this week.

I often speak of how the upper lip can be strong and flexible, capable of lifting and extending itself well beyond the upper teeth and the tongue.

Did you know that a elephant trunk has over 50,000 muscles and no bones? Imagine how strong and flexible an elephant trunk is!

Try imitating an elephant trunk with your upper lip, surrounding muscles, and tongue.

Here is everything you ever wanted to know about elephant trunks and more:
http://elephant.elehost.com/About_Elephants/Anatomy/The_Trunk/the_trunk.html




Aardvarks have long tapered snouts and long tongues. Picture your "snout"--your lifted and extended upper lip --sucking in air when you inhale.




For more thoughts on upper lip and tongue position, visit Jerome Callet's website:
http://www.super-chops.com/

Happy "buzzing!"

Catherine