TromboneChat

Hey there,

I have a friend who plays trombone and is REALLY good at it too. He plays with the rare upstream embouchure, as he an under bite. One of the things he's been trying to work on are doing lips trills and building up consistency with his high range. Is there anything specific, in relation to his embouchure type, which he should try to doing to help in these areas? Or are both these things just things that need to be practiced, and not treated any differently compared to other embouchure types?

Probably the only thing I think should be different is that downstream embouchures tend to blow downward in the mouthpiece as we go higher (low notes straight through; high notes bounced off the part of the mouthpiece near the lips).  With an upstream embouchure you aim to the top of the mouthpiece.

If he's having  real trouble dealing with the embouchure, a Skype lesson with Doug Elliott or Dave Wilken could help him immensely.

Have a Skype lesson with Doug Elliott

Have a Skype lesson with Doug Elliott