Develop Embouchure on Trumpet

Trumpet embouchure involves the placement of your jaw and lips in relation to the trumpet mouthpiece. Learn to push your jaw forward, keep your teeth separated, and your tongue low in your mouth. Press your lips together but allow airflow, press your lips lightly against the mouthpiece, and always keep your lips moist. Strengthen your embouchure by adjusting it for different notes, keeping good upright posture, and practicing buzzing your lips frequently until you get the technique down.

Steps

Aligning Your Jaw and Teeth

1. Push your jaw forward to line up your lips. Most people naturally have an overbite, which means their lips are not lined up on top of each other. Moving your jaw forward situates your bottom lip directly under your top lip. Be sure not to push your jaw too far forward. The right spot aligns your top and bottom teeth straight up and down.
   • Practice moving your jaw forward and backward while you buzz your lips to hear how this affects the buzz. You can also feel how it directs the airflow either down to your chin or up to your nose.
   • Aligning your teeth directs the airflow straight forward into the mouthpiece for maximum airflow.
2. Leave about ¼” (6 mm) between your teeth. Do not clamp your teeth together as this will hinder the airflow. Your teeth should be at least ¼” (6 mm) and at most ½” (12 mm) apart. Your jaw should feel like it is hanging loosely.
   • Get the feel for this placement by putting the narrow end of the mouthpiece between your teeth. You can also use a pen or pencil, or a straw, which can help you test your airflow.
3. Keep your tongue low in your mouth. Proper embouchure allows just the right amount of air to pass through your lips. If your tongue is on the roof of your mouth or moving around your mouth, it will block the airflow.
   • Your tongue will move and tap your lips as you play the notes, but when you aren’t tonguing notes, it should rest low in your mouth.

Positioning Your Lips

1. Press your lips together loosely. The buzz you need to make only happens if your lips are touching. Lips that are too loose will let the air pass through without making a buzz sound. If your lips are pressed too tightly air can’t escape at all. Keep the corners of your mouth wide and firm.
   • To learn the right tightness of the lips, practice making them too tight and too loose. You’ll learn to feel what the balanced middle point is.
   • Buzz your lips when they are tight and when they are loose and listen to the difference in sound.
2. Set your lips lightly against the mouthpiece. To buzz your lips properly, they need to be fully against the rim of the mouthpiece. Do not press them too tightly against the mouthpiece as this will stop them from buzzing. Align the center of your lips with the center of the mouthpiece.
   • Practice this with the mouthpiece and without the horn. Press your lips firmly against the mouthpiece and notice how you can’t buzz your lips. Pull your lips away so they barely touch and notice how the buzz doesn’t transfer through the mouthpiece.
   • Using this practice technique will help you find the right amount of pressure to produce a buzz.
3. Keep your lips moist. Wet lips help your lips buzz while you play. Find the balance between too dry and too wet. Learn the right moistness that creates sound but doesn’t cause your lips to slip off of the mouthpiece.
   • Dry lips will keep you from making a full buzz sound. Overly wet lips will cause your mouth to slip off of the mouthpiece.

Improving Your Embouchure

1. Adjust your embouchure for different notes. The buttons and valves on the trumpet have the largest impact on changing notes, but your embouchure is important too. Tighten your embouchure when playing high notes and loosen it when playing low notes.
   • Without your mouthpiece or trumpet, practice tightening and loosening your embouchure and notice how the pitch of the buzz changes. This effect is amplified when blown through the horn.
   • Next, practice with just the mouthpiece and notice the siren-like sound you can make by changing the embouchure shape.
2. Maintain upright posture. Your embouchure is not effective when you don’t have enough air. Sitting up straight keeps your airways open so that you can blow with enough force to produce the full scale of notes. Good posture also keeps your trumpet raised.
   • Slump down in your chair and notice how you can’t breathe as deeply as when you are sitting upright. Practice good posture when you aren’t playing so you get used to sitting up straight.
3. Practice buzzing your lips everyday. Your lips will get tired easily when you are first learning your embouchure. Practice holding it for a few minutes. Then practice buzzing for a few minutes. Add a little bit of time each day so you can build up your endurance.
   • Since many musical pieces are five to ten minutes or longer, it’s important that you can buzz your lips for a long time without getting tired.
4. Watch instructional videos. If you are having trouble with a particular part of the embouchure, look for videos that describe that part or the whole process. Watching someone form the embouchure may give you a better idea than reading about it. Ask a teacher or mentor if they have any videos you could borrow, or search online for videos.
   • You’ll also be able to see the way players hold the trumpet and sit.
5. Ask an instructor for tips. If you are in a band class at school, or take lessons with a mentor, ask them to look at your embouchure or listen as you play to see what you are doing wrong. They will be able to help you with specific problems you are facing with your embouchure.
   • If you don’t have anyone to ask, find a local instructor who would be willing to help you out. You may be able to get some quick tips without taking a full, paid lesson.

Tips

• Be patient as you learn each part of the embouchure. It will take awhile to get each aspect perfectly right.

Related Articles

• Cool Down Your Lips After Playing the Trumpet
• Circular Breathe on the Trumpet
• Clean Your Trumpet or Cornet Mouthpiece
• Play High Notes on the Trumpet

Sources and Citations

See also

• Play High Notes on the Trumpet
• Play the Trumpet
• Wash a Trumpet
• Select a Good Trumpet
• Double Tongue on Trumpet

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