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Home Alt › Forums › General Questions › Lip out
john.Hey guys, currently my main saxophone is alto sax and I just had a question regarding embouchure.
So, for nearly all the notes up to high G, my embouchure plays lip out (it isn’t really out, there is a bit over the teeth. Imagine saying F where the teeth hit and that kinda how my bottom lip is positioned).
How, if I continue that embouchure to A and beyond, I find the tone quality diminishes a bit. Not by too much of a noticeable amount. If I put my lip over my teeth at this point, although less jazzy and vibrant and bright, a more smooth sophisticated sound comes out. Also, by doing this, I find it a lot easier to produce high notes (I’m yet to learn altissimo still, although getting there slowly).
I was wondering what kind of embouchure you guys adopt and is lip over teeth necessarily a ‘bad embouchure’ when it comes to playing your instrument?
Anonymous
Welcome to the world of Sax Playing.
The complete range of notes on a sax is divided into 3 registers,
lower, middle and upper.
The middle register is the easiest to play in tune for a beginner,
the lower and upper registers are more difficult to master, and will
take a lot longer to control, it varies from student to student.
For a beginner, the lower lip position that you are comfortable with,
when you play a middle B, is the same lip position that you should use
for every key on the sax – when you are a beginner.
The lower lip is only used as a cushion for the reed.
The type of embouchure you use is a very personal thing. Some people like it one way, others like it another. John Coltrane played with a double lip embouchure and we all know how great he is. The more you practice with any type of embouchure, the easier it will be to play throughout all registers of the horn. It’s just what you are the most comfortable with and what will let you take control of the horn as easily as possible. I’ve always noticed that I bite my bottom lip when I play with a normal embouchure, so I try to play with the lip out as much as I can comfortably, although I might switch back to regular embouchure from time to time.
Personally I wouldn’t go to those extremes
Experimenting and adjusting our embouchure is normal and imperative but your lip shouldn’t cone out like that
Try to keep your lip cushioning your bottom teeth
When attempting the higher range work on other things like oral cavity and throat and air support
That’s how you will succeed
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