Going through a box of old photos recently, I came across a few pictures showing my embouchure setup from my early high school days. These photos were taken during the summer of 1996, and beginning that fall I made a pretty big adjustment to my mouthpiece placement. In the long run it was definitely the right choice, but I remember having to work for quite a while before things felt consistent again. At the time, I didn’t have access to an embouchure visualizer or clear plastic mouthpiece, but based on these photos (and my memory), my old setup looks like 1/2 top lip and 1/2 bottom lip, or possibly 1/3 top lip and 2/3 bottom, with a more or less straight lead pipe angle. One very clear memory I have from those days is that when ascending, the lead pipe angled up, resulting in more pressure on the top lip. Surprisingly, this did not seem to affect my high range, as I was able to play up to a high C regularly. Looking closely at the first photo, you can see a slight amount of “setting in” on the bottom lip, while in the second photo you can see that the corners of my mouth turn up noticeably. Though I had a good high range and pretty good endurance – I still have some practice recordings from those days – my low range and overall flexibility suffered, and I also had trouble producing a characteristic sound in both the high and low ranges. For these reasons, my private teacher (Dr. Karen Robertson of Appalachian State University) and I decided to make the switch to 2/3 top lip and 1/3 bottom lip, setting the mouthpiece against the bottom lip, rather than setting into it. This setup also seemed to fit my natural jaw structure, which has a slight overbite. Remembering back to the days just after making the switch, my tone and articulations improved, but my high range suffered some big setbacks. It took a long time to get it back, but in the end I still feel it was the right move to make. In the 19 years since then, I’ve made numerous minor adjustments and tweaks, all with the aim of playing more efficiently and effortlessly. My placement these days favors the top lip, probably closer to 3/4 top and 1/4 bottom. Here’s a short video showing how things look and sound now.

Though not to be taken lightly, I think that embouchure changes and mouthpiece adjustments are a normal, natural part of brass playing, especially as one ages and the lips change. For any students considering mouthpiece placement and/or embouchure changes, my advice is to consult with a knowledgeable teacher (possibly more than one), take things slowly, and persevere!