Quick Fix Friday: Breathe from the corners
Happy Friday, and welcome to another installment of my Quick Fix Friday!
This week, I have a simple fix to allow you to take fast breaths without disrupting your embouchure. When you take a breath, make sure you breathe from the corners of your mouth and avoid moving your jaws.
I commonly see students remove their jaws from the mouthpiece when they take a breath, and this creates a few issues:
- It causes you to have to completely reset your embouchure every time you take a breath, which means that you have a higher risk of squeaks and popped attacks.
- It also takes you longer to reform a proper embouchure, which means you aren’t taking short, efficient breaths.
The quick fix? When you take a breath, keep your embouchure in place (particularly your upper and lower lips and jaws). Bring back your corners, as if you are smiling, and breathe through the corners of your mouth. This way, the majority of your embouchure remains in place, which means quicker breaths and better attacks!
Have a great weekend, and happy practicing!