NOTES W.OOD\OIND FOR TEACrIIIUG STRATEGIES EMBOfICIil.

}RE TIIE BASSOON

By MICHAELBURNS
This articleis aimed at giving a few for teaching suggestionsand strategies the bassoon embouchurethat I have learned over the past several years of level. teachingat the University First,as with many of the woodwind there have been changes instruments, and adaptationson what is considered o n th e to t he " nor m " in e m b o u c h u re s bassoon. l will outline my own beliefs, which may or may not be the beliefsof other bassoonists. F or a gr ea t m a n y y e a rs i t w a s should culthoughtthat the bassoonist tivate a pronounced overbite (i.e. the furtherbackthan lowerjaw is noticeable the upper jaw.) | do not advocatethis type of embouchureand the vast majority of professionalplayersand teachers that I know also do not. Instead,we advocatea rather neuwith teethaligned tral lowerjaw position suchthatthe lowerteethareonlyslightly formingwhat lwill call behindthe upper, a "naturalbite." The jaws will be open the reed but somewhatto accommodate positionand neutral keeping this natural ing. The lips are going to be covering the teeth and thereforeneedto be rolledin s light ly ,but n o t to o mu c h . T h e re shouldbe some "pink" of the lips showon the lowerlip. A coming - particularly is to embouchures mon errorin bassoon the lower lip havethe lips - particularly - rolled in too much.The lipsforma cushion for the blades of the reed and the cornersof the lips need to come inward in a nice roundedshape. The essential purposefor the embouchureis to seal around the reed. I havefound two wonderful descriptionsas analogiesfor the shape that work well with embouchure my students,as they are shapes that most or all peoplealreadyknow: 1. T he Dr ink i n g S tra w E m b o u chure. The shapeour lips make when we seal around a drinking basstrawisalmostperfectforthe soon embouchure: Roundwith just a little roll-inof the lips or pucker,and relaxed. Of course, we will be blowing into a reed in a liquid. than drinking rather 2. The Whistle Embouchure.The othergood analogyis the shape thatyour mouthmakeswhenyou Againit is a round,Puckwhistle. ered, relaxedshape. Not everyone can whistlebut they usually
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M IC H A E L BURNS

the shapeyou would understand make if you did. Usuallyone or the other of these willstrikea chordwith the stuanalogies the dent and help havethem producing correct type of shape for the embouchure. Now it must be monitoredto see how much lip is rolledin and to ensure that the student is not "biting" the reed. causedby too muchverBitingis usually tical pressurefrom the upper and lower jaws,oftenalsoaccompanied by an overThisresults tightening of the lip muscles. in a more pinchedtone, sharperpitch, and more embouchurefatigue for the player. Insteadthey needto concentrate makingthe lips apply on the roundness, from all pointsbut concenevenpressure tratingon the cornersor sidesso that the Anotheranalverticalis not exaggerated. ogy that is used for many woodwind into combat biting is to describe struments bag." the lipsas beinglikea "draw-string I advocate developing Additionally, embouchure and derelaxed a somewhat velopinggreateruse of, and controlwith, musclesand the support the abdominal mechanism (this was described in an earlierafticle I wrote on breathing.) I would like to finishthis articleby giving you two embouchurerelatedexwhen givthat I employfrequently ercises ing clinicsand masterclasses: 1. Playingon the wrap of the reed. This is an exerciseto illustrate and determinehow much of a note's pitch is controlledby the as opposedto the emairstream bouchure.Again,I advocatethat be relaxed and the embouchure that most of the pitch should be held up by the air support. The is this: exercise . Havethe studentplay a C in the bass clef staff (threefingers of the left hand and the whisper key)witha fullsound and good support.

. Next, have them move their lips up over the wrap of the reed being carefulto not jab themsel ves w i th t he r eed wires! Now, havethem try to pl ay the C agai n. lf t heir breath support is sufficient thena C willcome out (witha somewhat raucous tone but it is quite still a C). However, oossiblethat a C-flat or Bwillcome out instead. natural The studentthen needsto be to use moreand encouraged moreair supportand air pressure to try and get this note up to the desiredC. lf they can easi[ obtaina C withtheir but cannormalembouchure not obtainone when playing on the wrap of the reed this to me that usuallyindicates the pitch they are controlling and too muchwith liptension not enoughwiththe abdominal supporl. 2. The "Dying Cow" This exercise gets its name from the sounds that may be madewhiledoing it resembl i nga cow i n dist r ess! the exerciseis based Similarly, around playingthe C in the staff and is oerformedas follows: . Playthe C normally with a full soundand good support. . Next, have them relax both andtheirabtheirembouchure domi nal support b ut keep blowing.Theyshouldbe able to get the noteto drop down to with a the C-flat or B-natural ratherugly sound (the dying cow). lf they cannot get the pitchto drop despiterelaxing and suppoft theirembouchure as muchas theycan it is highly likelythattheirlip musclesare there stilltootight,or,perhaps is an issuewith the reed. . Assumingthat they are successfuljn gettingthe pitch to drop, then have them try to raisethe note uo to the correct pitch by adding in sufficientabdominalsupportNOT by ti ghteni ng the em bouteach chure. I will frequently them rightfromwrongby doing this exercise as described and comparingit to a delibpinchingwith the lips erately to get the note back up to pitch. Thiswaytheycan idenintothe tifyif theyareslipping incorrectway of supporting usinga tightemthe pitch(i.e.

2004 MUSICEDUCATOR/Spring NORTHCAROLINA

bouchure and bitingit up),or if they are doing the way I advocate- using a relaxedembouchureand increased air suppon. I hope that some of the above strategies prove use{ulin gettingyour bassoon studentsto play with a good embouchure.As withall aspects of playing, I believeit is always best if they can do th i s u nder t he guida n c eo f a b a s s o o n specialist and theyshouldbe encouraged to take privatelessonsif possible. lf you would like to submit an article for publicationin WoodwindNotesp/ease contact Michael Burns at the following address: Dr. Michael Burns, Assocrafe Professor of Bassoon,Schoolof Music, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, P. O. Box 26170, Greensboro,NC 27402-6170; (336)ffia-5970; e-mail: mjburns@uncg.edu

ABOUT THEAUTHOR MichaelBurns (bassoon) is Associate Professorof bassoon at the U n i v e rsi ty of N orth C arol i na at Greensboro, and is a Yamahaperfo rmi n gA rti st. H e hol ds the B .M. degreefrom the VictoriaUniversity of Wellington, New Zealand,the M.M. from the New EnglandConservatory, and the D.M.A. fromthe University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Burnshas performed in numerous professional orchestras includingthe Cincinnati and the New ZealandSymphony Orchestrasand p l a y e d P ri nci pal i n the Mi dl and/ O d e s s a, R i chmond and A bi l ene S y mp honi es, and the C i nci nnati ChamberOrchestra. Currenilyhe i s i n d emand as a performer w i th th e N o rth C arol i na, C harl eston, G re e n sboro,and C harl otteS ymphony Orchestras.He is also bassoonist in the Easfuzrnd Ensemble and the Cascade Quintet. Burns h a s ta u ght at the C i nci nnatiC ol l e g e -C onservatory, Indi ana S tate U n i v e rsi ty, and Mi dl and C ol l ege.In additionhe remainsactiveas a solo a n d c h amber performerw i th nume ro u s performances at InternationalDoubleReedSocietyconventi o n s , re ci tal sand mastercl asses throughoutN orthA meri caa nd t he South Pacific,and at severalleading Universities and Conservatories internationally. He has recorded for the C entaur, C A P , Tel arc , EM l, Klavier, and Mark labels. In summer, Burns is associatedwith the E astern Musi c Festi val an d t he Bandsof AmericaSummerSymposi um. H e i s al so an acti v e com poser with many of his pieces bei ng publ i shed by B OC A LMu sicand frequentl y performedthroughout the country. B urns has pub lished articlesand reviewsin the Double r9eed (the j ournal of the Int er nati onal D oubl e R eed S oci et y) , t he TBA Journal (Texas Bandmasters' Association), the NC Music Educator for which he servesas Woodwind Notes Editor,Nofes (the journalof the MusicLibrary Association) and on the Yamaha Educator Series onl i ne < http://w w w .gi l es . com / ed u catorforum/PD Fs/bn o/ Wind/ ti ps/B urns.pdf> . H i s mentor s incl ude W i l l i amW i nstead,S her m an Walt, Leonard Sharrow,and Colin Hemmingsen.He is archivist for the International Double Reed Society and was co-hostfor the IDRS2003 C onference i n Greensboro, NC.

PERCUSSIONIN NORTH CAROLINA (continued)

performance site with the exactsame inyou will be uslngfor your restruments cital. Yourbraingets accustomedto certainstimuli suchas the roomlighting, temperature, acoustics, ambience,and extraneous noises. Eventhoughyou may know your piece "backwardsand forwards," your brain can often become co n fus ed when s ud d e n l y p u t i n to a pedorming strange environment. Percussionistsin particular have this problem wh e n per f or m ingon " s tra n g e "i n s tru ments. Evensubtledifferences in drumhead tensionand tone, keyboardsize, bar colors,etc.can confuse eventhe finest percussionist. Practiceas often as you can in the performance hall with exactlythe samelighting, instruments, mallets,stage set up, room temperature and ambience that you will encounter during your solo performance. Good luck and happypracticing! ABOUT THEAUTHOR Dr. Mario Gaetano is currently a Professorof Music at Western Carolina University, and is currently p ri nc ipal per c us s i o n i s t o f th e Asheville Symphony.

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NORTH CAROLINA MUSTC EDUCATOR/Spring 2004

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