I AM SCREAMING! I'm a private instructor in the Cinncinati area and I cover all instruments while being huge in flute, trumpet, and violin. I have so many students on every instrument talking about how their band instructors are yelling at them in class for "improper technique" including embouchure. When I watch them play, they may have slightly offset embouchure or slightly angled flute position, but they play beautifully! They have wonderful tone, they handle rhythms so well, and they always say that is the most comfortable for them to play. It always bothered me how "proper" music has gotten. If it sounds nice and gets the job done, then who cares? At least that's the question I pass to my students. There's so much in this video I agree with and I may share it with my next flute student who is upset at being yelled at in school for "improper" anything!
me too, every time i try to play centered the sound doesn’t come out, with time i accepted my embouchure the way it is and the sound is perfect and adapted to my comfort
Gina, during my days as a middle school band director (and I am a flute player myself), I would have students with a Cupid's Bow, and I always taught them to form the opening just to the left of center. Most band directors won't know how to approach that topic. I would like to see you make a video where you demonstrate exactly what you're doing...how to form the opening off-center. It would be good to see a close-up of the embouchure. There are plenty of photos in books of how a centered embouchure looks. I don't know that I have ever seen examples of off-set ones. Good video.
This is very reassuring. I played flute in my youth and picked it up again after many years. My embouchure immediately reverted to offset; I'm sure it's because of my teardrop lip. I felt like it was "wrong," until I noticed many excellent flutists (including you! and Rampal) with offset embouchures. I told myself, if it ain't broke, don't fix it, and you've validated my belief.
Thank you for this. I had a very slightly offset embouchure in middle school and my father (a band teacher, trumpet primary) kept after me to straighten it out. I did, and it cost me what was at the time an impressive sound for someone who'd only been playing for a year. These 35 years later, I am -- surprise, surprise! -- not a flute player. (I mean, I am, but only because last March I took it up again because quarantine creates the type of boredom that causes arson.) Today, someone in a flute group asked what the teardrop shape was called and whether she would ever be able to play well, and I remembered seeing this video. I showed it to her, and she's going to show it to her teacher to get them off her back. So thanks, you did a good thing here. Spreading that flute love and that beautiful playing requires a person to play flute, not to look a certain way while playing flute! Stay unbothered. :)
I'm surprised people would have such a strong opinion. To me looking at your lips I can't see how you wouldn't have an offset embouchure. I first learned in group lessons with a girl who had a very pronounced cupid's bow. Our teacher was very upfront in that fact that she would have to play in a certain way and that I would play in the more conventional way and that we shouldn't compare ourselves to each other. We are asymmetrical beings and the flute itself is not a symmetrical instrument. I have centered embouchure only on my top lip. My bottom lip will veer more to the left and I have more muscle tone on the left than on the right. To me this seems totally to be expected.
That is so interesting about your embouchure! Yes, everyone is different and I agree, it doesn't make sense that people should then be expected to play the same way!
Thank you for this video! I started playing in the late 70's and at my very first private lesson I was told to give up flute because of my offset embouchure. Being the stubborn kid that I was, I powered through it but was always criticized. I took up flute as a second career and found a professor who finally acknowledged that it was okay. Now as a busy teacher, I am passionate about supporting students with offset embouchures. I do my best to educate band directors that discourage students with offset embouchures. I, too, can get quite emotional when the topic comes up.
I agree with all of this! I'm a woodwind doubler (main instrument clarinet) and I've developed an offset flute embouchure over the 4 years I've been playing flute. Everyone tells me i'm wrong too and it bothers me so much. Thanks for this video!!
Probably those who say 'you are wrong' to players with offset embouchure, like you, do not sound as good as you! Honestly your playing is beautiful (also I have to mention the quality of your recordings and video editing) and you are my inspiration. Thank you for this useful information Gina
I really needed to hear this. Im a high school flute player and for years ive been told something was wrong with my embouchure because of my cupids bow. Ive only ever had band directors who aren’t flute players too literally tell me it’s a mess that needs to be fixed. I can still produce the sounds I want with a clear tone, it’s not my fault my lips are shaped differently
I have been DYING for you to make this video. I love watching you play and I’ve always liked your embouchure and posture. Everything you said is 💯 spot on. I also have an offset embouchure, and I tried to change it myself in undergrad, not knowing that I needed to work with it and not against it. I struggled with it until after grad school when I finally figured out how to work with it. My motto when I teach is to put the instrument where the air comes out, and I will always stand by this, having spent years struggling when I didn’t need to. I am just as passionate about it as you are. THANK YOU!!!
I am so glad that you were able to get to a good place with your embouchure! I get it - it's so hard and it's not super clear what to do when you have an offset embouchure!
I have an offset embouchure too! No one in my section does and I thought I was playing it wrong for years until, I realized one day when I was trying too change my embouchure thats when I played with a straight embouchure, my tone was awful! So I've stuck with the offset it's wayyy more comfy for me
I believe your instrument is an extension of you so a centred or offset embouchure is just fine. As you said Gina everyone is built differently. You make a beautiful sound. I have one of your albums. Ignore ignorance but well done for trying to educate them.
honestly you have like my favourite tone of all time and i’ve even been trying to copy your embouchure so that’s very cool :D and it’s completely fine since it doesn’t compromise your sound
Aw I'm so glad you like my sound! That means a lot to me! I don't think that a particular embouchure necessarily makes a particular sound, so use the embouchure that's best FOR YOU! Keep up all the amazing work!
Hi Gina! Awesome topic! It’s also interesting because I am thinking about this often. I found after year of playing Shakuhachi and Side Blown Flute, the embouchure is like the control panel and we can use it as we please, there are other ways to control the breath I find it’s a good practice to make a giant flute ! So big that it challenges your embouchure , breath and capability. You can then justify it by saying you can shape as you please 🎉
I also studied with Laurel when we were both in high school and immediately knew you had to be her best student. I really admire your playing and it motivated me in my own practice. I've always been curious about your embouchure, so thanks for this video! I'm sure it will be helpful for many people, from students to more experienced players/teachers to non-musical people.
My face and lips are asymmetrical and my flute embouchure is so weird: my top lip moves to the right and my bottom lip moves slightly to the left and the hole is slightly to the left and there’s literally no way I can center my lips but it sounds great so I agree. My main issue with it is finding self confidence in how I look while I play ):
I play off center. My face is not symmetrical so how can my embochure be centered?? I cried at my first lesson with my new college teacher. Then she showed me her lips-she had a HUGE teardrop on her top lip that hung down over her bottom lip. Her response was, “what other questions do you have?” Boom. We will see you in Kingsville Tx in April. Coastal Bend Flute Club!!! Can’t wait!!!
Two words describe this phenomenon among band directors... Marching Band! The directors want the flutes to look "straight and centered" I don't agree but that's the basic reason... They want every one to look uniform... Common scenarios are as the following: High school band director goes to the middle school to "fix" the flute section in preparation for high school marching band. Middle school kids start marching in 8th maybe even 7th grade where "Flutes get your horns up!" Is consistently blared over a megaphone. Over time flutists from middle school all the way to undergraduate are conditioned to play "straight and centered" . Those that played with a centered embouchure go on to a successful performing or music teaching career thus seemingly validating the band directors directive. Those who struggled with a centered embouchure quietly quit and join choir or art. The students that excelled with a centered embouchure become performers and teachers and teach others what they were taught. The cycle continues until now. Rampal never did marching band! He studied flute a la conservatoire! His teachers emphasis was sound production not how straight or centered one plays. Today's music education students especially flute players should stand against this false teaching about embouchure. When they arrive to teach middle or high school band they need to emphasis sound above all other things. I am a woodwind doubler who plays with an offset embouchure on flute, a music educator, and I approve your message!
That is so sad, but it totally makes sense. It was the same for me, I never did marching band and only took private lessons. I played in band and orchestra when I was older, but I had already been playing for a long time and had a solid embouchure at that point.
@@GinaLuciani I can say that you not doing marching band probably did more for you than anything... The pressure to conform is enormous! It would be interesting to see how many orchestral and wind flute players ruined their nature embouchure but had to relearn to play when they got to music school. I have seen horrible teaching such as the "smile" embouchure along with all flutes straight teaching. I have taught since the early 2000s and I had to grin and bear a more senior teacher expound these teachings. (I started playing jazz flute about 3 years ago). My woodwind methods class that I took as an undergrad did not prepare me to teach the instrument. I learned all my flute concepts from a video produced by the US Army Flute Ensemble. (On TH-cam I think it is called Flute Fundamentals) That video taught me how to produce a sound and proper technique and one of the members had a slightly offset embouchure! I play only jazz and very little classical but that video did the trick! Also Rampal playing with the Claude Boiling Trio was an early influence on me! Thanks for responding to my comment and I think your channel is great!
Thank you for this video! I noticed your embouchure during the first video I watched and I thought, "wow, her tone and technique is brilliant!" I figured, whatever makes beautiful music works! A person once told my daughter that she wouldn't be able to play the flute well because she has such full lips. She played very well all through the 6 years she was active. She played piccolo in marching band and did great as well as concert flute in concert band! I judge by tone and how beautiful the music is. If there is beautiful music, then something is being done right!
I play with a centered embouchure but I have always had trouble relaxing it. In high school, I took lessons on and off for two years (from sophomore to senior year) with a lady who was a conducting grad student at the time (she aspired to be a band director) and with this teacher, I developed the smile embouchure which negatively affected my sound (it was smaller, more nasal, and I couldn’t project). Then I studied with Suzan Degooyer for Three years (I took five years in my undergrad) and she had me do a lot of the Moyse 24 Little Melodies and Long tones from the De La Sonorite book, it got slightly better and then for my last two years I changed schools, I studied with Rene Miska, she was more of a technician and a piccolo specialist but she taught how to play with more tone colors, she said that my embouchure was too tense but she didn’t really show me how to fix it. My current teacher Dr. Lisa Wolynec (my graduate flute teacher) has been the only one to be honest who has helped me with relaxing my embouchure and she’s big on playing with freedom (One of her teachers was Alexander Murray who is a first generation Alexander Technique Teacher). I have gone through two embouchure changes (or crisis as I like to call them). The most recent one which was last year was the worst of the two. Jeffrey Khaner has an offset embouchure, Denis Bouriakov has an offset embouchure and I think Stephen Clark also has one.
That makes me so sad that you had to go through all of that! I'm glad you got it sorted though. Having the right teacher makes the biggest difference...
Gina Luciani I know but on the bright side, I project with more ease. Last semester, I learned the Reinecke Ballade and I played with the best sound that I had since right around my undergrad senior recital. I will admit that sometimes my embouchure tightens but it’s because of nerves.
The first time I saw a video of you playing, I thought your embouchure and flute position was interesting but definitely not 'wrong'. It makes sense that not everyone is going to be able to produce their best sound with a standard lip/flute placement. It's too bad that some instructors are either too rigid with their training philosophy, or if in a classroom/band setting, too inexperienced or unable to give individual attention to a student who needs a bit more help getting the right embouchure for their lip shape. But as you said, if you're able to achieve all the cool things that is involved with flute playing, why change?
It's so nice to hear that you're so open-minded! I can't tell you the number of times I've run across people (and sometimes teachers *cringe*) that haven't been.
@@GinaLuciani That's just so crazy! I suggest you tell them to close their eyes and judge with their ears instead (especially if it's an unsolicited opinion).
Anyway Gina you can end this discussion very quickly and efficiently to anyone who says twisted embouchure is wrong. Simply say 'Jean Pierre Rampal' and then walk away.
Gina Luciani it sorta sucked for me. I’ve always been tiny and for along time, my hands were too short for my flute. It made me pretty frustrated untill i grew a little and could finally reach all the bottom keys 😂 i was too stubborn so i didn’t quit. I really like the flute. Mom wanted to pull me out of music school cuz of how fristrated i’d get over not reaching the keys properly. Idk why the curved head was never suggestedfor me. I didn’t know they were a thing untill i saw a student with one when i was older.
hmm yeah. My dad has offset embore and it dosnt have any issue playing and can play well and in tune. He started in the 4th grade as well. Mine not perfect either but I tend to do better when I am more centered. I think it may be due to wider air stream and just interfers when a bit off. lol I just looked when you make this video... haha anyway
I've been playing for 6 months and I can play low C up to second octave A reasonably well with a centered embouchure. But any higher and I lose a lot of tone. I've been trying all different types of embouchures to be able to get higher in the notes with good tone. Its stressful at times. If I had a tear drop lip would I even be able to play the notes I'm playing or do all notes suffer? I'm keeping an open mind so that I can improve. I'm an adult learner in my 30's. I wish I could do lessons with a teacher but covid happened.
For very twisted embouchures I do wonder if it will create strain of the perioral facial muscles. If it doesn't hurt after prolonged playing then its probably fine.
The right corner of my lip always tenses when I play... my teacher hates it, but everyone else says I have a good sound. I'm trying to change it but it's really hard!
Thank you so much for this video, I have a question please...I have an offset embouchure. Recently I have been trying to correct my slightly slanted position for the flute but I notice that both your examples Jean-Pierre Rampal and Dennis Bouriakov hold it at a slant, so maybe that's a good position for an offset embouchure? Also they seem to actually position the hole opposite their embouchure (that is slightly to their left) which would seem to make good sense....
Hope you can kindly answer this question for me, particularly about whether you should place the headjoint slightly offset to match the embouchure....I find it easier to produce a good tone like that.... Thanks Dilys
I think it's Sad a lot of Band Directors can't and don't do it. Flute is the worst instrument for Band directors to "teach" because almost all band directors who aren't primarily flute players can't play flute. It is the one instrument that almost all directors can't play and teach well.
I place my flute in the center but then when I’m actually playing my embouchure it looks like: “/“ so I guess I play very slightly off centered 🤷♀️ if that makes any sense 😂
James Galway has one too! His is slightly to the left of center. Nicole Esposito's embouchure is pretty far to the left as well. I met her at NFA a couple years ago and that was the first thing I wanted to ask her about. Her solution was to angle the instrument slightly to meet where the air comes out.
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I AM SCREAMING! I'm a private instructor in the Cinncinati area and I cover all instruments while being huge in flute, trumpet, and violin. I have so many students on every instrument talking about how their band instructors are yelling at them in class for "improper technique" including embouchure. When I watch them play, they may have slightly offset embouchure or slightly angled flute position, but they play beautifully! They have wonderful tone, they handle rhythms so well, and they always say that is the most comfortable for them to play. It always bothered me how "proper" music has gotten. If it sounds nice and gets the job done, then who cares? At least that's the question I pass to my students. There's so much in this video I agree with and I may share it with my next flute student who is upset at being yelled at in school for "improper" anything!
That's amazing that you have so much training! I wish everyone knew all of that! Thank you for being such an outstanding teacher!
I play very off center. I always have! My band teachers always said that as long as you play well and with a good tone it doesn’t matter how you play.
I'm so glad your band teacher said that!!!
me too, every time i try to play centered the sound doesn’t come out, with time i accepted my embouchure the way it is and the sound is perfect and adapted to my comfort
I've had an offset embouchure for 25 years and it never affected me or my abilities even when I was in a military band.
Yay! Glad to hear you're doing so well!
Same. Idk why. But i play sorta offset. Always have. It only affects my pitch a bit. But that can be fixed.
Gina, during my days as a middle school band director (and I am a flute player myself), I would have students with a Cupid's Bow, and I always taught them to form the opening just to the left of center. Most band directors won't know how to approach that topic. I would like to see you make a video where you demonstrate exactly what you're doing...how to form the opening off-center. It would be good to see a close-up of the embouchure. There are plenty of photos in books of how a centered embouchure looks. I don't know that I have ever seen examples of off-set ones. Good video.
Wow, what a great idea! I'll make sure to add that to my list of videos! I think it's wonderful the way you taught your students!
This is very reassuring. I played flute in my youth and picked it up again after many years. My embouchure immediately reverted to offset; I'm sure it's because of my teardrop lip. I felt like it was "wrong," until I noticed many excellent flutists (including you! and Rampal) with offset embouchures. I told myself, if it ain't broke, don't fix it, and you've validated my belief.
100%! Our embouchures are basically like riding a bike. You'll go back to the way you learned and that's ok!
Anyone who can get a sound out of a flute is some kind wizard.
lmao
Thank you for this. I had a very slightly offset embouchure in middle school and my father (a band teacher, trumpet primary) kept after me to straighten it out. I did, and it cost me what was at the time an impressive sound for someone who'd only been playing for a year. These 35 years later, I am -- surprise, surprise! -- not a flute player. (I mean, I am, but only because last March I took it up again because quarantine creates the type of boredom that causes arson.)
Today, someone in a flute group asked what the teardrop shape was called and whether she would ever be able to play well, and I remembered seeing this video. I showed it to her, and she's going to show it to her teacher to get them off her back. So thanks, you did a good thing here. Spreading that flute love and that beautiful playing requires a person to play flute, not to look a certain way while playing flute! Stay unbothered. :)
I'm surprised people would have such a strong opinion. To me looking at your lips I can't see how you wouldn't have an offset embouchure. I first learned in group lessons with a girl who had a very pronounced cupid's bow. Our teacher was very upfront in that fact that she would have to play in a certain way and that I would play in the more conventional way and that we shouldn't compare ourselves to each other.
We are asymmetrical beings and the flute itself is not a symmetrical instrument. I have centered embouchure only on my top lip. My bottom lip will veer more to the left and I have more muscle tone on the left than on the right. To me this seems totally to be expected.
That is so interesting about your embouchure! Yes, everyone is different and I agree, it doesn't make sense that people should then be expected to play the same way!
Thank you for this video! I started playing in the late 70's and at my very first private lesson I was told to give up flute because of my offset embouchure. Being the stubborn kid that I was, I powered through it but was always criticized. I took up flute as a second career and found a professor who finally acknowledged that it was okay. Now as a busy teacher, I am passionate about supporting students with offset embouchures. I do my best to educate band directors that discourage students with offset embouchures. I, too, can get quite emotional when the topic comes up.
I agree with all of this! I'm a woodwind doubler (main instrument clarinet) and I've developed an offset flute embouchure over the 4 years I've been playing flute. Everyone tells me i'm wrong too and it bothers me so much. Thanks for this video!!
I hear you! It's so annoying.
Probably those who say 'you are wrong' to players with offset embouchure, like you, do not sound as good as you! Honestly your playing is beautiful (also I have to mention the quality of your recordings and video editing) and you are my inspiration. Thank you for this useful information Gina
Wow, thank you so much for this kind message! I really appreciate it. You made my night!
I really needed to hear this. Im a high school flute player and for years ive been told something was wrong with my embouchure because of my cupids bow. Ive only ever had band directors who aren’t flute players too literally tell me it’s a mess that needs to be fixed. I can still produce the sounds I want with a clear tone, it’s not my fault my lips are shaped differently
This makes me feel so much better about my embouchure ! It's so validating to know other people also have similar experiences.
Usually the people correcting my posture were not someone I would take advice from anyway ;) Great video Gina!
Very true ;) Thanks for watching!
I have been DYING for you to make this video. I love watching you play and I’ve always liked your embouchure and posture. Everything you said is 💯 spot on. I also have an offset embouchure, and I tried to change it myself in undergrad, not knowing that I needed to work with it and not against it. I struggled with it until after grad school when I finally figured out how to work with it. My motto when I teach is to put the instrument where the air comes out, and I will always stand by this, having spent years struggling when I didn’t need to. I am just as passionate about it as you are. THANK YOU!!!
I am so glad that you were able to get to a good place with your embouchure! I get it - it's so hard and it's not super clear what to do when you have an offset embouchure!
I have an offset embouchure too! No one in my section does and I thought I was playing it wrong for years until, I realized one day when I was trying too change my embouchure thats when I played with a straight embouchure, my tone was awful! So I've stuck with the offset it's wayyy more comfy for me
It is weird being the only one! I have had that for most of my life...
Gina Luciani at least you know you aren't alone now 😊
This was spot on. I have to play offset due a slight tea drop upper lip and having a thin upper lip.
I believe your instrument is an extension of you so a centred or offset embouchure is just fine. As you said Gina everyone is built differently. You make a beautiful sound. I have one of your albums. Ignore ignorance but well done for trying to educate them.
honestly you have like my favourite tone of all time and i’ve even been trying to copy your embouchure so that’s very cool :D and it’s completely fine since it doesn’t compromise your sound
Aw I'm so glad you like my sound! That means a lot to me! I don't think that a particular embouchure necessarily makes a particular sound, so use the embouchure that's best FOR YOU! Keep up all the amazing work!
Hi Gina! Awesome topic! It’s also interesting because I am thinking about this often. I found after year of playing Shakuhachi and Side Blown Flute, the embouchure is like the control panel and we can use it as we please, there are other ways to control the breath I find it’s a good practice to make a giant flute ! So big that it challenges your embouchure , breath and capability. You can then justify it by saying you can shape as you please 🎉
I also studied with Laurel when we were both in high school and immediately knew you had to be her best student. I really admire your playing and it motivated me in my own practice. I've always been curious about your embouchure, so thanks for this video! I'm sure it will be helpful for many people, from students to more experienced players/teachers to non-musical people.
Aw that is very sweet of you and I so appreciate it! Laurel had/has many amazing students so I was just happy to be around such talent!
My face and lips are asymmetrical and my flute embouchure is so weird: my top lip moves to the right and my bottom lip moves slightly to the left and the hole is slightly to the left and there’s literally no way I can center my lips but it sounds great so I agree. My main issue with it is finding self confidence in how I look while I play ):
I feel the same way!
I play off center. My face is not symmetrical so how can my embochure be centered?? I cried at my first lesson with my new college teacher. Then she showed me her lips-she had a HUGE teardrop on her top lip that hung down over her bottom lip. Her response was, “what other questions do you have?” Boom. We will see you in Kingsville Tx in April. Coastal Bend Flute Club!!! Can’t wait!!!
Thank you so much for sharing that with me! I felt the same way once I found others that had an offset embouchure! Can't wait for Kingsville :)
You've done an excellent job of presenting this! Thank you.
Two words describe this phenomenon among band directors... Marching Band! The directors want the flutes to look "straight and centered" I don't agree but that's the basic reason... They want every one to look uniform... Common scenarios are as the following:
High school band director goes to the middle school to "fix" the flute section in preparation for high school marching band. Middle school kids start marching in 8th maybe even 7th grade where "Flutes get your horns up!" Is consistently blared over a megaphone.
Over time flutists from middle school all the way to undergraduate are conditioned to play "straight and centered" . Those that played with a centered embouchure go on to a successful performing or music teaching career thus seemingly validating the band directors directive. Those who struggled with a centered embouchure quietly quit and join choir or art. The students that excelled with a centered embouchure become performers and teachers and teach others what they were taught. The cycle continues until now. Rampal never did marching band! He studied flute a la conservatoire! His teachers emphasis was sound production not how straight or centered one plays. Today's music education students especially flute players should stand against this false teaching about embouchure. When they arrive to teach middle or high school band they need to emphasis sound above all other things. I am a woodwind doubler who plays with an offset embouchure on flute, a music educator, and I approve your message!
That is so sad, but it totally makes sense. It was the same for me, I never did marching band and only took private lessons. I played in band and orchestra when I was older, but I had already been playing for a long time and had a solid embouchure at that point.
@@GinaLuciani I can say that you not doing marching band probably did more for you than anything... The pressure to conform is enormous! It would be interesting to see how many orchestral and wind flute players ruined their nature embouchure but had to relearn to play when they got to music school. I have seen horrible teaching such as the "smile" embouchure along with all flutes straight teaching. I have taught since the early 2000s and I had to grin and bear a more senior teacher expound these teachings. (I started playing jazz flute about 3 years ago). My woodwind methods class that I took as an undergrad did not prepare me to teach the instrument. I learned all my flute concepts from a video produced by the US Army Flute Ensemble. (On TH-cam I think it is called Flute Fundamentals) That video taught me how to produce a sound and proper technique and one of the members had a slightly offset embouchure! I play only jazz and very little classical but that video did the trick! Also Rampal playing with the Claude Boiling Trio was an early influence on me! Thanks for responding to my comment and I think your channel is great!
Thank you for this video! I noticed your embouchure during the first video I watched and I thought, "wow, her tone and technique is brilliant!" I figured, whatever makes beautiful music works! A person once told my daughter that she wouldn't be able to play the flute well because she has such full lips. She played very well all through the 6 years she was active. She played piccolo in marching band and did great as well as concert flute in concert band! I judge by tone and how beautiful the music is. If there is beautiful music, then something is being done right!
If an offset embouchure is good enough for Denis Bouriakov, it is good enough for me. His playing is phenomenal.
agreed!
Isn't that the truth!
I play with a centered embouchure but I have always had trouble relaxing it. In high school, I took lessons on and off for two years (from sophomore to senior year) with a lady who was a conducting grad student at the time (she aspired to be a band director) and with this teacher, I developed the smile embouchure which negatively affected my sound (it was smaller, more nasal, and I couldn’t project). Then I studied with Suzan Degooyer for Three years (I took five years in my undergrad) and she had me do a lot of the Moyse 24 Little Melodies and Long tones from the De La Sonorite book, it got slightly better and then for my last two years I changed schools, I studied with Rene Miska, she was more of a technician and a piccolo specialist but she taught how to play with more tone colors, she said that my embouchure was too tense but she didn’t really show me how to fix it. My current teacher Dr. Lisa Wolynec (my graduate flute teacher) has been the only one to be honest who has helped me with relaxing my embouchure and she’s big on playing with freedom (One of her teachers was Alexander Murray who is a first generation Alexander Technique Teacher). I have gone through two embouchure changes (or crisis as I like to call them). The most recent one which was last year was the worst of the two. Jeffrey Khaner has an offset embouchure, Denis Bouriakov has an offset embouchure and I think Stephen Clark also has one.
That makes me so sad that you had to go through all of that! I'm glad you got it sorted though. Having the right teacher makes the biggest difference...
Gina Luciani I know but on the bright side, I project with more ease. Last semester, I learned the Reinecke Ballade and I played with the best sound that I had since right around my undergrad senior recital. I will admit that sometimes my embouchure tightens but it’s because of nerves.
@@kiaraeijo That's so so amazing! Congrats! I think we all have that problem with nerves so you're not alone!
Thank you for mentioning about offset to the left I’ve been off setting to the right and it’s been all wrong and uncomfortable. thank you!
Lol I was waiting the whole video for u to mention denis he’s my favorite flute player 😂
He's awesome!
The first time I saw a video of you playing, I thought your embouchure and flute position was interesting but definitely not 'wrong'. It makes sense that not everyone is going to be able to produce their best sound with a standard lip/flute placement. It's too bad that some instructors are either too rigid with their training philosophy, or if in a classroom/band setting, too inexperienced or unable to give individual attention to a student who needs a bit more help getting the right embouchure for their lip shape. But as you said, if you're able to achieve all the cool things that is involved with flute playing, why change?
It's so nice to hear that you're so open-minded! I can't tell you the number of times I've run across people (and sometimes teachers *cringe*) that haven't been.
@@GinaLuciani That's just so crazy! I suggest you tell them to close their eyes and judge with their ears instead (especially if it's an unsolicited opinion).
Anyway Gina you can end this discussion very quickly and efficiently to anyone who says twisted embouchure is wrong. Simply say 'Jean Pierre Rampal' and then walk away.
I never got a fife. I went from a recorder straight to the flute 😅 my parents were told to get me a flute and that was that.
nice!
Gina Luciani it sorta sucked for me. I’ve always been tiny and for along time, my hands were too short for my flute. It made me pretty frustrated untill i grew a little and could finally reach all the bottom keys 😂 i was too stubborn so i didn’t quit. I really like the flute. Mom wanted to pull me out of music school cuz of how fristrated i’d get over not reaching the keys properly. Idk why the curved head was never suggestedfor me. I didn’t know they were a thing untill i saw a student with one when i was older.
hmm yeah. My dad has offset embore and it dosnt have any issue playing and can play well and in tune. He started in the 4th grade as well. Mine not perfect either but I tend to do better when I am more centered. I think it may be due to wider air stream and just interfers when a bit off. lol I just looked when you make this video... haha anyway
Very interesting😍
Thanks for watching!
I remember someone commenting on Denis Bouriakov didn’t hold his flute parallel to the ground - seriously!!!!,
Denis is like a living breathing god of the flute. I think he knows what he's doing. :)
I've been playing for 6 months and I can play low C up to second octave A reasonably well with a centered embouchure. But any higher and I lose a lot of tone. I've been trying all different types of embouchures to be able to get higher in the notes with good tone. Its stressful at times. If I had a tear drop lip would I even be able to play the notes I'm playing or do all notes suffer? I'm keeping an open mind so that I can improve. I'm an adult learner in my 30's. I wish I could do lessons with a teacher but covid happened.
I never had a teatcher... Only a trumpet player who did show to me how to read sheet music
For very twisted embouchures I do wonder if it will create strain of the perioral facial muscles. If it doesn't hurt after prolonged playing then its probably fine.
The right corner of my lip always tenses when I play... my teacher hates it, but everyone else says I have a good sound. I'm trying to change it but it's really hard!
Totally get that. In college I had to work a lot on relaxing my embouchure and it was an uphill battle!
Thank you so much for this video, I have a question please...I have an offset embouchure. Recently I have been trying to correct my slightly slanted position for the flute but I notice that both your examples Jean-Pierre Rampal and Dennis Bouriakov hold it at a slant, so maybe that's a good position for an offset embouchure? Also they seem to actually position the hole opposite their embouchure (that is slightly to their left) which would seem to make good sense....
Hope you can kindly answer this question for me, particularly about whether you should place the headjoint slightly offset to match the embouchure....I find it easier to produce a good tone like that.... Thanks Dilys
I think it's Sad a lot of Band Directors can't and don't do it. Flute is the worst instrument for Band directors to "teach" because almost all band directors who aren't primarily flute players can't play flute. It is the one instrument that almost all directors can't play and teach well.
It is super sad :(
I immediately thought of Rampal. Who is gonna diss Rampal?
I place my flute in the center but then when I’m actually playing my embouchure it looks like: “/“ so I guess I play very slightly off centered 🤷♀️ if that makes any sense 😂
Totally makes sense!
Rampal played with an offset embouchure.
Never mind...you mentioned that later in the video.
A lot of people don't know that!
James Galway has one too! His is slightly to the left of center. Nicole Esposito's embouchure is pretty far to the left as well. I met her at NFA a couple years ago and that was the first thing I wanted to ask her about. Her solution was to angle the instrument slightly to meet where the air comes out.
😽
This was spot on. I have to play offset due a slight tea drop upper lip and having a thin upper lip.