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I really don't think there is any one way that is right as far as this question is concerned. I was a 2/3-1/3 guy for a long time (that's top-bottom) and I've recently kind of made a natural shift to more of a half and half setup. Among other things, I've noticed that it helps my endurance quite a bit, probably because this embouchure helps me get more air out of the horn and lets me focus more on that and less on what my lips are doing. In fact, when I play euphonium, I really don't even feel my lips buzz anymore until I get below the staff. I heard Allen Vizzutti say one time that at least half of the sound on a brass instrument is caused by the physics of the horn in vibrating sympathetically with the air column provided. So I like to think about that instead of what my lips are actually doing to buzz. Hope this helps...

I took a lesson with Jason Smith at Ohio University a while back, and it was a really interesting experience. I went in thinking we were going to work on music and we ended up spending an hour and a half talking about embouchure. I must admit that I'm glad he was so willing to work with me on it.

Before we began addressing my issues, he asked me what he thought I was using for an embouchure and the first problem arose. I really had NO idea. I'd never much thought about it before. He took out a book of which the title has escaped me, but inside he showed me pictures of various players who were in the Chicago Symphony, including Arnold Jacobs. There were TONS of different placements. TONS!

By the end of that hour and a half, what I took from it more than anything was that it didn't matter quite so much what the placement of the mouthpiece was as long as the corners of your mouth (embouchure) pointed mainly downward to about level. The "smile" emouchure which has been addressed in recent issues of the ITEA Journal are much less desireable.

In short, as long as you are able to create an embouchure where you are using more flesh rather than stretching a muscle, you will be able to play more effectively, more efficiently, and better in general.

With tuba, an off-center approach isn't quite as possible as on horn. I do have an off-center embouchure even for tuba, but that can only go so far. On euphonium, there is definately the possibility for a bit more flexibility.

If it works, doesn't hurt, and is effective, why change it?!

After accidentally coming accross this, I can honestly say that mouthpiece placement doesn't seem to get in the way of professionals making great music. Personally, I use an overbite embouchure and have never questioned its usefulness.

It all comes down to there being no "correct" position per se, but rather using what ever method works for you to produce the cleanest, beautifulest tone possible.

the OP seems to have an succesful autodidactic approach. In that case it is useful to have an occasionally feedback from others, who hear you play. Otherwise that feeling of "perhaps I'm totally wrong" comes up. Without hearing you: If you can play the whole range of the instrument with decent sound, articulation, flexibility and volume, you can't be totally wrong. Buzzing on the mouthpiece: if you can buzz musically with good pitch control, than you are on a good path.

Gerd

I think Roger Lewis had a post a few years ago about upside down and rightside up embouchures; or maybe he called it up-blowers and down-blowers. I can't even remember if he thought one was was right and another wrong.

Since I started out as a horn player, I retained my 2/3 - 1/3 set for the other brasses. It does seem to work, but I ain't no pro. I can play the entire range though, being one of those people who can play tuba range on a euph if it has enough valves.

Since I got dystonia, I've moved the mouthpiece quite a ways to the right on euph, in order to have a work-around for the wobble that occurs when I "focus normally." Since I started working on the Balanced Embouchure approach, I can play much higher and with considerably less effort than I could before, so in a way the dystonia opened me up to new approaches. I'm not as good as I was, and probably never will be, but at least I still can honk out some tunes once a week.

MA

I must admit that I don't really think about mouthpiece placement very often. I am probably pretty close to a fifty-fifty player until I get in the extreme upper register. I tend to think of a trumpet embouchure when in the extreme upper register and yes I do shift. One odd thing about shifting was something I read in "Arnold Jacobs: Song and Wind." Arnold Jacobs teacher at Curtis, Philip Donatelli, had a mouthpiece with a flattened top so that when he moved the mouthpiece up on his face he was able to get it high enough to facilitate the upper register. I figure if it was good enough for them it is good enough for me.

If you have a good sound, or one that you are simply happy with, and have command of the "normal" range of the horn than whatever you are doing is working. Now if you are having range issues or are not able to produce a good sound than first I would seek the advice of a teacher. A good teacher can rule out equipment issues and guide you on the path to discover your own embouchure placement.

Assuming your equipment is not the problem, and sometimes it can be something as simple as a misaligned piston valve, than the best advice I can offer is to use more air. Like the old saying goes, "Air is cheap, it doesn't cost anything." Most of the time when I am playing and notice something going awry it is due to not using enough air (I have noticed this in many other players too).

I will also say that I don't think you can teach embouchure through muscles. How many people can name the muscles that are used to create your embouchure? Do you think about your obicularis oris, the mentalis or any of the other half dozen muscles? I certainly don't and I still remember a few of them. Instead I try to focus on what I can control, the sound coming out of the horn. Focus on the product and improving it and you will be amazed at what you can do without any in-depth knowledge of what your body is doing. So, use plenty of air and play simple melodies across all registers in multiple keys. Oh and don't forget your long tones. Sounds easy right?

One last thing, I want to give a big thank you to my college professor Paul Scott who explained this and many other valuable lessons to me even though I sometimes (maybe most of the time) didn't get it.

Henry Gertcher