The Embouchure change has been going pretty well. The tone is getting better and the range is up to a strong high E. Sometimes I get depressed but other times I just feel like practicing without ever stopping to see if maybe the process will happen faster and if I see results faster. I think that the way things are going that in about another month or so my emb. set up should be working full time.

Hi gang. Today I received my "The Balanced Embouchure" book. I put away my Claude Gordon stuff and started to work with the new stuff. I started to play double pedal G's within 30 minutes and I squealed a A above high C. The new set up is really good. I can't wait until I start using it full time. I really think that this is taking me somewhere.

Well, school is out and I am done playing for veterans and school. The only thing I am doing now is church band. I had a fun year with jazz band and playing lead and all that stuff. I am currently on chapter 19 on my SA book. I am at the point where Claude Gordon just has me doing lip slurs like crazy and multiple tonguing like crazy. My range has not increased any but my tone is really good. The other day I was playing around and tucked my bottom lip and busted out a G above high C. It really made me mad to know that I could do that so easily. Then I went at it again and got a A above high C. Then after talking to people I found out that all this time I have been using the wrong embouchure set up. I only use a very little part of my bottom lip. Which forces me to jam the horn in my face. After finding out that I have been doing things wrong all this time I became really depressed for a long time and didn't know what to do next to really take my playing to the next level. As great as the Claude Gordon stuff is it can not fix my emb. problem and I could do his exercises and not ever go anywhere because I'm playing the wrong way. So I started to talk to Jeff Smiley and I have decided to order his book the Balanced Embouchure. I decided to order it because it talks about what I tested out already the lip roll. I will switch to his set up as soon as I get the book. Once I get the book I will stop doing all my others exercises and just focus on the emb. switch. Then once I get adjusted I will go back to my Claude Gordon stuff. I might just restart the whole book again or just pick off from where I left off before. It all depends at what level of playing I am at. I will keep posting more often about how my emb. change is going. So keep reading it might turn out good or it might be the worse decision that I have ever made in my life.