embouchures - balloon cheek

[tommy_ng]

I have seen many people playing sax (tenor) with balloon cheek. Sonny Rollins does it as well.....

It is totally uncontrollable to me....

Wonder if anyone here doing it???



8|

 

[Smiffy]

I am only having a guess here but I think it may be to do with circular breathing, holding air in the mouth, Pete has a posting on his site about it

I can't get it working for me but then I haven't tried it that much

 

[mick_wilson]

yeah i agree I tried to do this when playing digeridoo? what you do is while breathing in through nose you squeeze the air out of your mouth by contracting the cheek muscles in a bellow type fashion I believe.

bound to be quted wrong. lol i could never master it :whistle: :S

 

[tommy_ng]

I used to play chinese flute and i could do circular breathing on flute as well... i think it is not necessary to balloon your cheek to perform circular breathing..

Never seen Kenny G balloon his cheek when playing song bird.....

I have seen many people balloon cheek to play very short notes... so i think they do it not for circular breathing...

Could it be they have got used to this type of embrouchures???

 

[old_git]

In the trumpet field, Dizzy always had balloon cheeks whilst Miles seldom, if ever. This really overlaps with the Saxophone Voicings thread as the increased volume of balloon cheeks and the dropped tongue techniques will alter the timbre, however slightly.
On the other hand, it might be for purely visual identity reasons. 😉

 

[Pete Thomas]

Supposedly bad technique on saxophone (except for circular breathing)

 

[old_git]

Pete Thomas wrote:
Supposedly bad technique on saxophone (except for circular breathing)

It is also supposed to be bad technique on brass instruments too but would you fancy the job of telling Dizzy he wasn't any good?
As it alters the capacity of cavities in the player and therefore the balance between player and instrument, it might just be worth trying but don't blame me.

 

[justin_chune]

It just looks so uncool. Sorry Diz 🙂

 

[Col9]

With dizzy its not just his cheeks it looks like the his neck and the back of his head that swells. Amazing.

col.

 

[peedee]

Justin Chune wrote:
It just looks so uncool. Sorry Diz 🙂

I agree very uncool. I find it hard to watch Dizzy, I can't help thing he's gonna explode any minute, doesn't bear thinking about
:x

 

[losaavedra]

Squirrel cheeks seem to me to produce the best results ... tight/flat on top and slightly pouched at bottom. Mind you I got a trumpet two weeks ago and my opinion is sort of changing for that ... and the front of my face has gone numb ... help!!

 

[mick_wilson]

crikey Losaaavedra youll be a one man orchestra soon lol hows it in Spain at present?

 

[losaavedra]

Very very hot ... not a drop of rain for at least two months. It'll probably stay the same until end of September then we'll get a couple of days of monsoon-like rain to remind us what it's like!!!
Trumpet not as straightforward as I thought it would be, I can get three notes out of it so far but it seems to jump from one octave to another all on its own. Suppose its all down to how you blow. I'll persevere although sax is still by far my favorite.

 

[Rogerb]

I am only a few miles/Km from losaavedra and we had a nice shower of brown rain last night which has covered our yards, cars & terraces with a thin coating of mud, or a thick coating of dust, depending how you look at it /wet or dry! :x

 

[o_c_v_]

losaavedra wrote:
Very very hot ... not a drop of rain for at least two months. It'll probably stay the same until end of September then we'll get a couple of days of monsoon-like rain to remind us what it's like!!!
Trumpet not as straightforward as I thought it would be, I can get three notes out of it so far but it seems to jump from one octave to another all on its own. Suppose its all down to how you blow. I'll persevere although sax is still by far my favorite.

I was a trumpet player for many years before I saw the light. Assuming your facial anatomy is relatively normal, have 1/3 of the mouthpiece on the upper lip and 2/3 on the bottom. Have a slight gap between the lips, don't purse them. Try to blow a G (second line) then use fingering to extend the range up and down, playing long, quiet notes. Don't be tempted to go high. Those notes can wait until your chops are ready. It takes time.
Best of luck.