For 300 years, French horn teachers have advocated using a mouthpiece placement of 2/3 upper lip and 1/3 lower lip. With a Shofar, I find this technique valid. The fleshy part of the upper lip is the area that makes the quality of sound. Accordingly, this upper lip musculature should be developed. A higher proportion of upper lip is also beneficial in playing the entire range of the Shofar, which is generally two octaves--too little upper lip will not allow for production of the lowest notes of the horn.

Wet (Moist) Lips.

Wet lips are especially important for the beginner because the mouthpiece will be free to settle into its most natural position over the fleshy mound on the upper lip. The eminent horn teacher Philip Farkas estimated that approximately 75% of professional brass players play with wet (or moist) lips. The primary advantage of wet lips is that the mouthpiece is free to move around somewhat and find its best, natural placement on the lips when first placed on the lips. This freedom of movement is also helpful in making large register changes as the mouthpiece is not "stuck" in one position. I can see no disadvantages to playing with wet or moist lips for the horn player.

The Function of the Lip Muscles

To form an embouchure three groups of muscles are at work. The first are those muscles that bring our lips to an extreme pucker, such as would be used to whistle--the muscles around our lips. The second group are those which bring our lips to a smile--the cheek muscles. The third group is the muscle developed in the upper lip itself. When you have developed an embouchure, you can actually see these muscles, including the lip muscle by uncovering the lip while looking in a mirror.

Since muscles can only contract or relax, these three groups of muscles have to act in harmony. When you pucker, the cheek muscles relax while the lip contract. When you smile, the cheek muscles contract while the lips relax. Too much puckering can lead to a very soggy tone, while too much smiling will lead to a very bright tone with little endurance.

The Lip Aperture, and the Chin

The formation of the lip aperture is very closely related to the way we use the cheeks and lips. Inside the mouthpiece, the lips form an opening roughly the shape of the opening of a bassoon or oboe reed. If the embouchure is too puckered or too much of a smile this ideal lip aperture shapes will be distorted.

Most often the aperture, if a problem, will be too flat due to too much smile in the embouchure or to the chin being bunched up. The chin should be flat--if it is bunched up this is a sign of a serious embouchure problem, which must be addressed.

Another possible way to look at this same problem is that there may be too much lip in the mouthpiece. Not only does this make the aperture "flat" in shape but also there is a characteristic bad tonal color to this embouchure and lack of dynamic range. Only a little extra lip in the mouthpiece can drastically alter the resulting tonal color. Playing with wet lips and a more open embouchure can make a great deal of difference on the instrument.

Aperture Control

An aperture is the hole through which the air passes form the player into the mouthpiece, eventually making vibrations that become the notes, timbre and loudness we hear. Playing. Especially in the high register, depends on aperture control. The aperture will have to be smaller in the high register than in the low register, and you want to practice in a way that helps you to feel the aperture contraction. If you look at a mirror, you will see that your lip and cheek muscles "smile" the higher the notes you sound.

Try to practice controlling the aperture from inside the mouthpiece, making it smaller from the corners and keeping the same basic shape playing low and high (think of the relative size the opening of double reed instrument (oboe and bassoon), both having the same type of small opening. So, you will constrict your inner lips to control the air coming form you, while keeping the same shape at the opening).

Another method of thinking of this, suggested by Fred Fox in his book Essentials of Brass Playing, is to think of the embouchure being controlled by two sets of muscles. One set is in the corners and is used to produce the sound "eeeeeeee" and the other set is in the middle of the lips and is used to produce the sound "mmmmmmmmmm." Aperture control involves the use of these muscles, especially the muscles used to say "mmmmmmmm." Proper aperture control will help not only the high range but will also help accuracy in general.

Mouthpiece Pressure and Playing High Notes.

Some moderate mouthpiece pressure is obviously required to play brass instruments. However, especially during the warm-up, it is critical to not use excessive mouthpiece pressure in the high range. Only by practicing in this manner can real strength be developed. Why does mouthpiece pressure help in reaching the high notes? The reason is that the extra pressure makes the lip aperture smaller. Farkas gave the example of a doughnut, placed under a piece of glass. If the piece of glass is smashed down on top of the doughnut, the hole in the middle of the doughnut does get smaller.

Our lips are the same as the doughnut in this sense. As we press harder, the aperture gets smaller. The result is higher notes come out. But at the cost of tone and endurance. For Shofar playing, such force is very bad. Particularly a Shofar whose mouthpiece is sharp, the Baal Tekiah, can actually harm his embouchure by digging his lips into the sharp mouthpiece.

The Jaw and the Lips.

The jaw is too often ignored as an element in forming a brass embouchure. The placement of the jaw is very important. The jaw, especially for the horn [and trumpet], MUST be pushed forward somewhat from its normal position at rest, so that the teeth are in line with each other (up and down), as though you were biting a sandwich (but not, however, pushed out beyond being even with the upper teeth). Another easy way to visualize this concept is to imagine spitting a watermelon seed out. You will not roll the lips over one another--the jaw will come forward a bit in a very natural way.

An easy exercise to check the jaw placement is the following: form an embouchure without the mouthpiece and blow. The air stream should go out at the angle of the instrument--nearly straight forward--not at a steep angle down the chin. Most sources on brass pedagogy agree that an embouchure where the lower lip is rolled over the lower teeth and the air stream flows down the chin is not a well-formed embouchure. Blow forwards and down the center of the mouthpiece.

(John Q. Ericson; Philip Farkas, The Art of Brass Playing (Rochester, NY: Wind Music, 1962)

Does the Mouthpiece Have to be Centered?

It is preferable to blow the Shofar from the right side, if possible, for Satan sits on his right to condemn him (Psalms 47:6) here is no Halacha on how to play a Shofar. By inference if it is not comfortable to play the Shofar form the right side, then one should play on the left side of the mouth. (Mishnah Berurah, 585:6, Note 7) I know some people play the Shofar as they would play a brass instrument from the center of their lips. While it is unusual, if they can do it, then let them. However, the more conventional way to place the mouthpiece against the lips is to place it at one sides of your mouth because it is smaller. The smallness matches the