Thanks for the question! As you will see as you work through the course, my approach is to find the optimum setting with the minimum amount of work. I believe the issues above are caused by far too much negative tension in the centre of the lip oscillator therefor increased air pressure is exerted thus making the cheek/facial muscles work way more than they need to.

Without having read Farkas in it’s entirety, I believe it was a study of the different set ups people used. All I can say is that a lot of my students have very different set ups based on their anatomy, but one thing is consistent – efficiency. I don’t let people get away with unnecessary internal tension.

The aaaahooooh is simply about discovering the aperture corners and getting the lips out of the way of the air column. Remember, the lips oscillates sympathetically on the air column.

I am certainly not a rolled in player as I ascend…I used to be when I was killing myself playing. I have learned to minimise the clamping and to engage from the aperture corners without choking off the air column as I ascend.