Bill,

Got it yesterday. It’s pretty much as it seems–it comes with the device and some various bands of different tensions and shims for different size mouths, as well as balloons for adding an element of resistance against the air.

It’s pretty much what I thought–you squeeze from the corners of your mouth to open the hole in the middle which you blow through. Seems like an interesting design. I could see how as an isometric exercise it may help build some endurance/strength in those muscles which could give an advantage. And I do think it may help certain players clue into what Greg explains by “aperture corners”; we all understand things differently.

Bill–what Tom Hooten is referring to as the “forward motion” is as you tighten your aperture from the sides, your lips push forward toward/into/against the mouthpiece. This can also feel kind of like a gripping sensation.

I believe what you are doing is what I was doing and what I believe Greg mentions he was doing–clamping our lips top-to-bottom, which cuts off the vibration in the middle of our lips.

I don’t know if this will be helpful or make any sense, but FWIW–here’s a video trying to explain in a different way what is meant by the aperture corners:

https://youtu.be/oQpa3v9bC9E

And here’s another of me playing some harmonic slurs with passive air…any feedback would be appreciated, but the feeling/sensation I have is easier than anything I’ve experienced thus far when I use the WindWorks recommendations. This isn’t the best I’ve done, just something I recorded the past couple days trying to get some sort of example of when it has gone reasonably well. I’m still very much on this journey myself, am in no means an expert or a teacher. I post this simply in the spirit of trying to help others on this journey, FWIW.

https://youtu.be/fKs9YCczOgM

The ease of which I rise to High C is about as good as it gets to me. I could go higher and the little kick to E is not from my abdomen or even a kick of the air but my compressing the air with my mouth. That’s not really WindWorks prescribed material, it’s just me screwing around / experimenting / exploring. In time, I plan on focusing more on my dynamic range ability and continuing up my range.

For proper context: I’m no monster player, I’m just an amateur doing this for fun/fulfillment. I dreamed of going pro when I was in high school but didn’t have the chops–I couldn’t get much above the staff; a G above the staff was the top of my useful range despite tons or practice and lessons with reputable teachers. A little over a year ago, I played high C for the first time. When I successfully focus on the WindWorks principles (aperture corners, open throat, resonant sound, less air as we go higher, etc.), I play great.

Everytime I repeat Largo, it is stunning how it is all there, laid out by Greg.

Also, while I think this Wind-O thing and other realizations into what I’m supposed to be doing with my aperture corners has helped me, I have also realized the fact that trying to actively focus on what I’m supposed to be doing with my lips/aperture corners/air, etc. fails. I have realized that there is a bit of genius in the approach laid out in WindWorks in that it lays things out gradually to build a subconscious understanding of things and recommends we focus on the 1% / efficiency / resonance of sound–when I focus on those things, not on my aperture corners, is when I have the best Process AND Results; I believe it has to become subconscious.

Perhaps none of us are smart enough to be able to control all the various fine motor movements required to play this instrument successfully; it has to become subconscious/second nature.

Hope that helps.

All my best,

John