Great post and question, Reijer! I know others are struggling with this as well.

It would be great to get Greg’s response to this, but my recollection is that Greg himself pointed out that he played for many years by blowing the air downward towards the floor and that he attributes much of his difficulties playing to that issue, etc.

I, myself, did the same for many years and would push the bell downward towards the floor, tilt my head back and run out of bottom lip eventually as I ascended and clamped down my lips top-to-bottom (like a clam); those muscles are strong enough to cut off the air everytime.

Do you have the book “The Art of Brass Playing” by Philip Farkas? In that book, FWIW, Farkas explains (Page 7-10) that we must adjust our jaw in order to align our teeth and lips and blow the air column straight through our lips (the aperture) into the mouthpiece, leadpipe, etc.

Do you do the visualizer setup thing with the tissue, or better yet with your hand in front of your mouth? Does it feel like you’re blowing the air downward or more straight?

Hope that helps, FWIW. I believe this thread will help a lot of players.

Best,

John