Thanks Simon, that means a lot to me if any of my posts were helpful in any way.

It seems to me to a very subtle thing and certainly mostly a mental one, the difference between playing efficiently and over engaging, over blowing, etc.

The whole mindset we have when we start can make or break it.

I have found it useful to spend some time before I play taking a nice good but relaxed and deep breath, then passively releasing the breath into the instrument without the lips vibrating–just a release of the air. I usually just put my lips around the outside rim. I do this a few times to “feel the instrument”, what resistance exists in the instrument before I start playing.

And focusing on Passively released air and “letting it happen”, focusing on releasing air through the aperture and letting the pitch happen “naturally” has helped me a lot. I play Clarke I this way and have found my ability to play Clarke I Piannissimo, as written, is dependent upon my releasing air passively through an efficient embouchure. Clarke was a genius.

Frustration comes with failure, but failure is how we learn–if we’re not failing, we’re not learning. If you manage to keep perspective more often than not, you will find that you are in fact progressing, most likely–playing music helps me with that as it keeps me honest. Playing music is like the great equalizer, it allows me to catch myself thinking I’m doing better than I really am, or the opposite–a “bad day” isn’t really a bad day if I’m able to play something better than ever before or at a high level.

My $.02 FWIW. Keep the faith–you can play everything on the horn that you want to, it’s simply just a matter of coordinating the air and “Shape”.