I recently taught at Flute Inferno, a summer masterclass session here in Houston primarily for adult students and professionals. Dr. Kim Clark made a fantastic suggestion to a student that I would like to share here.
The student had a classically "tight' embouchure. She was holding the air with the sides of her lips and consequently the tongue sat high in her mouth. The tone was difficult to control anywhere beyond a mezzo piano. To capture a "pointed lips" or buoyant quality of tone she was pushing her head forward, a position that was bound to cause other problems with her hands, neck, back, etc. I worked with her to bring her back to a more "square" position and open the jaw slightly on the right. At this point Dr. Clark said "we need a mentos". Was this an opportunity for a snack break? No, indeed we were about to embark on a neat little trick. The mentos (those little fat round candies) was put into the offending side of the student's mouth between the molars. Then she was asked to play this way…well, at first it was not a pretty sound as you can imagine. But gradually she adjusted and found the space that worked.
When I tried it, it was an even worse sound! But eventually the magic worked for me too and I discovered another terrific technique to find the space in the mouth while not losing the focus of the lips. It is most likely the side to get opened up is the right because we tend to hold the flute on the right side too hard against the mouth. But sometimes the offender is the left. Try it out…
One caveat: I am a stickler about brushing teeth before playing and keeping the saliva clean. You may want to experiment with a less sugary material, say a baby carrot stick.
