[camry]

I bought a Beechler 6 metal alto mpc a few months ago with the Vandoren ZZ 2 1/2 reed. After playing a song for about 1-2 minutes, the air starts to leak from my mouth. I found that it is hard for me to adjust my emboundure to stop the leakage during playing. What's wrong with it?

 

[Isle of Jazz]

What mpc were you playing before when you didn't have this problem? It's not uncommon for there to be a period of adjustment when switching between pieces, especially if there are small, yet significant, differences in mouthpiece design. Have you discussed this with a teacher, because it could probably best be addressed by someone who could really see the way you are forming your embouchure and give you specific tips and exercises. That said, I know of experienced players who always seem to have a bit of leakage around the corners of the mouth; it's pretty much inaudible at anything other than a short distance away.

 

[camry]

I was using the mpc provided by my sax (Jupiter JAS769GL). The mpc doesn't have a model name. It's easy to control but the sound is thin and there is a crack at the bottom so I must buy another one. The sax I'm using now is not Jupiter but Yanagisawa A992

 

[Jazz Is All]

I had the same problem with air leaking out of the corners of my mouth today. Not a usual occurance so it surprised me. I chalked it up to a combination of things: playing a brand new RR 2.5 (on a C* mpc) which is still a bit too tight and probably needs sanding and scraping, having a cold and being short of breath so I had to overblow to play the reed, and having been at it for 45 minutes already when I switched reeds, so that my lip muscles were probably tired and not able to control my emboucher as well.

I played a series of slow arpeggios and long tones as a way to focus on keeping the corners of the mouth tighter and that helped enough to regain control and play 30 minutes more leak free.

 

[DeUtCheaxelplaya]

okay i have got a little something for this as i am having the same problem.
after one to two minutes its starts leaking right? well for me air leakage starts from fatigue or just because my focus is like lost or something so it just happens. well anyway what you might need to do is just relax your embochure (like saxes are supposed to). cause when i play my low C and below are sharp and my friend pointed out that my embochure was too tight. when your embechure is tight it contributes to fatigue, which causes air leakage because when you get tired you become unable to keep everything "sealed".

i doubt its the mouthpiece........maybe need to get used to the mouthpiece you are using? maybe in a sense its the mouthpiece but i doubt it in general.

 

[Dave Wright]

Leakage from the corners of the mouth is not doing any harm other than to waste air. The embouchure muscles that are supporting the reed are most important- Jerry Bergonzi talks about this here

http://www.tothestage.com/MediaDetail.Page?MediaId=251

 

[Jazz Is All]

Leakage from the corners of the mouth is not doing any harm other than to waste air. The embouchure muscles that are supporting the reed are most important- Jerry Bergonzi talks about this here

http://www.tothestage.com/MediaDetail.Page?MediaId=251

Thanks for the link. I watched all the clips and they are helpful. What he says is that you don't want to waste air so I guess having air leaking at the corners is not ideal but as long as your embouchure on the reed is natural then it shouldn't happen anyway. When it does it is probably from squeezing too much or from fatigue. Although the few times this happened to me the air sounded noticeable, do you know if a listener would hear it too or would it be inaudible?