Changing of embouchure when changing registers

[Exeneva]

My private instructor told me to move my jaw a bit forward so I could blow "across the hole" when switching to the high register. I also read somewhere on this site to direct the air a bit downward when switching to the low register. Is this recommended/correct?

[flutepicc06]

Great movements of your jaw are not recommended, but small ones definitely can be useful in changing octaves. And generally, the lower you go, the more you want to blow down, and the higher you go, the more you want to blow up. Moving the jaw should be more a mental thing than a physical one. Just thinking about it usually gets the necessary positioning. You don't want to overdo it.

[Zevang]

Indeed, Flutepicc06, moving the jaw must act only as a support for the most important thing that is changing configuration of the lips.

Zevang

[fluteguy18]

yeah, dont move your jaw too much. I move mine a little when I want a specific tone color, but I dont suddenly look like I have a really really bad over/under bite.

if you go to Larry Krantz's flute webpage, you can download a video of a woman playing the flute in an X-ray machine, and you can see everything her mouth does. It is REALLLLLLLYYYYY cool. you can see she moves her jaw, but not a lot.

[auwon]

Larry Krantz also has a page with some great illustrations on the embouchure of proffessionals/well-toned students...everyone is a bit different in the typle of embouchure that best suits them and their sound.

http://www.larrykrantz.com/embpic.htm

i would suggest using a mirror when you practice so you can watch what you are doing and can make note of what embouchure you need to focus on to bring out that perfect sound!

i hope this helps. =)

[nashvilleflute]

Doing a long tone exercise on your lower register fingers (low E to A or so) can be very helpful. I find in teaching students that are having tone problems that this exercise automatically teaches you the right position for YOU for playing in different octaves. It's like training your lips to do the octaves without moving your fingers at all. Here's one I use...

start by always fingering the lowest note - don't change fingers...
low E - slur to middle E - then slur (without changing fingers) to Bnat above the staff - you can also slur up to the 4th harmonic which is high E (without changing fingers) but do this only if your tone is pure and your able to change the sound by changing the shape of your lips (yes your jaw will naturally move a little) but DON'T OVERBLOW (sorry for screaming) - that will ruin everything you're trying to do - change the sound with your lips/jaw combination...
...then I have my students work on tonguing as well - tongue the highest note 4 times staccato slowly, then the next lower harmonic, then the next all the way to the lowest note...

do this for each chromatic note all the way to A or B in the middle of the staff, but be careful not to overblow or get a nasty, fuzzy, spread tone.

This is explained a lot better in some of Trevor Wye's tone studies books...

Hope this helps...