Random Tip #3

You play a wind instrument. Everything you do with your lips and tongue is aimed at manipulating your air stream. If air is not moving freely it does not matter what you do with your lips and tongue. A great brass teacher (probably Arnold Jacob, but I don't remember) said to blow from your lips. Feeling your air moving at the lips is extremely important. You can convince yourself that you are blowing hard by tightening up the muscles in your chest and neck, but what you really need is to feel airflow through the lips. When you have that happening you will find that your lips and tongue don't need to work nearly as hard as you thought.