Other methods
A part of BE comes from the ideas of Jerome Callets Trumpet Yoga. RO comes from this book.The Maggio book is another source. According to what Jeff says Caruso, Gordon and Ghitalla are other sources of inspiration, I studied Gordon and Caruso and there are some similarities, but none of the theories outlined in these books are major issues in BE. I think BE is one of a kind in many ways. Despite the fact that most of the basics are not far fetched, the book and the exercises are far from traditional, yet simple to understand and apply.
I did masterclasses with Jerome Callet and Bahb Civiletti, and because I had done BE for more than a year, I didn't get lost completely. I knew, however little, some of the things that were expected of me. TCE purists claim that BE and TCE have nothing in common. BE teaches your lips how to make compression, in TCE the compression takes place between tongue and lips. Tongue position in TCE is different from BE. In both systems you tongue through the teeth, but in TCE your tongue tip stays anchored to your bottom lip, in BE you need your tongue tip to touch the top lip (or rather, in BE there is not a prescribed tongue position or use of the tongue, other then in the TOL exercises). Practicing TCE includes 'spitbuzzing' something that is not an issue in BE. So, really different systems. My own experience, though, is that BE makes the transition to TCE easier (if you would want to proceed in this manner). I don't use TCE, but my tongue tip rests against the bottom lip if I don't need it to tongue. I think this comes from my intensive practice of TCE a couple of months. If you really want to use TCE, I think you should stick to the real TCE routines. On the other hand, I think that BE is a great preparation for TCE (if you would want to look a bit further), and I know that TCE people disagree with me here. The reason I still think it is comes from my latest experiments. I feel that if I roll in the lips (especially the bottom lip) against my tongue, than the tongue takes over a part of the sound production. And when I say roll in, I really mean it the way it's described in BE. Despite the fact that the tongue controls the embouchure, I think the lips are an important factor and still do play an important role. The difference with BE is that in BE, RI is used as an exercise to teach the lips how to move in this direction an produce a sound this way, while in TCE RI is used to make the lips move in the direction of the forward tongue.
Practicing RI is important in both systems IMHO. If only to teach the lips how to do that.
NB. If you use RI to make lip compression, I think it is counterproductive when trying to learn TCE. Too much lip compression pushes away the tongue.
I have been doing a Caruso/ BE experiment for about half a year. My first experiences are positive. Important is that you understand both systems you work with (as much as is possible without having practiced this). That you are sure how to perform the exercises and understand the underlying mechanics and ideas. Caruso and BE seem to enhance each other. Again I had the feeling that BE is a safe way to Caruso, should you want this. BE made me method-proof. I don't ruin my embouchure again, because I understand how it works and how I got were I am today.
Both Caruso and BE say that the lips and not the abdominal support are responsible for the compression needed. Caruso and BE share the unconscious and indirect factor. Just do the exercises, be it BE or Caruso, and play with whatever feels good at a rehearsal or gig.The exercises themselves are totally different. Caruso is Long Setting,steady breath (the mpc stays in contact with the lips, nose breath) and timing/foot tapping. BE uses RI, RO, TOL (and more).
After half a year of Caruso the conclusion is that it's best to choose. I think both systems are great for embouchure development, but it's up to you to choose what works for you. My personal choice is certainly BE. It's not as stern and streneous as Caruso IMHO, and it takes less time per day.
Whatever you are practicing right now, you can always start with BE. The important thing is that you should not use another embouchure method. Especially when you start BE. It can cause confusion and may lead to failure. If your fundaments are strong you can always try and experiment with someother methods and try to mix them (I think TCE or Caruso are the only methods that combine with BE). Do not confuse yourself by doing too much at a time. Arban is not an embouchure method, but a great book with a lot of useful studies, but methods like Caruso, TCE, Stamp, Gordon, Spaulding, Thompsons Buzzing book, Lamart's, are not so great to do next to BE if you are not experienced in BE. On the other hand it is very important to play other studies and music next to BE. Every study, concert piece play-along or whatever, is great and probably will sound better after a while.
You can try everything if your fundament is strong. The risk of ruining your chops is not really big.. Maybe you should ask yourself if it is effective or productive to do other methods as well. Mpc buzzing and free buzzing is IMO counterproductive or ineffective to say the least. Stamp pedals are not adding to the process. Gordon's. A-E-I theory is not really necessary anymore.Quinques extreme GGG setting of the tongue for the high register is too much, and I advise everybody to leave this thing alone (it took me years to get rid of this again). In fact, methods that say that compression is made by tongue arch or breath support (they often imply an open aperture to 'let the air do the work') are contrary to BE.
NB.
Always keep in mind that if something really works for you, just keep doing it, however strange or simple it may seem (or what somebody else may think of that, and that includes what I am saying right here). If your warm up feels good when buzzing the mpc that is great. If a tongue arch makes you play lip slurs earsier, do it!, etc. Some of those things might just be part of your mental preparation and thus confidence enhancing. Don't expect, though, that every exercise is equally effective and try to observe whether flexibility, tone, endurance and range is good or improving.
All the exercises you like. Personally I play a lot of lipslurs and flexibilities. I do a lot of first attacks (play a note, take the mpc off and set it up again and play a note etc). These things work as integration exercises.Just because you can focus on the feeling of every note the new things can gradually sink in and become part of the playing chops. Of course play some music you like, just to make some fun and try your new chops. In the end the only goal is to make music as easy and beautiful as possible.
The most important thing in S/C is that it is a very precise embouchure with the focus on jaw position. BE is a set of exercises to develop your embouchure in a very personal way.S/C requires to move your jaw forward which has nothing to do with BE. It is possible that you end up the same but if not, there is not a problem.
