Ole,

I read your note with interest.  Your experience is so similar to mine that I felt as though I was reading about myself.  In your note you said:

>Recently I have stopped doing it (below I tell you why).
>I feel I easily get too tense when lip buzzing.
>But - lip buzzing was the technique that helped me get rid of my old "smile
>embouchure".

During college I began studying with a great teacher that started me buzzing.  Many of the exercises were from James Stamp's method, but most were the Hy Lamers method.  During this time my problem of 'smiling' was fixed.  However, I *suffered* (constantly) with overly tense jaw muscles as long as I practiced the buzzing exercises (years!).

>But Phil is skeptic when it comes to lip buzzing - "you uses another embouchure".

This is true.  And, the teacher who introduced me to buzzing used to say this as well.  It was simply a tool.  But I gave up on the buzzing when I changed to the Roy Stevens embouchure.  With the jaw pushed out to a more even position I find that buzzing is very hard to control.  But the embouchure itself feels so solid that I'm gladly leaving the buzzing behind
(it served its purpose).  My range and flexibility have improved dramatically.  I still have a few problems, but I feel as though it is just a matter of time practicing.

>With this new embouchure I do not use so much "tug of war" (to cite Farkas) and
>my chop feels much more "fat" and moving forward and the support on my lower lip is also
>much stronger.

This is exactly what I have been experiencing!  Another side effect has been improved endurance.  It has been a difficult change (I started the change on my own but made such a mess of my chops that I now take a lesson whenever I
can with a former Stevens pupil - the improvement has been nothing short of amazing), but one I'm thankful I made.

Chuck