embouchure

[ahm-boo-shoor, ahm-boo-shoor, ahn-boo-shyr]

noun

plural

embouchures 

1. the mouth of a river.

2. the opening out of a valley into a plain.

3. Music.

   1. the mouthpiece of a wind instrument.

   2. the adjustment of a player's mouth to such a mouthpiece.

embouchure

/ ˌɒmbʊˈʃʊə /

noun

1. the mouth of a river or valley

2. music

   1. the correct application of the lips and tongue in playing a wind instrument

   2. the mouthpiece of a wind instrument

Word History and Origins

Origin of embouchure¹

1750–60; < French, equivalent to embouch ( er ) to put (an instrument) to one's mouth ( em- em- ¹ + bouche mouth < Latin bucca puffed cheek) + -ure -ure

Word History and Origins

Origin of embouchure¹

C18: from French, from Old French emboucher to put to one's mouth, from bouche mouth, from Latin bucca cheek

Example Sentences

Trumpeters need to play all the time because of the embouchure and muscle memory.

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Rogers’s own music is often hyper urgent and fast-acting, but in the relaxed time scale of this performance allowed, she savored every extended-technique tool in her embouchure.

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“Don’t puff out your cheeks. Pretend you’re sucking a lemon—this is called embouchure.”

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As he occasionally, instinctually pursed his lips to practice the embouchure he uses on his mouthpiece, he explained that he was a different man when separated from his instrument.

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Allen quickly went downtown to buy a flute, but soon realized that he couldn’t play it: “I didn’t have the embouchure. I knew the keys and everything, but I didn’t have the chops.”

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