Seeing the flautist yesterday on Young Musician of the Year suggests that players of these instruments have a really full and wet lower lip.... Even at school, this seemed to be the case. I'm just wondering...Do these instruments actually change the way you look?....Or is the other way round...ie if you have a full lower lip, you better play such instruments and thus are more likely to continue with them. In a similar vein, reeded players seem to have really tight lips. I could carry on, but am leaving myself open to abuse by entire orchestras. Please note..this is not meant to offend.


I'll get me coat!

I wonder the same thing too. Anybody know the answer?

An oboist friend of mine was once told by his teacher, "you're an ideal person to play oboe, with a deep powerful chest, and such thick rubbery lips"......can't say he was totally thrilled to hear the news!

My guess is that it's a bit of both - the body adapts a bit to what is asked of it, and some physiques will be naturally more suited to one activity than to another. I doubt very much whether all top tennis players started out in life with huge dominant arms, but they certainly end up that way .

It seems to me oboists come in all shapes and sizes. As do their lips.

I think lip formation does make a difference on brass instruments, especially higher pitched (therefore smaller mouthpiece) ones, but that's all.

Full lower lips are generally a hindrance to flute players rather than an asset as they cover more of the embouchure hole. The reason flautists look as if they have full, wet lower lips is because a good embouchure position requires the lip to be turned out so that the wet part is visible - think sulky toddler.

Of course they do: I think my friend's teacher's comment was more meant to imply that his particular configuration could be seen as an asset, rather than essential. Whether he was right or not is of course open to debate.... Ironically, this was said when my friend was still playing the modern oboe, and when he began to play baroque oboe, he discovered that the last thing he could get away with was brute force in his embouchure.

A further adaptation, which I think was likely to have been acquired through playing - this friend did the physiology experiments at medical school: the normal tidal volume, or in- and out-flow of air in an individual breathing in a relaxed manner at rest is 500ml: his was 1.5 litres.....and normal respiratory rate is about ten to twelve breaths a minute, his was four. I'm pretty sure this will have acquired because at that time, my respiration was closer to the average, and now is also nearer to his pattern, having played wind instruments much more intensively since then.

Nicolas Daniel tells a story of having been in hospital (I've forgotten exactly why) and they were monitoring his breathing. The number of breaths he was taking per minute was so low that the alarm on the monitor kept going off causing nurses to rush into his room. In the end they got so fed up that they unplugged it

Playing an instrument changes your shape. You put tension on different parts of you body and face. A brass instrument for instant requires that the corners of the lips are solid. So when one plays, there are superimposed lines from the corners of the nose to the corners of the lips.

Also having a sightly underbite makes it easier to play low notes on brass I have been told, but makes it harder to play high notes.

My clarinet teacher had a massive "sulky bottom lip". I gave up partly because of a fear the clarinet had created it and I didn't want one!! I was a 12 at the time.

He was also a bit creepy!

I don't think playing flute could actually make your lip bigger. I think it's a matter of people with that anatomy get on better

I think the other way round would be a false causality.

there is actually one situation in which a flute could make a lip go thicker - allergy to the plate. I'm guessing though that in his case it is more likely to be the "sulky toddler" thing andante-in-c described, and that his lip will not look like that all the time, just when he's been playing a lot.