Alto sax embouchure question.

Question

some people say you that you should use the lip alone to support the reed to insure no teeth to lip damage and other people say that you should curl the bottom lip half-way over the bottom teeth and play and im just wondering what the right way is

Answer 1

The right way is that you have to curl the bottom lip half-way over your bottom teeth and put your two top teeth on top of the mouthpiece and shape your mouth like an " O "  Tighten your mouth to the mouthpiece to cover little air holes to make sure air doesn't escape from your mouth.  

Answer 2

i agree with prism, traditional is best for a beginner, and your obey your instructor for now. I personally change my embouchure to fit the song i'm currently playing. when i don't curl my lip over my teeth i can get much more force, but at the sacrifice of quality. I still use traditional most of the time because it is a well rounded technique.  

Answer 3

Generally, you use your top teeth to grip the mouthpiece for stability, and slightly curl your bottom lip over your bottom teeth.  Your mouth should be tight.

This is the best embouchure when first starting...

However, when I got to college many of the guys played with no lip curled over the teeth, and some played with both lips curled over their teeth- but this was almost exclusive to jazz band.  It had a lot to do with what kind of sound they were looking for, and years of practice to get the tone stable with whichever embouchure they used.  Our instructor was a big advocate of experimentation, and I think we all tried different things- "weird" things- all through college.

When you are a beginning player or playing classical (or marching style), I think the "traditional" embouchure is best.  It is the most stable and easiest to control.  Of course, your private teacher should have final say!

Hope this helped! :)