My top lip has a bit of a downward hang in the middle. When I got chapped lips as a kid, I would eventually pick dead skin off that spot. It isn’t something that looks unusual, or something that I would have even noticed until I tried playing the flute and had a difficulty with my embouchure. Should I try a different instrument, a different type of flute or should I practice more?
Not uncommon, Stuporman. It has a name, but it escapes me (not a difficult or uncommon feat).
The traditional advice is to play slightly to one side, rather than at the centre of the mouth. Which side is immaterial - whatever suits; it probably depends on where the arms feel comfortable. Richardson, one of the mighty Nicholson’s successors at the Royal Academy of Music in the first half of the 19th century played to one side, Saynor, another great player, also a student of Nicholson, to the other side. Both were regarded as great performers. More than one modern Irish player does the same. I can do it, either side, with a few minutes practice, even though I normally face the centre. I’d prefer the left side of my mouth - you can strike a jaunty, thrusting pose which has to be socially advantageous. Give it a go!
Terry
teardrop
do use the left, easier on the neck
Agree. This is how I play, since I have a teardrop. (The teardrop is also known as the Cupid’s bow).
Dana
I play to the left, too. I tore my lip rather badly growing up and have a large scar/protuberance on the right side.
I have this as well. What’s more, I started flute pretty late in life (about 2 years ago) so I know what you are going through.
Everyone develops their own solution. The main thing you need to know is that you WILL develop a solution.
Rene Lorente plays off center.
i play on the left but lean to the right (posture not politics)…
one must keep one’s balance, you know. i also started flute late in life (at 51). as said before, you’ll find a solution. your ears will tell you when it’s right. (and so will your fingertips.. that feeling is sooooooo cool)
be well,
jim
There are those individuals who could have such a physical feature of the upper lip, as you describe, yet perhaps some of those very same individuals could also have excelled at playing flute. That is, and with thanks to the French school, play your embouchure to the left of the center of your lip, and you will be in great company.
BTW, to everybody else, there really are advantages to such a technique.
Rampal played off-center as well; although he called it a mistake, and cautioned people against copying him, no one can deny that few classical flutists have had his command of tone and timbre.
Every flutist is different. That’s why flute can be very challenging to learn, particularly in its sound production, without the help of a teacher: there’s not so much a “right way,” as there is finding “the way that works best for you.”
–James
Cork,
I have the same problem (lip shape), and IMO my tone is terrible. Just wondering what the French school is? And what are the advantages you mention?
Karl.
Let it simply be said that there are those flute players who happen to have a fleshy protuberance at the center of their upper lip, which would ordinarily disqualify them for playing flute. However, to literally get around such a thing, these players then adopt a non-standard embouchure, by simply playing to the left side of center. As a bonus, by using such a technique, the player then need not turn their head quite so far to the left.
The French School (of flute playing) flourished in the later 19th century and into the 20th century, where the emphasis was on lyrical playing, and the best of the best flute players were there. Even today, many and perhaps most Boehm flute students still study and practice lessons that were developed way back then. For instance, are the names Taffanel and Gaubert familiar to you? If not, perhaps a Google search for those names could be worthwhile!
Thanks. I’ll get googleing.
You’re welcome, but please keep us, all of us on the C&F FF, up to date with your progress, if only once in a while.
Wow, after I read this thread I went and looked in the mirror and noticed I had kind of the same thing going on with my lips. I tried playing on the left, and it did sound a lot better.
I am still struggling with consistent tone, but I think this will help.
Thanks everybody 
Unfortunately I found out about this “teardrop” too late, after spending one horrible month trying to play notes up from high G both with the Boehm/Hammy
Now I have to move the embouchure to the left and start all over again… long tones, I hate long tones 
I found this page on the Web, El arte de tocar la flauta, for those who want to compare; this could be useful to some newbie as me that sounds too breathy
my lips have the form of the fourth figure “divided embouchure”; according to the author, apart from learning to play from the left side it could be also necessary to close the right side opening
[Edited to alleviate incredibly long URL. - Moderator]
Here are some interesting photos of embouchure variations, with comments.
http://www.larrykrantz.com/embpic.htm
Marcus Hernon appears to play a bit to the side, and he’s sounding alright here.
Regards,
Jay
I did not know that Rampal once played flute …