Trumpet playing is a balancing act. The marriage of female and male, soft and loud, sensitive and strong, subtle and obvious and all in-between. Sound familiar ? Aren't all aspects of life the same? (Sports, Arts, Personal relationships) We must be craftsmen as well as artists, and speak the right language and dialects of each musical language, whether it be Classical, Jazz, Rock or any other. This is a topic of never-ending discussion and a lifetime of study. Yes! We never stop being students.
In our performance we should strive to transcend beyond our technique to create Art and reach to the outer edge so that we may communicate through our performance. Playing the right notes at the right speed at the right time, at the right dynamic, cannot be enough to communicate musical feelings and ideas. During our musical quest it is important to enjoy the ride and play for positive reasons. We perform to express ourselves and not to win jobs, competitions or medals. Music is more important than these goals inflicted upon us by others. If we do win something along the way, all the better and if we are to become professional performers we also have the added burden of learning good business. Approach and attitude are everything.
Okay! Okay! Enough of this stuff. How do you play the trumpet?
Embouchure or mouthpiece placement is somewhat determined for you, primarily by your dental structure and secondly by your lips. Given perfectly symmetrical teeth one can play directly in the center of one's mouth. This is probably the best case scenario but also very rare. Off to the side or center placement, as I alluded to earlier, depends greatly upon dental structure. Most people have one incisor out further than the other. ( Incisors are the middle teeth and laterals are on either side of the incisors. ) Usually the mouthpiece will gravitate over the protruding tooth so that it is in the middle of the mouthpiece. Not always. If the two incisors and one or both laterals angle one way or the other to create, a relatively straight line, the mouthpiece will angle along the flat surface created. Front incisors coming to a point will normally allow center placement. Correct up and down placement was once taught to be one third upper lip and two thirds lower lip for trumpet and the opposite for French Horn. It certainly doesn't take very extensive observation to see the obsolescence of this theory. Just look at Doc Severinson and Arturo Sandoval, two of the strongest Jazz trumpet players of our time. Doc's mouthpiece placement is low while Arturo's is high. The best description, I have ever heard, of how to hold your lips , is to imagine spitting a seed off of the tip of your tongue. This seems to form a desirable lip formation for many players. I say no more.
These are just a few ideas to use as a starting-point It seems the most important factor in mouthpiece placement is having a well balanced embouchure with even pressure that allows the lips to move smoothly over the teeth. Once it feels good and sounds good you are on the right track. Experiment! Find your embouchure.