Embouchures.com, Inc.
Oscar's House
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Embouchures.com, Inc. Oscar's House
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Information about lip swelling, lip pain, and other debilitating embouchure problems. Medical and dental information for Brass Players
Excerpts from Broken Embouchures
PURCHASE: Weighted valve caps * valve cap spacers * mouthpiece donuts * buzz pipes * French horn Mute Noose
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During the last 15 years, I have received more than 4000 e-mail and letter inquiries from players of all ages and accomplishments who were seeking information and help for a painful embouchure problem. Here are two typical letters.
"About three weeks ago I was very stiff from an excessive amount of practicing the day before. The next two days I continued to play as usual. The third day, my sound was full of air, and I had no ability to play softly. I took three days off and tried to play again. After playing for two days, it was obvious that something was still very wrong. I decided to take the last month of the season off, canceling all sorts of solo concerts as well. It was all pretty embarrassing and upsetting. It's been over two weeks that I haven't touched my horn. I thought in another week that I would try buzzing. There is still a prominent scar on the inside of my top lip." This is how most players describe the onset of embouchure overuse syndrome. Every musician has heard the old adage, "Practice makes perfect", and most of us discover early in our careers that playing many hours every day makes our chops strong and improves technical facility. So, it should naturally follow that one long hard day of practice could only serve to make one’s chops stronger, right? Unfortunately, not always. A muscle has only so much energy to perform up to capacity during a 24-hour period. When a brass player continues to play after his chop muscles have tired significantly, the tissue of his lips will begin to sustain a minor amount of damage. The longer a player forces his tired chops to perform, the more the tissue of his lips becomes bruised and swollen. Soon, his muscles have to work harder and harder to permit the lips to vibrate. After a while, they lose the physical strength and flexibility necessary to configure the player’s embouchure normally. Of course, a player who fervently believes that a lot of physically demanding playing is good for embouchure strength won’t usually stop playing when his chops begin to complain. After all, he’s done it before with no lingering consequences. Where the real problem begins is the day following such a strenuous workout, when a player picks up his instrument and expects to reap the fruits of his previous day’s labors. But when he starts playing the next day, his chop muscles have still not completely recovered or "recharged" themselves, and the bruising and swelling has also not subsided. His chops feel stiff, puffy, and sore, notes won’t speak easily, he can’t play soft dynamics, and his high notes are strained and difficult. When notes won’t speak or technique isn’t working, any musician will go to work to "fix" the technical deficits in his playing. Unfortunately, it rarely occurs to a brass player with sore, tired chops that the only impairment to his technique is the swelling and minor damage to his lips. After a few days of the frustrating technical problems his minor lip injury has perpetrated on his playing, a player often tries to "practice" his way out of this predicament. Of course, what he doesn’t realize is the more hours he plays, the more weary his embouchure muscles become. With each passing day, a more significant kind of muscle fatigue sets in, and he begins experiencing a thick, heavy, dull wooden-face feeling. He loses even more of his high range, endurance, and technical control of the instrument. By now, his embouchure mechanics have eroded significantly. His facial muscles are literally collapsing under the strain of playing. Ideally, brass players should try to avoid "chop busting" playing. Unfortunately, as we all know, that isn’t always possible. Any player who has had an unusually strenuous day or week of playing should try to take a day or two off or reserve his chop strength and conserve his energy as much as possible both during and after the period of physically demanding services. An exhausting day of practicing should be followed by a day of rest or only a light amount of playing the next day. For the player who has developed embouchure overuse syndrome, mechanical rehabilitation is the only means by which playing comfort and integrity can be restored. "I was wondering if you had any information that could help me? I am a trombone player and have very rapid fatigue (my chops tire after 5 min) and have developed an involuntary wiggling in my orbicularis oris [lip] muscle when I play. This causes me to leak air and not be able to play longer than 15 minutes at a time at the most. I have been experiencing the symptoms for over a year now, and have pretty much been forced to stop playing. I have never had any endurance problems or physical health problems before this started. I used to be able to play for hours with no noticeable fatigue. I have had an MRI and an EMG which were both normal. A neurologist diagnosed me with a focal dystonia; however, a respected performing arts physician disagreed with that diagnosis and attributed my problems to tension and psychological stress. He prescribed psychotherapy and speech therapy. I have been doing bio-feedback and therapy without any noticeable difference. I was wondering if you have heard of psychological causes being a factor or if you have any other opinions regarding my situation? Is there anyone else you can refer me to?" Well, the mind can force the body to do many things we don't want it to do; however, your symptoms sound like those of a dystonia or some other kind of movement disorder. (A dystonia is tantamount to a corrupt file in the movement directory of the brain's hard drive.) You should contact Dr. Steven Frucht, a movement disorder specialist in New York City at the Columbia Presbyterian Hospital's Neurological Department. He will send you a questionnaire and tell you how to make him a video of your playing problem. He will also be able to answer any of your questions. You can reach him at sf216@columbia.edu . If you are a professional musician who is a member of the American Federation of Musicians, you might be eligible for disability benefits through the AFM-EP Fund.
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