"I think that is a great observation (about the changes you feel in your embouchure)! I immediately thought... an embouchure change vs. an embouchure that HAS changed. I feel there is a difference though!... An embouchure change I usually think of mechanical....mechanical work....something intentional. Where an embouchure that HAS changed is something unintentional.
I have heard of musician's who have developed embouchure dystonia-like symptoms after going through an embouchure change - meaning, changing the embouchure while it is still naturally set...intentionally changing what is natural.
But an embouchure that HAS changed, is one that has done so on it's own... changed from it's former way/movements due to natural development, or from an injury, or from dystonia..something that was not intentional from one's own efforts.
I feel like dystonia and/or an injury can cause an unintentional change (one out of our control), and this causes us to adapt to that change...so in a sense it is a change in how we re-wire the way we use our embouchure. I have heard of musician's overcoming embouchure dystonia through this adaptive change too (and it is something that has helped me recover a great deal of my abilities!). Some call it neuroplasticity or body mapping, but it is also in a sense or in general terms - an adaptive embouchure change...or even better worded... embouchure adaptation!
Well, I just went on a rant! I was pondering about all this, and trying to find a way to explain how I feel there is a difference. I knew what you were trying to say, but it is hard to put in words how it is different than an embouchure change in a sense. When embouchure change is spoken, we typically think of - one that is intentional, for example; One that some students go through because their professor or teacher makes them."
As I was stating before that there is a difference between an embouchure change and adapting to a change of the embouchure. Some musician's that undergo an (intentional) embouchure change have been reported to have dystonia-like symptoms either a couple months afterwards or a couple years after one, and that the quivers/shakes are a result of the embouchure trying to resort to it's former function that existed before the embouchure change.
I believe this is similar to how a person with embouchure dystonia adapts to the (unintentional) changes/dysfunction over time...the body wants to re-wire the way the embouchure functions. The body knows how to restore function, but it takes time to not only re-develop (normal development already takes a lot of time, so 2x that with dystonia), but it's hard to listen to your body and understand how it wants to develop. With embouchure changes that required not too many changes from their previous form, it can be easier to restore sometimes; like a change in angle, or if they were a lower lip player who switched to upper lip. With dystonia however, it involves more than just adaptation and is very complex to work with, but it is still an important part of recovery!
With embouchure change, the symptoms are thought to be leaning more towards the body wanting to restore the previous way of doing things; the pre-existing function before the natural embouchure was changed . With dystonia though, any attempt to form an embouchure is very difficult. This is because the brain trying to piece together missing information from different areas of the brain to regain sensory/sensation and build new function...a new way to do things. The brain treats these messed up sensory signals as if permanent-damage was done, such as a blow to the head; it tries to piece the missing parts together and create new brain signals...to build a new map/representation so it can somehow function again. Except with dystonia, the missing parts are not due to a blow to the head, but due to the overlapping of sensory signals; they blur together and cause a malfunction, sending too many signals out...the agonist muscle activates while at the same time an antagonist muscles opposes it and they convulse/fight (in other words, you try to move your muscle, and an opposing one cuts it off ...resulting in contractions). You can see this really well in map representations of hand dystonia (the brain no longer senses the individual fingers...they become blurred). That's my attempt at describing it best I can...not doing it justice though! :-S
I think whether you're dealing with a change to the embouchure unintentionally or intentionally, it is important to approach with this sense of awareness and intuition: to trust your own body, to respect natural development, to remember that your embouchure is a muscle and treat it with care, to be aware of your individual embouchure form and function, to study knowledge on embouchure form and function but be wary of misguided information/always keep an open mind and ponder things/also remember an embouchure is something that acts in motion (not a picture), and most of all....always think things through very seriously before you decide to do anything permanent to your embouchure.
I'll come back and edit this blog. I often write these blogs while thinking a million miles per hour, typing fast, with no regard for grammar or flow, and I repeat a lot of things. So will get around to that soon!
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