Saturday, July 2, 2016

Video: Collapsed and Puckered Embouchure with Dystonia

Haven't recorded a video in a really long time! Well, after a long duration of time of having very few symptoms, I of course get a day full of intense relapse symptoms. So I thought I'd record my relapse and also show what the symptoms look like on both a puckered, and on a collapsed embouchure.

So many people think that in order to overcome embouchure dystonia it requires a "fixing" of the embouchure setup by either puckering more, or loosening the embouchure more...and although less tension is key, it isn't the answer to overcoming embouchure dystonia. No matter what way I form my embouchure, I still deal with the symptoms, and I always have to adapt to them and try to iron out the contractions to an extent. But the symptoms are never 100% non-existent.

*I want to clarify that it is my left side that has the most visual symptoms (i.e. air leaks, uncontrollable rolled out lower lip on the side, and corner moving all over the place), and my right side that looks stable, yet it feels stiff and flacid at the same time, and my upper lip is raised up so much on that side. 

I tried to actually plan out my recording this time. The first thing I did was play a low excerpt with a collapsed embouchure/no tongue (i.e. air-attacks) zoomed in and then zoomed out. The second thing I did was play the same low excerpt with an extremely puckered embouchure (as puckered as my muscles would allow me) with tonguing, zoomed in and then zoomed out. Then I did the same with the higher register excerpt.