A Short Guide to Key Transposition on French Horn by Katie A. Berglof

Facebook Page: A Short Guide to Horn Transposition 
PDF Download Available at: https://www.focalembouchuredystonia.com/horn-transposition-guide

MHC: Beyond "You're Doing it Wrong" and Overuse

The Backwards Brain Bicycle: What Having Musician's Focal Dystonia is Like

This is what it's like having Musicians Focal Dystonia. Except after 20+ years of daily practice, performing, and refining your skills to a high degree, you can see why it's significantly worse when the brain pathways get even slightly crossed; sensory/touch goes haywire and motor control goes out the window.

All those years of learning become our enemy and everything must be deprogrammed and reprogrammed and even though you can adapt and modify, it's never quite the same or as smooth as the old pathway that was dug.

The hardest part is letting go/stopping your brain from yelling at your body, "You're going to fall!! I must do something!!" and thus it keeps trying to resort to your default control/old pathway that no longer works. It takes tremendous work to build a new pathway, a ton of failing and relapses, and for some it seems impossible or takes years because your body and brain lack enough plasticity to overcome the damaged circuit. Also everyone is affected to various degrees and it's hard to gauge severity levels.

We really don't know how deep the rabbit hole is, so that's why I'm against those who make the notion that they have the one and only cure, or a one-size-fits-all formula to overcoming the disorder. One way of doing things won't work for everyone, and not everyone can overcome it so easily or within the same time frame. Rehabilitating is an individualized process. And a true cure means it can be scientifically tested over and over again with a proven 100% success rate in each and every individual.

Auff! Frustrating to say the least. This comes very close to a great example of what it's like having this disorder. I know there are a lot worse things in life, but when it is your livelyhood and a part of who you are, it's catastrophic losing your ability to play. 💕

The Phoenix Project: Rise from the Ashes by Ashley Gulbranson (French Horn)

This amazing recital in March was hosted by French horn player Ashley Gulbranson at the University of Colorado Boulder. I really wanted to attend it in person because I travel to Boulder for perforamances almost every year, since it's not that far away.

This recital in particular was significant! It features new works created for musicians recovering from Focal Dystonia. The first compositions of this kind to exist!! I did however get to watch the live stream which I posted below.

Though I don't know anyone from the project directly since it's been years since I was a student at CU-Boulder, I can't explain how exciting and heart warming this initiative is. Having this disorder is a difficult, unnerving, and solitary journey at times, even if you know others who can relate.

I know a lot of blood, sweat, and tears probably went into this substantial DMA work. Please have a listen, especially if you are a horn player with embouchure dystonia.

Link to the video recording of the recital:

https://www.facebook.com/ashley.gulbranson/videos/10156558376583705/UzpfSTEwMDAyOTAyNzk0NzM4NDoxODI0Njc0NzYwNjQxODM/

Goodbye ESC

Sorry I haven't had time to update my blog in forever. This is why....I've been working like crazy to balance all the areas of my life; especially work/finances. I currently work for El Sistema Colorado, American Music School, Taylor Robinson Music, and I just got a sub-license. All of this to keep my head above water this year.

All I can say is that some things in life are inevitable. You try your hardest to avoid it, but even when working with a team to prevent things from ending, sometimes they do, nonetheless. 2016 has been tough. Last year in January of 2016 I received the news that two of my co-teachers who lead the 4th & 5th grade brass and woodwinds/band class with me were being laid off. That was tough because all of a sudden I was alone three days before the first day of classes started and feeling like I had lost a great team. Part of why I love El Sistema Colorado is because we co-teach most things. It's so much more effective and the students feel like they are surrounded by a family of teachers dedicated to them. It was hard, but I made it.

On top of that we ended our year a month early. Coming into this year I received a phone call in the August of 2016 asking if I would like to continue with ESC as a teacher, but only offered 16 hours a week (I had 32 last year) since there wasn't much funding, no lesson planning time paid for, no instrument maintenance time, no staff meetings, no core-group/nucleo meetings, no pre-concert planning meetings, and strict time on hour limits, no instrument repairs, teachers could only work a certain amount of hours at a concert at the beginning of the year, no paid-out time ...no accrued vacation hours, no benefits this year...whereas last year we had all of this available. The pay rate would change depending on what us teachers where doing; one pay rate for lead teaching, a different one for assisting, another for meetings and concerts. I was also told that there may be a possibility that the brass & woodwinds program I teach most likely would be cut in January 2017.

I said yes because despite how gloomy it sounds, I love this organization so much, and it is my livelihood! I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. I ended up with more hours due to another teacher declining a position, so I filled it and went up to 21 hours. I also started teaching private music lessons on the weekend to fill in more hours.

Right away we had a lot of teachers leave. Most of them had excuses such as moving, getting a full-time teaching job elsewhere, or too many gigs, a lot of them were actually upset with the way things were heading, or scared of getting laid off. I worked hard since August to try to get another part-time job encase things got worse. I even advocated to keep the brass & woodwinds program going at Garden Place Academy.

In November 2016 we received an email asking about ideas for next year; example - should we move to salary positions, should we hire all teachers on as full-time in order to receive benefits, should we move all after-school programs to one hub?, etc. We received the same questions last year as well...so it seemed that maybe things were getting better since they were asking us this. That's at least what I assumed.

But then early December 2016 we received a letter saying that our after-school programming at all three schools was ending two and half weeks early due to not enough funding. As teachers we vented to our lead teaching artists about how we didn't feel included in anything. Why can't we fund-raise as teachers? Why is it just left up to administration or the board? Why can't we be included on information about the organizations finances? Why are we left out until it's too late to do anything? Why are we told to promote matching grants a day before they are due? or just sent a link to Colorado Gives in order to try to fund raise? Isn't there more we can do as teachers? If someone would just help us organize a fundraiser for our nonprofit, we'd do it, even if it meant not getting paid. I'd work overtime on no pay just to get the organization back running. We all would if it came down to it.

Finally we got a little bit of answers; that our organization's start-up money funding was winding down, and that it generally only covers about 4 years, and we are into our 4th year of programming. On top of that our organization grew too big in a short time. We expanded to serving three schools in Denver. We're one of the best El Sistema organizations! We also didn't have an executive director for over a year, and they had to rebuild networks and partnerships, etc.

The administration and board worked tirelessly to send out letters to donors to get funding, etc. At least that's what we were told. But still, all of us teachers feel like things are always so ambiguous. I understand that keeping a nonprofit afloat is not easy, but communication has always been an issue. Every survey we filled out that asked what our organization could improve on  - at the top was communication.

Then the worst news came two days after Christmas (Yes, literally yesterday!)  my boss called me and informed me that the board has decided to end El Sistema Colorado programming on January 31st due to lack of funding. In-school programming starts January 9th, after-school January 16th, and then we end the 31st. Literally only 3 weeks, and we're done for the year .

It hasn't really hit me yet. Neither any of the LTA's saw it coming either and it's a huge blow to all of us. Every single one of us has to drop things and find new work if we haven't already got a second job lined up. There's nothing like being laid-off three weeks into school. I was told that the board hasn't approved up ending in January 31st quite yet, and that they are trying to push the funding out further through February at the latest. They are trying to push whatever money they have left to Bruce Randolph High School since it needs the most. So I was asked if I would consider staying on board for after-school programming there if that's what ends up happening. I said yes.

I luckily just received my Sub-Authorization through the Colorado Department of Education. So hopefully I can pick up subbing hours. Also waiting on to hear if I get hired for a part-time band director assistant position I applied for not long ago. I also opened up more of my private lesson schedule hours.

I'm not writing this in anger, but in sadness and disappointment. I love ESC and we are all hoping and praying that the board or administration, or whoever is in charge (now that they let go of the executive director as well) raises enough money to start El Sistema Colorado programming again in August of 2017. For now, we wait and see what happens. It's more devastating having to say goodbye to all the students and explain to them why they might not see us again. It's really hard. But if asked to go through this again, I'd say yes. So many of us would because we put in all the blood, sweat, and tears; our all into making this program great.

I posted the photo of a broken bridge because it's how I always am left feeling when a path I expected to be on for a long time comes to a short end. I'm not sure what's ahead, and as sad as it sounds, I'm actually use to it, so I feel I have the strength to move forward. As I said before, rising from the ashes is what I do best. Music is my purpose and calling, and no matter what happens, I will find a way to continue on my music path in one way or another. It's who I am, and who I'll always be...a musician who knows how to persevere despite all setbacks.

Month of March Research Articles

Apologies for not imputing much into my blog this year! My first year teaching has been one of the most challenging, yet rewarding blessing in my life. I'm finally doing what I love, but do feel a bit sad over not having enough time to tend to my blog. This blog means so much to me! I'm writing to you from the desk in the photo...I finally have a place to work at home. Until summer rolls around, I'll be posting mainly resources/research articles.

Here are two research articles I've read recently. I'm been searching a great deal to find information over tests focused around the somatosensory part of the brain in musicians with dystonia. Last month I posted an article that explains what acetylcholine is and how it supports the CNS/PNS systems (and the somatosensory cortical neurons).

The first article below is pretty self explanatory; how we should focus on somatosensory, as it may be another key component in research on musician's dystonia, and what these researchers have found. The second one involves some EMG electrode work in stimulating muscles of musicians who have dystonia and how this has helped restore sensorimotor organization.

That is all for now! I will post more if and when I can. Thank you to those who have reached out...I promise to be in touch as soon as possible.

Focal Dystonia in Musicians: Linking Motor Symptoms to Somatosensory Dysfunction

Regaining Motor Control in Musician's Dystonia by Restoring Sensorimotor Organization

Neurotransmitter: Acetylcholine

I wanted to share this link over Acetylcholine. It plays a huge part in the process of creating smooth muscle movement, convulsion (too many contractions), or the lack thereof too (muscle weakness), as well as it factors into many other important parts of the body and plays a role in both the CNS and PNS (Central, and Peripheral nervous systems).

Is Focal Task-Specific Embouchure Dystonia Prevention Possible?

Focal task-Specific Embouchure Dystonia is no walk in the park, and there is not much hope to be given in this area of discussion. Currently there is no known prevention. The very blunt answer would be no, it is not preventable.

The best thing you can do is try to understand the signs and symptoms thoroughly, and know the difference between dystonia and other performance-related injuries in the hopes of getting an accurate diagnosis when things get really bad; especially the difference between focal embouchure dystonia and overuse injury which are often mistaken as the same thing, but they are completely different.

The reason why overuse and embouchure dystonia are often mistaken as one another is because the symptoms during onset are very similar. The key difference is that embouchure dystonia does not elicit pain (yet it does come with a lot of tension/resistance when trying to play).

COMMON INJURIES & SETBACKS

With overuse injuries a player will usually go through a period of time where they are playing more, have added responsibilities, and they start to see a degradation in their higher register and usually start to exert abnormal pressure to try to hold it together and end up with swelling, pain, tingles, sometimes this leads to other injuries like muscle tears or nerve entrapment. The upper lip or obicularis oris in general starts to feel rubbery, stiff, sometimes there are slight tremors or twitches, and eventually if very bad, no ability to produce a sound occurs. Overuse can sometimes be a result of improper technique or bad habits, but not all the time. It can be as simple as ignoring signals of pain, or not taking them seriously enough and taking improper care. Unfortunately musicians are not taught enough about medical care or preventative care from strain injuries such as how to properly ice/heat pack, stretch, myofascial release, use of guards etc. Usually taking a month or two off from playing, ice packing/heat packing and rest improves things and playing resumes to normal. If it is a result of bad technique/habits, then focusing on those areas will show improvement.

If a secondary injury occurs like a muscle tear or Satchmo's Syndrome, a player will usual feel a striking/jabbing pain in the upper lip that feels somewhat like it's been pierced with a needle. Usually there is a bump/small lump in the upper lip you can only feel when rubbing the inside of the lip with your fingers. It will hurt when playing with the mouthpiece on that area and/or after playing for a short time in the upper register.

Never entrapment will feel similar, but mainly tingles in the upper lip, jaw, or other area of the face, and no noticeable bump or jabbing pain. I don't think this is common. There are some brass players that develop nerve entrapment in the upper lip due to a perturbing incisor tooth digging into the lip and there will be swelling that runs from the bottom of the lip up to the nose on the inside, tingling, sometimes a dullness to the pain. The tooth can be filed down or corrected with braces.

Both nerve entrapment and muscle tear early signs are tingles. If you feel any tingling at all, you need to take time to rest and properly take care of things. Even if you feel the tingles go away a couple hours after playing...it is not good enough to just assume things are getting better, especially if it occurs every time you play and/or on a consistent basis. You need to figure out what you are doing or what is causing the body to signal that something is wrong.

Bell's Palsy is when one side of the face is paralyzed/lacks mobility and the other side doesn't. This is very noticeable right away visually and physically. A player will find it difficult to eat, talk, there will be a noticeable droopiness to the paralyzed side of the face and lack of ability to move anything on that side, especially near the eye. Noticeable drooling, decreased taste, no ability to close or open the eyelid, pain and numbness behind the ear (where the facial nerves branches out from), and sometimes an increased sensitivity to sound; everything seems louder. The paralyzed side will feel extremely weak and sometimes there are twitches that occur.

TMJ - pain in the jaw joint, soreness around the back of the jaw, difficulty chewing or eating due to the pain, popping in the jaw, all of this on one side or both sides of the jaw. Sometimes lock-jaw...meaning difficulty opening or closing the jaw. Pain when trying to open the jaw wider. Sometimes headaches, and sometimes a feeling of unevenness in the jaw closure (teeth don't feel aligned), accidentally biting the tongue or cheeks. In low brass playing sometimes lock jaw. It is common to see TMJ in woodwind players such as clarinetist, sax, etc.

There are several other ailments a musician can encounter that I have not listed here such as tooth infections residing in the jaw, gland infections/mouth stones, other forms of severe nerve compression, other related dystonias like oromandibular dystonia, etc. It helps to educate yourself on the various ailments and trauma that can happen to the upper body and face, and know your anatomy and nerves, etc.

Focal embouchure dystonia onset is hard to recognize and diagnose because the signs and symptoms are very similar to other setbacks. During onset of embouchure dystonia a player will usually be going through a period of time with increased performance responsibilities or working a lot on repetitive practice preparing for something or in an environment where a lot of emphasis is focused on technique. There might be an embouchure change focus too. There are a multitude of things that are known to possibly harbor breeding grounds for dystonia. However, it is without a doubt a multi-faceted neurological disorder that occurs out of the blue and very sneaky to catch.

Like with any other injury/setback, they might be experiencing a lot of stress or taking on a lot of work, but with embouchure dystonia, despite stressors, usually the player is at the height of their playing career or feel their playing is the best it's ever been; things usually feel natural and easy and at peak performance ability. Usually they are late starters, extremely fast learners, high achievers, and not all, but most are are in leadership positions. Though it is not uncommon to see why professionals usually develop the disorder, amateur enthusiast do too and usually hold common characteristics.

During onset there is no pain. Yet a player will notice small things that occur that phantom technical/mechanical issues. For example, there might be a slight air leak in the lower register, or a slight tremble on notes in the lower register that come and go, or troubles with certain interval jumps that usually aren't an issue. There is a feeling of loss of endurance sometimes (not painful, but like can play something one time through, but the second time feeling a lot of resistance while playing and like there's a lot of overshooting notes, missing notes, or not being able to land on notes when doing certain interval jumps).

The common symptoms (yet not everyone develops every single one of these symptoms, so just because you don't have all these symptoms, doesn't mean you should just disregard it...it's usually a combination of any of the following) of embouchure dystonia can be: range-specific (having troubles playing in one register), dynamic specific (having troubles executing decrescendos but not crescendos or vice versa, troubles playing quiet, but not loud or vice versa), articulation-specific (can articulate scales going upwards but not downwards, or vice versa, or no ability to tongue at all, or can articulate at a fast tempo, but not at a slow tempo or vice versa), tempo-specific (can play things fast, but not slow or vice versa). Other signs are lock-jaw in low brass/woodwinds with no pain, aperture clamping (the aperture closing shut randomly while playing or spasming shut), if symptoms are most noticeable in the tongue (inability to articulate passages) or very intense it can carry over to other tasks like drinking out of a water bottle and sometimes speech (tripping on words). Most all, but not everyone, notice a lack of symmetry to the face - not so definite as bell's palsy, but one side of the face will seem less responsive than the other side. Air leaks are common as I stated before too.

Usually the player will increase their practice time or focus on correcting these specific issues with technique, or the opposite, trying to rest, but to find it only made things worse. The symptoms are gradual and they seem to layer on top of one another over time.

For example, I noticed a small air leak in my low register, then later on I noticed I had troubles decrescendoing while doing long tones, my muscles would give way. Then I couldn't do large interval jumps, I had to slur them. Then I had troubles tonguing things in descending passages later on, and when I looked in the mirror, my embouchure would look stable for 5-10 minutes, and the second time I tried to run through a passage, my embouchure started moving a lot all over (looked like I was chewing a wad of bubble gum in my mouth while playing). I started to notice loss of smaller interval control, and after focusing on my lower register studies, it made things worse, and after taking time off, I had uncontrollable and intense spasms and tremors.

Some players will go so far as to continue playing on an unstable embouchure due to performance responsibilities and/or obligations, and this increases a secondary injury factor. Some will develop overuse symptoms on top of their embouchure dystonia symptoms because they are forcing their embouchure to stabilize via pressure or just by continuing in general and result in swelling, etc. and at worse a muscle tear, and possibly TMJ/jaw strain or pain. Even if there is a secondary injury, usually after resolving it, the embouchure dystonia remains. The key difference is that overuse injury/syndrome and other injuries is that they can be prevented and/or cured with rest, medical care, and significant time off. Dystonia will only worsen over time with or without rest, and correcting things will not help either.

You can see why onset is so hard to catch and especially how it can be mistaken as other setbacks during the early stages. Even though we don't know the etiology of embouchure dystonia, we know that it manifests as a neurological disorder. Not only is it neurological, it seems selective, and with that said, it is most likely inevitable. There might be no stopping it even if recognized. Hand dystonia is much easier to catch and has some cases of prevention during onset, whereas embouchure dystonia, not so much.

Even if it was, the embouchure is extremely difficult to navigate while having dystonia and there are few rehabilitation strategies if none that have been documented, tested, or that can be applied in the hopes of prevention.

That is why I document my rehabilitation, because no one else has ever attempted to publicly in history.

EMBOUCHURE DYSTONIA PREVENTION

It is not realistic nor correct to tell musicians, "Avoid placing yourself in situations where you are playing more than normal, avoid bad technique or bad habits sneaking in, don't use too much tension, and avoid using too much pressure, try to take care of anxiety or nerves, etc. " BECAUSE EMBOUCHURE DYSTONIA IS NOT A RESULT OF BAD HABITS, BAD TECHNIQUE, PRESSURE, BUILT UP TENSION, LACK OF AIR SUPPORT, PERFORMANCE MENTALITY, or whatever else you want to try to re-label it as!!!!! (Sorry, I got a little angry there...but this re-labeling trend is part of the problem and a bigger issue to address in writing later).

By telling musician's to avoid common situations that we are all usually placed in at one point or another, is like telling a musician, "You might as well not try at all. Your safest option is to not play music at all, because you might injure yourself or develop a rare neurological disorder called dystonia."

If you notice a change in your playing and it seems to be of concern, your best bet is to keep a journal (written and/or video) observing your playing and document any changes over time. If you feel like it might be dystonia, focusing on standard technique or repetitive tasks in your playing will degrade you further. Avoid it if can, but even avoidance won't help necessarily. If you can take time away from playing, do so not to rest, but to carefully observe your symptoms and note changes.

If you feel it is embouchure dystonia, then stop playing immediately, remove yourself from your current environment if can, seek out a neurologist who has diagnosed and/or researches embouchure dystonia....though most will not diagnose you during early onset because it is too early to tell, they might (not guaranteed) provide you with some temporary medicine to try tetrabenazine/artane, risperidone, etc. that might provide temporary relief...however, these are used to suppress symptoms, not cure them, and there is no promise it will regress the symptoms. It is important to get tested in order to rule out any other possible ailments in the blood work and brain scans.

Other things you can do is try increasing your dopamine levels through dopamine supplements or anything that might affect serotonin too. You can also try tremor supplements that are not drugs, but nutritional supplements that can be found online. Look for supplements for essential tremors or tremors in general. I do find these have helped me, but again it's not the same for everyone. There's all kinds of alternative holistic therapies and supplements you can try.You can look at my left hand side-bar and it covers several alternative-medicines and therapies.

If you have dystonia, a sensory trick might work. Does touching areas of the face when spasms occur cause the spasms to stop? does placing something between the teeth cause things to stop? (like a cotton ball, mouth guard, etc.).

I also would suggest that if you think it is embouchure dystonia...and even if it is not....you should start implementing stretches in the upper back, neck, jaw, tongue, and face every day. This should already be a part of any routine, but not often taught to students. It helps take away tension from fighting the symptoms.

Sadly there is no preventative measures. Everything that I have suggested here can only aim to possible temporary relief, and/or reduce of symptoms maybe at best.

Like I stated before, educating yourself on signs and symptoms is best and seeking out help when it is time. After you have been diagnosed by a reputable neurologist, seek out a rehabilitation practitioner who aids in the recovery process.

List of Practitioners

I wanted to write out a list of practitioners so that it may become a helpful resource to others who come across the blog. It's very important to know that they do not diagnose musician's with FTSED (except Dr. Frucht who is a neurologist listed on here, and Dr. Mcgrail a surgeon who has worked on muscle tears) or injuries, but primarily help as far as retraining and recovery after diagnosis.  Musicians who have embouchure dystonia or other embouchure problems/injuries don't have nearly as many direct resources as hand dystonia musicians do when it comes to seeking out someone to help guide them throughout the rehabilitation process. (If you are a person who has been diagnosed with hand dystonia and is looking for rehabilitators who specifically focus on hand dystonia recovery, please contact: Jerald Harscher. His website The Poised Guitarist can be found here: http://thepoisedguitarist.com/. He is a wonderful person  and guitarist who has helped many musicians with hand dystonia.)

I will have to come back and edit this....but I'll try to leave a brief description of the person/method when can, but don't want to go into too much detail, because it would be best to contact them and ask any questions about the help they can offer you; I can not do them justice. I am glad to see so many professional musicians that have aided those who have faced this disorder, or who can lend support to those who are having setbacks due to injuries or embouchure problems.

I wanted to start off with brass playing practitioners first. Though that's not to say they limit themselves to helping just brass players with FTSED, when many of them assist other types of instrumentalists too.
I'll start off with a list of the most recognized for their work with FTSED.
I also added some people who can provide more information on dystonia or other injuries, or point you in the right direction as far as finding a professional to properly diagnose you. Again, I'll come back and edit this...

For more information on common medical treatments for dystonia, please check out the DMRF page here: Dystonia Treatment Questions by DMRF

Jan Kagarice - Adjunct Professor of Trombone, University of North Texas
Jan uses a more holistic approach, one that addresses the overall well-being of the musician and covers many areas; physical, mental, emotional, psychological, brain pathways, etc. She has helped many types of instrumentalist, as well various embouchure problems and FTSED. She is very sought after, as she has a unique ability to help players who are experiencing performance difficulties. She attributes this to a combination of factors: her Montessori teaching experience, her study with Arnold Jacobs and her own struggle with neuromuscular disease. Jan currently serves as the chair of the International Trombone Association’s Committee on Focal Task Specific Dystonia and is an artist/clinician for the Conn-Selmer Instrument Company.

David Vining - Professor of Trombone, Northern Arizona University
David has successfully recovered from FTSED. He uses a more holistic approach I think, but has a lot of knowledge on brain/body-mapping, and addressing not only tension in the embouchure, but your body as a whole.

Laurie Frink - Trumpet Faculty, NYU Steinhardt  ....Unfortunately Laurie passed  away this year. We have lost a significant musician and person in this world. I will leave her information on here because it is still helpful to others and her work deserves to be recognized.
Laurie has been highly trained in Carmen Caruso Method, and does a lot of work involving calisthentics - preparing the body to play music. Focusing more on the process of developing into a musician through the act of making music vs. the act of just executing music. Rather than achieving set standards within a time limit or forcing improvement, she has a broader/well-rounded view on the overall development of a musician and preparing the body. She has helped many brass players with embouchure problems recover. Laurie and John McNeil wrote a calisthentic exercise book for trumpet called Flexus.

Janine Gaboury-sly - Associate Professor of Horn, Michigan State University. Has recovered from FTSED. She had also tried medication like Artane in the past too, but not sure if it helped in her recovery. She is a former student of Verne Reynolds. You can find her contact information here: https://www.msu.edu/~olsonc/JanineGaboury-Sly.html ....her colleague, trombonist Curtis Olsen  who is also a professor of music at Michigan State had lost his ability to play due to embouchure dystonia, though I'm not sure if he made a full recovery.

Dr. Peter Iltis - Professor of Kinesiology and Horn at Gordon College. Has FTSED, and made significant progress in overcoming it. He has published articles in the Horn Call over dystonia, as well he has some videos over dystonia which explain the neurology involved more in detail. If you click his name, the link leads you to a review of his video on Horn Matters Blog and another link to one of his videos.

Glen Estrin - Founder of Musicians with Dystonia through the Dystonia Medical Research Foundation
He has done the most outstanding work with the DMRF, being able to give musician's a place to go for guidance/direction, knowledge, support, and help with FTSED/FTSHD.
Dr. Frucht is a neurologist at the Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, and has diagnosed many musicians with dystonia. He is also the co-founder of Musicians with Dystonia.

Lucinda Lewis - Principal Horn, New Jersey Symphony, and author of "Broken Embouchures," "Embouchure Rehabilitation," and her site dedicated to embouchure injuries: Embouchure.com. She is well known for her blocked-buzzing technique and exercises that she used to rehabilitate herself, and for her knowledge on different types of embouchure injuries. She studied at the Manhattan School of Music with Clarendon Van Norman, principal horn of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, and earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Music Performance. Lewis has served as principal horn of the Brooklyn Symphony, Chamber Opera Theatre in New York City, summer Chautauqua Festival Orchestra, Jerusalem Symphony, Israel Chamber Orchestra and Israel Philharmonic; she was appointed principal horn of the NJSO in 1977. She has been a soloist with the Brooklyn Symphony, Jerusalem Symphony and NJSO. Lewis has taught at the Rubin Academy in Jerusalem, Israel and Princeton University. She has been an officer and governing board member of the International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians since 1990.

Thomas Wilson - Trumpeter and conductor in Colorado Springs has helped some of my friends with embouchure problems and FTSED symptoms as well. Thomas Wilson is currently Music Director of the Chamber Orchestra of the Springs, Associate Conductor of the Colorado Springs Philharmonic, Cover Conductor for the New-York based pops show Symphonic Night at the Oscars, serves on the music faculties at Colorado College and the Colorado Springs Conservatory, and maintains an active guest conducting schedule. Mr. Wilson previously conducted for the Colorado Springs Youth Symphony program and founded the Young Concert Artists of Colorado Springs.Winner of international recognition as a trumpeter, Mr. Wilson has extensive experience performing, touring, and recording with orchestras, ensembles, and artists. He is one of only three trumpeters ever selected as a finalist for both the International Trumpet Guild Orchestral and Solo Performance Competitions in the same year. Thomas’ compositions and arrangements have been performed widely in the United States, Europe and Japan.

‎ Dr. Seth Fletcher - Senior Lecturer in Music, serves on the faculty at the University of Nebraska at Kearney where he teaches private low brass. Seth’s doctoral research regarding focal task-specific embouchure dystonia presented a comprehensive literature review and detailed case study, laying the groundwork for the further development of healthy pedagogical methods and philosophies.

Denver Dill - recently published his book over recovery from a muscle tear and surgery called Still Playing: My Journey Through Embouchure Surgery and Rehabilitation. Staff Sergeant Denver Dill, a bugler in the Hellcats, holds a Master of Music from the Juilliard School and was a doctoral candidate at the Eastman School of Music. Denver has risen to the highest level of trumpet playing, all the while battling the effects of a debilitating lip injury. While in high school, Denver began experiencing herniation, stretching and tearing of the obicularis oris, known to brass players as “broken embouchure.” Denver describes his complications as, "blood was coming out the end of my horn." After the acute injury healed, Denver resumed playing the trumpet, placing his mouthpiece slightly off to one side of his mouth. Throughout his undergraduate education, the center of his embouchure moved further and further away from the center of his lips. Denver compensated for the injury extremely well, not only winning several international trumpet competitions, but winning a position in the West Point Band. Over time, effects from the old injury began to hamper Denver's playing in ways for which he could no longer compensate. He went to West Point’s Keller Army Community Hospital and spoke with plastic surgeon and Deputy Commander of Clinical Services, Colonel Andrew Friedman, who was instrumental in enabling Denver to see the specialist Dr. Simon McGrail of the Scollard Clinic in Toronto, Canada. While Dr. McGrail conducted Denver’s surgery, West Point’s Dr. Friedman also accompanied Denver in the operating room to observe the intricate procedure. In fact, Dr. Friedman is now the only surgeron in the Armed Forces to offer the operation to other musicians in the military. In 2008, the New York Philharmonic celebrated twentieth-century composer Luciano Berio with several performances of his works, to include "Day of Berio" on February 2nd. Musicians from the New York Philharmonic performed all fourteen of Berio's Sequenzas. The fourteen Sequenzas are a series of virtuosic solo pieces. Sequenza X is for solo trumpet and piano resonance. The piano is played silently and certain strings are allowed to resonate when the trumpet plays loudly into the strings. Sequenza X makes ample use of extended techniques for the trumpet. Valve shakes, flutter tonguing, valve tremolos, hand stops and many other techniques are employed to get the widest possible array of timbres from the instrument. Sequenza X is over fourteen minutes in length and is one of the most physically taxing pieces in the trumpet repertoire. The Philharmonic's principal trumpet player, Phil Smith, asked Denver if he would join other principal players of the New York Philharmonic to perform the work as a part of its “Day of Berio.” Denver was able to accept the invitation because the surgery to repair his embouchure was a complete success. While the recovery was long, Denver says he is no longer hampered by the effects of the injury and is able to advance as a trumpet player both technically and musically....

...another trumpeter who has undergone surgery for a muscle tear is Brad Goode, a  jazz trumpet player who resides in Colorado. He also went to Dr. J Simon Mcgrail for surgery. I have a couple links on the sidebar over lip surgery done by Dr. Mcgrail.

Contact Information for Dr. Mcgrail: 91 Scollard Street, Toronto, on M5R1G4- Phone: (416) 926-7767. The esteemed Dr. Simon McGrail had been a pioneer in the field of facial cosmetic and reconstructive surgery for over 30 years. He has led the field in pioneering new surgical techniques, and is currently one of the only surgeons in the world that perform a specific reconstructive lip repair procedure. Dr. McGrail, brings his vast experience and tremendous surgical skills and passion for his work to the Scollard clinic. He was trained as a physician in Manchester, England, He completed Specialty and fellowship work in Otorhinolaryngology at the University at the University at Wayne County Hospital in Michigan. He completed further training in Facial Reconstructive Surgery along with exhaustive clinical research in areas ranging from Carcinoma of the nasal vestibule, Angeodema of the larynx and Orbital complications and Pathology. Because of his tremendous training and qualifications, Dr McGrail, was appointed Professor of Otolaryngology at the University of Toronto and subsequent Chief at the Wellesley Hospital. His specialty training and interest in Facial Cosmetic and Reconstructive surgery has put Dr. McGrail at the forefront of his field and led to such positions as: Physician to the Toronto Maple Leafs, Physician to Team Canada Hockey at the World Championships, and Founding Member of The Canadian Institute for Facial Plastic and Surgery, and Founding Member of The American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. He has been consulted by numerous celebrities and people in the entertainment industry for his specialty knowledge in the area of vocal pathologies and surgical lip repair, namely Frank Sinatra, Phil Collins, tom Jones, Tony Bennett, Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, and Jim Cuddy of Blue Rodeo along with theatrical singers from various productions including the Lion King, The Phantom of the opera and the Canadian Opera Company. He is the leading authority on lip injuries in brass players. Not sure if this is his current contact info. I'm told that he is now in semi-retirement, in his office a few days a month.