Having Problem Starting Notes

[goldenmoose]

Hey Guys,
I have been playing tuba for about 7 years now. I play both semi professionally and professionally at several theme parks in the area. However, I have recently developed a problem starting notes.

After I take a breath, it seems like the pressure keeps building behind my lips. I have tried some remedies and they have slightly helped. I was just windering if any one has had a similar problem or knows a way to fix it.

Thanks!

[Dan Schultz]

I was just windering if any one has had a similar problem or knows a way to fix it.

On occassion when I tense up.... relax

[CJ Krause]

***

[The Impaler]

My suggestion would be to try and stop thinking about the attack as much as what your air is doing. "Turn the air around" is the Pat Sheridan quote that comes to mind. When you're breathing and playing, don't ever let there be one split second when you're not either breathing in or breathing out. Concentrate on getting a smooth change of direction, from in to out (attacks), and from out to in (releases). This 'focus shift' has really helped me out in the same area of concern, both on tuba and on euphonium. Hope this helps.

[JB]

"Turn the air around" is the Pat Sheridan quote that comes to mind. When you're breathing and playing, don't ever let there be one split second when you're not either breathing in or breathing out...

Very well (and concisely) put.

[UDELBR]

Is it the start of "focal dystonia"?

I was gonna say: sounds exactly like what Toby Hanks used to go through. He could play legato etudes out the wazzoo, but give him an "oom-pah" part, and he'd get completely fouled up. Maybe a trip to the MD / neurologist would be prudent.

[funkcicle]

Sounds like valsalva maneuver and not focal dystonia to me(the two are very very different things).

I struggled with valsalva maneuver probelm for a long long time. The impaler gave good advice. I went to a half dozen "name" teachers trying to get help for my problem, the last one is the one who fixed it. Don't address the problem, address the solution. We don't have the analytical sensors to effectively analyse what our body is doing when we breath.. that's what locks us up. Instead of looking for ways to beat the technique that is tripping you up, find an effective technique and replace the old one with it.

So with me, I had subconsciously attatched a lot of negative stigma to the feeling of holding the horn in my hand.. and only with the tuba. I had no valsalva problem playing the bass trombone or other brass instruments. I realised this when I went and saw another tubist perform a piece to which I'd previously dedicated months of practise and performed once or twice. In watching this person my lungs were seizing up, and I was feeling a lot of the anxiety I'd often felt with the tuba in my lap.. clearly indicative of a mental roadblock, not a physical problem. Since coming to that realisation I've had a lot less trouble, and a lot less stress.

Basically, our techniques need to be 2nd nature.. the moment you start to think about them is the moment you're liable to stuff them up. It only took me a small amount of mental conditioning to tell myself not to change my approach to breathing just because there's a tuba in my hands.

These are just my personal experiences and may or may not be of help. Good luck!

[Leland]

The impaler gave good advice.

I realize who The Impaler is, but still, when I read this sentence, I couldn't help but laugh. In any other context, the sentence, "The impaler gave good advice," sounds like something you'd hear in a Monty Python sketch or on Xena or Hercules.

[Steve Marcus]

Visit http://www.valsalva.org/index.htm for an article which states:

"Valsalva mechanism is also associated with blocking or "stuttering" in the playing of brass musical instruments..."