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I was reading a couple of interesting articles by Arthur Lehman over on www.dwerden.com;

http://www.dwerden.com/eu-articles-lehm ... layers.cfm

Arthur Lehman was a euponium soloist for the U.S. Marine Band for those who might not know.

I had never really thought about finesse vs power players, but after reading the articles I realized that I've pretty much always been a power tuba player. The part of the article that really caught my attention was his comment that finess players tended to suffer fewer playing related injuries than power players. My first thought was what, split lips?

What he casually mentioned in passing was hernias.

Hernias?

Well, about 2 years ago I was diagnosed with a umbilical hernia. That's a hernia of the belly button. I thought it was related to lifting, but now I'm wondering if it might have been caused by 50 years of playing tuba, quite a bit of it at high volume levels. I play almost exclusively by diaphragm support and certainly work those stomach muscles when I play.

Anyone else here consider themselves a power player as opposed to a finesse player, and if so have you experienced injuries because of it?

I'm certainly not a power player...

I've not heard it as a specific term, but I've used it in relation to thinking about focal dystonia. The thing about that is, it's not all power players who have been affected.

Interesting. I'll have to read Arthur's article. Thanks for the notice about it!

ben wrote: In my case there is no need for operation,

Same here. In fact my doctor specifically said let's not operate. And be careful.

Ben, like you I have to play for extended periods of time at high volume levels, but more so at practice than on a job. On a job I'm miked and depend on the sound man for my volume. At practice, no mikes. So I have to ramp it up to be heard.

So far, no additional damage, but I keep my eye on things and try to be conscious of exactly how much exertion I'm putting out.

but I've used it in relation to thinking about focal dystonia

How much, or little, power you use when playing the tuba has no bearing on focal dystonia. My neurologist told me it was the "unluck" of the draw. FD is a neurological disorder,not a muscular disorder. If it were muscular you could get botox injections to deaden the muscles and build up ones around them. My face is firm until I try to play the tuba between the 3rd partial and the 5th, then it is a mass of gelatinous goo. When I played full time I prided myself on being both a power player and a finesse player. With the right balance of practicing and playing anyone can have the best of both.

Chuck