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My girlfriend has been playing trombone for quite a while (about 9 years), but has recently hit an obstacle. While she's playing, there seems to be air escaping her nose. Not only that, but there's also a "raspy" sound coming from her throat. It happens when she plays any note at any dynamic. Have this problem come up for any of you? Is there some kind of explanation, or way to fix it? Any advice at all would be appreciated.

Thanks!

A friend of mine encountered a similar problem on euphonium. He solved the raspy throat noise by doing extensive breathing exercises every day to keep his throat from tightening up. He mostly focused on keeping his airstream clear through good posture and soft palate control. I'm pretty sure the nasal problem comes from the same issue-- her throat is tightening up when she plays, so the air isn't going where it needs to go, and the interference is probably the cause of the raspy noise. Like I said, breathing exercises worked for my friend. Hope it works for her too!

Problems like these may occur due to medical reasons like allergy causing nasal fluids running down the inner windways.

But laziness as part of an uninspired approach to ones playing style (and the continuous development thereof) also may induce a sub-conscious attempt to save on air.

Some mature and gifted players like bloke may get away with not warming up by working out extreme ranges and dynamics in a flexible fashion. Players having gone satisfied with themselves at too early a stage should prepare themselves for all sorts of technical problems coming up.

Klaus Smedegaard Bjerre

This is referred to as valsalva. It's not condusive to good playing; finding a teacher who can fix it without making you a mental case... that's the hard part. I know two who have cured students in the past: Richard Murrow and Jan Kagarice. I know several who haven't succeeded with Valsalva-affected students at all, tough to fix.

The mention of Jan Kagarice brought up the possibility of that nasty word, dystonia, because she specializes in treating pros who have developed that condition.

Hopefully this is not the case with your friend, in which case what is at issue is control of the soft palate. It is probably just a bad habit that got there accidently; to me, if I try to bring on this condition that you describe, the air leaking combined with nasty noises, I actually have to tense up the soft palate (that part at the back edge of the roof of the mouth that has the uvula attached to it.) Conscious control is possible, and perhaps if she goes the opposite direction, that is, learning to consciously tense the soft palate, she could just as easily learn to relax it once she has a handle on the fact that there are muscles associated with it.

This air leakage through the nose thing comes up every now and then, and most people seem to get over it somehow. Maybe going to the low range where it doesn't (presumably?) happen and then paying close attention to what changes when it does start to happen, could help.

MA

Thanks to all of you who have posted!