Should Your Lips Be Sore After Practice or playing can be answered in one word.
NO!!!!!

The lips may be tired for a few minutes or the mouth corners for 15 minutes or so , but anything more that this is a sign that you have caused some damage. As for being sore until after the next days warmup. Well, that is way off base.
If you feel sore or tired the next day, then you bruised them and there is some swelling present. A competent teacher would never advise a student to play until that level of soreness was reached.

Also, that kind of soreness can only come from excessive mouthpiece pressure. What is normal and acceptable mouthpiece pressure for compressed lips (cushioned) is too much for flattened chops. You would be amazed at how many players set their chops and then unset (thin the lips and spread the embouchure) as they take a breath. This is the case in 80-85% of the cases that you described. I have not seen you play therefore I cannot say 100%.

No amount of lip pushups will cure this. Isometrics were only taught by Stevens to people who had a viable embouchure. For people who need some embouchure help (fine tuning) the embouchure must be fixed before the gross muscle building program begins. Remember holding a pencil between your lips is not the same as playing. One is for gross muscle building while the other requires a great deal of finesse training.

Finally, I would say that if you bruise your lips on a daily basis then the setting is spread. You can only play when mouthpiece pressure flattens them enough so that they are touching.

A visualizer is only to check where the center of your buzz is. It is still possible and likely to push against spread lips to force out a buzz. Also, I’ve seen many players start a session right and distort the lips as they breathe. So, a 20 second buzz with no breath included while using a visualizer would again be useless.

I would advise you to learn to buzz just your lips. Mendez made all new students buzz their lips 30 days. After 30 days they got a mouthpiece. After another 30 days they played the trumpet. The backpressure from the trumpet is a crutch. As is the mouthpiece. Plus buzzing the lips uses all of the playing muscles at once unlike other isometrics. Buzzing the lips uses the entire length of the lips. The mouthpiece divides it and prevents over half from buzzing. Set your lips close together, breathe through your nose (only for this example) and buzz them. After a couple of minutes of this sneak the horn up into playing position while you are buzzing. You should have a very full sound with no air. You will also need less mouthpiece pressure.

I like to advise some buzzing 15 minutes any day that you don’t practice. While it is true that hours of buzzing will stiffen the lips 15 minutes will not. BTW hours of isometrics will stiffen them also but with fewer tone building benefits.

Pops

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I was wondering why I have bad playing days. What can I do about them?

This Bad Playing Days thread has several related parts including embouchure, pressure, working on range, and normal off days.

If your lips feel sore or tired the next day, then you bruised them and there is some swelling present. That kind of soreness can only come from excessive mouthpiece pressure. What is normal and acceptable mouthpiece pressure for compressed lips (cushioned), is too much for flattened chops. You would be amazed at how many players set their chops and then unset (thin the lips and spread the embouchure) as they take a breath. This is the case in 75% of these cases.

No amount of lip pushups will cure this. Isometrics were only taught by Stevens to people who had a viable embouchure. For people who need some embouchure help (fine tuning) the embouchure must be fixed before the gross muscle building program begins.

Remember holding a pencil between your lips is not the same as playing. One is for gross muscle building while the other requires a great deal of finesse training.

I would say that if you bruise your lips on a daily basis then the setting is spread. You can only play when mouthpiece pressure flattens them enough so that they are touching. Also, I’ve seen many players start a session right and distort the lips as they breathe. I would advise you to learn to buzz just your lips. Mendez made all new students buzz their lips 30 days. After 30 days they got a mouthpiece. After another 30 days they played the trumpet. Buzzing the lips uses all of the playing muscles at once unlike other isometrics. Buzzing the lips uses the entire length of the lips. The mouthpiece divides it and prevents over half from buzzing.

The other 25% has bad days because they LEARNED to RELY on the swelling to FORM the embouchure. This is different in that they tend to learn a setup. If I play this long, then tomorrow will be good. There is a window of work because a certain amount of swelling is needed to play. They usually have a lip flap or mouthpiece ring that they need to keep pumped up in order to play. A really hard day hurts their playing for a couple of days. However, a couple of days off and they are at a loss to play also.

Let me assure you that a properly trained and formed embouchure requires NO set routine. It is nice to have a warmup, but you should be able to play with no ill effects without one. Also taking a day or two off should only affect your sound for a couple of minutes at your next playing session. And playing a really hard day should be taken care of by a warm down that day. The next day should not suffer at all.

Work for a close embouchure setting. Set your lips close together, breathe through your nose (only for this example) and buzz them. After a couple of minutes of this sneak the horn up into playing position while you are buzzing. You should have a very full sound with no air. You will also need less mouthpiece pressure. I like to advise some buzzing 5 minutes any day that you don’t practice. While it is true that hours of buzzing will stiffen the lips 5-15 minutes will not. BTW hours of isometrics will stiffen them also but with fewer tone building benefits.

What working on range is NOT.

Let’s look at how you developed your range. From low c to g on the staff, you played scales, etudes, songs, etc.. From high c to super c you played arpeggios holding the top note.

So, your lower register was developed by making music and it IS musical. While the upper register was ‘developed’ by making noise and it is NOT musical. I hope that my point is clear.

Arpeggios are only for power. To make music you must play music.

Maynard Ferguson developed his range by playing the Arban book an octave up. Jacoby had me use the Williams book. It’s the same idea.

To be reliable you have to play music. You have to work on tonguing, lip trills, vibrato, phrasing, you know total music. That’s what makes Maynard Ferguson, or Bill Chase different. They played musically.

So, you say that you have tried all of this yet still the notes don’t come out. Then you are not letting the sound out. There are several ways that this can happen. Too much lip compression will roll the lips in so far that the air can NOT come out. Too much pressure on your top lip can pin it and again hold in the sound. Finally, Too much lip curl will prevent the notes from coming out also.

Working past a bad day. A bad day is mental part of the time and the other times it is due to strain a day or two before. They are both cured the same way. Play a second line g over and over until it sounds good. Then play a simple melody. Mary had a little lamb would do. Play this over until the tone phrasing and tonguing are right. Play a c scale tongue each note 4 times. Do the scale until it is right.

Why so simple a workout over and over. Because IT IS MENTAL. Use your head to think about playing without worrying about notes. As ‘Jake’ used to say, ‘Where’s your head?’

Pops

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I sometimes have a headache; an eye ache or my ears hurt after playing. Is that normal? What about Trumpet and Health?

I am not a doctor; however, I can answer some questions about Trumpet and Health. I have had some experience with eye problems. I had cataracts in both eyes and as a result had surgery. Playing correctly has not affected my eyes at all.

There have recently been questions regarding high playing and eye problems, high playing and ear problems and high playing and head pains. These ALL suggest the use of too much pressure to play.

I do know that it is possible to cause a heart attack or even a stroke by using too much pressure to play.

Let me explain about pressure as it relates to Trumpet and Health.

Although mouthpiece pressure is the one that is normally brought up, there is also lip pressure and abdominal pressure.

Stevens used 2 types of grips one to help break the habit of too much pressure and the one everyone is accustomed to seeing the Ferguson band use. Grabbing the bottom of the valve casing helps (more mental than physical) to transfer some horn weight to the lower lip. It has other benefits as well. (more mental than physical). Stevens would have a player put his horn into playing position and then move it away from the lips until they separated from the mouthpiece. Then you lock the elbows in place. To play you had to push your face into the horn instead of the other way around. Well, you will not push as hard this way you can’t push as hard this way.

Pressure causes lip separation, swelling… Besides it holds the notes in. (Creates the pressure you feel in your head.)

A player can be more responsive if using a relaxed setup. This concept is used and has been written about by a large number of players. Lip pressure is also not a sure way to the upper register. It is possible to apply enough pressure even without the mouthpiece to stop the air flow. (Creating pressure in the head.) When any mouthpiece pressure is added then this bottleneck refuses to let your high notes out. (Yet more pressure in your head.) There are more high c players that could in a few weeks be super c players because of this extreme lip pressure than for any other reason. They are not letting the air escape and thereby holding the notes in.

(Worse than this for some who may be predisposed to heart trouble, high blood pressure or stroke all of this unneeded playing pressure could be deadly. Remember Louis Armstrong was told by his doctor to not play above high c. Jake was told to not play above a high Eb. They were tested by having blood pressure readings made while they were playing.)

Now to abdominal pressure. Everyone is in agreement that when we breathe, we should start at the bottom. Fill the lower part of the lungs and let then expand. What do we do with it next.

Some players put it under pressure at once. Others only pressurize higher notes. Either way we MUST turn it around. Holding the air in causes too many problems to list. So, when you take a breath use it at once. The breathing cycle should be inhale, exhale. Not inhale, stop, exhale.

Different players and teachers stress different methods of abdominal pressure. Some tense the muscles. Some tense the muscles and try to lift Some push outward and others contract from front to back. They all have one thing in common. The muscle tension is BELOW the chest. For what it’s worth I have heard of a couple of players who had gotten hernias by pushing out. One is a good friend of mine and a former student of both Jacoby and Shew. Neither taught this to him and neither told him to stop either.

My first lesson with Jake I was only allowed to play a simple lip slur from second line g to middle c. I was told that I would need to learn how to breathe and when to use support.

He had me place my hand on my stomach and play the lip slur. I took a breath turned the air around and played a supported g-c lip slur.

I was told not to use my abdominals on notes that low . He played a lip slur with my hand on his stomach low c-g-c-g- high c. I felt no tension at all until he went to high c.

What I learned was that there is enough pressure being applied already to your ribcage in all directions from the air to properly support low notes.

If we think of letting a low g roll out of the bell of the horn rather than blowing it out the sound is very free. Likewise, a low c might travel a few feet in front of us. A middle c would travel still farther….

‘Jake’ advocated no abdominal pressure at all under middle c. This cannot happen as our muscle system is always under some tension, but he meant no extra intentional pressure.

This left more strength in reserve for the upper register. The higher notes are to shoot out of the bell and drill a hole in the back wall of the concert hall.

Was this simple lesson learned in an hour or a day? No, it took a while to stop kicking in my abdominals until I got over middle c. Even then to learn the difference between some pressure and a lot of pressure took more time. After all, fourth space e does not need the kick high c does. We all know this but until we test ourselves by playing with our hand on our abdominals we may not be doing what we know.

Finally, if you are experiencing any pain in the head (eyes, ears…) or chest when playing then please go to a doctor for a complete physical.

Check for high blood pressure, congestive heart failure, and possible stroke conditions like clogged arteries.

Pops

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I have had several people contact me saying; My Lip is Numb. A numb lip is a sign of way too much mouthpiece to lip pressure.

If the CAUSE is taken care of then it may go away. It could take months for the feeling to return. If enough damage is done to the nerves of the lip, then the feeling will never return.

Continued abuse will also damage more than the nerves. It will injure the muscles and not only affect playing but also appearance and speech.

This is VERY IMPORTANT. The mouthpiece to lip pressure has to stop TODAY !!!

I would suggest a month off of the horn. Hopefully the feeling will return in this time. Horse flapping (a loose buzz) will help.

If playing is to resume after a month off then I suggest lip buzzing. Lip buzzing (NO MOUTHPIECE) will teach a close embouchure setting and increase lip strength. This will make it easier to break the mouthpiece pressure that has been used as a substitute for a closed lip aperture.

I wish you the best of luck. Also please email me after being off the horn for a few weeks. We can then see how much damage there is and start some exercises to help. Do the buzzing.

Pops

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Some players have a problem with nerves at tryouts. That is something that EVERY trumpet player faces at least a little. After years and years of being one of the most respected players in the world, Harry James still was on the verge of being ill before EVERY performance. He played wonderfully anyway. However, he threw up backstage into a trash can every time before coming out on stage. So, how do we Stay Calm on Stage?

Here are a few facts to ponder:

1. The competition is also nervous. Most put up a brave face and even kid around. This puts you in the same boat as them.

2. I never heard of a player being shot by a judge. Lighten up they want to hear you play. They have all been where you are and because of that common bond, they are pulling for you.

3. Just like on the highway speed kills. I would rather hear a piece played a little too slow with good tone and control than watch Speedracer hit the wall and crash.

4. Tone and feeling always beats no mistakes. Music is expressing an emotion, typing is hitting all of the right keys.

5. The listener will never remember a wrong note. They remember the feeling.

6. Breathe

7. Breathe

8. Have fun and enjoy yourself. The more you enjoy your playing the more others will.

9. Think bassoon. Think about a light touch.

10. Never cheat a note. No matter how short every note has a start, middle, and end.

11. I have had success with using subliminal messages to help players. I have an audio file for this.

12. If it is really severe some doctors have prescribed meds to help this.

Have fun and do what you enjoy.

Pops

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There is NO single answer about Shaving and Trumpet Playing. It depends on your embouchure (static vs. dynamic) and how sensitive your skin is.

Some players are bothered by the act of shaving as it irritates their skin for a short time after shaving. They notice this as an irritation in their playing for a few hours also. Some people have tougher skin and are never bothered by this. This used to be a bigger problem than it is now. There are many different types of shavers now and it is possible to find one that doesn’t bother your playing with daily shaving.

This was always a problem for me, so I grew a moustache. The slight difference in the length of the hairs of my moustache as it grows does however bother me. I am bothered by the hairs getting between the lip and mouthpiece rim. I find that if I trim my moustache at least 2 times a week and use the natural guide which is the Vermilion border then I have no problems.

Pops

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What about Braces and Trumpet Playing? While you are wearing your braces the most important thing to remember is to NOT injure your lips. Cuts, tears, bruises etc. can lead to scar tissue. Scar tissue is permanent and depending on how severe it is could completely stop you from playing. A less severe case will lead to a bad sound and poor lip slurring ability.

There are several ways to hurt your lips while wearing braces.

The braces ARE going to PIN the lips in place. In other words, they will be locked into position the second that the mouthpiece makes contact with your lips. Moving the mouthpiece around while playing WILL injure your lips. Some players do lots of adjustments after the mouthpiece touches the lips. This is a NO-NO.

You need to make sure that the lips are set for the upper register always. You can relax them to play low, but you can NOT make them close the aperture while they are locked in place. Set your lips for a g on top of the staff. From this point high c is a half an octave away and low c is 1 and 1/2 octaves away. (Younger players would set lower ie a 4th space e, or for Elem students a middle c. due to having less range.) This means that you don’t need to adjust your chops as much when you play. This can save you while you are wearing braces.

Second you need to back off the mouthpiece to lip pressure as much as possible. With a close aperture setting and always setting for g on the staff you need very little pressure to complete the seal. You will no longer have any need to use the octave key (little finger hook) to aid in making the lips closer together.

Third avoid Shakes, hand vibrato and large pivot movements.

Fourth work on skills that will carry over after the braces come off. Things like tonguing skills, improv skills, lip slurs. In other words, don’t jump out there and play lead in the jazz band. Even if you can play that high there is TOO great a risk for injury.

Lastly, I want to say that Wayne had a great suggestion about the teflon tape found in the plumbing section of hardware stores. I can see how a strip of that tape folded in half could be a very good barrier for some players with braces. That could even help some players who don’t have braces but do have a sharp tooth edge that sometimes cuts the lip.

Pops

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An article by Lucinda-Lewis Copyright 2000.

Focal (Embouchure) Dystonia One of the most frustrating and debilitating problems any musician can develop is a focal dystonia. A dystonia is an overuse syndrome which causes a kind of short circuit of motor signals in the suffer’s brain and completely inhibits his physical ability to perform. In a string player or pianist, a finger is often affected. In a brass player, a dystonia can appear in the lip (usually the upper) as an uncontrollable spasm or sneer; or it can present itself as quivering lips in the middle aspect of a player’s range; or it can show up in the jaw, causing the teeth to become uncontrollably clenched as a player begins to play. While some drugs are prescribed for focal dystonias, no cure exists.

There are a few physicians who have worked with musicians in retraining the afflicted muscles but with limited success. Since a dystonia is a neurological problem, a player suffering with any sort of uncontrollable spasm or quiver should seek the advice of a neurologist who specializes in movement disorders. [Players suspecting that they have a focal dystonia should contact Dr. Steven Frucht, frucht@movdis.cis.columbia.edu , who is conducting a study on brass players’ embouchure dystonias at New York’s Columbia Presbyterian Hospital.]

It’s only natural to believe that once we have mastered the technical difficulties of a musical instrument, the physical mechanisms we perfected for playing are somehow permanently encoded on our mental hard drives. Unfortunately, the stresses of life and the physical demands of a professional career can have a deleterious impact on our overall capacity to play. While our performance experience provides us with the aptitude for overcoming playing problems, sometimes that ability causes us to lose sight of our physical limitations. Avoiding injury can be as simple as applying a little common sense. Overcoming an injury requires massive doses of it.

Every brass player suffering with an embouchure malaise or lip injury believes that he is forever doomed to performing on painful or uncooperative chops and will never be able to repair his playing back to the level he once enjoyed. The good new is, every one of these problems can be repaired and by the player himself. While it is neither a quick nor simple task, it must begin with retraining basic embouchure mechanics.

To that end, it is useful for a player to compare how his buzzing embouchure differs from his playing embouchure. There’s a novel little oddity about embouchures. A player’s healthy chop mechanics always seem to be present in his buzzing (on a mouthpiece) embouchure. If an afflicted player watches himself in a mirror and analyzes how his muscles configure when he buzzes on his mouthpiece, as compared to how they configure when actually plays, he will likely see for himself where the weakness is. Although buzzing and playing do have certain minor differences, the configuration of the muscles should be comparable in both. In other words, even in the throes of the worst embouchure problem or lip injury, a player’s healthy chop mechanics are still there just waiting to be rediscovered.

This article was adapted from the forthcoming book by Lucinda-Lewis, The Embouchure Handbook. She has been the principal horn of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra since 1977 and Secretary of the International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians since 1990.

Copyright 2000, Lucinda-Lewis.

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by Sherwood H. K. Finley II

Bell’s Palsy is a term most brass players have heard about and many rumors abound regarding what its specifics are. Basically, the condition involves paralysis of one side of the face. Cranial nerves enter each side of the face through a small channel in the skull just above each ear. Current medical theory is that a virus causes these nerves to swell and the degree of swelling is the degree of interrupted function, commonly referred to as paralysis.

Because the degree of swelling can be variable a wide range of reactions may be noted. In the more severe cases, a drooping of the mouth corner and corresponding eye may make the sufferer appear to have had a stroke. It is of the greatest importance that a neurologist be consulted immediately, this cannot be understated.

In my case, I was and still am an active trumpet player and teacher in Manhattan with a reputation for strong lead playing, solo work, and recording. One day while practicing, I noticed that my face seemed unusually tired at the beginning of the session. However, I was still able to play my normal routine, albeit with frequent rests. The next day was even worse, with an inability to play above a second line G. It was at this point that I called my doctor who said I should go to the Manhattan Eye & Ear Clinic because of their expertise in treating this condition.

I was sure and so was he that I had Bell’s Palsy. In the two to three hours before I was seen by the neurologist, the symptoms worsened even more. I could not blink or move my left eye, control the left corner of the mouth, or move the left cheek. I also noticed a reduction in the senses of taste and smell. The neurologist confirmed all this and added a new one: a substantial loss in hearing in the left ear. Within a few hours thirty years of work, study and experience were gone. The neurologist did various tests, primarily with tuning forks pressed against the center of my forehead. By the way, on an anatomy chart of the face, you will see that the face is divided exactly “down the middle” because each side is supplied by its own set of cranial nerves.

This is precisely what it was like to me and the paralysis extended basically from the area of the left ear to the mid-line of the face. The paralysis did not extend below the jaw line and the left forehead was not significantly effected. I would like to mention that I never truly understood what paralysis means until this illness; it is an unbelievably frustrating experience as no amount of concentration will produce even the tiniest movement. My anxiety was relieved quite a bit when the doctor said that I had a moderate case and the paralysis should diminish in two to three weeks leaving no after-effects. I couldn’t help thinking of several famous players I had known who seemed to have permanent after-effects when the paralysis subsided. I was told to take Prednisone (an oral cortisone) along with an antiviral medicine called Zovirax. In addition, an eye-patch was prescribed because when your eye is frozen in an open position it is very vulnerable to injury especially when you are asleep.

Because I am also a practitioner of an ancient form of energy healing called Reiki, I knew I had another powerful weapon to bring to the fight. However, I must also say that I did think a great deal about what would happen if I did not fully recover. I tried to define what a successful recovery would mean to me and I decided that if I could not play at my former level, I would choose not to play at all. I had seen others whose great abilities were significantly altered after Bell’s Palsy and I simply chose to not become one of them. This is not as easy a decision as it sounds, for brass players have a long-established identity and it is a tough one to alter or leave behind. But I also knew that many great players had come back successfully from this and other conditions: Ray Crisara, Louis Maggio, Bob McCoy, Raphael Mendez (with injuries almost too numerous to mention), Carlton MacBeth and Al Hirt. Maynard Ferguson had gone through a major teeth alteration that left him almost unable to play for a time. Pete Candoli and Roy Stevens had both come back after heart surgery, Mannie Klein after a major stroke. Knowing that these people had done it gave me a great deal of hope.

I also knew it was time to put my own healing work to the test, this was going to be the greatest challenge I had faced in Reiki. During the next two weeks I took my medicines (every five hours which is a difficult schedule) and did as much Reiki on myself as possible. My fiancé would also massage my face at least once a day and because she is a Reiki master (as I am) I was receiving extra benefit. Or so I hoped. There was no change for two weeks. Eating was a nightmare, brushing teeth was laughable and I felt very self-conscious with the eye-patch. For the first week I had a slight drooping of the left corner of the mouth as well. My nightly experiment was to go into the bathroom, look at my left eye in the mirror and try to move it or make it blink. Nothing happened for two weeks. Then one night in what may have been the most joyous moment of my life, I could feel a tiny contraction in the muscles surrounding the eye. I couldn’t see it in the mirror, but it was there. I knew then on some level that I had it licked. I redoubled my Reiki work spending almost the entire waking time treating my face. The area seemed to soak up energy like a dry sponge and great heat was felt at all times. After three weeks unusual sensations began to appear: strange tics and jumps, feelings of electrical-like currents shooting across my face and a sensation just like having hot water poured all over my left cheek.

I continued to work at attempting to contract the various muscles on the left side of my face and began to have success at contracting the corner of the mouth and the cheek. I could just picture Roy Stevens saying “Don’t worry if the upper cheek muscles don’t come back you shouldn’t use them anyway!” After one month the left side of my face was basically back to normal but the greatest surprise was still to come. Bob McCoy had cautioned me that the muscle-memory on the afflicted side would be wiped out so half of my face would know what to do but the other half wouldn’t. I did not believe him and thought to myself that this is going to be just like a long layoff. Well, Bob was, as usual, right on the money. I thought back to a lecture Ray Crisara had given on his recovery from Bell’s Palsy and I decided to use that as my guide to begin practicing again. I began with soft mouthpiece practice and I found that the muscles on the unaffected right side were pulling the embouchure all out of place. It looked ridiculous. I was unable to play above a low C for one week, although I could feel the left side strengthening slowly bit-by-bit. I kept a graph of my progress, a holdover from studying the Schillinger System; the graph mostly went in a straight line with low C as the highest note.

Then after another week of this I went up to an E above high C! Walt Johnson has his book Double High C in Ten Minutes but I was pretty happy about high E in two weeks. In my playing I had always known that a high E played on the mouthpiece translated to a comfortable high G on the horn. And indeed this was what was happening. At this point I practiced primarily out of the Maggio lessons which I had learned years before with Clyde Reasinger and Carlton MacBeth.

The lip area under the rim on the left side did not feel stable and felt somewhat reminiscent of Novocain wearing off. This feeling was to last about eight months longer finally disappearing, fittingly, on New Year’s Eve. When I returned to playing jobs again, I found that I made some really weird mistakes every once in a while, but primarily I was back to normal. The mental confidence, however, took about a year to return. I did not talk about all of this on the job with anyone until I was well over the problem because nothing gets attached to you faster than what you present to others.

All this is now well in the past and I am once again happy with my playing and very relieved to have this adventure concluded. As Bob McCoy would say, “Straight ahead and strive for tone!”

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Article by Chase Sanborn about Bell’s Palsy

I am a professional trumpet player. In June of the year 2000, I contracted Bell’s Palsy, a viral infection causing inflammation of the 7^th cranial nerve, producing weakness or paralysis of the facial muscles. While it is not a life-threatening condition, Bell’s Palsy is disruptive, particularly so for a brass player. With one side of the face substantially weakened, it is impossible to form an embouchure and buzz the lips. Even once recovery is underway, the fine muscle control needed to control the embouchure returns very slowly.

While most people recover completely from Bell’s Palsy, and my prognosis was good since we caught it early, there can be permanent lingering after effects that could effectively end the career of a brass player. The possibility of this filled me with anxiety. I struggled daily to find signs of progress, an agonizingly slow process that consisted of two steps backwards for every three forwards. Over the period of a year I kept a log, daily at first then expanding to weeks or months as the condition subsided. What follows is a summary of the log.

In the years that have passed, I’ve shared this story with many others that have found themselves similarly afflicted. It is important to know that almost everyone I’ve been in contact with eventually recovered completely, as I did. Any musician that overcomes an obstacle due to illness or injury will tell you the same thing: you learn from the experience and come back stronger for it.

Week 1 (June 5, 2000)

Several days before any other symptoms were observed I noticed a slight numbness and taste desensitization on my tongue, as if it had been scalded with hot coffee. I thought nothing of it at the time, but I have since learned that this is a common early warning sign of Bell’s Palsy.

On the first day of symptoms my chops felt stiff and unresponsive during the daily practice sessions. I attributed it to a heavy playing schedule and I felt confident that they would improve by the evening. When I went to work that night, I found I could barely play a G on the top of the staff (an octave below my normal range.) As the night progressed my range dropped another fifth. If I attempted to play any higher all of the air leaked from the corner of my mouth. It was disconcerting, but also kind of humorous. I thought perhaps I had strained a muscle. Fortunately the band was so loud nobody noticed I was taking the parts down two octaves. The only other symptom at this point was a slight twitch in my eye. I didn’t connect the two, but now know that I should have.

During the course of the next day my jaw started to ache when I chewed. At first I suspected TMJ. After dinner, numbness set in on the right side of my face and I could not fully close my right eye. I should have gone to the hospital immediately, but waited until the following morning to see my own doctor. Ironically, before I went to the doctor I went to see a friend who was in the final stages of cancer. I remember sitting in his kitchen, knowing he had weeks to live, and feeling terribly guilty for worrying about something as comparatively unimportant as my chops.

It took my doctor about 10 seconds to identify Bell’s Palsy. She prescribed steroids (Prednisone) and anti-viral medication (Acyclovir) and scheduled me for physiotherapy. She told me I could be facing up to a year to recover, and might be left with a permanent droop on the side of my mouth. As the gravity of the situation sunk in I searched the Internet for medical information where I encountered horror stories of protracted and sometimes permanent disabilities. Thoughts of the end of my career bombarded my head.

Though things were predicted to get worse in the coming days before they got better, it didn’t progress that way. There was little to no distortion of the face, and I had control of most of the muscles on the right side, though to a markedly lesser degree than on the left. Brushing my teeth was a comically messy affair. My right eye only closed halfway when blinking—I had to use my fingers to help it shut—but I could close both eyes for sleeping. Many Bell’s Palsy victims wear an eye patch and protective gel to avoid damaging the open eye while sleeping. To protect the eye from wind on my motorcycle, I wore a patch covered by a pair of wrap-around sunglasses. I called it my ‘Bell’s Angels’ outfit.

The physiotherapist explained that the nerve inflammation would eventually subside on its own, and the muscle control would return. In the meantime it was important to keep the muscles exercised. Electrodes were attached to my face to stimulate muscle contraction. I was scheduled for a half-hour treatment each day. Eventually I rented one of the stimulators so I could use it at home. Over the next few days I refined my technique. The electrodes stimulate the muscles for about 20 seconds, then provide a rest period. When the current was on I formed a firm embouchure and blew air through the middle of the lips. As the current subsided, I could feel the muscles in the right side of my mouth give way, like a car running out of gas. It was depressing to feel them collapse each time. I became somewhat addicted to my sessions; it’s amazing that one can develop a fondness for electric shock. After a session, I felt like I had really worked the muscles, in a way that simulated playing to a certain degree. I did this 30-minute routine three times a day.

During the physiotherapy it was helpful to use a mirror. I compressed the left (unaffected) side while waiting for the current to start, then tried to balance the muscular contraction of the two sides in the mirror. It still looked a little cockeyed (a jolt of electricity running into my cheek does not form a perfect embouchure; more’s the pity). I also used a mirror to perform a variety of facial exercises each day to try and regain some muscle control.

I booked subs for all my gigs in the following weeks. Rumors quickly spread about my condition, and mis-information abounded. I decided to be proactive and sent out an email explaining what was happening, assuring everybody (with perhaps more confidence than I actually felt) that it was a temporary condition. That email started traveling the Internet and I was soon inundated with messages of support and condolence from around the world! For several days I sat at the computer answering emails; they came quicker than I could type. Though it was overwhelming at times, I was humbled and buoyed by this outpouring of empathy. People suggested many alternate forms of medicine including acupuncture, shiatsu, chiropractors, Rikki, sacro-cranial massage, herbal remedies and the like. I did make a few exploratory visits, but decided to stick with the path of steroids and daily physiotherapy. When people asked what they could do to help, I suggested buying a CD. Bells Palsy was a rather drastic way to stimulate CD sales, but it remains to this day my most successful sales campaign.

Initially, playing was impossible. I could not hold the muscles of the embouchure in place and all the air leaked out the side of the mouth. My face was numb, as if I’d had a shot of Novocain. Toward the end of the first week I found that I could get a weak buzz on the mouthpiece if I held my fingers against the weak side, clamping the lips together and plugging the air leak. It was a pathetic sound but at least it was a sound. I could cover about one octave in this fashion. I could sustain a buzz on the mouthpiece without holding the lips together, but only for a few seconds and with a lot of air leakage.

I also tried buzzing on a tuba mouthpiece, which contained the air leak inside the larger cup. I found the tuba mouthpiece fit in the large end of a trumpet lead pipe, turning it into a tuba buzz-aid. I dubbed it my ‘recuperator’.

Week 2

Though there was encouraging improvement in the general condition by the start of the second week, it felt like no progress at all was being made on the embouchure. The physiotherapist said it was possible that a breakthrough day could occur, though more often it is a slow gradual process of reacquiring muscle control. Whatever progress I made in the course of a day seemed to evaporate overnight and I generally woke up with the numb sensation that would gradually wear off during the day. I realized that I would have to chart my progress in weeks, not days.

During the course of the second week my range expanded on the mouthpiece from a pedal F to the top of the staff, still holding the corner with my fingers. By the end of the week I could hold a steady tone on the trumpet for about 5-10 seconds. I had to rest about a minute before I could do it again, but I repeated this (short) long-tone over and over.

Week 3

By the start of the 3^rd week the general symptoms had largely abated. The morning numbness was mostly gone, my eye closed almost completely and was less irritated, and control of the facial muscles was returning. In one way, this created frustration: as I started to feel normal in general, it was maddening to pick up the instrument and still not have any chops. I felt 80% recovered, but only 20% recovered as a player. It was all too easy to imagine that it would never feel the same again.

I could get a pretty big sound up to 3^rd space C, but it thinned out after that and air leaked out noisily (sounding like Porky Pig). I could, however, feel the gradual return of playing sensations and my endurance was improving. I could play for longer periods before the mouth corner would give way. In discussing whether I would be OK to teach at an upcoming jazz camp I told the director that I might have to change my clinic topic from ‘Double High C in Two Minutes’ to ‘Building the Low Register with Short Phrases’.

The most important development was that I was starting to practice again, though in a very limited way. Psychologically, this was very significant. For the first two weeks I felt in limbo, just trying to get any kind of sound at all. Now it felt like I was starting to make some progress. I looked forward to the rebuilding process and woke up several days in a row dreaming about simply practicing. I practiced softly, with lots of rest. I utilized breath attacks, lip buzzing, mouthpiece buzzing, pedal tones, slow flexibilities, note bending and long tones.

I tried playing some jazz for the first time. With limited chops and endurance, I was forced to find music in the bottom octave of the horn. If I played too long the cheek gave way, forcing me to edit my phrases. Chet Baker was my musical inspiration.

Teaching without demonstrating was a new experience. I found that my students played more than they normally would in the course of a lesson, and had to rely on themselves to hear any improvement, I couldn’t hand it to them by playing the phrase in question. Some students reveled in their ability to outplay me, but I vowed to make a comeback!

Week Four

During the fourth week I went to a cottage in the mountains, hoping the clean air and water would help the healing process. I would take the boat out to an island early each morning and do some mouthpiece and leadpipe buzzing. During the day I would put in 3-4 practice sessions on the horn. I managed to get up to high C with a very thin sound.

Though I could see improvement, I found myself demoralized by the slow pace of recovery, and still harbored fears that I would never get back to my former ability. I took some inspiration from reading stories of various players who had come back after illness or injury. One piece of advice that I took to heart was that things might never be exactly the same, and perhaps that wasn’t even the goal. Rather than hoping each day for the return of familiar sensations, I decided to work with what I had, and if that meant finding a new way to play, so be it.

I experimented with the placement of the mouthpiece, finding that I could stem the leakage somewhat if I moved it over towards the weaker side. I started each note with a very relaxed embouchure, and tried to ‘blow’ the lips into place, letting them find whatever position produced the best sound. While resting I did a lot of fingering of scales while tonguing on the air stream. This helped a lot to balance the tension between the two sides of the mouth, and kept my fingers and tongue working.

Week Five

During this week my range continued to improve. I could produce decent sound up to high C, but the embouchure would collapse if I pushed too hard. I was encouraged by the fact that the sensations felt less foreign and that endurance was improving. I returned home from the cottage buoyed with optimism and determination and was very reflective about what I had been through and what was to come. I wrote:

“I am wrestling with the reality that I probably should return to work soon. This is a tough hurdle as I have not played outside of the practice room for over a month, and I am very aware that my capabilities are diminished. Physically and mentally, however, I think it is probably a good idea to ‘get back on the horse’. I will have to be careful about what gigs I accept, because I am definitely not in any shape to do a hard-blowing gig.”

Week Six

During the course of this week my response improved. I could play two-octave sirens on the mouthpiece without encountering gaps in the vibrating response. I was also able to hold high E’s and F’s with a pure, albeit quiet tone. Prior to this week there was a fair bit of break-up in the sound as I couldn’t quite control the vibrations.

Most importantly, this week brought my first gigs. I played a 75-minute jazz festival concert with my quartet. It went very well; many people commented that they would not have known anything was different. I replied that if we had played just one more tune they would have! From the day I contracted Bell’s Palsy this concert had been a landmark goal for me. While not fully recovered yet, as I had hoped I would have been by this time, I was very pleased that I was able to perform, and my appearance was met with enthusiastic response from the musicians and the audience.

The next night, more as an experiment than anything else, I played a five-hour wedding gig. I expected that my chops would cave in at some point, but quite the opposite, I remained relatively solid to the end of the gig. I even hit a few high notes that I couldn’t play confidently yet in the practice room. I was quite surprised and delighted when they came out.

These two jobs finally banished any lingering doubts that I might never be the same again. I wasn’t ready to play a hard lead trumpet book, and was leery of recording sessions where the difficulty of the part was unknown, but I became confident that I could play the trumpet again and decided to start accepting gigs.

At about this time a friend sent me a facial exerciser called the Facial-Flex. This little device consists of two curved plastic pieces that fit in the corners of the mouth. Steel rods and a rubber band connect them, so that you are working against the resistance when you bring your corners in towards the center. You vary the resistance by using heavier rubber bands. Sold primarily as a beauty aid, the Facial-Flex is perfect for Bell’s Palsy victims, and as a general embouchure strengthening tool.

Edit: Today I would make good use of the P.E.T.E. as a way to work and strengthen the embouchure.

Week Seven

My useable range was hovering around a high D at this point. I had played a few good high G’s, but I couldn’t guarantee them. I played my first recording session, and gladly jumped into the 3^rd trumpet chair. They did, however, keep me afterwards to record some solo trumpet. That prospect would have filled me with dread only a few weeks earlier. Thankfully, it went well.

I continued to hear the comment from people that it sounded like everything was back to normal. While I was glad it sounded that way, I knew inside that it still did not feel exactly the same. That shook my confidence, though I tried not to show it outwardly.

I practiced slowly and carefully all the exercises I normally practice but reduced the range, volume or intervallic spread of the exercise as needed in order to maintain control of the vibrations on each note. When I heard distortion or an uncontrolled buzz on a note I stopped and worked on that note. I had to pay attention to the limitations of my body, but I worked the muscles, pushing them a little harder each day.

Week Eight

At this point, eight weeks after the onset of symptoms, I felt mostly recovered and stopped writing the daily log, adding entries only occasionally. I knew the rest of my recovery would be largely internal, evident to me but not to others. As so often happens, the home stretch was the longest. The final entries in my log tell the tale:

Week 13

“For the last four weeks or so I’ve been on a plateau; what I describe as 90% recovered. I can do pretty much everything I could before, but the chops still fight me. It’s like every day is a ‘bad day’. I can’t pick up the horn and assume that things will work correctly. I’m yearning for just one day where everything feels easy!”

Week 16

“The sound is much clearer and I am starting to feel more confident. It is finally starting to feel normal.”

Week 22

“In the last week or so, I’ve finally started calling it 100%. I’ve had a couple of nights where I know I’ve never been stronger, and I’ve shaken that ‘every day is a bad day’ feeling. Still, there is a change, both mentally and physically. I have told myself that I would not close the book on this thing until I have the benefit of full hindsight. I suspect that is months away yet.”

Week 52

It has been a year, and I can finally honestly say that it is all in the past. I play better than I did a year ago, and I’ve learned a lot since then. I’m stronger, more efficient, can produce a wider range with better control, and enjoy trumpet playing fully once again. In addition, I have a renewed appreciation for the fragility of the art of buzzing my lips into a brass tube, and give thanks for each morning that I wake up to a blessedly ‘normal’ day.

Postscript

“You function on a brass instrument based on the 7^th cranial nerve, which is the motor nerve that comes from the brain. At the region of the lips it is carrying a signal and the lip reacts as a reflex to that signal from the brain.”

(Arnold Jacobs)

Well! Could we custom craft a disorder that more directly impacts on a brass player? While Bell’s Palsy is a horrifying experience, particularly for a brass player, for most it will be a temporary blip on the map. The key is to learn from the experience. As they say, ‘what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.’

With the benefit of hindsight, I would not spend so much time worrying about my non-functioning trumpet embouchure and devote the time normally spent practicing to other musical pursuits. That would have been a more efficient way to spend the time and would have helped deal with the psychological aspects. Hopefully I’ll never have to put this to the test.

One thing I learned is that bad news travels fast; good news much slower. It seemed that everyone knew almost immediately that something had happened to me. Years afterwards, people I didn’t see often would come to me with concern in their voice asking “How are you?” (I’ll never know how many calls did not come in because people assumed I was still not playing.) Although writing my blog and posting it on the internet was cathartic and generated an outpouring of support, those blog posts made their way onto websites around the world, reading years later as if it was happening now. I had to track websites down and ask them to replace the posts with this summation. As I said at the outset, reading this story has given many people encouragement to overcome their obstacles, and for that I feel grateful.

Chase Sanborn

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