A Translation of the Most Common Physical and Playing Symptoms

“I have had the same problem with my chops for years. When I play too much or too loud, the tiny part of the inside upper lip that actually vibrates gets irritated.  It seems that after a while the skin just simply can't take the vibrations.  Playing loud seems to be the real culprit.   A bump kind of raises and I can feel it with my tongue.  Then I know I'm in trouble and I have to really back off.  Other than taking it easy playing, the only things that seem to help are drinking lots of water, vitamin C, diet and maybe ibuprofen.  I have talked to other players and have gotten unbelievable different response about this thing.  Some have no idea what I'm talking about. Some have experienced the problem but have been freaked out by it and haven’t told anyone.”

After a player's professional life is upended by a painful, unforgiving chop problem, it is totally understandable that every tiny twinge, irritation, bump, divot, scar tissue, colored spot, or weakness he notices in his lips, mouth, or face makes him  wonder whether something else is causing his dilemma—that if he could just fix it, his playing would miraculously recover.

 Because the lingering symptoms of overuse mimic those of many physical disorders, sometimes, it is difficult for a player to distinguish the difference.  Tingling sensations or pain in the lips, heaviness in the face, quivering in a lip or facial muscle, lip swelling, lip or mouth burning, for example, are symptoms found in many physical maladies; however, they are also among the physical anomalies players encounter in overuse syndrome. 

 Certainly, any chronic symptom which concerns you should be pursued with your physician. Generally speaking, however, symptoms which are troublesome primarily during playing but disappear otherwise most likely point to overuse syndrome.  So, what exactly is overuse syndrome?  Is it a medical condition which requires treatment? 

 Embouchure overuse syndrome is an all-purpose term I use to refer to the physical and playing symptoms that are found in every chop problem, regardless of the cause. Overuse is the most common instigator of embouchure problems in professional players; however, there are other things which can also cause mischief to playing and result in the very same painful physical and playing symptoms associated with overuse.  

Normal Fatigue versus Embouchure Overuse

 “I can’t focus my sound any more.  My lips feel like they are made of rubber and that I’m playing with both cheeks puffed out, and I have no control over what I’m doing.  My lips are already tired after a five-minute warmup.  I just don’t know what could be wrong.  I’ve added several hours of practice each day, but it hasn’t helped.” 

  *****

It is not that easy for a player to tell the difference between normal fatigue and overuse.  The effects of the typical embouchure fatigue a player experiences following a heavy performance generally dissipate within twelve to twenty-four hours.  Overuse, on the other hand, does not go away quickly, and the long-term impact it has on playing is profound.  After a day or two, a player's lips feel chronically thick and dead and his embouchure seems completely out of shape, regardless of how much he has been playing.  He struggles to play in the high range and loses his pinpoint control and endurance. 

To understand why overuse evolves into a protracted chop dilemma, you have to consider how it impacts the function of an embouchure in the first place.Three problems persist following a period of overuse: lip pain, swelling, and facial fatigue. Does it make sense that an embouchure impaired by fatigue, discomfort, and swelling would be able to function normally? Of course not.

Pain and swelling not only disrupt the normal feel of a player's embouchure, they dictate how it works in playing. It's similar to what happens to a baseball pitcher who develops a sore elbow. His body instinctively defers to the discomfort by changing aspects of his pitching delivery--his arm angle and release point. These mechanical changes are an unconscious reaction to pain. Just like a sore elbow alters a pitcher's delivery, a brass player's embouchure reprograms itself mechanically when it has had to navigate playing long enough in the presence of pain, swelling and fatigue.

  "Soon after I finished a long, heavy rehearsal, I noticed my upper lip just left of center 

began to feel a bit strange. There was no sharp pain, but a sense of discomfort and weakness 

from that side of my embouchure."

Chapter 6  When NOT to Change an Embouchure

If there is a subject which is widely misunderstood by brass players and prescribed all too often for the wrong reasons, it is changing an embouchure.  An embouchure change refers to moving a mouthpiece on a player's lips up or down, left or right from its normal location with the hope that it will improve playing in some way or solve troublesome playing difficulties.  An embouchure change cannot train or restore comfort or mechanical integrity; it only changes the position of a player's mouthpiece on his lips. Most of the time, an embouchure change backfires and lands a player in a lengthy chop dilemma.