Embouchure Dystonia


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Posted by reb stivender on October 01, 2000 at 22:09:51:

Recently, I was diagnosed with having embouchure dystonia - a task-specific tremor that affects my playing tuba. It seems to originate primarily from my chin area. Originally, it gave me some minor problems in my mid-range with holding pitch steady. But, over the last 6 months, it has been getting worse and now affects my ability to make attacks and lip slurs resulting in overall shaky playing over a wider range. I corresponded with a doctor (neurologist) to whom I was referred by embouchure.com. He reviewed a video of my playing and made my diagnosis. He indicated that he had seen a number of musicians with this condition, and unless I was a professional, he recommended against treatment (the medical treatment success rate is low.) He told me to try to make playing “adjustments” to get around the tremor. I double on bass-bone from time to time and it doesn’t seem to effect my playing on that smaller mouthpiece. I’ve tried a number of mouthpieces of various sizes and have played a lot embouchure builders with very limited improvement.

I’m getting to the end of my tuba-playing rope as things keep getting worse. Does anybody out there have any experience with this condition? Any ideas as to ways to make some “adjustments” would be greatly appreciated.





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