Original_Username

Hey there everyone,

I've been playing my Bach 1.5C Mouthpiece for a little more then half a year already. Recently, I noticed that when I'm playing, there's a little air leaking from the sides making a tiny buzzing sound. It's not too loud, but loud enough that my stand partner noticed it and told me about it.

It's starting to get me worried. Any advice on why this is happening and how to make it stop? Thanks in advance.

Matt Funamura

Is the leakage from the corners of your lips? If that's the case it could be an "embouchure dystonia" or neurological disorder affecting the facial muscles. I've experienced this many times but it never affected my sound or caused any kind of buzz. Here's an excerpt from the Southern Medical Journal on this topic:

Neurologic Disorders

Because brass instruments place great demands on the muscles of the face and tongue, dystonias of these muscles can severely impair a brass player's ability to play. Cases of "embouchure dystonia" have been reported in French horn players whose lips would involuntarily separate, producing a gap in the air seal.[53] These players improved somewhat with muscle retraining and technique alteration.
Like most other instrumentalists, brass players are subject to entrapment neuropathies and dystonias, but they also have more serious neurologic risks resulting from the elevated intrapharyngeal, intrathoracic, and intra-abdominal pressures. A 17-year-old trumpet player had transient ischemic attacks during intensive trumpet playing.[54] He was found to have a patent foramen ovale, and Doppler ultrasonography showed increased rates of microembolic signals in the middle cerebral arteries during trumpet playing and Valsalva maneuver. An increase in positive end-expiratory pressure may occur in brass players and would increase the cardiac right-to-left shunt fraction, thus causing embolization.[54,55] After the patient had the foramen ovale operatively closed, the symptoms disappeared and no microembolic signals could be detected, even during Valsalva maneuver.[54] A second example involves a 23-year-old trumpet player who had a spontaneous cervicothoracic epidural hematoma after a professional trumpet performance.[56]

Original_Username

:O

WOAH! Ok, now that's very, very scary.

Matt Funamura

I don't think it's that scary. It's just a matter of talking to your trumpet teacher (who I'm sure has had a similar incident or knows something about it) and just make some minor adjustments to your embouchure and it should improve the situation. I really don't think you should worry too much about it. If you take good care of yourself and warm up properly as much as possible, you should be fine unless you have some serious medical condition. Don't buy into it too much. It may be medically possible, (or more likely for us brass guys) but it's not that common.

No Worries,
Matt

camelbrass

Is it constant or just at extremes eg very low, very loud, very soft or very high?

I sometimes leak air when I'm a bit tired and I'm pushing the limits. Don't think it's all that much to be concerned about.


Regards,


Trevor

Indian

Is the air leaking from your lips or the horn. I had a cornet with a loose reciever and it would vibrate sometimes. It was a vintage horn made for a shallow shank MP that someone had tried to force a modern long shank MP in tp the reciever. Replaced the reciever no vibration.

bigtiny

There are a few different reasons that lie between "why's this happening" and "you've got a physical disorder"....

My first suspect would be fatigue. A 1 1/2 is a large mouthpiece. You say you've been playing it for 6 months...does it feel different now than when you first started with it? I mean, did you get really tired when you first started using it...and does it seem to be not as tiring to play on today?

Here are some questions to ask:

-does the leakage occur all of the time (meaning is it there from when you first start playing to when you finish, or does it appear after you've been playing for a while?)
-when it appears, is the leakage constant?
-is it at the corners of your mouth?
-does the frequency of the leakage change when you change notes or register?

I would try spending some time working on strengthening the embochure in practice sessions. Long tones and lip slurs (SLOWLY) and pay particular attention to the corners. If you get leakage then reset, and repeat until the leakage is gone.

Try a smaller mouthpiece for a while (3c) and see if this problem goes away. It may be that the 1 1/2 is just TOO big for you as a practical matter...

bigtiny

Jim Kot

Hi Friend, I have had that problem before too. You have to concentrate on the corners of your chops. a little trick that worked for me is to put a toothpick in the corners and try to play some soft tones while keeping the picks in place. It will work to train your corners from leaking air. Best of luck to you

rowuk

Google Eric Bolvin pencil trick. Your description matches a state that every trumpet player that I know goes through. Follow Erics advice on the video. 2-3 weeks and problem solved!