Fixed issue with ‘valsalva Maneuver’ in trombone players

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Recently I have increased the number of students, teachers, and professional brass students I wrote to ask to ask for hesitation to ring the notes on my instrument. Many of them call this phenomenon “musicals.” Stud soundOr Valsalva operation. The term Valsalva manipulation refers to the breathing technique used to lower blood pressure, and appears to have been adopted to talk about many different issues about airway blocking when a brass player plays the first note of a phrase. Alternatively, this phenomenon occurs only if the musician does not establish a tempo in his mind before he plays. fear Or the perceived threat of not being able to ring the notes. Their infatuation with the fear of not being able to start tones brings out muscle contractions, which have become a habitual response to loss of control and fear of danger.

Teaching music students and Coaching A professional musician, I have based many of my approaches on analyzing how and where musicians hold their own body tension. From the results of my experience of observation Psychotherapy Patients and musicians, I have become very sensitive to observing where individuals habitually hold their own body tension and how this relates to their whole. personality Structure and musical performance. Generally, strict or authoritarian character types who admire the discipline and accuracy of military or marching music will hold their bodies in a strict, military way. Musicians who take more freer assemble perks, or leisurely styles of music often Body Language It reflects this style. I have found that a person’s body language is usually consistent with attitudes and beliefs. This is also observed in the congruence of musical genres, personality structures, performance styles and body language. I would like to share theoretical background, observations from education, and some practical techniques used by musicians to help them achieve the natural and free experience of music making.

The idea that we habitually hold tension in certain areas of the body is known as physical armor and was developed by the psychologist of depth Wilhelm Reich. In a 1933 text, character analysis, Reich explains how to develop a unique concentration of muscle tension that becomes physically visible from infancy and acts as a defense against stenosis from threats to autonomy and safety. This body armor, which can be observed by how a person holds himself and holds through his body language, is the basis of what Reich calls character armor, what he calls his own experience in the world. Character armor is a clear way for people to interact with each other. environment As experienced through psychological defenses to maintain an autonomous and ambitious sense of self. In other words, our experiences about who we are are based on habitually formed tensions within our bodies, which are the source of how we come to interact with our environment, others, and our consistent sense of self.

Fritz Pulse, one of Reich’s students, developed these ideas of analyzing the armor of the body and characters into a practical psychotherapy technique known as Gestalt psychotherapy. Modern Gestalt psychotherapy offers many effective ways to help musicians notice habitual body armor, how to shape their own self-consciousness and experiences about the environment, and how to undo maladaptive habits of both the physical and emotional self. The goal is to enhance a sense of autonomy and will in the music-making experience.

In addition to Gestalt’s psychotherapy techniques, the bodywork of the Alexander Technique (body mapping) has proven to be a perfect complement to the process of increasing awareness and autonomy among performance artists.

Gestalt Psychotherapy, combined with Alexander Technique Body Work, has proven beneficial in helping musicians overcome problems, including performance. anxietymusical tics such as stuttering and stunmaring (also known as vasalva manipulation in wind performance), muscle cramps, pinch nerves, and headaches. Below is a sample case study showing how we worked with musicians to overcome problems that influenced the music experience.

An adolescent thrombonist named Jane came to me and explained that I couldn’t ring notes while I was playing alone. The issue was first presented during her weekly lessons with her regular teacher and later appeared while auditioning for college. Jane explained how she began to start to tone, her throat closed and “locked” with a contraction that prevented free airflow. I asked her to remember the earliest time she could remember that the problem had occurred. As she described this first experience, I paid nearby Note Not just what she was saying, but the way she was saying it. I was also aware of what her body language was telling in relation to her words. As Jane began to tell me about her earliest perception of her inability to start a note, I noticed that her face was flushing and her breathing was getting heavy. That was the emotional experience of anxiety Manifesto In her body, as she described her experience. She said that the first time she experienced something she couldn’t play was during lessons with a regular teacher. The teacher had asked her to play the etude she had been working on for weeks. I asked Jane not only to remember the story, but to tell me as if it was happening now. This is a Gestalt technique in which contact with experience is enhanced by speaking it in the present tense, rather than using past tense to linguistically distance yourself from experience. As Jane described her experience, I made her notice the specific physical changes I had observed. I asked Jane what she was emotionally experiencing when she saw her face turn red. I asked her to notice the fact that she repeatedly touched her breasts with her hands, as if she was protecting herself, as if she was explaining the sense that she was being judged critically by her teacher. I asked Jane to “know what’s going on right now.” Her words became unstable and weak, explaining a feeling that was inadequate to the teacher’s eyes.

In addition to bringing student body language verbally to attention, an effective method used in Alexander’s technique is to bring attention to the area of ​​the body where there is habitual tension while touching the musician’s body, to broaden consciousness to the area of ​​the body where consciousness is blocked. It is important to explain this technique to the students in advance and ask for permission to touch them.