This article will provide useful information to help improve control of stuttering on the trombone. I am going to discuss a condition that quite a few brass musicians (including myself) have dealt with. It is known as the VALSALVA MANEUVER, a condition that causes stuttering. If you don’t stutter on the trombone, then this article is not for you. It is intended for people who have trouble starting a note on the trombone during stressful situations. Stuttering is a very complicated subject, and the remedies are so numerous that I can only list a few in this article.
MY DISCOVERIES ON THIS SUBJECT MAY BENEFIT THE FOLLOWING:
Trombones that have trouble starting notes.
Other brass players who stutter (trumpet, trumpet, tuba, etc.).
Band teachers who have trombone (or other brass) students.
Everyone else stutters (music or not).
ABOUT THE VALSALVA MANEUVER
The Valsalva Maneuver (VM, as I’ll call it now) is a natural process that occurs when the muscles in your body create high levels of air pressure, while holding air in your body. In normal life, VMs occur naturally during bodily functions such as sneezing and coughing. But during speaking or playing brass, virtual machines can cause major issues that lead to stuttering.
When the brain mistakenly activates these muscles, they work together, tensing up, creating extra pressure and making it nearly impossible to strike a note on the trombone. Problems like these often occur in nervous situations (such as during a band solo, a quiet passage in the orchestra, or even during tuning time at a band rehearsal).
The Valsalva muscular network (muscles used in the MV) includes the muscles of the throat, tongue, mouth, abdomen, and rectum.
To get a feel for the Valsalva muscles and how they work together, try this exercise: 1. Close your lips as if you were saying the “M” word. 2. Keep them slightly closed and don’t let them open. 3. While keeping your lips closed, try to whisper the word “TOE.” 4. Remember not to let the air escape your lips while whispering TOE.
The moment you try to whisper with the “T” part of the TOE, pay special attention to how the ABDOMINAL MUSCLE (your tummy muscle) activates and tenses. Try whispering TOE even louder and notice how the throat and tongue contract as well. You may also have noticed that the muscles in your rectum tightened. These are the muscles of the Valsalva Net.
After trying the above exercise a few times, I want you to try adding a fifth step: After getting stuck on your TOES, fully relax your abdomen, paying particular attention to how your tongue and throat do the same. Notice that when you RELAX YOUR ABDOMINAL MUSCLES, the rest of the MV does the same. This is a very good exercise to get in touch with those muscles and learn to relax them.
In the rest of this article, I want to show you some of the exercises that I have acquired from various books to control the Valsalva maneuver by performing:
DO THESE EXERCISES EVERY DAY BEFORE PLAYING THE TROMBONE (helps control the Valsalva).
PHYSICAL EXERCISE: At least 20 minutes of relaxing exercise (walking is best in my opinion, but other good sports are swimming, running, cycling and aerobics). As we all know, exercise helps to relax the body; so use it to your advantage.
RELAX: 10 minutes of deep breathing exercises a day. Find a nice quiet place to sit. Take deep, open, relaxed breaths. Breathe big and relaxed.
STAY RELAXED: Stay calm throughout the day (wherever you are and whatever you are doing) by breathing deeply and in a relaxed way (also try counting 4-8 counts to inhale and 4-12 counts to exhale). If you are walking somewhere, count your steps and breathe with them (see if you can walk 8 steps while inhaling and then exhaling for 8 steps). Your breathing can also be counted rhythmically while biking, swimming, jogging, and many other rhythmic sports.
DO THESE EXERCISES EVERY DAY WHILE PLAYING YOUR TROMBONE
PRACTICE WITHOUT THE TONGUE: Practice about 15-30 minutes each day without the tongue. Most trombonists who stutter (or don’t produce a good trombone sound) don’t use enough airflow. When you take the tongue out of practice it becomes a matter of “AIR FLOW” to play well. Later, you can add a smooth, relaxed tongue to your playing. He plays some scales, some petal tones, some songs and various other music without his tongue; then play them all again as before, but with your tongue. When you add the tongue back in, the focus is still on very relaxed blowing. We want to maintain a natural airflow with no pressure anywhere.
FOCUS ON PROPER BREATHING: Always guard against using pressure when inhaling. Just allow your body to expand naturally (make sure your abdomen is always relaxed). focus on breathing in relaxed and taking in a lot of air (inhale relaxed, exhale more relaxed). When you are about to start a sound, relax your abdomen as you blow. The breath should always feel like ONE CONTINUOUS BREATHING MOVEMENT.
PLAY 5 MINUTES ON YOUR MOUTHPIECE: Try to start a sound just on your mouthpiece. At first, don’t use your tongue at all (as in the last exercise). Sound some sirens first (start low and go really loud, then go back down). Also, play some easy songs (or Christmas songs) on the mouthpiece without using your tongue. Then play them again, adding the tongue.
OTHER USEFUL TIPS
All these tips that I show you are for practice, not performance. When you act, you should go on what I call “Autopilot” which means you let your unconscious mind take care of the details (that you practiced so much on). This allows you to focus on making music! During performance, if your attention is focused on technical things, like starting a note, it gets in the way of more important things, like being a brilliant artist.
Count on yourself (silently) at the beginning of a song. Feel free to wiggle your toes to the beat to help keep you rhythmically grounded. You can do it like 1 – 2 – Ready – Go. Or even better, do it like: 1e&a 2e&a Ready&a Goe&a. This is called subdividing your beats, and it helps keep you steady. Always keep a steady rhythm, even if you stutter.
Always BREATHE TO EXPAND instead of EXPAND TO BREATHE. By doing the latter (Expand to Breathe), you may fool yourself into thinking that you are breathing, when in fact you are not.
As you inhale, you can pay attention to the coolness of your throat, which is a good indicator of whether or not you are breathing air. If your throat feels cold as you inhale, you’re probably moving a lot of air.
Practice at least 1 hour EVERY day.
The Valsalva maneuver is never good for trombonists. A recent study has shown that professional trombonists never use Valsalva in their playing.
There are many excellent books written on the subject of stuttering (as it pertains to stuttering during speech) that can be really helpful for trombonists. I recommend reading all the books you can on the subject.
The act of trying not to do a MV will make it more likely to happen. Therefore, it is better to let it happen. Do not give it much importance if it happens. Instead, try to relax and remember what you were doing and thinking just before it happened. When you get home, immediately write anything you notice in your journal. Were you too tense? Did you breathe hard? Were you worried that other people might laugh at you? Write down everything that comes to mind.
There is a book that is considered one of the best books ever written on stuttering (for speakers) that works the same way for trombonists! If you read the Amazon reviews (at the Valsalva link below), you’ll see that some trombonists have tried this book (as well as many talking stutterers). It absolutely works if you read the book cover to cover (the end of the book has a gold mine of information). Customers rate it 5/5 stars. To see it, you just have to go to this site: [http://www.ValsalvaManeuver.net]