Klarinet Archive - Posting 000397.txt from 1998/11

From: "Diane Karius, Ph.D." <dikarius@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: [kl] Palatial Air Leak
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1998 11:46:24 -0500

> Hi. I'm a music performance student at Indiana State University. I
> need to know if any of you have had a problem such as this. Whenever
> I play for an extended period of time, a sound comes out of my throat
> that sounds like an air leak. I think it's called a Palatial Air
> Leak (I remember reading something about it in the clarinet journal).
> I have tried everything short of cutting my head off, and that
> incessant noise still comes from my throat. Do any of you know what
> it is?

Based on what you call it, I suspect I know what is going on. When
we play, the soft palate and the pharynx have to work together to
seal off the nasopharynx and prevent air from leaking out your nose.
In most people, the soft palate musculature is more than strong
enough to do this and they run into problems with air leaking through
the embouchure. In some people, the soft palate is the weak spot in
this. With fatigue (either from a long bout of playing or simple
sleep deprivation etc...), the soft palate becomes tired and gets
(for lack of a better word) "floppy", creating a really odd sound
that probably isn't heard by anyone else but the clarinetist,
although I'm certain the tone quality of the playing changes then too
(that vocalization thing - the shape of the chamber (mouth) is
radically altered when this begins to happen).

There aren't many verified excercises that one can do for this,
although in the respiratory control lab I was associated with, they
modifed an inspiratory pop valve (a valve that opens when you try to
breathe in) and hung "weights" from the valve so that you had to work
harder to pull the valve open and get air in and it turned out to be
a pretty good training device. Another simpler training practice
would simply be to practice trying to breathe in against an occluded
(blocked) airway, concentrating on keeping the pharynx open (you can
do this voluntarily). Having said that, my experience is that
it was a problem most associated with sleep deprivation and general
fatigue.

Hope this helps.

Diane R. Karius, Ph.D.
Department of Physiology
University of Health Sciences
1750 Independence Ave.
Kansas City, MO 641o6-1453
email: dikarius@-----.EDU

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