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VPI post adenoidectomy

Author: jenqa
Date: 2021-08-29 01:48

Hey everyone,

3 years ago I got my adenoids removed, and after ~1 month without being able to play at all, I got able to produce sound again, but I always heard the noise of air passing to my nose, reducing the air pressure that goes into the clarinet and causing me to have to do breaks mid-playing more often than usual.

My doctor always said there was no problem, and this should pass with time, but here I am, still with the problem. Although it wasn't as bad as a year ago or so, with the increase of demand in my classes my practice sessions can never be too long because of this (sometimes even long pieces with few rests get me).

I do some speech therapy exercises, and an exercise that consists in closing the nasal passage with my soft palate. No improvements so far.

I've been using a Rico Reserve X5 mouthpiece (1.05mm tip) since some months after the surgery, because the B45 I had borrowed from my band was in a bad shape (plus it was a very open mouthpiece). I've talked with some teachers besides my own (who has had experienced SVPI in the past, however due to the nature of the issue not being a surgery, but an increase in practice time, several months later it passed - but he never even noticed it at all, only the people that were hearing him) and one of them said that one potential helper would be changing to a more open mouthpiece (like a BD5) to permit the airflow to go more to the "front" and not build up more intraoral pressure that gets disposed by forcing the soft palate to let air to pass, which leads to the pharyngeal wall and the palate, that should be moisty, to dry and make the leak even greater. I've also changed from traditional 3.0 vandorens to 3.0 V12s, and now recently to 3.0 Reserve Evolution (Orange Box) as they are more consistent and a bit weaker, which is also another of the recommendations I see on the internet about this issue

My question here is if anyone has come through the same and managed to overcome this or atleast minimize it. I've noticed that drinking water regularly in between playing helps hold on the soft palate shut for a bit longer. Perhaps changing to a weaker material could aid in overcoming it?

PS: I am not affected in normal speech by any way.

Thanks in advance for any replies!

jenqa

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