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Re: Puffed out neck?

Author: Simon Aldrich
Date: 2007-02-18 18:56

>My theory is that I used to play a set-up that was too resistant, concentrating >too much pressure in my oral cavity. At some point, some muscle or tissue >must have given way and I now have this little bulge.

I have the same condition and it was caused by playing on too resistant a setup as a student (like so many students do). While a graduate student at Yale, I went to see a doctor about it. He put a videoscope up through my nose and down my throat to view the bulge in action. He said it is akin to a hernia.
In this case too much back pressure slowly forces a hole in the neck wall.
Strictly speaking the bulge is not a hernia because part of an organ is not being displaced through the wall of the cavity containing it. Air is simply forcing the bulge out.
As a result of this quasi-hernia I use mouthpieces that offer less resistance.
Interestingly, I have found that some mouthpieces' resistance is centered in the mouth and lips and other mouthpieces' resistance is centered in the neck. Invariably open mouthpieces offer more resistance centered in the neck.

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Simon Aldrich

Clarinet Faculty - McGill University
Principal Clarinet - Orchestre Métropolitain de Montréal
Principal Clarinet - Orchestre de l'Opéra de Montréal
Clarinet - Nouvel Ensemble Moderne

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Puffed out neck? new

Bob Phillips

2007-02-13 22:22