Posted by Seriously.. on September 16, 2002 at 11:53:54:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Doctoral Survey-Please Read posted by Actually... on September 16, 2002 at 10:56:04:
The Valsalva maneuver has to do with the closing of the thoat and the buildup of pressure inside the body. It is hardwired into our brains and is used during defication, childbirth, and to give stability and rigidity to the abdomen during weight lifting or throwing people around a wrestling ring.
It happens naturally without any thought. A common point for it to happen when playing a wind instrument is when you take a large breath and try to hold it back before an entrance(solution: never let the air stop moving). The result is a hesitation when starting a new phrase(it takes a moment for the throat to open back up). It isn't uncommon for this to show up in a professional player well into their carreer resulting in a great deal of frustration and occassionally an early retirement.
Not completely sure if this is technically Valsalva but it is also very common for a player to think that they need to physically work 'hard' to move lots of air. In reality it is very effortless to go from completely full to emptying all musically usefull air from the lungs in a split second. They will close the throat and become very tired but actually move very little air and sound bad in the process.
In both cases the solution(as in everything else in life) is to isolate the problem away from the horn, build new habits to replace the old habits, and bring it back to the horn. In this case, I would encourage students to do excercises that help develop an awareness of the phenomenon of wind and what it feels like.
fwiw,
joseph 'i think i got it mostly right' felton