Broken Chops III - The New Beginning

Continued from "Broken Chops II"

Over the next few weeks, I knew what I had to do:
I either had to quit playing or fix my embouchure. I decided to start from ground zero. Sadly, I didn't realize what had happened, nor did I realize what kind of uphill battle I was in for. The embouchure I was using was completely and totally incorrect. My facial muscles did not work the way they were supposed to and probably never did. Essentially, I was a beginner. Only a beginner with the disadvantage of 20 years of bad habits built in.

At that time, I was desperate. I put out a "hail Mary" e-mail to the horn list asking for help and advice. Debbie Schmidt provided me with some great advice. On top of that, she was visiting the Fredericksburg area on vacation and agreed to swing by my house and give me some one on one help.

Shortly after my lesson with Debbie, I went to my doctor. He told me that what I was experiencing was a neurological condition that affects athletes, musicians and other people who use muscles repeatedly. He uttered words that scared me to death - Focal Dystonia.

After I came to terms with this, I refused to give up. Afterall, I'd been playing and practicing for 20 years. Should I just throw all of that away? NO! Hell NO!

After struggling for the next 2 years to break bad habits, learn the fundamentals and even study from a half-a-dozen teachers, I had an odd opportunity. I couldn't play very well at all, but I got a call from a local community orchestra. One of their horn players had to bow out of the concert because she was recovering from some embouchure difficulties. I got called to sub for her. The concert was not too difficult and I could at least fake my way through it enough to cover the parts without killing the section. So, I took the job.
While backstage, I met the horn player for whom I was subbing. She told me of her embouchure problems and told me that she was working with Marty Hackleman to fix it. I got Marty's new contact info from her at that point and called Marty the next day.

In about 2 weeks, I met with Marty for the first time. I couldn't play very well and felt very unprepared for a lesson of this magnitude. Marty gave me a solid hour's worth of great advice and encouragement. It is absolutely no exaggeration when I say that, the very next day, I had improved so dramatically based on his advice that I could hardly recognize my own playing! (Don't worry, I'll share some of that advice through some of my other posts).

I've been studying again with Marty for about the past 16 months and the results have been amazing. There are aspects of my playing that are better than they ever had been. In fact, I can't think of any facet of my playing that has not improved dramatically! My high range has lost a little bit, but I can consistently play C#s whereas before, I could occasionally play much higher, but depending upon the day, I could occassionally not even get up to A's comfortably.

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I can gladly put my horn to my face every day and know what to expect each and every time. It has been the toughest 3 years of my life but I've only just started.