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Amazing Grace on Trombone after Cleft Lip and Palate Surgery - 2 min 30 seconds

Perseverance and Teamwork to Play the Trombone After Cleft Surgery (Part 1: Cleft Lip) - 31 minutes

Definitions

• Embouchure (from French 'bouche' = mouth) refers to the positioning of perioral and facial muscles including tongue and teeth to play a wind instrument
  • Definition proposed by Woldendorp et al (2016): 'the process needed to adjust the amount, pressure, and direction of the air flow ... as it travels fhrough the mouth... between the lips by the position and/or movments of the tonuge, teeth, jaws, cheeks, and lipe to produce a tone in a wind instrument"
  • As per Termsarasab and Frucht (2016): "The embouchure refers to the complex pattern of muscles of the face, jaw, tongue, and pharynx used to control the force and amplitude of airflow into the mouthpiece of a brass or woodwind instrument"
  • Storms et al (2016) quote Philip Farkas (1962) defining embouchure: "the mouth, lip, chin, and cheek muscles, tensed and shaped in a precise and cooperative manner, and then blown through for the purpose of setting the air-column into vibration when these lips are placed upon the mouthpiece of a brass instrument."

Background

Difficulties in generating the muscle tension of the upper lip coupled with high intraoral pressure needed to play a wind instrument have resulted in the suggestion that 'the oboe and trumpet may be less suitable for patients with cleft lip and palate' (van der Weijden 2023a). However, these authors identified adaptations permitting patients with cleft lip and or palate to play at a professional level on a wind instrument. They conclude that, in acknowledging these difficulties, overall - wind instrument playing should not be discouraged in patients with cleft lip and or palate.

References:

PORTER MM. Les facteurs dentaires dans le jeu des instruments a vent [Dental aspects in playing wind instruments]. Inf Dent. 1954 Mar 25;36(12):362-8; concl. Undetermined Language. PMID: 13162550.

van der Weijden FN, Hazenberg CJM, van der Kaaij NCW, Kuitert RB. A case series of wind instrument players with cleft lip and/or palate. Br Dent J. 2023 Feb;234(4):223-231. doi: 10.1038/s41415-023-5510-9. Epub 2023a  Feb 24. PMID: 36829010.

Porter M M. Dental problems in wind instrument playing. 1. Dental aspects of embouchure. Br Dent J 1967; 123: 393–396. (good figure of embouchure)

van der Weijden FN, Hernández EM, Rossell Perry PE, van Essen LH. The influence of music lessons on the socio-emotional wellbeing of children with cleft lip and/or palate. Br Dent J. 2023b Mar 7. doi: 10.1038/s41415-023-5570-x. Epub ahead of print. Erratum in: Br Dent J. 2023 Mar;234(6):449. doi: 10.1038/s41415-023-5689-9. PMID: 36882490.

Termsarasab P, Frucht SJ. Evaluation of embouchure dysfunction: Experience of 139 patients at a single center. Laryngoscope. 2016 Jun;126(6):1327-33. doi: 10.1002/lary.25723. Epub 2015 Oct 29. PMID: 26511602.

Woldendorp KH, Boschma H, Boonstra AM, Arendzen HJ, Reneman MF. Fundamentals of Embouchure in Brass Players: Towards a Definition and Clinical Assessment. Med Probl Perform Art. 2016 Dec;31(4):232-243. doi: 10.21091/mppa.2016.4038. PMID: 27942703

Storms PR, Elkins CP, Strohecker EM. Embouchure Dysfunction in Air Force Band Brass Musicians. Med Probl Perform Art. 2016 Jun;31(2):110-6. doi: 10.21091/mppa.2016.2019. PMID: 27281382.

Farkas P. The Art of Brass Player: A Treatise on the Formation and Use of the Brass Player’s Embouchure. Bloomington, IN, Brass Publications, 1962