The topic of our embouchure’s anatomy is one that is very personal to me. I have a history of embouchure injury, having experienced persistent and chronic embouchure pain and discomfort in my career - once as a first year Master’s Degree student, and the second in 2019. I was forced to take a significant amount of time off of playing to recover. As you can imagine, this was an incredibly difficult time.
When my last injury came to a head in early 2020, I felt so lost and confused as to how this happened and how I could possibly recover. I knew I needed help. I was so grateful to get connected with an embouchure injury specialist, Frankie Lo Surdo, who also had suffered from a career threatening injury.
He had made a full recovery after studying with a research anatomist and non musician, Dr. Bronwen Ackermann, one of the world’s leading experts on musician injuries, specializing in brass and woodwind players injuries. They now have a practice, Brass Rehab, which helps to rehabilitate and educate brass with embouchure injuries and playing issues.
I began to study remotely with both of them (a 12-16 hour time difference!). Through this experience I began to learn and better understand the function of the specific muscles of the brass embouchure. The anatomy of how we can create a more efficient setup has always interested me over the course of my career. So many of my questions have been answered by studying with these experts.
This experience was not only incredibly valuable in my own injury recovery, but in my own approach to teaching. I now incorporate the exercises I have learned through Brass Rehab into my own teaching with very effective results. I am sharing what I have learned in lectures and clinics across the country, working with brass students and educators on better understanding the anatomy of better brass playing.
I have been presenting my virtual clinic, “The Anatomy of Brass Playing”, to beginning, high school, and collegiate brass studios across the country. I speak on how we, as brass educators, can incorporate the embouchure and breathing anatomy into brass pedagogy at every age and ability level.
In my clinics, we open the hoods of our cars (so to speak) and explore the mechanics behind what we do as brass musicians. I will share not only how we can use this anatomical knowledge to improve our strength and efficiency, but as a way to problem solve any pain issues that might come up over the course of your careers.
I have tailored my lecture to be age and major specific - from beginning students to professionals, from performance majors to education and brass methods students. I would love to tailor this clinic to best support YOUR students and studios!
Contact me below to connect and to learn more:
