intermittent involuntary humming while playing

[ace9848]

On occasion my vocal cords will involuntarily engage (i.e. hum) while I am playing. This only lasts 2 seconds at most and corrects itself, and my playing continues undisturbed. This may happen about 3-5 times at most in a half hour practice session.

What is going on, and how do I address this?

I found an aritcle by Phyllis Stork (Dr. Mouthpiece) that mentions vocal cords, leading me to think that I am trying to speed the air to velocity in the throat, so something might need "tightening up" elsewhere (i.e. tongue, aperture, or mouthpiece ) to alleviate the vocal cords from doing this instead. I don't really feel constricted in the throat, but I am trying to make sense of this issue. It seems the vocal cords wouldn't vibrate if they weren't closing, right?

Part of me just thinks that this issue could resolve itself as the aperture becomes stronger, allowing my vocal cords to relax and not to "mess with it too much" to solve this potentially temporary problem with a poor solution yielding other problems later.

Any thoughts? Much appreciated!

Background: Comeback player, age 49 in good health, about 3 months into comeback, fleshy lips. Coming back with a flat chin and 50/50 embouchure placement, rather than old habits of a loose chin and "playing in the red." If I am coming back, I want to come back better, and those issues (chin/playing in the red) had bonuses (high range), but cons (stability for large/fast interval jumps, and endurance) that I am am hoping to alleviate through my improved embouchure. Things are going slow but well, and I am pleased with my tone. Playing on Schilke 17 mouthpiece after much experimentation.
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Sincerely,
Greg

[chrisf3000]

I absolutely agree with Phyllis Stork on this one and came here to say that. Your body knows what it needs and, in your case, it needs the air to speed up. This is purely subconscious, which is why it's surprising to you. Likely, it's happening when you are going from a lower note to a higher note. Am I on to something? You are probably not constricted in throat in general, just during those few moments where your body knows it needs to speed up the air in order to get to the higher note.

[Andy Cooper]

Three months is not very long in to a come back especially if you have been experimenting with many different mouthpieces and have made a complete change in mouthpiece position. Technique comes back much sooner than your muscles. Consider more brief rests and adding some P.E.T.E. or pencil isometric exercises to your routine.


If you still think something needs to tighten up, an inexpensive experiment would be to purchase yet another mouthpiece - a Yamaha 17B4. The rim is very close to the Schilke 17. A few differences - the Yamaha has a smaller throat, backbore, and probably a bit more gap. All should "tighten" things up a bit.

It this helps but you prefer the Schilke rim, you could have a 17 cut and threaded for backbores then try slightly tighter backbores such as the Bach #10, Warburton 6 or 6* or the stock Yamaha. There will be a slight mis-match of throat sizes but they will still work. You then have the option of larger backbores when you become stronger.

[JayKosta]

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