Conclusion
To conclude, from this research I do think that I have learnt a lot about the brass players stutter. I now have a much greater understanding about the different causes and effects of this and the best ways to alleviate them for both myself and others.
From the existing articles I found I revert quickly found out what was causing this stuttering effect. It was very clear to me that the valsalva manoeuvre is what would block off my air and prevent me from playing. Even though these articles had given me a clear idea of what was causing me to stutter, nothing I found told me how this valsalva manoeuvre occurred in the first place or could be prevented.
My method of interviews was to gather as much information and learn from as much personal experience as possible. The interviews were extremely insightful and soon I began to get a greater understanding of what was causing this valsalva manoeuvre and stutter. From the people I have talked to I can conclude that in my opinion there is not just one reason for why this happens. The main reason for this being is as it is an extremely personal problem, therefore it can vary from player to player. However I can state some of the very common reasons that I discovered during the interview process. The most common of this being the issue of pulse. If the player had not clear pulse given to them then the uncertainty of the point of play would cause the throats to block and therefore the stutter. I can relate to this a lot, as my own problems only really occur when there is an undefined pulse and I have to play on my own. Another reason I discovered when asking the question, do you think these problems are technical, psychological or both? Two of my interviewed group gave me very similar answers. This was that itis both technical and psychological. As they were beginning to develop their playing and enhance their technique they would concentrate a great deal on such small details in the technique that very soon they would begin to doubt their abilities. This split second of doubt before playing is enough to cause the valsalva manoeuvre and the stutter. After I heard these answers I began to think back to how this all started for me and believe I had a similar experience. This happened for me and the people I interviewed at a similar time. Studying at conservatoire puts great pressure and competition on students, this pressure and the desire to improve is where these issues with doubt will develop. The other likely cause for the stutter is exclusively a technical problem. The simple fact of mis-coordination between the tongue and air can trigger the stutter. Although in this cause the stutter can sound as more of an explosion at the start of the note than the inability to play, though havingvery similar feelings for the player. These are the most common explanations I was given on why these problems occur.
So how did I explain on how it can be fixed? Well, I started this research expecting to find a cure, a complete solution to my personal problems. However, from conducting my interviews I now believe that for me that will never happen. I will always have these problems in one way or another. The solution to this is how I deal with in, what I can do to prevent it rather than looking for a definitive cure. I came to this conclusion from my interview with Ben van Dijk. I can relate so much to his issues in my own personal experiences. The best way to begin to get over these difficulties is to just accept them. Then you need to find a good set of exercises you that you can use to help alleviate your own problems in a variety of different situations. This is what I have done for myself and I am beginning to make progress. One of these exercises that I was told by nearly everybody I spoke to was to practice producing the tone with just the air, no tongue. It is very interesting that this is such a common exercise to be advised on. It tells me that this is related to what I said about the co-ordination problems that would lead to the stutter. My interview with Anton van Houton really told me that the co-ordination of the tongue and air is so important when trying to resolve these problems. He gave me two quotes that sum up the stutter very well. The first being "there is no stutter, just a mis-timing of air and tongue". This is very interesting. It shows how much he believes that it is just the mis-timing. In my opinion it is partly this but due to the personal nature of this I do think the stutter is brought about by other reasons too. As I mentioned before. The second quote is "the tongue is a reaction not an action". This quote can be related to the cause of over thinking and concentrating too much, in the case on the tongue. You do not need to tell yourself to use the tongue, when you do the stutter occurs. The tongue should be on automatic. From this I can now see why practising without the tongue only using the air is so important and why it was mentioned to me so much. Practising without it to gain a good pulse and being able to produce the tone on the beat is a great exercise to help alleviate the difficulties. Soon the tongue can be introduced easily without you thinking about it to. This has helped me a great deal and I am now developing the other exercises to help me in all situations I struggle with.
Now I have developed a good picture of what is happening to me and others while developing a group of exercises that can help alleviate the stutter effect. I was curious to see how many others students wereaware of these problems and see if anyone else was going through difficulties. Due to the lack of information available on the internet I'd like to be able to use the knowledge I have gathered to help others. I can conclude that the survey I obtained from the trombone students of Holland was very interesting and useful. I can say that the majority of students I contacted were aware of these problems and knew of fellow trombonists to struggle with it, however a much smaller number had ever had a personal experience of problems of their own. The survey group I contacted also confirmed my understanding that there was not enough written about these problems. None of the group had ever seen any publication on either the internet or any trombone methods, books.
To finally bring my research to a close. It is in my opinion that these problems are extremely mis understood for the amount of people who have had the stutter. Even if the causes can vary from person to person they can be helped, in some cases players are able to alleviate it totally however it is far more likely that these problems will never be "solved". The best way round them is to find your own set of tricks and exercises to help you in different situations. I have learned a great deal from this research. It has really opened my eyes to see how common it is and accepting it myself has helped me greatly regarding my own playing. Compared to when I started I am well on track to finding my own set of solutions to different situations, however as I stated before. I do not believe they will ever go completely. If another player sufferingfrom similar issues were to be reading this, the best advice I'd give the from my experience and what I have learnt is the exercises taking the tongue away and using the air only. This is what I found most useful. If I were to do this research again. I would like to look into other brass and wind instruments to see if it is as common on those instruments too. Especially as from the interview I conducted with Pete and Roel that their problems first appeared after a swap of instrument size., I'd also like to be able to see how common this is. Interviewing students and professionals not from just Holland but the rest of Europe and the US to see if it is to do with how we are taught more.