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old NASA listserve discussions / velopharyngeal incompetence

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Are old NASA listserve discussions still available? I am seeking info on "velopharyngeal incompetence" (nasal air leak) and I believe this has been duscussed on the NASA listserve. Thanks David Dees

David, I believe the old listserve discussions were lost when we disconnected the old server in Griff Campbell's studio. If you write Griff directly he may be able to help you. Steve

Steve and David, These should be available to Tom in the archive that I sent him when the new site went up. Griff

I presume you mean Tom Lowry? Thanks, Thomas Liley

When you track down the info, I'd be interested as well. thanks Michael Duke

Yes, Tom, Tom Lowry. Sorry about that. G

Sorry it has taken me some time to get to this... Here's the original post: Dear Friends and Colleagues, Does anyone in the saxophone community have any experience, yourself or with one of your students, with velopharyngeal incompetence? If so, please contact me directly at [EMAIL="enestler@music.unt.edu"]enestler@music.unt.edu[/EMAIL] rather than replying to this email. Thank you, Eric Nestler ...and the reply... Eric, I have had 2 students experience this problem. One was a bassoonist. Both had it occur under stressful conditions, i.e. performance or competition, but the bassoonist had it also happen to her when fatigued. She was evaluated by our speech pathology department and they determined that some of her problem was related to endurance and some was dehydration. Neither had a serious problem, it went away on its own. I have also had contact with others on the discussion group that have had more serious difficulty. Good luck! Jackie Lamar Jackie Lamar, Professor of Saxophone University of Central Arkansas Department of Music 201 Donaghey Conway, AR 72034 501-450-5763 [EMAIL="jackiel@uca.edu"]jackiel@uca.edu[/EMAIL] That's all that I could find - hope this helps! Tom

I used to save a lot of these... Here are some related posts. There's some good stuff in here! Interesting to note that all of the replies came within 4 1/2 hours of the original post... Lemuel Bardequez sent a similar question with the subject, "Soft Palate Problem" on 5/11/2006. I didn't save the responses to that (if there were any). Tom Walsh ------------------- subject: leaky nose October 3, 2002 Dear Colleagues, I need some help with a problem one of my students has. Until now she has played shorter pieces (she is a Freshman). When I asked her to play all three of the Schumann Romances on an upcoming Wednesday recital, she became worried. "ALL three of them,"? she asked. "Sure," I replied. "They are coming along nicely." The cause of her worry, she reported, is that when she plays more or less continuously for more than several minutes, air begins to "leak" from her nose, and it gets worse the longer she plays. I have not yet encountered this problem. I spoke with her about the importance of having an open throat, and of not engaging the glottis, and we did some breathing exercises with those admonitions in mind. I'm not at all sure what to do here. Have any of you, or your students had this problem? I would dearly appreciate any ideas you may have about how I might help her with this. Many thanks in advance, Jon Jon Gudmundson October 3, 2002 I actually have experienced this problem before, after practicing for a very long time (or what is a very long time to me, anyway). After about 3-4 hours or so of relatively continuous practice (10 minute breaks at the top of each hour), I will sometimes start to lose air pressure out through my nose, after which time I find it impossible to play until I've rested for an hour or more. It is simply impossible to put air through the horn -- as soon as I start building up pressure, it goes out through my nose. I'm convinced that this is a fatigue issue, but I don't know the musculature of the inside of my head well enough to know what muscle it is that is getting fatigued. I'm not sure how helpful this might or might not be, since the only solution I've ever found is to rest and the problem takes a lot longer to manifest for me than for your student. Nevertheless, yes, at least one other person has had this happen to them. I'll be very interested to know if anyone else has come up with another solution or even just an explanation that's more detailed than mine. All best, Eric Honour October 3, 2002 I had a bassoon student who had some trouble with this, it is cause by weak or tired muscles. Endurance and stress sometimes affects it. I also had a saxophone student who had it happen to him in a competition. It really scared him. I talked with my friends over in speech therapy and they suggested some exercises and to drink a lot of water to remain well-hydrated. Good luck! Jackie Jackie Lamar October 3, 2002 I'm not sure what the glottis has to do with it;sounds more like the soft palate isn't sealing against the opening to the nasopharynx (the passage from the throat to the nose). Opening or closing the throat won't have any effect on this area. Does the student have a cold or allergies; any swelling of the palette around the uvula? If it's not due to allergy or infection, maybe the end of the soft palate is becoming fatigued, like when one who talks for too long using a nasal quality. I had this happen to me years ago, but I can't remember the circumstances. I think it was from playing too much when I didn't have much endurance (after taking a couple of weeks off from playing). Perhaps she's not used to playing in a sustained manner for so long a period of time. (With band, practice, lessons, etc., maybe she's never done this much playing on a regular basis.) Tom Smialek October 3, 2002 Dear Colleagues, Friends, etc.: FINALLY! A topic I can contribute to on the discussion list!! Jon - I find this topic to be of a SERIOUS nature. I suffered a severe injury to my throat back in high school. It came from hours of practice and fatigue, and it happened during a recital. All of the air started flowing OUT MY NOSE and NONE of it was going into the mouthpiece. very frightening. This phenomenon plagued me for years, until my professor, Patrick Meighan at FSU (THANK YOU, PAT!!) discovered that I was playing with an "Open Throat"; but not VOICING. Does your student have the flexibility to bend pitches on her mouthpiece or on a high f or f#? I can honestly say that once I learned how to bend pitches and my oral cavity increased in flexibility, I have NEVER suffered from this problem again! You can find all this information in the Sinta book -Voicing;. Best of luck to you all. I feel like a "survivor" regarding this issue, for it almost caused me to quit many years ago. If anyone wants to contact me directly about this topic, please do. Take care, Lois Hicks-Wozniak USMA Band October 3, 2002 According to discussions I've had with my doctor, Tom is correct. The problem sounds like a weak soft palate. It can be caused by a combination of stress, illness, allergies or overuse. I've had two students with this problem. We developed a practice routine that gradually increased length of playing time while gradually decreasing periods of rest and also made sure they were well hydrated. The problem went away with the return of optimal health and increased stamina. We never came up with a solution to help when the problem occured in a performance situation - I'd be interested in ideas others have about that! Dr. Debra McKim Associate Professor of Music Woodwinds and Jazz Studies Hastings College Hastings, Nebraska 68901 (402) 461-7371