Lip surgery - a report

Generally speaking, surgical operations are necessary after accidents have occurred. Surgeons operate after car accidents, wounds caused by bites, and other causes. After several months the musician can then hope to recover all his faculties, but this is not always the case.

In the rarest cases a musician volunteers to have an operation in order to improve his playing. A trombonist has done this. André Féraud is at the present time first trombonist in the Aimé Barelli orchestra, which plays in the Sporting Club in Monte-Carlo. The 48-year-old passionate jazzman is cut out for this post and I have particularly appreciated his improvisations.

He has a very personal way of playing, because he more or less taught himself to play the trombone: the great American trombonists are his only models. He started his career in Paris as a trumpeter. He is an excellent player of light music. I have asked him to report on his experiences for the benefit of the readers of BRASS BULLETIN. His exposition is complete and particularly, in respect of instrumental technique, remarkable. I found his case absorbing and do not doubt that your reactions will be the same.

Let us now listen to what André Féraud has to say:

Because my experience interests you I will try to give the reasons for having my upper lip modified by three surgical operations as exactly as possible — despite everyone who advised against it. (The first operation was carried out on 20th Jan. 1965, the second on 1st Oct. 1974 and the third on 10th Oct. 1976.)

The form of my jaw and my upper lip were the cause of the bad position when playing the trumpet. My lower jaw recedes rather too much and my upper lip was swollen in the middle with a protuberance downwards and narrow on each side, therefore completely unbalanced in form (Fig. 1). I had noticed that brass players with a receding jaw move the mouthpiece upwards and have their embouchure as high on the upper lip as their jaw recedes, in order to achieve proper balance again, and greatest possible response (Fig. 2). On the other hand musicians with a projecting chin usually place the mouthpiece further down (Fig. 3).

In my case the form of my upper lip prevented me from compensating in this way. Therefore I had to support the trumpet on the mucous membrane of the upper lip (Fig. 4). After 15 years, caused by the pressure of the lips on the cutting edge of the incisor teeth, a callous had formed. The lower part of the upper lip bulged out (Fig. 5).