[Harp-L] No more overblows for me! (or: The Botox Blues)

["M. N." <mnessmith@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Last Thursday I had the pleasure of getting 10 rather painful injections of 
botox in my face. See, I have a minor short-circuit in my melon where an 
artery and cranial nerve bump up against each other, causing spasms around 
my left eye and, a bit, around the left side of my mouth. It's called 
hemifacial spasms, if you're keeping score. In the long run, surgery is the 
only permanent solution (microvascular decompression, if you're keeping 
score). In the short term, they say these botox injections will ease the 
twitching for as much as six months.
So? Has it worked? Well, they've diminished the spasms. BUT (and I know 
you're wondering what the hell this has to do with harmonica!) there seems 
to have been an unforseen side-effect from the injections near my mouth: Due 
to the weakening of the facial muscles, I can barely play with a pucker 
embouchure now and can't overblow at all! :-o
The good thing is that this is FORCING me to only play with tongue blocking 
which is really getting me up to speed on that embouchure. Thankfully, over 
the past few months, I've become reasonably proficient at TBing all holes, 
including all draw bends.
The bad thing is that I still can't TB the blow bends on 8, 9 and 10, so 
those notes are out (for now). Plus, I really enjoy the challenge of working 
OBs into my playing.
I believe the effects will diminish over the next week or so -- I hope so, 
anyway. Meanwhile, I'm thinking going under the knife is going to be a 
better option. Who else but a harmonica geek would opt for brain surgery 
since the alternative means he can't blow harp like he wants to!?
MN