Jordi Closa

Today I'm playing again with the Unió Musical del Bages and I have better technique than when it all started.

Someday in April 2010, we are rehearsing at the Unió Musical del Bages. We are doing a piece in which there are passages in which the euphonium is left alone playing. They are easy passages; they do not pose any technical difficulties for me. But, little by little, I realize that I miss some notes and that the sound, in the long notes, shakes. The following week I study the problematic passage at home and that is when I really realize that I have problems controlling the sound. I study more than ever but the problems, far from being solved, have increased. At the next rehearsal I have to fold because I am unable to emit a controlled sound. In a matter of 3 weeks I have gone from playing normally to playing practically nothing. I find myself in a disconcerting situation. I discuss it with colleagues, with other musicians and with some music teachers, but they do not understand.

I look for information and, after a lot of searching, I discover that it could be dystonia and that there is a center in Terrassa, the Institute of Physiology and Medicine of Art, that treats it. I contact them in June and, the following September, I begin treatment. The first thing I discover is that this dysfunction affects many musicians and that many factors, especially mental and psychological, are involved. At first, in my case, the treatment is demoralizing because it takes a long time before I start to see improvement results.

I can't believe I can solve the problem.
But there comes a day when you start to notice obvious improvements. In each of the control sessions I do at the center I find something new.

After about two years, one day you find that you are already doing unthinkable things and that in all this time you have been accumulating improvements that, from the inside, are hard to see. There comes a time when, without knowing why, you are almost playing as before. From here on my progression is very fast. In a matter of a month I see myself in a position to play again.

Today I am playing again with the Unió Musical del Bages and I have better technique than when it all started. I have gained confidence and self-assurance and this means that, day after day, with study and effort, I improve my level substantially. I am very grateful to Sílvia Fàbregas from the Institut de l'Art for helping me solve my problem, especially at times when I didn't believe I could solve it.