Award Date

5-15-2026

Degree Type

Doctoral Project

Degree Name

Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA)

Department

Music

First Committee Member

Barbara Hull

Second Committee Member

Isrea Butler

Third Committee Member

Nathan Tanouye

Fourth Committee Member

Richard Miller

Fifth Committee Member

Erin Hannon

Number of Pages

116

Abstract

This dissertation examines the treatment and recovery of oral mucoceles in professional brass musicians through a qualitative case study combining personal narrative, semi-structured interviews, and analysis of medical and pedagogical literature. I interviewed four professional trumpet players who experienced mucoceles and lip trauma, and three medical professionals with relevant expertise. My own case serves as the primary study, documenting 15 years of scar tissue management following surgical excision and an immediate return to demanding performance. Medical literature treats mucocele excision as a routine procedure with recovery measured in weeks. Brass pedagogy literature assumes healthy lips and offers no guidance for musicians recovering from oral surgery. No published research exists at the intersection of these fields. This dissertation fills that gap by introducing the concept of the Performance Trap, which is the gap between medical healing and functional recovery that professional musicians face when career demands prevent adequate time off after surgery. The central finding is that performance environment during recovery predicts functional outcome more reliably than surgical technique, cyst characteristics, or treatment choice. Charley Davis, who controlled his workload during healing, recovered fully. I returned to eight shows per week at week four and plateaued for years. Wayne Bergeron adapted through equipment changes and ongoing management. Mary Bowden avoided surgery entirely through aggressive immediate intervention after trauma. Drawing on collagen turnover science, sports medicine return-to-play frameworks, and the experiences documented in these interviews, this dissertation proposes a graduated recovery protocol for brass musicians after mucocele treatment and trauma, and outlines prevention strategies including protocols for marching band safety, in addition to providing recommendations for musicians, teachers, and healthcare providers. The Performance Trap does not have a clean solution but understanding it gives the next brass musician facing this situation better information than I had.

Keywords

brass musicians; embouchure; mucocele; performance recovery; scar tissue; trumpet

Disciplines

Education | Medicine and Health Sciences | Music Performance

File Format

PDF

File Size

1498 KB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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