I had my braces put on in my second year or playing, and I had them for about five years. I lost about half of my range immediately, but it cam back over the following month. I encountered some difficulty, because I found that using wax to cover the metal did not help; it would never stay, and I still ended up with painful places where the metal hit the inside of my lips. I tried a plastic brace guard, and that did not help either. For most people the plastic material brace guard will help.
Eventually I resulted to playing with nothing guarding my mouth from the metal, I found that that was least likely to affect my articulations or sound. I had cuts for the first few weeks, but after that I never noticed it. I ended up with a few scars in the different registers, but nothing that has ever been a hindrance. They are gone for the most part, 5 years later. I noticed the biggest problem when I had my braces taken off. I lost over an octave, endurance and I had trouble re-learning how to place my articulations. Since then I had to adjust my embouchure I ended up having this wolfy sound for over a year. In the end this was because I had to relearn to play. It is kind of rough because you can get used to playing in a certain way, and it can work wonderfully. I thought when my braces came off it would be much easier, but it took a year and a half to gain back what I had when they finally did come off. The brace guard really should help, and I also found that on tougher days that a minty lip gloss, that did not contain petroleum, helped. You should warn her not to use orajel before playing. Also, my orthodontist made me take two days off from playing whenever I went in to have my braces adjusted. It's not really all that bad, but in the end it takes quite a bit of patience. Barbara ________________________________________ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Alon reuven [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, October 05, 2007 2:32 PM To: horn@music.memphis.edu Subject: [Hornlist] Braces Hello all, A student of mine is about to put braces on her teeth . Does any one have any Idea about expected difficulties and solutions ? Alon Reuven _______________________________________________ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/barbara_rutledge%40berea.edu _______________________________________________ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
