Pucky! Both my kids are in braces right now. The older one plays trumpet, got braces on in 7th grade 5 weeks before solo contest. The first time she played with them on, most of her upper register was gone and she could only play for a few minutes, which is fine, because there's no sense hurting yourself. Short (even just 5-10 minutes) practice sessions were the norm for a few days, making sure she didn't use a "goldfish" embouchure that would become a nasty habit to break. Within 2 weeks she was back to normal, with the exception of a fuzzier tone and missing high notes. Today (3 1/2 years later) she still has the silly things on, and hopes to get them off by Halloween, which will undoubtedly screw up her playing for a little while. She has a respectable range for a high school sophomore. Still some fuzz in the tone, but she has a mouth full of rubber bands pretty much holding her jaws shut. Not an "all-state" player, but then she doesn't have the drive for that.
The younger one just turned 11 and is playing horn. She tried playing the day she got them on, and was able to play a C scale up and down, commenting that it felt weird. Same rule about not goldfishing the embouchure, and short practice sessions at first. She has a usable 2 octave range right now (f-f2) and will have the braces for another couple years. Bottom line is to treat the braces as a minor inconvenience. Don't think it's the end of the world and it won't be. If you as a teacher project fear and dread onto your student and believe they're the death knell for his or her playing, your student will oblige and they will be. Don't play hurt. Don't hurt yourself (i.e., easy on the pressure). There is also a lot that can be done in comfortable registers to improve one's playing even when braces take away some facility at first. Just an amateur non-music educator's opinion. John Baumgart -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Susan Thompson Sent: Friday, October 05, 2007 2:04 PM To: The Horn List Subject: Re: [Hornlist] Braces I second Aleks' suggestion and would suggest other alternatives such as: Voice lessons Ballet lessons Music theory lessons Aleks Ozolins suggested: >Piano lessons! > >On Oct 5, 2007, at 2:32 PM, Alon reuven wrote: > >> 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/john.baumgart%40comcast.net _______________________________________________ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
