Metal Mouth Message Board

I'm getting braced on Feb 8, and I play the flute as well. I have lessons every other day (Monday - Friday) and am curious to know if having braces affects the way you play, or how you play, or even if you can play at all! Just curious...

Also, if you play another wind instrument, thats fine as well.




*Edited 12:48, Jan 23

When I was a teenager, a saxaphone player in our band went over the handlebars of her bike and really messed up her teeth. She ended up in braces and had to switch to the flute and did just fine. I think she had to switch because she couldn't bite down on the sax mouthpiece for a while.

I'm nowhere near a proflutist, but I still play around with my flute a little. I don't have any problems unless my lips are sliced up from a bracket. I have a little more trouble pulling my lips tight enough for a high note, but I can still get to it.

Chris

I play the clarinet, and I can't say until I get them off if they really make an impact but all I know is that I'm still able to play just fine. Clarinet is basically my life but since it's been so long since I got my braces, I can't really say where I would have been if I didn't have them, all I know is that I've still been able to play very competitively. In my opinion, the difference is in the comfort. I think you're still able to play just as well as without them, but it's just a lot harder and more painful. It does effect your embouchure quite a bit-I get so annoyed at sectionals teachers continuously correcting my embouchure because it's just a heck of a lot harder when your mouth is filled with metal, but do-able? Definately. I know many people who quit their instruments when they got braces...BIG mistake.

I actually the clarinet has a bigger impact on my teeth than my braces do on the clarinet. According to my ortho, clarinet is the worst instrument you can play teeth-wise...great. It creates an overbite apparently


Eve

Thanks so much. I love my flute and I have a friend who plays the flute too, but she just got her braces off today (lucky) and she said nothing really ever affected her when she played, so I wanted a couple people's advice. Thanks!

I somehow manage to play flute and piccolo with braces!
At first it was really frustrating, it took a while to adjust my embochure etc., but after a few weeks I was almost back to normal.
I wouldn't say that it's back 100% yet... and I'm not sure it ever will be.

I'm looking forward to playing braces-free! It would be nice to not have brackets digging into my lower lip!

I am a professional wind player (clarinet) and music teacher and honestly I haven't noticed any difference in my playing. The only problem is that the braces can get a little uncomfortable during a long rehearsal but it really isn't bad. I haven't noticed any difference in my ability to play my instrument at all. Just another thing you get used to with braces!

Interesting about the clarinet causing an overbite...hum, that would be me and I have been playing clarinet for over twenty years. Yikes.

Good luck with your flute playing!

I played clarinet pretty competitively for 10 years, and now I just play for my own personal enjoyment. Since I've played with and without braces, what I can say that it's mainly a comfort thing...braces can be a pain for the long rehearsals or personal practice sessions. My mouth is small anyway, so having soomeone correct my embouchure and tell me to tighten up is really frustrating because I'm already about as tight as I can get with my borbeck (mouthpiece) shoved up there with all of that metal!

When I first had braces in middle school, I played saxophone and remember well putting a beautiful strip of red wax across my braces to help with the discomfort.
I also remember a darling little girl who got her flute mouthpiece hung in her braces. that was funny to me, but I'm sure she didn't enjoy it, so be careful!
When I went to see the oral surgeon, he took one look at my xray and said, "You play a wind instrument, don't you?" so it must affect your bite somehow. I still play sax in church most Sundays and I plan to continue after getting braced for round two on February 1. My hope is that 1) it won't be too painful and 2) my ortho doesn't tell me to stop until things are fixed.

i'm so glad you asked this question! i haven't played my flute in a long time because it's at my mom's and i am not. however, that was one of the first things that occurred to me--it seems like it will be really hard but i plan to play the next time i'm home just to check it out.

Hey there,

Well, I play the flute and I got my braces also on the 8th of February )

To be honest, I found it a little more difficult and also more exhausting (you muscles are apparently used differently...). It takes some practising until your sound is the same, but all in all I expected it much worse so don't worry.

If you have any more questions don't hesitate to ask.
Good luck for the 8th - I will be having my braces for one year then.

Tess

I'm surrounded by woodwinds!! ahhhhhhhhhh

hehe j/k. I'm a trumpet and french horn player. A little background: I started playing trumpet in 7th grade, switched to french horn spring of 10th grade, got braces the end of that year. From then on I had braces. My embochure changed and I had to relearn how to play higher notes and because of that, the DAY i got my braces off I picked up my trumpet for the first time in a year or so and my tone was sooooo awesome. I could very effortlessly play high notes I couldn't imagine with braces on (or before I got them). My point is having braces forced me to learn to play with less pressure and more air and I ultimately improved because of it. Other than the initial few weeks of adjustment when I got my braces, it's not a big deal.

I was actually playing in an on stage band for a musical 2 weeks after I got my braces. I did just fine. I was the only wind instrument (the other person in the "band" was keyboardist) so everything I played was a solo. I think I'll have to watch that video tomorrow and try not to cry listening to all the missed notes lol. The music was way beyond my level so the songs I couldn't sight read well were just..not good, but it wasn't my braces.

I was a music major in college for two years and in one class we learned flute, clarinet, and sax so I played all of those with braces. They were nothing compared to the initial shock of playing a brass instrument with braces. It took a few months of no braces for the indention in my top lip to go away (it didn't hurt though, unless I played for more than a couple hours at a time).

Now that you know my whole life story.........

BigEyedDave,

your avatar... is it Ralph from The Simpsons? (in a costume)

My clarinet is a big part of my life, and i have been playing for about 4 years. I definetely noticed a difference when i got my braces on, but it didn't stop me!!! It was definetely more painful to play at first, but my embouchure quickly adapted. I learned to play with far less pressure on my teeth, which i think has changed the way i play for the better. When i get my braces off, i'm sure that i will be just as good with out my braces as i am with them......not that i'm magnificent or anything LoLz.

Just my $0.02
Shelby

"Two molars are marked men" <---funniest thing I've ever seen on a forum lmao

When I asked my ortho, he said that if I were a kid, then he would say that there wouldn't be a change and to not worry about it (with Invisalign). But, for adults who have played for several years, he does expect that there would be a slight, but nonetheless noticable change with my instruments (trumpet and clarinet). Probably moreso with the clarinet since I became too accustomed to biting down on the mouthpiece. Just to think about playing a clarinet that way with Invisalign just makes me cringe!

I guess that the longer that we have been playing, the pickier we get about having ideal tones. It just means re-learning how to play. That isn't a hurdle I am looking forward to crossing but I do not want to give up on something that I enjoy and have worked so many years to become good at!