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im getting my braces off thursday, however i've had them on pretty much the entire length of my tuba playing..

I NEVER used wax, or those plastic things... ever.. it wasnt' natural. Have you tried playing without? I got to a point where my lip lasted easily for regular band practices and such, and only gave me problems if I played for long period of times, or played alot of high stuff out of my 'comfort range'.

as far as affecting range, well unless u had this range previously.. itmay just be you more so then the braces.. If you had a higher rangeb efore the braces, and now its gone. Well its just gonna take time to rebuild it.. Start playing some scales, Db major, Eb Major and F major.. until u get to where F major pops out real easy, then move up and go higher and higher.. this is my main way of improving my range.. this and I dabbled with baritone..

On the low side, just drop your jaw.. all I can think of.. and relax, if u just got ure braces and they are still sore you may be tightening up? possibly? if u just got these things.. i'd give it a few days for the pain to go away before you add the pain of getting your chops back.

when I FIRST got my braces I was lucky to be playing around a D in the staff, or anything lower then a under the staff Bb i started guessing cuz of those leger lines (I wsa in 9th grade, bout a year into playing the tuba EVER...).. So i was pretty new, Which means i wasn't at a point that I would of noticed any change with or without braces because in general.. i wasnt' very good;)...

Good luck, you will get used to them.. no matter what you'll have those days where your braces decided to get snag ya a bit over the night, or irritate your more then normal during playing.. but overall you'll get used to em and it shouldn't hinder your playing int he long run atleast I dont' think so..

I used to have braces when I first started playing and was lucky enough to have an amazing teacher to make sure I did things right from the start and didn't change anything while I had braces. This meant, bascially, playing through a lot of pain at first. I didn't use wax and my teacher, John Griffiths, made sure that the amount of pressure I used (which was very minimal in comparison to trumpet, horn, etc...) was the same kind of pressure I should use without braces. There was blood at first from the braces rubbing up against my lips but not from forcing the mouthpiece into my face, that's just not how you ever play the tuba. With or without braces. After three years of playing like this my braces came off and in the first month my range went up almost an octave. My advice: grin it and bear it while you have braces and make sure that your fundamentals are correct and not accomodating your braces. Get used to having some blood in your mouthpiece and coming out of your spit valves. Then when you get your braces off, clean your horn, and enjoy your hard work paying off!!

Tom McCaslin

hmm, ok.. noting how i think every1 here has said we didnt'/don't use wax..

and i dont' think hes a wimp if he decides to use wax, but i would strongly suggest tyring w/o.. wax would mess u up i think alot mor ethen it help.. I think wax is only good for woodwind players w/ braces..

as far as being rewarded, I sure hope I am.. tomorrow morning 10:45 am these bad boys are coming off.. i'm practicing like crazy tonihgt just cuz its gonna be my last time w/ braces:D

I play with pressure, wiht my braces.. atleast I think i do.. i'll develop a ring at times around where i've played.. so im sure im using pressure...

just got home from school, fixen to leave to the dentist:D

i cant' wait.. after i get em off im going straight to go play my horn to see if there is a difference, and how much:D

I just played thru it, but I was in 7th grade and didn't know any better!!

You will find many people on here that will give you much advice/a lot of opinions on what to do. Some will be great and work for you, some will not. The best advice I can give is find a teacher that can help you in person. Nothing will be better than that.

And, having said that, here is my advice/opinion:

I have worked with many students that have had braces put on and have complained of a lot of pain from them. Everytime, I have found that they were using too much pressure and that after that has been fixed, they are back to almost their full playing ability. I always recommend (yes, I know not everyone here will necessarilly agree with this as some are not proponents of the technique) playing with just the mouthpiece and focus on removing the pressure from your lips until you can no longer buzz. It is important to buzz the exact same way you do when you play with the horn. The idea is to make yourself aware of how much pressure you actually use so you can be cognisant of it while you play. The idea is to routinely do this until you no longer have the problem/discomfort of playing with braces. Do this now, and everytime you have them adjusted. This will also save you from having to try and put wax or something in between them and your lips, which will (in my opinion) just make it more difficult/uncomfortable to play.

/opinion

But, the best course of action for you will be to find yourself someone to work with you in person that can help you with this, and everything else that comes up.

Yes, that is another reason I switched from trumpet to marching souzy in high school. The dreaded braces. Not fun. All the above. Get a good teacher to help you, and work with your orthodontist for comfort issues.

On the up side, it is one of the best ways to learn to play with as little mouthpiece pressure as possible!

Seriously, good luck, and hang in there.

Small amounts of Teflon tape will help. I was in braces for about 4 years, I never used wax but used Teflon tape religiously.

JB

Well, this is fun. An *eleven year old thread* is revived by a spammer.

Michael Bush wrote:Well, this is fun. An *eleven year old thread* is revived by a spammer.

Wow didn't even notice. Saw Sept. 1 and thought it was from today.