Klarinet Archive - Posting 000230.txt from 2007/07

From: "Salli Chmura" <schmura@-----.au>
Subj: [kl] Playing with braces
Date: Thu, 26 Jul 2007 19:34:50 -0400

Hi Brian,

Have you seen the plastic strips with a channel in it that you can push onto
braces? I think they're called Morgan's bumper strips. You can find them
at any music store (for instance the one here in Canberra has them on their
front counter). I've never tried them, but if they work they would be much
better than wax, which all my students continuously complained about - it
stuck into their braces etc. You could also suggest putting florist tape
over the braces, at least to give a bit of protection to the lip. Basically
I found that students with braces, especially on the bottom teeth, were a
write off sound-wise until they got them off and then all of a sudden they
took off dramatically with their sound. One of my students solved the
problem of the pain from the braces by sitting her lip just below her braces
(ie not using her lip over her teeth at all). This seemed to work pretty
well though she went through a huge amount of reeds.

Hope this is of some help, Salli

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