 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Dana
Date: 2006-07-19 15:47
I am tongue-tied and was wondering if anyone else who plays clarinet here is tongue-tied. My daughter (sax player) is also tongue-tied and her orthodontist is recommending it to be clipped. Does anyone have any experiences with that? Is it hard to play after the surgery?
Thanks for any input! 
Dana
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Author: Chalumeau Joe
Date: 2006-07-20 01:50
Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor...seek appropriate medical advice from someone who plays one on TV.
...and now, "Oh, So Many Questions":
How old is your daughther?
How long has she been playing?
What is her skill level?
How serious a musician is she?
Are we talking elementary school band or college tryouts?
How seriously does her condition affect/limit the way she eats, speaks, or plays? If she is a professional musician, has it ever kept her from getting a gig?
Has she tried to overcome her limitations through practice and appropriate exercises? (Does she work with a therapist? Is there ANY speech therapy?) (Exercises can be tailored for her problem).
I've heard anecdotes about a few musicians that have had this procedure done, which resulted in the less than expected benefits they were hoping to get. Many regretted having it done. (Again, these were PROFESSIONAL musicians that had this type of surgery).
I would be extremely circumspect about any kind of surgical procedure, at least until you've considered these and other questions that will likely come up in response to your posting.
I'm sure you're going to get a second medical opinion...what about getting a second clarinet teacher opinion (or even a first).
My two cents,
Joe
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Author: Sean.Perrin
Date: 2006-07-20 17:34
"I dont' konw why I feel so tougne tied... i dont' konw why I FEEEL SOOO SKINNNED ALIVE!!!"
Never heard of this surgery... but those Radiohead lyrics that are singing in my head! Interestingly enough they used that line in two completely different songs from completely different sessions... Cuttooth and Myxomatosis. Check it out. Haha.
Founder and host of the Clarineat Podcast: http://www.clarineat.com
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Author: Dana
Date: 2006-07-20 20:23
Joe,
How old is your daughther? 14
How long has she been playing? 3 years
What is her skill level? 1st in her section
How serious a musician is she? not serious at this point
Are we talking elementary school band or college tryouts? no tryouts, just middle school band.
There are currently no limitations. Speech is fine. Tounging is fine. I am just curious to know if she could have trouble playing after the surgery. And, the surgery is not recommended because of her playing....it is due to her teeth formation. Yes, I will have a second (or third) opinion before the surgery. Music teachers I've talked with haven't had any experiences with this sort of thing.
Dana
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Author: Chalumeau Joe
Date: 2006-07-21 02:01
OK...I read too much into your post and wrongly assumed that a motivation for the surgery was to improve her playing. (BTW, the medical name for "tongue-tied" is "ankyloglossia" -- my cousin had this when he was about the same age and had his frenulum "snipped" to correct it).
Some musicians have had surgery done to improve their tonguing (see the paragraph above the "Breathing" section) -- that's why I was curious as to how "serious" she was.
http://www.hornsociety.org/RESOURCES/articles/farkas_medical.html
I'm not a doctor, so I'm obviously not qualified to provide any medical advice. However, I would encourage you to really question the need for the surgery if she doesn't have any limitations or speech problems. You've clearly indicated you're going to get additional medical opinions, and one of the questions you should ask is the potential effects on her playing.
Good luck to you and your daughter.
Joe
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Author: allencole
Date: 2006-08-02 03:32
I am teaching my first tongue-tied student and would like to hear from those who have experience in this area.
My current strategy is to try to get her to minimize the amount of surface area that contacts her upper jaw and let her wind do the rest of the work--with considerable breath support, of course. We practice this by counting rhythms vocally using "da-da-da" sounds.
When blowing or vocalizing timidly, she sounds like she's contacting her upper jaw at a point behind the tip of her tongue and getting the sort of uncertain, stuttering response that you'd except in that circumstance.
So what I REALLY seem to be working with her on, seems to be a fairly typical overuse of the tongue. Once this is corrected, how do we best deal with the actually tongue-tying issue?
Allen Cole
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