 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: moolatte
Date: 2011-07-02 01:47
I've had a hard time coming back to clarinet. My embouchure gets tired really easily. And my lips leak air slightly. I've noticed that when it gets tired, I start leaking more air, and my chin starts ascending. I can't get a private lesson because I live in a desert wasteland south of Lubbock, and the last of the clarinet teachers finally moved away.
I've got TTUBOC coming up in a few days. I can't play like I had it prepared before I had my teeth taken out. I REALLY want to make 1st chair 1st orchestra/band again, but I was forced by my parents to have this surgery.
My dentist said I healed faster than most people do after the surgery, but my lips can no longer hold for an hour. It now holds for maybe <1 minute. I was playing maybe 7 days after the surgery.
Do I no longer have a future in music? I just can't fix this on my own it seems. :| I'm afraid I might have permanent nerve damage or something, but all my teeth have regained feeling, AFAIK. Your opinion?
Post Edited (2011-07-02 02:03)
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Author: TJTG
Date: 2011-07-02 02:08
Start out by playing in the lower register. Don't try playing like you did a month ago. I took an ill advised (my own choice) break from practicing after my junior recital to focus on finals. I've had a hard time getting my embouchure back. If you just start simple it should work its way back. Play for 5 minutes, then finger the passage for 5 minutes. Pay attention to finger movement (not too high) and just think about the way your internal voicing should feel when you play those notes. Then go back and play for a few minutes until you get tired. You can practice without the clarinet in your face, so sit down and practice for 30 minutes. Just play your instrument for half of the time, but be deliberate the other half.
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2011-07-02 02:54
"Do I no longer have a future in music?" - Um....a very large conclusion you just jumped to. Just work on long tones with your embouchure to build it back up. Your technique is still there.
Also, I wonder (I hope others chime in) if you can do embouchure exercises multiple times a day or if that is overkill. for instance, just play long-tones before school, again after school, and again at night. But I'd like some teachers or other people to chime in whether that would be overworking it or not.
Alexi
US Army Japan Band
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Author: ThatPerfectReed
Date: 2011-07-02 03:21
Moolatte:
I'm really sorry for how your recent surgery's timing may compromise your Texas Tech Music Camp audition. (Did I get that right, TTUBOC).
Some thoughts.
1) As mentioned, start back up with long low tones. Stay away from things like "the Cadenza to Messager's Solo de Concurs.." if you don't know it, a complex portion of music that
- you won't likely be able to play if you could before the surgery--resulting in frustration..
- that can also test your gum stiches threshold for strength.
2) Search this site for "wisdom teeth" if you haven't. Read people's experiences, but don't be alarmist--here's why:
While I don't know how long ago you had this done, or how many teeth you had removed and if it was both sides of your mouth, what I do know is that you are already reporting sensation in all your teeth. This is good, and suggests no nerve damage. When I had this done years ago, I lost sensation in 1 half of my lower lip for months. I seriously doubt that this incident, alone, will determine your music future.
3) With your dentists/oral surgeon's okay, consider something like the following http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zlxVC-1kAs-- if only I could find the recent post here that talks about this device. It's not loved by everyone, and I've never used it--so I can't speak from experience.
Best wishes for a speedy recovery, 1st chair at TTUBOC, and this soon being a non issue.
Are closer faced mouthpieces/lower strength reeds while you recoup a possibility?
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Author: ThatPerfectReed
Date: 2011-07-02 03:30
oh..sorry...your thread's title does say it's been a month....
but in light of that...my thoughts remain the same...
wisdom teeth removal is...traumatic mouth surgery. even if they weren't (completely) impacted (growing sideways) these "bad boys" have been designed by nature to stay in one place--with hooks, that sometimes only cutting, and chiseling (read: trauma) can remove.
Try to remember with positive outlook that we're not talking about dry socket or Bell's Palsy here.
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Author: moolatte
Date: 2011-07-02 04:50
Well, speaking for myself, my dentist said that we should go ahead and have my wisdom teeth taken out just because "almost no one gets to keep them, and people who do get to keep them can never keep them clean."
They told me that there wasn't any risk of them being impacted, but they'd never poke out of the gum, so it was best to go ahead and remove them.
:| Odd people, oral surgeons are. Anyways, I had to play the cadenza from Aegean Festival Overture for UIL a month later from when I was originally supposed to have them removed. I'm glad I gave some BS reason to have the appointment postponed. (of course, I was in some trouble with my parents for doing that.)
If I did have my wisdom teeth taken out then, I probably would've embarrassed myself while playing that cadenza. Haha. Anyways, I want to say having my wisdom teeth taken out has presented more problems than when they were in. :|
And to answer your question, I'm not the richest of people, so no, getting a different mouthpiece is not a plausible idea. I used to have a Moening Barrel with my clarinet, but it was borrowed from my lesson teacher, of whom moved away recently. Now I'm stuck with the stock Buffet R13 barrel.
Post Edited (2011-07-02 04:58)
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2011-07-02 07:16
"Do I no longer have a future in music?"
I didn't play worth crap in high school, started college as a music minor, eventually adding a major in composition, then working in software a few years before going to grad school for clarinet and composition. I'm now commissioning works, lecturing at Clarinetfest, playing in and starting groups left and right (I co-produced a concert last night), and in the next couple months will be opening a music space.
Don't be so dramatic. You have as much of a future in music now as you did before your wisdom teeth went out. You can do cool things with music regardless of what summer camps you go to or what chair you play in them. Perhaps you can treat this as an opportunity to broaden your musical horizons beyond auditioning-for-established-groups-playing-traditional-repertoire.
While I do have respect for musicians who finely hone their art in the classical tradition, I do not consider it a wise move as far as one's career is concerned. The market is saturated and the positions fragile, and the predisposition toward emulating the same path of your predecessors and peers sets you up with the exact same skillset they have. This makes you interchangeable, replaceable. In an artistic field, unless you win the steady-job lottery, setting out to do things just like everyone else is career suicide.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: kimber
Date: 2011-07-02 14:11
I wouldn't bother with the facial flex device (you tube link above). We used to use them for oral motor (mouth) therapy...but you can do the same thing with tightening your lips around any small object. Fingers work well. Marshmellows work well. Practice whistling for longer stretches at a time. Make the clarinet embouchure, super tighten the muscles and hold for 30 sec.
Set up a schedule mimicing a new clarinet player who is building up lip strength. Play for 5/10 minutes...rest 10-20...play for 5/10...etc. Break when your lips just start to feel tired, not completely worn. Keep the mindset that over time your lips will need less break time to recover, thus lengthening your playing time.
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Author: Tony F
Date: 2011-07-02 14:53
I had an impacted wisdom tooth removed some time back. It certainly had an effect on my playing, but with a sensible break-in period it soon came back. The most important thing to remember is not to use your lips to the point of exhaustion, it enormously increases the recovery time. Just play until your lips show the first signs of fatigue and then rest for 10 minutes or so. Over-exertion can be as damaging as not training, as any athlete can tell you.
The fact that your teeth have normal feeling is a good pointer that there's no major damage, and as to whether you have a future in music, the answer to that lies in your own mind. Don't get too focussed on 1st chair, in the long run it's not important. Making music and enjoying the experience is the name of the game.
Tony F.
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Author: gsurosey
Date: 2011-07-04 04:46
ThatPerfectReed said:
> This is good, and suggests no nerve damage. When I had this done years
> ago, I lost sensation in 1 half of my lower lip for months.
About how long did it take you to get it back? I had my left lower wisdom tooth (last one thankfully) pulled January 6th of this year. The left side of my lower lip is no longer numb, but still feels weird (tingly if I run my finger over it, less sensation than the unaffected side, and hurts if I bite). I just had the tooth in front of that one emergently pulled June 24th (infected root). Thankfully, no new issues from that extraction. An oral surgeon said it could take up to a year for things to normalize. I'm not expecting improvement anytime soon (I'm generally a slow healer), but I'm hopeful that this eventually reverses itself.
----------
Rachel
Clarinet Stash:
Bb/A: Buffet R13
Eb: Bundy
Bass: Royal Global Max
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Author: MSK
Date: 2011-07-04 18:00
I sympathize on the audition. I had auditions for college wind ensemble a few weeks after my wisdom teeth extraction and placed 3 or 4 chairs lower than otherwise would have happened. It was disappointing, but no real disaster. Within a couple months I was back to normal and 2nd semester auditions went fine.
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