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Is this actually a thing?

Author: bmidontcare
Date: 2014-08-23 19:22

Hi peeps! I played Clarinet years ago, starting at primary school and continuing on through high school. I practised religiously for at least 30 minutes each day, and played in 2 high school bands weekly.

After I had been playing for 6 years, 5 in the bands, I started having trouble with...I don't know what, actually. All of a sudden, whenever I tried to play, it was all upper register without doing the appropriate fingering. At first I found it just difficult to stay in the right register, but it soon became impossible. I was too embarrassed to say anything to the conductor, and I wasn't actually attending the high school whose band I was playing with, so I just stopped going. I did take my clarinet to the shop I bought it from - he had come very highly recommended when I first started learning - to ask him what the problem with my clarinet was. He gave it a try himself and declared it was absolutely fine.

It took me years to realise that around the same time I was apparently losing the ability to play, I gained a much stronger singing ability. 13 years later I've had many compliments on my singing, but have sold my clarinet because it was so frustrating and upsetting that I suddenly couldn't play.

So - marathon post aside - is that actually a thing? Can puberty change your playing? Is/was there a way I could've gotten through it? Am I even making sense?

Thank you very much in advance for any answers