Hey,
I class myself as a pretty experianced flute player; I started the fife when I was seven followed by the flute when I was eight and I am now grade seven standard. However I am now fourteen and about a month ago I got traintracks (as in the brace). I didn't listen to anyones warnings of how it would effect my playing because I had a retainer and had no problems playing with that, although, looking back, I took it out to play so it was stupid of me to rely on that. I have been trying to play my flute since getting my braces but I am really struggling. It took me a long time to even manage to get a note and now my sound is very airy and I am unable to hit even a high C (two octaves above middle C) and usually I can go to the D an octave higher than this. I was wondering if anyone had any advice or tips as not being able to play my flute is really getting me down and we have a new head of music at school next year and I want to show him what I can do. I'd really appreciate any comments you have. Thank you xx

I work with brass players but some of what I say should apply to you. Understand what is happening:
You had a nice embouchure and now there is a bunch of metal or plastic on the front of your teeth. Your lips can't stretch over the braces - - - yet. What you want to do is a little exercise twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening. Find a note you can play and then go down chromatically until you can't anymore then go back up as high as you can. Moving chromatically will help you stretch your lips slowly and gently. You should notice great improvement in 4 to 7 days. YOu need to do this twice a day or it doesn't work.

Now, if you are worried about stretching your lips out and having fat lips forever - don't worry. Because you are still young you have lots of elasticity in your lips. When you get your braces off your lips will be stretch too much. But do this same exercise and your lips will pull back to their normal shape (in about the same 4 days).

thanks so much i'll start doing that today xx

I have some weird sort of orthodontic appliance too, and I'm also the same age and grade as you! I learnt that you will adjust to this after a while, and practise makes perfect!

i've had braces before too and it rlly didnt affect my playing too much. I had to get used to having metal in my mouth. Experiment yourself and find the best possible way to play for you. Good luck. BTW, you'll have to repeat the same process AFTER you get your braces off...which is sometimes harder.