My 14 yo son has a huge space between his front teeth. This results in either too much pressure (so he can't play high), and/or a buzzy tone (because he's playing between the teeth). He's been playing for 5 years and is a fairly advanced reader, and the range/tone issues are really starting to catch up with him. He's also been through a couple of teachers who either didn't want to work on the embouchure, or didn't really know what to do.

We started him on trombone to see if we could help relieve the pressure a bit and it did seem to help a bit. That was on a suggestion from his director, who plays baritone - and yes, he's still playing trumpet. However, the pressure is still there. It's also helped with his reading bass clef for his piano, lol....

He's with a teacher right now who we think is on the right track - and in fact, he just changed his mouthpiece from a 5C to a 1-1/2C, which seems to be working. But they all say it will take a year or so to change his embouchure. We questioned the teachers about braces and none of them want to commit (the insurance pays for them, so for us it's not a cost issue) - the one he's with now says he knows guys who have had spaces actually put IN their teeth so they could play higher! He is getting better range with the 1-1/2 - I am not sure why, I thought you used a smaller piece to play higher, but what do I know, I play woodwinds....

I don't know. When the teacher used a visualizer with him, he had an instant good buzz and embouchure on the trombone side, and got nothing immediately on the trumpet size (he had to work at it). Would it be worth it to get the braces to close the space a bit if not entirely? That would get rid of the pressure, for sure.... He does not particularly care for trombone and wants to play trumpet. But he said to me the other week that he "didn't know it would have to play so high"....LOL.....what can I say, he listens to a bunch of old jazzers who don't go above a G.....

As far as I understand, having a gap in your front teeth can be an advantage for trumpet players. Having that extra area in your mouth to push air through would help a lot. However, you said your son was having trouble playing high...? Sometimes, (especially with young trumpet players) range just doesn't develop right away. It really depends on the person. Some people can just do a bare minimum of practicing and achieve good range, and some people can practice constantly and get nowhere. But in all cases, if you stick with it, the range will come and those who practiced will come out on top. You are doing the right thing by seeing a number of trumpet teachers to help decide if there are chop/embouchure issues going on too. My advice is to stick with trumpet, because that seems to be what your son wants to do, and to just understand that range and tone can take time. Best of luck to your son, and hope everything works out.

If he wants to do trumpet I would say let him stay with trumpet, because he will end up trying and practicing with it more. I had a gap in my teeth then I got braces (I've gotten them off), and I can play just as high now as I could then.

i say get him braces, this is because i know many people in my school who play trumpet and trombone who have braces and they play fine. they just needed to get used to playing with braces. yes at the time they got braces there playing got a lot worse but after a while there playing picked up again and they sounded fine. its better to have him get braces now when he's young otherwise it will be worse for him later on

You posted your question a while ago so I don’t know if you'll get this message or not. Having a gap in your two front teeth is a great advantage for a trumpet player. It gives them a direct stream of un-interrupted air straight to their embouchure which can get their lips to vibrate at a higher frequency and hit those higher notes.

From what you said in your post, I don’t think it’s the gap that’s the problem, it’s the pressure. If you use to much pressure on your lips they quit vibrating. Its almost impossible to have that problem on trombone mouthpieces because of their diameter. When you push with a trombone mouthpiece you’re actually pushing on the gums instead of the lips and the teeth.

My range wasn’t that great in high school because of that exact same pressure problem. When I went to college (I’m a music education major by the way, with trumpet being my primary instrument) I learned of a pressure free method. It emphasizes little to no pressure from the mouthpiece to the lips and free-buzzing to gain note and range control. A great tool you can start out with is called a “pressure reducer,” it’s a spring loaded gadget that you put your mouthpiece into, and then you attach that to the trumpet. You can order one off of e-bay, I forget how much they are. If you’re interested in any exercises and other pieces of equipment you can e-mail me at jazzerjim17@yahoo.com. This stuff can get somewhat detailed and I don’t want to put all of it down here where there’s a chance that no-one is going to read it. Good Luck

Do you have any exercises for this pressure reducer? My son's band director bought one....Thanks!

yeah,go ahead and put braces on him.one of my friends had braces and played the trumpet just fine.at first,there will be some pain,but if he practices,his lip will toughen up and his playing will improve.

the 1 1/2c will help i used it for marching band for our jazz show. but do watch out it will give you some pitch problems. the braces could help my firend played much higher and better sound with them on. now they are off he is struggling to get up to a good G above staff which is nothing for our high school trumpet section.

well when i got my braces on they were in horrible shape, whut your son needs to do is use more air to relieve the pressure, the more air he uses the less pressrue he will have
if that doesnt work what i did was get a plastic strip that attaches to my braces so they dont leave a mark and it wont hurt when i played, i have recently got my braces off and when i finally got them off after 2 years i could eaisly play after i got them off
i hope this helps, if not im sorry

The best thing you can do is NOT change mouthpieces, and make sure he has a good teacher to guide him through this spot in his playing.

I had braces and I know that switching mouthpieces will just make things worse when you get them off.

i say get them..because after about a month of getting used to braces..my endurance skyrocketed....my range was slightly higer and my tone stayed relatively the same..after i got them off however..about 2 weeks to get used to no braces...i had even better range..and after a month..my tone was WAYYY better..i could play with vibrato and pedal tones and i sounded good doing it