Tuesday, April 19, 2011

clarinet playing

In the year and a half after surgery, playing the clarinet still hurt my jaw. If I'd play for a few hours or more - or many days during a week, I would get a lot of tightness and pain and headaches. I had to watch what I chewed at meals on days I knew I would be playing a lot.

Finally - edging on 2 years post-op, I can play with no restrictions. I'm in two pit orchestras right now and last week played 3+ hours a day PLUS what I do in my band classes and no jaw pain to speak of. Finally! Such good news, as clarinet is such a huge part of my life that I've had to essentially give up (or suffer through) over the past 4 years.

I'm back! And, my tone and intonation has improved and my high range playing (altissimo from high c to double high c, for you clarinet players) is GREATLY more in tune and much more reliable than before.

The good news just keeps on rolling...

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is awesome news, Steph! Sooo glad to hear! Wish I could hear you play! :-)

Melinda Renee said...

****like****

Uyen said...

Hi Stephanie ! My name is Uyen ..... I have a slight underbite that you might not notice when you look at my pictures, however my orthodontist told me that I need surgery to correct my underbite plus crossbite ..... the insurance consider my case as medical case, so they will cover for my surgical procedure ..... but over all, my parents dont want me to go through surgery because they are afraid that of the complications and risks ..... I am really frustrated because I am the only child and no one in my family has supported me .... Can you give me some advices ? thank you so much :)