So, today I am taking my oldest son to get his wisdom teeth extracted.
The doctor said he is not allowed to play his flute (or any other wind instrument) for several days.
I found this pretty interesting and wondered why.
The doc said that he once had a trumpet player who played after having his out and apparently it pushed air bubbles up under his incisions.
“It caused him all sorts of grief.”
Who knew?
Have you ever had any troubles with your wisdom teeth?
Every year I have a student or two who take 2 – 3 weeks off from playing their flute so they can allow their jaw to heal from having their wisdom teeth extracted.
They all seem to think they will be back in the swing of things within hours of the surgery only to find out that it seems to drag on for weeks. “It’s okay,” I say. Take the time to catch up on much needed rest and listening of new upcoming pieces. Listening and studying the sheet music of upcoming pieces is one of the BEST ways to hit the ground running after taking some time off.
I find that when I “study” my music heavily for a week or two before I actually begin practicing it, I learn it about 50x faster. It’s true! So, while I don’t wish surgery on anyone, I do wish every student would take some time to put the flute down and just listen and study what is coming. It does a flutist good!
