French Horn and Front Teeth - Any Advice for Six Year Old

[tichey]

I would be grateful for anyadvice from French Horn parents whose DC started playing before their adult front teeth had come through. My DS is 6 and has been playing French Horn since Spring. He has just lost one of his top front baby teeth and the other one will fall in the next couple of weeks. I can only find really conflicting advice about what to do whilst / until his adult front teeth come through. He is happy playing with just one tooth and says he notices no difference. Should he stop when they are both out or when the adult teeth start to grow through or just not stop at all? It is probably worth saying that he loves the French Horn (he has wanted to play it since he was 3 and heard Peter and the Wolf!) and has been making real progress recently. He does not want to stop. On the other hand, I don’t want to damage his teeth if there is a risk of this. Does anyone have any advice having been through a similar decision with your DC? What did you decide? Really grateful for any advice. Thank you.

Hi, I'm no brass expert, six sounds quite young for French horn, but has his teacher offered any advice? The music thread has many more experienced people on so they will have had children going through the toothless phase I'm sure! I'm just glad my wind playing DD had lovely straight teeth so will not need a brace and my piano playing D's I tell or with squint teeth!

Thank you horseymum. His teacher is wonderful but has not come across this before with his students as DS is his youngest pupil. He has also heard conflicting advice about what it is best to do. DS is quite young as you say but has really taken to it and has a musical sister so is used to hearing a lot of music around the house. I am sure there must be other parents who have started French horn before adult teeth set in. It would be really helpful to know what you decided in similar circumstances, thank you.

Sorry - I waited until both my trumpeter and french horn had teeth (ie year 3/4)

Thanks Michael for your message.yes I think that seems more usual. I hope yours are enjoying. Two lovely instruments.

Both my DDs play brass instruments and although they had their front teeth before starting, DD1 lost the next eight teeth within a month. This meant she had enormous gaps to deal with for quite a while. Whilst it took a bit of getting used to, it was fine and she hasn't had any problems with her teeth. Your DS will have to adjust his embouchure to deal with the gaps but unless he's playing for hours on end every day, the mouthpiece won't be pushing against the gap for long. He may find he needs to do shorter practices though as his lips will probably tire more easily.