Teeth hurt after practicing trumpet?

Question

I usually practice trumpet about an hour a day and never have this problem, but I have an audition coming up and have been practicing much longer. Today I practiced on and off for a large part of the day, and basically the entire time my chops were fine, except I noticed after a while that my bottom teeth would ache a little bit, and later my top teeth started aching too. It isn't very painful; it's really no more than a minor annoyance, but I just want to find out does that mean I am applying too much pressure or developing bad practice habits, or is this inevitable with extended practices? I know you aren't supposed to push too hard on your chops, but I figure that there is a certain amount of pressure on your teeth even without pushing too hard, and after a while it would cause irritation no matter how you play. I'm just not sure if its something I need to change in my embouchure/pressure, or if it's normal, so if you know that would be great.

Answer 1

If you play a mouth instrument, one part of your mouth is bound to hurt sometime. I play saxophone, and every once in a while, I'll play a really long time without taking my mouth off my mouthpiece, and when I do, the inner bottom lip has teeth marks in it.

Answer 2

It is normal for the most part.  Depending on how long and hard you were practicing as opposed to what you normally do.  It could be a sign that your applying to much pressure, which is something we should always be aware of.  But, like you said some pressure has to happen.  And, if you are practicing longer that pressure wears you down and can make your teeth feel lose and ache.  It doesn't sound to me like there is anything to get to worried about.  But, it's certainly something to keep track of.

Answer 3

Well that usually happens to my lips if I play for a really long time. But I can't say it has ever happened to my teeth. I know that sometimes people press harder when they play higher notes so if you are then you may need to pay a bit of attention to that. But yea....I wouldn't get too worried.

:)

Answer 4

You make some good points about pressure. We all use some, or a lot at times. However, if this issue with your teeth is coming up during routine practice sessions, I think that it would be a very good idea to look at how you practice, and what you practice, to help you to solve this problem that you're experiencing.

You don't mention the piece or pieces that you've been preparing... but, chances are, there are undoubtedly some areas within the music that have sustained high note passages. You can always "practice" these down an octave, concentrating on making the relationship of the intervals between the notes and the musical phrasing your focus. Once you've perfected it "down an octave", play it where it's written.

"Soft" practice is also an extremely important part of practicing that tends to get ignored. Play scales at pianissimo, going as high as you can go, and back down, while maintaining the pianissimo dynamic level. It may take a while to gain the control needed to play this way, but in the long run, it will help you tremendously... particularly in the upper register. Also, it is very important to maintain the opening between the teeth, in order to allow good airflow, and good lip movement. This is something that all of us have to remind ourselves of. Practice all of your music at pianissimo. You will have plenty of opportunities to play loudly.

If you have problems playing softly, that is a good indication that your mouthpiece is not efficient for you. Because you are in the process of auditioning, now is not the best time to make this change. If indeed it is necessary, please seek out a professional mouthpiece consultant to help you.

One last thought... it is very important to take the mouthpiece off your face whenever possible. There are times when I forget to do this, too.

Best of luck to you on your auditions!

  

Answer 5

You are probably pushing the mouthpiece against your chops too hard.  To prevent that from happening here are some tricks and excersices:

1) Do NOT use the pinky holder along the leadpipe of your trumpet, place your pinky on top

2) Hold your instrument and play with the least pressure possible and see how many notes you can play like that

3) Always use air control and speed to get notes, never push and strain to get the notes out

believe me, its happened to a couple of my friends and they lost all thier chops and thier teeth hurt for a couple of weeks, it took thema while to get back to thier original state.

Answer 6

Trumpet practice hurts my ears.

And I don't play.