h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Sorry to hear about your teeth! Hope that they're all fixed up soon. You've probably ruined your chances as a professional clarinetist!

Don't you believe it. Acker Bilk seemed to do OK. (Not that I recommend either.)
If it's any help, you can borrow my peggies - size about six and seven-eighths.
Hope the agony has subsided and you've stopped snagging tongue and cheeks.
Did this happen clear of your singing commitments?

Thank you for caring! I was really lucky. My teeth were never very nice, and I had thought of having them straightened about 12 years ago, when pregnant with my youngest. Actually the orthodontologist laughed his head off because I asked him if it wouldn't be easier to do it right then, because they were loose during pregnancy anyway, and in my naive way, I thought this would make rearranging them easier. Apparently not!

Anyway, I would have had to have had them removed and new teeth made. So I decided that it was best to keep my own teeth, ugly as they were.

Also I was lucky in that it was a clean break and the nerve was not exposed. No cuts at all on tongue or gums. No blood. Sorry to be so boring!

Now I'll just have to see what the treatment will cost. A lot, probably. The German health system is efficient, in that I could get the problem seen to immediately, but it is notoriously expensive!

Anyway, the new teeth are probably more likely to be better for clarinet playing than the old ones. Perhaps I should take it up. Or the sax. I ought to have a tootle on the recorder, to see how that works!

And as for singing, apart from whistling a bit when pronouncing my "s"'s it hasn't stopped me (wild horses wouldn't). One concert - last Saturday night - was a roaring success, and we have the church fete coming up, too, where we sing in the grounds of the church hall, very close up to the rest of the congregation who sit around munching their Bratwurst and Sauerkraut.

These are not the only public appearances that I shall have while I have this awful plastic temporary bridge in. My son is graduating from school and all the ceremonies and dances are this week. I'll just have to grin and try not to bare it.

I hate singing out of doors. It is impossible to produce any volume. Our choir season is finished for the moment. We close the season with a concert at the end of April, so I've no singing until September. I'm getting back into recorder playing with a few friends and my daughter, if she can conquer her shyness (she's only 10).

I wrote an article on how to play the clarinet for beginners, but it didn't survive the transition to the new H2G2, as it needs pictures. You can still see the original at and address which I can't publish here.