It was the day I and been looking forward to and at the same time dreading for more than 2 years now, a day that wound determine if I made a spot in the show and is I was still one of the best in the band. The day I got my braces off.

It was a typical morning, I woke up, took a shower, and brushed my teeth and put in my contacts that I had gotten the same day I got my braces on at the end of 7th grade. The day started to change when I didn’t need to go to band rehearsal that morning and instead leave for the orthodontist 2 hours later.

When we arrived at the orthodontist it was empty and quiet like a shot up saloon. We signed in using the laptop and I waited while making ridiculous statements like what if I have holes in my teeth, or want if I can’t play my trumpet at all, or my range what I honored myself for as one of the top trumpets in my band as a freshman, dropped by the octave. Of course, my mom like any mother would reassured me it was going to be ok and I was just worrying too much even if my trumpet playing skill were about to plummet.

I heard footsteps coming to the door of the waiting room through the wall slowing growing in volume and I shrink in fear. I had talked to friends and researched and answers varied some people said they got better than they used to be when they took them out or got them it but others didn’t have as good results playing. The dentist looked at us as we were the only ones in the waiting room and called my name to ensure she had the right victim. I stood up and followed her into the room where my chair sat for the hour and a half long procedure.
When I started down my normal tooth specialist came in and asked me the normal questions: how are you doing, how are your teeth looking, have you been wearing your rubber bands in enough (I wasn't good with the rubber bands) and I answer basics yes's and Goods. She then layed my down and to my surprise started pulling out the brackets strangling the tight wire to my bough together teeth off, without any warning or a quick tooth clean. As she went along every tooth I could feel my lip starting to rest against my physical teeth not some metal for the first time in years. I feared for my trumpet range again. After about 20 mins of puling and scraping away the glue resin left from the brackets she let me out of my chair and sent me to the nearby sink to brush under the metal for my teeth to feel the freedom again. Looking into the mirror I smile, look at my lips, and buzz (the way you play a trumpet) and slight noises came out. At this point I didn’t know if it was normal to have no buzz or a regular buzz so I came even more worried. I brushed and went back to the dentist to see what torture came next.
the last thing the orthodontist had I store for me was to make a mold of my teeth and have retainers made for me to also wear all the time as another torture device like bands or braces themselves. After I was given I a talk about when and when not to wear my retainer and I picked out a retainer case I was sent home to grab a snack and immediately head up o band and see whether I retained my skill or if it was shaved away along with my teeth.

I arrived at the school after the first hour and a half long lunch break we were given and grabbed my trumpet and walked to the stage where we all met up at. When time to start playing came around Mr. Fallon came onto the stage and said we were on sectionals, where every instrument separates their individual parts. We arrived in our area we had claimed at the beginning of band camp and our section leader told everybody to warm up individually.

The mom I had been dreading finally arrived, I raised my trumpet up to my face and tried to play. At first no sound came out but after about 10 seconds or playing around with how the mouthpiece sat on my mouth, sounds become too come out and I was relieved of most worries. I slowly went up not by note to see where my range had gone and sure enough it took a major tole my range almost twice as high as other trumpets had shriveled down to below everyone else. I quickly ran through scales hoping this would change drastically and it slowly became easier to go higher but nowhere near my desired previous height. I talked to some of the trumpets when got their braces of again and they said that it usually comes back within a month so I put on the waiting game.
About 5 days later we were with the rest of the band and were playing some of the show music which I had miraculously kept 1st part on and I was struggling to hit all the notes. On our next run of the music however my range skyrocketed, not being used to the range I played some of the song twice as high as the notes written my range when almost 10 notes higher than when I had y braces in that one moment. After the run, I told the other trumpets what had happened and they were surprised as I had hit a double G a note that a senior trumpet soloist 3 years ago had hit. Things only went uphill from there.

Today I am playing a duet with the top trumpet in the top band playing the ridiculously high note with him during the show. From this I’ve learnt that I shouldn’t worry and stress over every bump and scratch in life no matter if it’s a mental of physical issue or decision to just see what happens because the result is inevitable and lives to short to worry over everything.