Ok, So I really want to get either my tongue or lip pierced (possibly both), but I'm scared it will affect my flute and piccolo playing. Obviously my music comes first, but I just wondered if anyone knew if it was still possible to play with the piercings, and if anyone has done it.

Please don't do it. The risks to your flute playing are real. I know a number of flute teachers who refuse to teach anyone with these types of piercings. I haven't yet had this problem with any of my students, I'm glad to say.

excellent advice

Don't do it. It will affect your playing. Also as a nurse, I have met people with nasty infections from piercings.
Beverley.

I'm not so much worried about the infection etc from piercings as I've had many in the past with no problems. I just wondered whether it would affect my playing. I really want it done, but my music has to come first. I would think a lip piercing would certainly cause a problem because it would be uncomforable to play and probably scratch the flute, but wasn't sure whether tongue would be a problem.

Thanks for the comments though.

sorry everyone, but I just want to live up to my username here...

DO IT! DO IT!!!

(listen to them, they know better than me )

I like your thinking - have you actually managed to play a flute with these piercings though???

I can't help thinking that any piercing on your lips or tongue would be a really bad idea if you're serious about playing the flute.

Got to agree with Sarah. Piercing sounds like a bad idea for a flute player.

hillyb

Any wind player!

For what it's worth munchkin, i teach two flautists with pierced tongues, they take the stud out before they start playing and as far as i can tell there is no problem at all even with double and triple tonguing, and they have no discomfort from taking the stud out and putting it back in after lesson. I am totally sure that there will be a few who will disagree with me .......... i don't know about lip piercing though

Rest assured that it it probably the thought of it that makes most of us squirm and wrinkle up our toesies

Thats actually a good idea. Problem would be not being able to play for weeks until I can take the bar out. Hmmm.....maybe I won't!!

I wouldn't - imagine eating something spicy or even just fish and chips with vinegar!

My daughter never managed to get hers back in when she had to remove it for surgery.
She had it done twice I think and surgery was the reason she had to remove it both times.

I think you might be better going with the general consensus on this one. It probably would be possible to play both with it in or out but there is no telling what the possible effects may be. Just think about the problems braces cause people i would have thought piercings would be even worse.

Infection is much more of a risk in the mouth than on ears and eyebrows, because human mouths are chock-full of bugs. The one bite which got routine antibiotics from Casualty whether it looked clean or not was the human one, when I was still working in A/E.
Can't say I like piercings anyway, full stop, but mouth ones I find really yuchy.

Good god does it really take a genius to work out

WIND players + ORAL piercings = BAD BAD BAD! regardless?

Yep

I used to have my lip pierced - can't comment on the effect on playing because it was before I took up an instrument, but... will say that if you had a labret stud in (the kind that sits in the middle of your chin), it might press against the instrument. Also (sorry this is gross so brace yourselves!) when I used to brush my teeth water leaked out of the hole, so I imagine air would too.

on the other hand you can get flat fronted piercing retainers made of clear plastic which are designed to keep the hole open without looking like theres a stud in, and tend to be tighter than studs - playing might work with this but it's risky. On the plus side though, if you had it done and it didn't work out, mouth piercings heal v.v. quickly (like close up in a day) so you could solve the problem quite easily!

Purely out of interest: why do you want a pierced tongue? Try as I might, I can't see any positive side to it.

To "look cool" perhaps?

One of my kids' nursery teachers used to clack hers against the roof of her mouth. I guess you could use it to tap out a rhythm if not wanting to do so with a foot, though you'd have to be pretty nifty to do that and tongue a heap of semiquavers at the same time .
Imagine swallowing the thing by mistake....

That would be my primary question; can't see why people want to put holes in themselves to hang decorative bits of metal . I guess sbhoa has pointed out the one positive: mouths tend to heal quickly so you can always change your mind if the whole thing goes well and you decide it troubles your playing; however there are risks and things can get nasty so I wouldn't personally advise doing it....

I don't think it would be a good idea to have either when you play flute.

But it doesn't...

I guess when it was unusual it might have been seen as cool by some - now such things have lost their shock value.

I can remember at 14 annoying my parents by getting my ears pierced. (No good pointing out the queen has hers done). I guess it's a similar thing.

I remember when I was in high school a girl in our year had her tongue pierced and I can't remember the details but she missed some of our gcse modules because she got the bar stuck in her windpipe and had to have it removed in hospital *shudders at the memory*

The point I'm making...obv...

I agree about the braces thing. The thing is, you MAY not have any problems - but who knows? Suppose you ended up with a really hideous infection that caused permanent damage?

I'm in agreement with those who don't "get" the mouth piercings thing, to be honest... I think it looks vile.

Playing the flute is God's gift to you. Why would you want to jeopardise that??

Sara

Also tongue piercings are bad for your teeth (all the times the stud clacks against them...)

DONT DO IT! if you are serious about playing flute, it's not relly a consideration....when you add up the risks not only to your playing but to your health as well...it's just too big a risk to take in my opinion!

however, if you feel that strongly about it, I'm sure there are ways around it!

you have to go with whats right for you!

xoxox

As a dental student i can verify this is true! When you have a tongue piercing its hard not to roll it around in the mouth and do other tricks such as hold it in between the teeth. Oral health problems associated with tongue piercings include gum tissue being ripped out of the mouth, chipped teeth and accumulation of bacteria around piercings leading to infections.

Also, the tongue will swell up initially and this would probably stop you from playing until it is healed. Dont forget about having to learn to tongue again with a 'new tongue'

Ok this is not really cautionary tail or anything i don't really know but what it is but saw this thread and thought it would be good to tell this tale. I play saxophone in a youth jazz orchestra, one of my mates who also plays sax in the orchestra and is not yet 16 i am asked me to go with him to get his tongue pierced to help him pass as 16. I refused cos ihate most piercings except perhaps one or two holes in each ear and so refused plus his parents would kill me. So anyhow we were arguing about this at a band practice and the guy who runs it overheard the conversation and tore a strip off the guy who wanted it done, I had previously warned the guy that this is the reaction the band director would have, quite funny from a 'I told you so' prospective, i think i now sound really not very nice ermmm .... oh well

don't do it! From what I've seen you write on these forums you love playing so much...so why a piercing? Tongue piercing may make you lisp, everyone I know who has one has developed a lisp overnight! aand extremely uncomfortable I should think.

I have my ears pierced and I can still play...

I have enough trouble teaching pupils with braces, I dont want to even know about teaching pupils with anything else peirced! Could you not end up scratching your lip plate with it? Maybe you would start dribbling...maybe you will have to breath twice as much to compensate for the air loss out of the extra hole...maybe you will get the stud part stuck in the embouchure hole...maybe the hole in you tongue would gradually grow and grow because of the repeated back pressure that your teeth would have on it from all the tonguing...Or maybe you would be just fine. Who knows, best not though!

From personal experience it hasnt been a problem for me at all.

I got my tongue pierced a few years ago and played the piccolo the very day after, maybe the swelling affected my playing for that session but I have always been ok and have never had problems.

Obviously the labret is a different deal altogether.

I do know someone who has her tongue pierced and plays the flute, so it seems like it might be possible. I haven't actually heard her play, though...
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