try to give youself at least a week between the braces-getting and the concert, i'd suggest- your teeth will hurt at first and playing might seem terribly unattractive :P a few days of playing will probably get you adjusted enough to play a concert- i didn't even try to play until my third day of braces, but then it just took some adjusting. the only thing i lost long-term was endurance (many hours of rehearsing a day for things like district band was practically undoable), but that's rapidly returning now that i got them off (a month ago woo!) the big thing is to not push yourself- if it hurts, take a break. perhaps practice in short chunks instead of a long session. wax can be helpful if you have any spots that rub- after a few weeks, you wont need the wax anymore because the inside of your lips will callous in those spots.

good luck! (and be glad you don't play trumpet! )

hi, i had braces, and found that it didnt rally affect my playing. for 2 or so days after i had them tightened, my teeth were sometimes sore, and i couldn't play (sometimes) but all-in-all, it was fine.

It will hurt slightly at first and you will have to adjust your mouth. When you put something like braces in your mouth it affects the ENTIRE mouth. Just practice, that's all i can really say.

Happy playing,
AKR

Hey dont stress too much about gettin them. i got mine on at the start of the year and have not experienced much trouble througout. you have nothing to worry about

I've had braces two times (WEAR YOUR RETAINER) and it's never really affected my playing. Although, the inside of my mouth did get a little torn up when I started having a lot of long rehearsals for the pit for a show, but it calloused over after about a week. And THEN I found out they make braces slip-cover things for people like me. They do the job of wax without falling off -- They're kind of like sheet protectors but for braces. If you understand what I mean. But I have no use for them now because my mouth is all calloused over where the braces rubbed.

O well.