I forgot one MINOR detail

[retromom]

First of all I would like to thank everyone for such great support, if this is any indication of the camaraderie in the music community in general ---WOW it's impressive...
Now back to the minor tidbit that I forgot to mention when I asked for the honest opinion...Last year I had a brain tumor BUT I had surgery and I feel great and although my husband is supportive of my new endeavor he's also conerned and he says "having had your skull cracked has to be an issue when it comes to blowing into a horn" :wink: My guess is that the air comes from the lungs and diaphragm and niether of those were affected :) but I told him that I would throw it out there to my new friends at Sax on the web...
Now having had said that I also wanted to comment on just how important it is to do what you want to do and stop putting it off until later because I saw firsthand that a split second can change your entire lifeand later may never come. I was one of the lucky ones and I feel like I got a second chance so i'm going for it. I have my Brain scan next month and i'm actually very anxious to tell my neurosurgon about this new development.
As far as my fear of reading music ...I'm still scared of that :roll: but you have all convinced me that it isn't an issue.I do have some short term memory loss at times and I think that's what really had me nervous about it if the truth be told ,if it should happen I will simply stop, regroup and start over...memory loss was a small price to pay.
I didn't mean to get long winded {no pun intented} or philosophical here just sort of introducing myself :)

[Martin Williams]

When I was in the 6th grade, my freind Corey had a brain tumor removed; and he went through various other treatments as well. His doc said their would be no problems with him still playing his sax, so he continued to play it for three more years, until the cancer went into remission and they couldnt stop it.

But anyway, I am no doctor, but there should be no problems with having previously had a brain tumor, and playing sax.

Martin Williams

[gary]

I don't think you have a problem. I'm not a doctor so the following is only opinion but you might want to use it to give you something to keep in mind.

With some musical instruments there is a great deal of pressure on the head. For example, with a problem such as yours I would not recommend trying to play lead trumpet in a big band. At any rate I wold have it cleared by a specialist before I did.

But regarding the sax, I wouldn't be too concerned. I just wouldn't use too strong a reed for the mouthpiece opening so that there's not a lot of back pressure. When you play, make sure you are giving your air stream good abdominal support, breath deeply, not shallowly, and do not constrict your throat; let your abdomen give the muscle support.

Oh yes, and for those of us not as young as you, could you please break your posts down into shorter paragraphs? Makes reading (and concentration) easier. Thanks.

[Face Ache Mike]

Hi Retromom,

I have a problem with short term memory too! Glad I`m not alone there. I keep looking at the the music and staring at the little dots and thinking "Come on, I know what you are, I played you yesterday and now I can`t even remember what note to start on!".

Worse still, until I get going, I have to keep stopping for a minute and work out yet again which note is which.

One thing Ive read that encourages me is that music is made up of repetition and variation so once you get a grip of the main theme what you just looked at, triggers a reminder for what you`ll play next. Strangers in the Night is a good example of that. Seems each group of 4 bars or so is repeated just going up or down a note each time.

Good luck and enjoy it :)

[saxmanglen]

Retromom,

My 7 year old daughter started taking piano lessons about 6-8 months ago. Her instructor advised us to get a computer program in music theory, It's called "Music Ace". It's helped her a bunch. Here's a link:

http://www.harmonicvision.com/

[saxmanglen]

Oh! BTW, If you do decide to buy it look for it on www.amazon.com it's the least expensive place I found it.

Glen

[Agent27]

I think that as long as you're not trying to play lead trumpet you'll be just fine.

I echo gary and say that as long as you don't try to use too hard a reed then it shouldn't make a difference one way or the other.

[Sigmund451]

I agree Retro...if your that worried you could always ask your doc but I have not found that blowing into a properly setup instrument exerpts much pressure on the nasal, eustacian, or any other passages. Thus, its my lay guess that it does little to the cranium. Properly played one breathes into a sax. With the right reed, mpc, and adjusted sax there should be no forcing or air. If you do you will overblow and sound like a dying animal.

Dont be daunted by the reading of music. Anxiety will hamper the learning process more than your medical issues. This is one reason it is hard to teach some adults music or computers. Sounds like youve been through a lot. Playing the sax aint the scarey thing here. Blow that horn momma!

[altoist]

Retromom,
I've also undergone brain surgery. I had an abscess of unknown origin
on my right cortical lobe which was causing grand mal seizures, and the
neurosurgeon I was seeing was concerned that if this went on long enough
my brain would "learn" to have seizures even without the abscess, so, out it went. Interestingly, the seizures were always preceded by rather intense auditory hallucinations; I had my last one after the surgery, and it
was triggered by the sound of a truck passing.

To make a long story short, no problems whatsoever with my head exploding while playing the sax, even when playing hard reeds.

I think the real issue is that your husband is worried and afraid of losing you, and is being (over)protective. You have a good man!

I read elsewhere that a potential instructor heaped derision on nurses,
which is really ghastly. Nurses are the human face of medicine, and in
my experience they made up for the (generally) cold behavior of surgeons.

[altoist]

Retromom,
I've also undergone brain surgery. I had an abscess of unknown origin
on my right cortical lobe which was causing grand mal seizures, and the
neurosurgeon I was seeing was concerned that if this went on long enough
my brain would "learn" to have seizures even without the abscess, so, out it went. Interestingly, the seizures were always preceded by rather intense auditory hallucinations; I had my last one after the surgery, and it
was triggered by the sound of a truck passing.

To make a long story short, no problems whatsoever with my head exploding while playing the sax, even when playing hard reeds.

I think the real issue is that your husband is worried and afraid of losing you, and is being (over)protective. You have a good man!

I read elsewhere that a potential instructor heaped derision on nurses,
which is really ghastly. Nurses are the human face of medicine, and in
my experience they made up for the (generally) cold behavior of surgeons.

[retromom]

:D :lol: Altoist,
One should always ask a potential student his or her profession before shooting one's mouth off :wink: .You know what they say? "hell hath no fury like an old O.R. nurse"... I'll be watching for that guy .{just kidding.}

[Martin Williams]

Hmm Actually I thought I should Add this. My Profesor of sax Dr James Hill (we currently are calling him 'Hole in the head' Hill) Had surgurey just over a week ago, theres still a hole in the back of his head and he's still playing his horns some!(Except for the sopranino which we are considering to be more of a blessing :roll:

Martin Williams

[Face Ache Mike]

Hmm Actually I thought I should Add this. My Profesor of sax Dr James Hill (we currently are calling him 'Hole in the head' Hill) Had surgurey just over a week ago, theres still a hole in the back of his head and he's still playing his horns some!(Except for the sopranino which we are considering to be more of a blessing :roll:

Martin Williams

Can he get an octave higher if he takes his cap off? :o :wink:

[Martin Williams]

Can he get an octave higher if he takes his cap off?

I dont especially think I would want him to get that high on the nino, its deadly enough as it is!

Martin Williams

[johnsax]

Retromom,

As a physician, i'm always amazed at the peculiar notions people have about their bodies. Your skull may have been "cracked" open six months ago when you had your neurosurgery but, and i'm just guessing here, your surgeon PROBABLY sutured things back together afterwards!

That being the case, playing a saxophone, exercising, running, weightlifting, etc. will be unlikely to cause your brains to spill out.

Now if you had an intracranial aneurysm that hasn't been operated on or was operated on only very recently, there might be a problem. Anything that might cause a transient increase in intracranial pressure (such as playing a wind instrument) could be a problem. But even with that worst possible scenario, six months seems like more than enough time for adequate healing.

Ask your neurosurgeon if you like but i say GO FOR IT! If your neurosurgeon turns out to be INCREDIBLY conservative and suggests that you not play, I would definitely demand that he show you some data supporting his position. I guarantee that he won't be able to!

John