FW, woooooow. I must admit that my immediate reaction was to think "I bet he's not tall at all" even before you said he wasn't :)
FW would have the giants paraded through his bedroom when he was sick, to make him feel better.
omg FW
So I was interested enough in the flute question to do a bit of googling myself. I found this was kinda interesting: http://www.fluteland.com/board/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=637&sid=baf0ee6fa761822ef273dc49d875e714&start=15 "It is impossible to generalize about removable dentures and blowing a flute. Typically a denture patient loses the alveolar bone over time. (This is the horseshoe shaped bone onto which the denture rests and is pasted.) The degree of resorption or bone loss is different in everyone depending on how long they have been without their natural teeth. Trumpet players have problems with upper dentures. Flutists have more of a problem with the lower denture. I can say that the lower alveolar bone is much more prone to resorption (or loss) than the upper. When we apply pressure to the lower lip with a flute we must rely on the stability of whatever it is behind the lower lip be it natural teeth, bridgework or a denture. If the alveolar bone is minimal or gone entirely, the denture "floats" and will move when pressure is applied with a flute. A flutist with this problem may undergo: 1. Alveolar ridge augmentation surgery. 2. Dental implants 3. Fixed Bridgework This treatment plan will render a natural result allow you to perform natural flute licks."
So I can imagine that whatever was wrong with Fritz' teeth was in such a way that he actually couldn't play, or perhaps he would have been able to retrain in a perfect world but didn't know how (in the same thread are people who notice that their tone or technique has gone really wonky and aren't sure how to fix it). Gosh, I sympathize, though. I had RSI problems and had to put my violin away for a number of years, and it really sucked. And I didn't like it nearly as much as Fritz liked his flute.
(Man, it sounds even worse to play flute than violin. At least with violin you only have to worry about your fingers. Flute you have to worry about fingers AND mouth AND teeth!)
Re: Royal obsessions
FW would have the giants paraded through his bedroom when he was sick, to make him feel better.
omg FW
So I was interested enough in the flute question to do a bit of googling myself. I found this was kinda interesting:
http://www.fluteland.com/board/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=637&sid=baf0ee6fa761822ef273dc49d875e714&start=15
"It is impossible to generalize about removable dentures and blowing a flute. Typically a denture patient loses the alveolar bone over time. (This is the horseshoe shaped bone onto which the denture rests and is pasted.) The degree of resorption or bone loss is different in everyone depending on how long they have been without their natural teeth. Trumpet players have problems with upper dentures. Flutists have more of a problem with the lower denture. I can say that the lower alveolar bone is much more prone to resorption (or loss) than the upper. When we apply pressure to the lower lip with a flute we must rely on the stability of whatever it is behind the lower lip be it natural teeth, bridgework or a denture. If the alveolar bone is minimal or gone entirely, the denture "floats" and will move when pressure is applied with a flute. A flutist with this problem may undergo: 1. Alveolar ridge augmentation surgery.
2. Dental implants
3. Fixed Bridgework
This treatment plan will render a natural result allow you to perform natural flute licks."
So I can imagine that whatever was wrong with Fritz' teeth was in such a way that he actually couldn't play, or perhaps he would have been able to retrain in a perfect world but didn't know how (in the same thread are people who notice that their tone or technique has gone really wonky and aren't sure how to fix it). Gosh, I sympathize, though. I had RSI problems and had to put my violin away for a number of years, and it really sucked. And I didn't like it nearly as much as Fritz liked his flute.
(Man, it sounds even worse to play flute than violin. At least with violin you only have to worry about your fingers. Flute you have to worry about fingers AND mouth AND teeth!)