Klarinet Archive - Posting 000622.txt from 1995/05

From: SCOTT MCCHESNEY <scmcchesney@-----.NET>
Subj: Mouthpiece stuff...
Date: Mon, 22 May 1995 11:22:18 -0400

Since we've all been on the mouthpiece craze...

An old teacher of mine switched me to a Portnoy mouthpiece when I first
started playing under him, and I still use it. It just so happens that he had
an old Buffet almost exactly like mine (my serial # is 61,202 [am told that
hails from the 50's or so] and his is only a few hundred more than mine), so
the clarinets are pretty much the same. So are the mouthpieces - same kind,
same facing, etc.
Now, I know that not all mouthpieces are exactly alike. What I want to
know is: my mouthpiece is quite a bit "stuffier" than his. He got the same
sound on his Clarinet with my mouthpiece as with his, but mine offered quite a
bit more resistance. After learning enough to consistently control the tone, I
experienced the same thing on my instrument: I could get the same sound from
both mouthpieces, but his was much freer.
How can something like this happen? What is making my mouthpiece
"stuffy" and his not? I know "stuffy" isn't the right word, because the tone
isn't stuffy at all; on the contrary, it's quite an open tone, if a bit dark.
But I can't think of any other word to use, so "stuffy" will have to do.

-- Scott