Klarinet Archive - Posting 000401.txt from 1996/05

From: "Edwin V. Lacy" <el2@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: Jazz Mouthpiece
Date: Fri, 17 May 1996 20:49:28 -0400

On Fri, 17 May 1996, Jonathan Terry wrote:

> Anyone have any advice on purchasing a Jazz mouthpiece?

This is my advice for purchasing _any_ mouthpiece.

Go to a place which has several hundred mouthpieces in stock, and which
will let you try them. Pick three mouthpieces, test them, and select the
best one. Put this one aside, and return the other two to stock. Take
three more, and do the same, and then again with three more. Now you
will have reduced nine mouthpieces to three. Compare these three and
select the best one, putting it aside.

Next, go through the entire procedure with nine additional mouthpieces,
and then again with nine more. Now you have reduced 27 mouthpieces to
three. Compare these three and select the best one.

Now, if you can stand it, do the same entire procedure two more times.
This will give you the three best mouthpieces, and then the best one,
from among a total of 81.

Don't forget to take with you several good reeds, a tape recorder, and
someone whose ears you trust to tell you what the various mouthpieces
sound like from a distance.

Make a resolution NEVER to go back and play again on a mouthpiece you
have rejected once, in the hope that you might have made a mistake and it
might be better than you first thought. If you do this, you will become
hopelessly confused.

I have actually done this a few times, and it is the only way I know to
buy a mouthpiece with reasonable assurance that you have gotten one which
works well for you. I think it took me about 6 or 7 hours to go through
81 mouthpieces. Some you can reject after about 4 or 5 notes, and other
choices are not nearly so clear.

Ed Lacy
el2@-----.edu

   
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