Klarinet Archive - Posting 000438.txt from 1997/06

From: "David C. Blumberg" <reedman@-----.com>
Subj: Broken mouthpieces
Date: Mon, 23 Jun 1997 23:44:01 -0400

I once had a 6th grader break 2 Gigliotti P facing ($60 at the time)
mouthpieces in the same week!! He broke his own mouthpiece, then borrowed
his friends mouthpiece (another student of mine), and dropped that one
also. Broke both of them. Happy ending though. 2 years later he won the
Interlochen Concerto Competition, and after his Junior year of High School
won 2nd prize in the 1992 ICA Young Artist Competition. His name - Michael
Rescorla. (yes it's good that his parents didn't kill him)
I would say once a kid drops a mouthpiece, they probably won't do it again.
But not in my case. Warn your students that the colder autumn months are
prime time for dropping mouthpieces. (the onset of colder weather seems to
bring that out)
A good mouthpiece is critical for a good a sound, and intonation, and
articulation.

David C. Blumberg
reedman@-----.com

You are right , a better mouthpiece will make a plastic clarinet sound jus=
t that
much more better. But keep in mind that to go out and buy a $40 mouthpiece=
for a
beginner is slightly dangerous because there's that chance that the person=
will
drop it ( crash, chipped). Then you have a very sad kid, whose parent says=
that
they can't afford to buy 40 dollar mouthpieces all the time.... etc. It's =
no
ones fault, it's just that you have to realize that there's a good chance =
the
beginning student ( even with all the warnings from a teacher) can drop a
mouthpiece.

There's a good reason it is this way.
David C. Blumberg
reedman@-----.com