Klarinet Archive - Posting 001065.txt from 1999/05

From: Roger Garrett <rgarrett@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: [kl] Re: mouthpieces, Gigliotti,Morgan,Borbeck
Date: Sun, 23 May 1999 12:12:59 -0400

On Sun, 23 May 1999, Kratofil wrote:
> I heard him a few weeks ago. He sounded
> great as ever. I found he is using a mouthpiece made by a local friend
> of his. The pitch is lower, and he still gets the sound he wants.
> (opposite of bright, french sound--whatever we are calling that :) )

It is surprising, but should not be, how someone can craft a mouthpiece
themselves. Kind of like installing hardwood, building a wagon for your
kids' beanie babies, or whatever (I am sure the mouthpiece craftsmen will
roll their eyes at these suggestions), learning to do something is not
difficult - but time consuming. There is one major component to
mouthpiece making/facing that is an absolute requirement - the person
making the mouthpiece must be a great player. Without the ability to test
and recognize subtlies in each mouthpiece, the ability to measure and put
out a mouthpiece that is "free blowing" is not enough. I used to have my
students purchase mouthpieces from one person who custom makes them - for
$80 each including shipping - and was reasonably successful with this
approach. However, I have heard this person play the clarinet - and it is
not pretty. He is good at mouthpiece making - generally - but for a
really fine mouthpiece, it would be hit and miss - and he has been making
them for 30 plus years.

On the other hand, people like Clark Fobes and James Pyne are superior
players/musicians - and the mouthpieces that come from either of them will
be good.

About pitch - it is interesting that bore has a bit to do with it - but so
does the baffle depth. The blanks that have deeper baffles (like the 183
and 15b blanks from Babbitt) will be lower in pitch than the 13b-old
(Kaspar type blank) sold by the same company.

My guess is that the Morgan has a straighter baffle and that the bore is a
different size than needed for the barrel being used. This is probably
why the pitch is high. I have used a Pyne M mouthpiece for 4 years, and
before that, one of David Shifrin's Pyne S13 mouthpieces (1.26 tip!!!!)
for 11 years. Both of them dropped my pitch immediately - I had been
using everything - from Vandorens, Blaymans, Gigliottis (still like those
by the way), and a borrowed Morgan. The Morgan was sharp for me too - but
it played very nicely.

Something interesting - once I had played on the Pyne S13 (which took me
aver a month to adjust to and another year to learn to fix reeds to), when
I went back to some of the other mouthpieces that played sharp for me,
they were no longer sharp! Why? My belief is that moving to the Pyne
forced me to use air correctly - and it forced me to develop muscles in my
embouchure that I had not been previously using. While the mouthpiece is
more resistant than I like now, it really contributed to learning to play
the horn "correctly."

> I bought one of those mouthpieces this week. So far, it seems to allow
> me to play at a lower pitch, without being pulled out so far. Last
> night I played a duet with a student (Pepperino!) in a very warm
> church. I had to push in the whole way and she was pulled out a
> little! Sorry, I don't know enough about all the mouthpiece
> measurements to explain the difference in these mouthpiece. I do know
> he is making them from Zinner blanks.

The Zinner blank has a deep baffle - with a roll out at the top (that can
be filed away if need be). If you haven't tried the angled wall Zinner,
you should. After having made mouthpieces from both kinds of blanks, I
personally really like the angled wall Zinner over the standard parrallel
wall Zinner.

Just some Sunday morning musings.....sorry if I got carried away.
Roger Garrett
Professor of Clarinet
Director - Concert Band, Symphonic Winds & Titan Band
Advisor - Recording Studio
Illinois Wesleyan University

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