Klarinet Archive - Posting 000192.txt from 1999/08

From: "Kevin Fay (LCA)" <kevinfay@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] Student mouthpieces
Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1999 16:41:32 -0400

Roger Garrett opined:

<<<I don't have my beginning students purchase a plastic mouthpiece - I ask
them to go to hard rubber. While many people may disagree, I personally
believe a plastic mouthpiece will never sound quite as nice as a duplicate
hard rubber.>>>

I guess that I'm in the disagreer's camp, FWIW. I personally use a hard
rubber clarinet mouthpiece--a Greg Smith 1*, uses a Zinner blank. I have
also used crystal, however. On alto sax, I end up using 1 of 2 mouthpieces:
either a Brilhart 5* (for "commercial" work) or a Sigurd Rascher. Both are
plastic. That's not why I choose to use them--I have a drawer full of much
more expensive rubber and metal mouthpieces--they just work better for me.

My opinion (please note the use of the "o" word) is that material is
immaterial. A tiny change in the facing or interior dimensions would be a
much bigger factor than what it's made of.

Hard rubber is easier to hand-craft, so that's why the esteemed mouthpiece
gurus use it. Crystal is more stable, but hard to work with (and a disaster
if dropped). Plastic is only a bit cheaper than rubber, and perhaps doesn't
last as long with normal playing--but with a mouthpiece patch, it'll likely
hold up just as much to the (ab)use that students subject them to.

kjf

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Unsubscribe from Klarinet, e-mail: klarinet-unsubscribe@-----.org
Subscribe to the Digest: klarinet-digest-subscribe@-----.org
Additional commands: klarinet-help@-----.org
Other problems: klarinet-owner@-----.org