Klarinet Archive - Posting 000247.txt from 2000/07

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausman@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Mouthpiece cushions
Date: Thu, 6 Jul 2000 00:06:23 -0400

At 05:15 PM 7/5/2000 EDT, Susan Schwaegler wrote:
>In a message dated 7/5/00 4:06:28 PM Central Daylight Time,
>DLind15018@-----.com writes:
>
><< I was looking through a Fred Weiner catalog and saw a page of mouthpiece
> cushions. What exactly are they (what do they cushion?)? Do any of you
use
> them? >>
>
>They're little pieces of soft plastic or silicon or something like that,
that
>stick to the mouthpiece. I put them on top of the mouthpiece to cushion my
>teeth. I suppose some people use them to cut down on vibrations, but for me
>they mainly serve to stabilize my teeth against the mouthpiece. Some people
>also put them on the back of the mouthpiece to guard against ligature
>scratches, depending on the style of ligature. When I was in school, we
used
>to make our own by cutting black rubber gloves into little squares and
>sticking them on with double-sided tape.
>
I use them religiously as they perform ALL of the functions you cite. I
use one on the back side of my crystal mouthpiece not to protect it from
scratches but to help the metal ligature get a better grip. They usually
come in a relatively thin clear vinyl version (my personal preference) and
a thicker black rubber type that I can see being useful for marching band
for the extra cushioning, or if one is particularly sensitive to vibration.
Mouthpiece cushions, or patches as they are sometimes called, also protect
from toothmarks on the beak of the mouthpiece, or mitigate the bad effects
of pre-existing grooves.

Bill Hausmann bhausman@-----.com
451 Old Orchard Drive http://homepages.go.com/~zoot14/zoot14.html
Essexville, MI 48732 ICQ UIN 4862265

If you have to mic a saxophone, the rest of the band is too loud.

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