Klarinet Archive - Posting 000276.txt from 2001/08

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausmann1@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] Mouthpieces (was Vandoren B45/46 mouthpieces)
Date: Mon, 20 Aug 2001 08:23:34 -0400

At 11:42 PM 8/19/2001 -0600, Anne Lenoir wrote:
>Walter, I am reluctant to say anything at all about mouthpieces, because
>everybody is so opinionated about them, and many people, especially
>mouthpiece makers, honestly believe that most Vandoren mouthpieces are
>cranked out by a bunch of substandard, incompetent idiots and are so
>inconsistant that they are practically unplayable. I personally don't
>like Vandoren B-45's for me, but Mark Nuccio played one for a long time
>and liked it so well that he talked his Dad, a music educator in the
>area where I teach my clarinet students, into keeping them in the store
>for all the clarinet students in the Cheyenne Mountain District to buy.
>My student who just got into the Pikes Peak Youth Wind Symphony, plays a
>B-45 that she had before she started studying with me, and she sounds
>terrific. I personally like a brighter sound for me.
> Many months ago when we were talking about mouthpieces on the
>list, a whole bunch of people got on my case when I recommended the 5 RV
>Lyre. I was also criticized for selecting a mouthpiece because Jon
>Manasse plays it. So I'm gonna keep it a secret of which mouthpiece I
>play. If you folks ever hear me play, you can decide for yourself if you
>like the way I sound or if I should get a new mouthpiece. When I played
>in Eddie Daniels' Master class on Friday, one of the folks in the
>audience asked me why I didn't try to produce more of a "jazz" tone,
>like Pete Fountain, and why I didn't play on a "jazz" mouthpiece. I told
>him I could bend my notes just fine on my mouthpiece, and that I didn't
>want to sound like Pete Fountain. I can promise anybody that if they
>don't like the way I sound, that I won't go out and buy another
>mouthpiece, just so I can have a bad tone. ANNIE

On the subject of mouthpieces, I recently received an Eb mouthpiece I
ordered from Roger Garrett. My eefer came with a Vandoren B-44 which,
while responsive, had a peculiarly "honky" tone in the upper chalumeau, and
seemed very flat in the altissimo. Roger's mouthpiece, on the other hand,
gives up NOTHING in the responsiveness department, being almost
unsqueakable, while the tone quality remains firmly "clarinet-like" in all
registers. It did prove to me, though, that the intonation trouble was
with the INSTRUMENT. The upside of that is that, by forcing me to work
with alternate fingerings a bit, it made me find some that work! Overall,
I am very pleased with the mouthpiece, and would recommend it to
others. Thanks, Roger!

Bill Hausmann bhausmann1@-----.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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