Klarinet Archive - Posting 000080.txt from 2003/08

From: "Marcia S. Bundi" <mbundi@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Mouthpiece Patches
Date: Tue, 5 Aug 2003 11:40:21 -0400

Since the only thing that changed from one playing to the next was the
removal of the mouthpiece patch, I thought it was indeed obvious that it
was this parameter that had affected the sound. I have no doubt that
other factors come into play -- I have a mouthpiece with grooves worn in
it from many years of playing without a patch -- and embouchure stability
and comfort are high on that list. That's why Lori advocates using
electrical tape as a mouthpiece patch. It's something on the hard surface
to prevent the teeth from sliding so much, but not nearly as thick as
using the conventional patch. Comfort and control, without the damping
effect using the thicker substance -- or its effect on any other element
of sound production, anyway. No matter the why, the final effect was that
the sound was better without the thicker patch. And isn't a better sound
what we all strive for?

I've never seen one of the old gloves you refer to, but my teacher has a
remnant of one her college professor gave her. She can't find them any
more, either, so she's been using a conventional patch.

Marcia in MT

On Sun, 3 Aug 2003 11:06:58 -0400 "Karl Krelove"
<karlkrelove@-----.net> writes:
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Marcia S. Bundi [mailto:mbundi@-----.com]
>>
>> I was testing mouthpieces and Lori Lovato had me listen to her play
>on
>> *my* setup with and without the patch, and the difference in clarity
>and
>> timbre of sound was very noticeable! It was quite obvious that the
>sound
>> is indeed muffled by a standard mouthpiece patch and I really needed
>to
>> get rid of it.
>>
>
>That there was a difference in how Lori sounded with and without a
>patch is
>something we can't argue - you were there and heard it. But it's
>anything
>but "obvious" that the reason is because the patch itself "muffled"
>the
>sound or that using a patch necessarily does anything else to the
>sound
>directly.
>
>I think if the patch is thick enough (as most of the commercially made
>ones
>are) the result is almost certainly a slight re-shaping of the
>embouchure
>and oral cavity - very similar to the shaping players often feel when
>using
>a double lip approach. This is not an acoustical result (damping of
>some
>sort) of the presence of the patch, but rather of the change in the
>player.
>Whether this change is for the better or turns out to be a destructive
>distortion depends entirely on the player's reaction to the additional
>thickness.
>
>When I first began to use mouthpiece patches, they weren't the thick
>affairs
>that are generally available today as commercial products. We cut up
>the
>thin rubber work gloves that were available in hardware stores at the
>time
>(there's probably a short discussion of this in the archives somewhere
>- it
>came up once years ago among a few of us on the list) and used pieces
>of it
>hand-cut to shape. Gigliotti didn't even use cement or adhesive - just
>wet
>it, put it on the mouthpiece, and let it dry for a few minutes. Later
>a thin
>cloth-based double sided tape was marketed by Mystic that held the
>patch on
>more reliably (paper based carpet tapes seem to fall apart from the
>constant
>moisture). The total thickness of the rubber and the tape was far less
>than
>that of modern Runyon or Yamaha patches, and as I remember it, they
>caused
>very little embouchure change.
>
>A player, with a little attention to the differences in the "fit" of
>the
>mouthpiece in the mouth, can produce the same result with or without a
>patch, even a modern commercial one. My experience is that use of a
>rubber
>patch on one's mouthpiece is strictly a matter of comfort. In my own
>case
>the vibrations of the mouthpiece cause discomfort and even at times
>pain in
>my top teeth. Other players find greater stability with a patch. I
>know many
>excellent players who use mouthpiece patches with no degradation to
>their
>tone quality. Anyone who wants the comfort without the adjustment
>might try
>to find the kind of thin rubber those gloves were made of (I haven't
>seen
>the gloves in years). A little rubber cement will hold the material
>on.
>
>My nickel's worth -
>
>Karl Krelove
>
>
>
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>
>

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