Klarinet Archive - Posting 000058.txt from 2006/07

From: "Lelia Loban" <lelialoban@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] Alto Clarinet mouthpiece
Date: Sun, 09 Jul 2006 06:48:24 -0400


Chris Ciarlariello wrote,
>I have an alto clarinet that I haven't gotten a
>chance to play because I do not have a
>mouthpiece for it. I was wondering if anyone
>knows where I might be able to find (preferably
>online) a mouthpiece for a cheap price (around
>$25 or $30). I do not care right now if it is just a
>stock mouthpiece because I just want to try it out,
>I'm not really in the market for anything expensive
>right now, otherwise I would be out testing them.

A couple of websites to try:
Weiner Music, http://www.weinermusic.com
Woodwind & Brasswind, http://www.wwbw.com

What brand of alto clarinet do you have? It matters, because the wrong
mouthpiece can spoil the tone quality and throw your instrument so grossly
out of tune that you'll think you never want to play that sewer pipe again.
(I play alto clarinet as an adult amateur. I love the instrument, but I
played on some school-owned dumpster models as a student that should have
been enough to discourage me for good!)

Finding cheap mouthpieces for an alto clarinet is a problem, because it's
not a type of clarinet that the average student or amateur buys. Therefore
manufacturers don't have an incentive for mass producing mouthpieces--and
mass production is what brings the price down so that someone on a budget
can get a decent student Bb mouthpiece. Most playable student model
mouthpieces for alto will still run higher than the $25-$30 budget. The
Selmer HS* (probably made in 1979) that I play (on a 1979 Selmer alto
clarinet) was selling for $89 in Weiner's 2005 catalogue. I'm not familiar
with the following models, but just to give you an idea of recent mail
order prices: In the 2005 Weiner catalogue, the cheapest plastic Yamaha
was $24. Leblanc's "Educator series" (hard rubber) was selling for $42.
The Hite "JD Artist Series" was $86. The Vandoren was $93. But I can't
stress enough that you shouldn't just order the cheapest mouthpiece you can
find, without knowing whether anybody's using it on the brand and model of
alto you've got. An inappropriate mouthpiece can waste your money and give
you a completely misleading impression of the instrument.

Lelia Loban

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