Klarinet Archive - Posting 000259.txt from 2006/08

From: "Bryan Crumpler" <crumpletox@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] Re; $650 mouthpieces???
Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2006 13:36:22 -0400

As for the sound clips on my website, particularly the Copland... that
performance was at age 19 or 20 about 7 years after I started playing, so it
is what I consider to be a very amateurish stage of my career. It is a
rather undue representation of my Copland now. The cadenza has been chopped
off as it is the only major section that I perform extremely differently
than the way it was done in that performance...

For the clips as a whole, you all will probably notice a heck of a lot of
air loss, something which has been plaguing my playing for a while. I'm not
happy with it, and no teacher of mine has ever been able to suggest an
effective way to correct it - BUT... I have fixed it, thanks to a trumpet
player and a bassoonist who suggested a few simple lip-training exercises
and revised thinking on embouchure formation. How is that for thinking
outside the box?

The only recording of any performance I've had in the past year
demonstrating this difference is the Mozart Quintet which I performed at the
end of last season with the Ciurlionis String Quartet from Lithuania, but
the quality of the recording is less than ideal.

And for the rest... in following to:

-----Original Message-----
>From: Michael Norsworthy <m.norsworthy@-----.net>
>Bryan,
>
>I like the fact that you always ask questions but find the accusatory tone
>to be completely un-necessary and your pre-formed opinions to be quite
>ill-informed at this point. Regarding the questions you posed, I'll try
to
>answer a few of them.

If you have issues of your own and pre-formed opinions about how I interact
with people, that may be the reason for your misinterpretation of my
inquiries... or my hyperbole... but I am simply skeptical, for a number of
reasons (as I am about most everything). I always do my homework before I
ask questions, so my inquiry was not "ill-formed" so much as it was a
sollicitation for other opinions.

I read every word on his website and every other bit of information I could
find on those mouthpieces before inquiring to the list if anyone had any
opinions of it. There weren't any reviews from other performers, much less
anyone that I have contact with who had heard of or performed on the
mouthpieces. I, in fact, have no opinion of it other than the fact that I
think it costs too much... I just could not find reason to justify paying
$650 for a mouthpiece or paying $160 just to try a few. Just take the simple
things for example... How does it look, when the guy posts a hotmail address
as his primary business address? And for anyone who is as busy as I am, I
don't have the time to deal with custom mouthpieces anymore if something
goes wrong or breaks... especially if there is a 6-month delay in
turnaround.

So my "opinion" that it costs too much was not pre- or malformed. I believe
in the principal that you get what you pay for, and I of all people am
willing to pay for labor, art, effort and whatever else you want to factor
in for what something is worth... but just because I have money doesn't mean
I waste it. I'm sure the mouthpieces are undoubtedly of quality... I've
spent thousands on Bays in the past 12 years. But ever since my last
customly refaced Charles Bay (of which I had many in the last 12 years)
broke from a fall several years ago, I have been curious about *other*
mouthpieces. Why? Because it broke 2 days before a major competition, and
the only thing I could get my hands on was a Vandoren B45 Lyre from a local
shop. And with a few minor adjustments, I have had more success with that
B45 than I ever had on any custom Bay. And I stuck with it... because, to
me, it was simply a matter of getting used to it... and I didn't feel like
spending hundreds more dollars for another Bay that would, nevertheless, be
different... again from what I had played before, because they were all
hand-finished and played differently.

I am not one for luxury, but if I can comfortably produce a good sound on a
$75 Vandoren B45, why *wouldn't* I be skeptical about paying $650 for any
mouthpiece? Every clarinetist who has ever come up to me after a concert and
asked about my setup are shocked that "it's only a B45". So I'm not
attempting to start any debates on which mouthpieces are better and which
aren't... or this that and the other. In my opinion, whatever works works.
And if I don't spend $2000 going to some convention like Clarifest or
Oklahoma, or request multiple stock, there's no way I could even "try" them
as you suggested. The guesswork is all I have at this point. But I'm not
willing to toss that much money just to get an opinion. I'd be better off
giving that money to some kid to pay for college.

*shoulder shrug*

Bryan

www.whosthatguy.com

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