 The Clarinet BBoard
|
Author: Dimitrios
Date: 2002-02-16 15:10
Would it be the durability issue for the prevalence of hard-rubber mouthpieces?
Any comments on wooden mouthpieces as compared to hard-rubber ones?
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: ron b
Date: 2002-02-16 16:24
Since guessing is free... and it's Saturday
My guess is that hard rubber and plastic are better suited to mass production methods. Additionally, I guess that they, hard rubber and plastic mouthpieces, would also be more dimentionally stable than wood.
I know for a fact that neither takes well to being dropped on a hard surface.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Don Berger
Date: 2002-02-16 17:53
Glass mps are prob. the most dimensionally stable, BUT they are even less likely to survive dropping or chipping. Also they have a somewhat ?colder? feel, and I find I like a mp cushion for a secure embouchure . Try them all. Don
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Dimitrios
Date: 2002-02-16 18:09
Thanks all!!
As seen in the parentheses next to my name, I am in Athens, Greece. The general preference among Greek and Greek/Rom clarinetists, either Boehm or Albert players, is definitely for wooden mpc's. They literally "shun" rubber or plastic ones as producing inferior and "drier" sound
D.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Gregory Smith
Date: 2002-02-16 18:42
Ron b said:
"...I guess that they, hard rubber and plastic mouthpieces, would also be more dimentionally stable than wood."
____________________________________________________________
To a certain degree this is true. Whether the possible changes dimensionally (in hardwood mouthpieces vs. hard rubber mouthpieces) are significant enough in the end that one ends up with any lesser playing or durable a mouthpiece is the real question.
My experience is that the answer is an unqualified NO. This is provided:
1)The hardwood is of the highest quality, type, and has been aged properly.
2)The mouthpiece has been kept in relatively stable temp. and humidity environments to begin with.
I have extensive experience with hundreds of customers and their many hardwood mouthpieces and find this to be the case. I also play on one of my hardwood mouthpieces in several musical settings and believe that they are capable of allowing one to produce some of the most uniquely beautiful sounds available to a clarinetist.
Gregory Smith
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Todd W.
Date: 2002-02-18 02:52
(Sorry, I'm going to kickstart an old, ongoing controversy. But with a pre-eminent mouthpiece maker contributing here, I'd love to hear his thoughts.)
Mr. Smith --
Am I reading your post correctly when I infer that you believe the material a mouthpiece is made of makes a difference in the sound produced?
If so, do you believe that's true of the clarinet itself or just the mouthpiece?
Would you say it's the density/porosity of the material; the smoothness/roughness of the finish; or something else? Possibly something not (yet) scientifically measurable, but "hearable" by some players/listeners?
Todd W
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Gregory Smith
Date: 2002-02-18 03:41
Yes, my observation is that the quality and composition of material obviously makes a difference in every piece of equipment. This is based on over 25 years of testing, measuring, and most importantly, performing.
Additionally, this is the experience and opinion shared by an overwhelming majority of my professional performing colleagues and teachers who collectively have literally hundreds of years of performing experience at the highest level. It is not an observation taken lightly by anyone - without forethought as to one's own ability to be objective and to judge without prejudices.
Sorry, but there is *relatively* no dispute about this in the performing arena that I take part in, only it seems in academic and scientific circles for the most part. I've seen the arguments for both sides of the issue, but the proof is in the playing (with confirmation via measurement of course). It is my own observation that the argument is purely academic. And I came to this conclusion long before I started making mouthpieces (if that is of concern to anyone).
Gregory Smith
PS. The *additional* factors that you mentioned effect playing characteristics to varying degrees.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
 |
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
