 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Hans
Date: 2001-08-09 15:55
Dear people! As I wrote in earlier messages, after 20 years (I am now 32) I started to play clarinet again, a couple of months ago. My instrument, a new Leblanc Spirit, came with a mouthpiece type 4L and I used Vandoren 2.5 reeds. Yesterday I received a 2550K-10M mouthpiece (it should have been this type of mouthpiece that is normally sold with the Spirit - I do not know why it came with a 4L), send to me by Brenda Siewert, and I inmediately tried it out………….. I am absolutely astonished by the difference between the two mouthpieces. The 2550K-10M allows me to play pieces I could not play on the 4L because of the fact that with the 4L I really had to try very hard getting the sound right in the upper register. The 2550K-10M is really free-blowing, allows me to play pp and ff without much difficulties (with the 4L playing pp was very hard – at least for me). As I said, as a novice I am really impressed by the improvement I made by just switching the mouthpiece. Off course this does not mean the 4L is a bad mouthpiece, it probably is not suited for beginners like me. It seems to me the 4L has a “darker” or “deeper” sound than the K-10M, at least in combination with my instrument. The inclination of the beak on the K-10M is less steep (do you say that in English?) than the one on my L4, this allows me also to have a better grip and I feel I am less tensed and can blow more freely. By the way, my try-out on the 2550K-10M was with the same 2.5 reed I was using on the 4L. Well, I hope this information is usefull although I am not an expert so my description and explanation may sound a little strange. Anyway, thanks for all the comments on this message.
Thanks very much Brenda, you really helped me a lot because with this mouthpiece I feel that I can improve my playing skills and enjoy playing clarinet even more. Thanks very much! I really appreciate it!
Hans
Mexico
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Author: William
Date: 2001-08-09 16:39
I, too, like the K-10 LeBlanc mp series having two that play almost as well as my favored Kaspar #14 and Greg Smith 1*. IMHO after a few more months of experiance, you should move up a reed strength to at least VD Traditional (blue box) 3.0. Welcome back to "Klarynetville" and Good Clarineting!!!!!!!
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Author: Brenda Siewert
Date: 2001-08-09 19:09
I've heard people say they have tried refacing the K10M as their skills grew. However, I've never played one that had been refaced--so I could not say for certain that this would work. But, they are so much better than the stock mouthpieces supplied by Buffet for their clarinets. They seem to really help young students and those who are returning to clarinet (as with Hans) after a few years away.
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Author: Hans
Date: 2001-08-10 14:58
Thanks for your comments. I have some further comments after a second session with the 4L and K-10M yesterday. I noticed that the K-10M with the Vandoren 2.5 reed blows freely and easy but I feel there is little resistance which requieres me to be careful to not produce very "shreeky" (is this a correct English word? well, if not, you probably know what I mean) notes. But I noticed this is in some way controlable and after having played the 4L with more resistance I just have to get used to this new setup. My tryout K-10M with Vandoren 3 reed was less succesful because there was to much resistance and I had to lower the reed on my mouthpiece (normally I put the reed in such a way that when you look from the back side of the mouthpiece the reed is just a little bit over the tip rail). The combination L4 and K-10M with 2.5 and 3 Vandoren reed produced 4 different sounds, as a beginner I am surprised by the effect of the setup although off course I have read your expert comments about the importance of the combination mouthpiece-reed. I have two very concrete questions to make to the experts:
(1) Is my combination K-10M with Vandoren 2.5 good enough for the moment (are there more people who use it) or should I make the effort in getting used to the combination with the Vandoren 3? The Vandoren 3 just costs me a lot of energy and I get tired very very soon whereas with the 2.5 I can play much longer. Not having a teacher whom to ask, I am just curious to know if my setup now is the right one although I feel it is because it is easier to play and allows me to play more difficult pieces of music and practice longer. I guess William already answered this question as he suggests that after a few months I should move up to strenght 3.
(2) I tried the double lip technic but it feels very strange and I cannot stand the vibration in my upper lip. I guess there is a discussion about what is best, single or double lip. I remember that back in the northern parts of Europe we always learned to play "single lip". I guess the majority uses this technic. My question is: is double lip really better or is it just better for some people?
Thanks a lot!
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Author: Brenda Siewert
Date: 2001-08-10 18:45
Use the 2.5 and build strength--then see about the 3. Try the double-lipping--it works for me. But, if you don't like it, don't stick with it. Use what works.
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