 The Clarinet BBoard
|
Author: contragirl
Date: 2003-02-19 19:37
I am wondering how people choose their mouthpieces.
Does word of mouth effect their choice, do they just go out and impulsively buy one, or do they try a bunch of random ones before they buy?
I have heard of all of these techniques, assuming that the people tried the mouthpiece before purchasing. I have always wanted a arsenal of mouthpieces, but I think of myself as a minimalist, and usually stay with only one mouthpiece, lig, and barrel combo. Maybe one day I will buy more!
Thanks,
Contragirl
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: JMcAulay
Date: 2003-02-19 20:27
An "arsenal" of mouthpieces is an appropriate way to put it, as many who have a large number of mouthpieces treat them the same as a gun collection. Most are just for show and are never fired. A small number of favorites are the ones that get the action. I have about a dozen mouthpieces, and at least eight of them have not been played for at least six months. Search for my name and mouthpiece on this Bulletin Board and you will find my favorite technique for selection. If I used it all the time, I would not own so dang many mouthpieces.
Regards,
Joh
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Peter
Date: 2003-02-19 20:33
Depends.
The first thing I usually do is to determine what I want it to do for me and, look over as many as possible, in the catalogs, etc., according to their specifications and characteristics, and develop a list.
Then I consult others I know, who may be more knowledgeable than me, on the subject, and/or may be able to recommend something they know about. This may include musician friends, known retailers, manufacturers and custom builders, etc., and tell them what I'm looking for in a new MP, and develop a further list.
Then, armed with any knowledge gained by this, I set out to try out any and all MPS which might fit the bill, together with ligatures and possible recommended reeds, etc.
Enjoy!
Peter
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Bob
Date: 2003-02-19 21:55
Keep buying them until you find the one you like best. It takes time to determine whether any specific mouthpiece you try meets your requirements...AND...depending on lots of variables you might like it one day and not another. A mouthpiece that satisfies someone else may very well not satisfy you,therefore, opinions may not be relevant. After trying many I am currently using a vd V13 Profile 88.......this week.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Ken Shaw
Date: 2003-02-19 22:02
contragirl -
Machine-made mouthpieces -- Vandoren, Portnoy, Selmer, etc. -- have lots of variation from one to the next, and within the same facing number.
By the time you buy, say, one of each of the above, you'll have paid the price of a hand-made mouthpiece from, say, Greg Smith, which will always be better than what you can find in a music store.
Save up and get something good. Best of all, go to the maker's workshop and have a mouthpiece finished to fit your instrument, embouchure and playing style.
Best regards.
Ken Shaw
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: GBK
Date: 2003-02-19 22:06
Quoting Daniel Bonade (on the selection of a mouthpiece):
"Go out in a rowboat with a box of mouthpieces, put a blindfold on and pick one out, throw the rest of them overboard, and go home and practice."
The longer I play clarinet, the more I realize he was correct...GBK
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: jez
Date: 2003-02-19 23:03
There's something to be said for having an 'arsenal' of mp's. I always have few on the go and, when I'm trying reeds, find that if a reed doesn't feel any good on one mp., it often works fine on another, so I get to use far more than if I stuck with one. Also I'm scared of repeating the experience of my teacher, who used the same mouthpiece for years and then lost it in a motoring accident and was never happy with anything else again.
jez
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Brenda Siewert
Date: 2003-02-20 15:43
I decide by how it sounds, the intonation, response and how I enjoy playing it. It is also useful to try it in various situations--such as rehearsal and performance. That is--if it has made it that far in the selection process.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: MC
Date: 2003-02-20 16:08
I'm a bit of a mouthpiece junkie. I'm kind of like jez -- like to have a few good mouthpieces on hand, just in case something terrible happens to the one I'm currently playing. I tend to switch among them -- kind of depends on what I'm playing at the time, which reeds are cooperating, and so on.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: William
Date: 2003-02-20 16:12
Thanks, GBK, for that Bonade quote. As the propriator and owner of a closet full of stock and custom mouthpieces--not to mention ligatures, barrels, thumbrests, reed trimmers and assorted boxes of unused/"unacceptable" reeds (plastic and cane)--I must concur that the most important component in mouthpiece selection is "dumb luck" in finding one that half-way works and then going home and practicing on it until it does work. Inspite of all of the mpcs I have tried over the years, I am still playing on a Chicago Kaspar that I purchased as a college junior clarinet major in the 60's. I occassionally alternate it with an Ithica Charles Bay custom mouthpiece on which he copied my Kaspar facing, but basically have remained loyal to these two mouthpieces throughout the past 40 yrs of clarineting. For jazz, I do use a Glenn Bowen customized Woodwind G8, but he is the clarinet professor that I bought my old Kaspar from--so there is, nevertheless, a "connection."
Heed D. Bonades advice and rely more on personal improvement through practice rather than on external equipement. Like Gregory Smith (Chicago Symphony Orchestral Second Clarinetist Extrodianire) and fine mouthpiece craftsman in his own right, the farther the equipement is from you brain, the less important it is."
Gregory's Kaspar and Chedeville model mouthpieces (copies on Zinner blanks) are excellant products, but like Duke Ellington (might have) said, "(they) don't mean a thing, if (they) ain't got that swing (your own talent)"
How do ya get to Carnegie Hall???? PRACTICE MAN, PRACTICE!!!!!! Good clarineting, and good luck.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: William
Date: 2003-02-20 16:15
Opps!!!! Just re-read the heading and noticed the wording should have been, PRACTICE, GIRL, PRACTICE. I appolgise for the mis-gender infraction--please do not toss any cyberdaggers my way.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: contragirl
Date: 2003-02-20 17:19
*Horror movie strings* eek eek eek eek ==|=======>
Hehe, all's good. I dunno if I am Carnegie material tho. :-P
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Ralph G
Date: 2003-02-20 18:57
He may have meant Robert E. "Stump" Carnegie, the chicken wire magnate of Cuero, Texas. There's a hall down there named after him. Jerry Zuchmeister and the Albuquerque Fatboys are headlining the PolkaFest there this weekend!
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: DougR
Date: 2003-02-20 22:54
2 ways i have acquired mouthpieces: one, painstaking play-testing at the Vandoren studio on West 54th St.--only to find out, when I get the m'pieces home, they sounded totally different & had me asking myself, "What was I thinking?!?"
The other way: saw Robert Borbeck's ad in the clarinet journal, called him up, described my playing situations, he sent me a mouthpiece (ONE mouthpiece), it played great, and I've been using it ever since. If you've just discovered the mouthpiece equivalent of the Holy Grail, I don't want to hear about it!!!! Don't get me started down that road again!!!! If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him!!!
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
 |
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
