 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: jason flores
Date: 1999-11-12 17:35
HI Im jason flores I play alto clarinet , Mostly turkish music I am looking for a good mouthpiece; I use rico #2 reeds but I am swithcing to legeres because I hate screwing with reeds. i like to play loud but I also enjoy a somewhat dark tone. I cant decide between an open selmer or 5RV vandoren mouthpiece, Please help If you can
I use a rovner dark lig, which i enjoy
Thanks
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Author: Gary Van Cott
Date: 1999-11-12 18:44
The Vandoren mouthpiece you are looking at is the most closed alto clarinet mouthpiece that Vandoren makes. I use a B44 which is a middle of the road mouthpiece. I think there is also a B40 which is even more open. You should look at those too.
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Author: Brad
Date: 1999-11-14 06:25
David Dintenfass of the Northwest Clarinet Choir plays on a Vandoren B44 and sounds great on it. I know that would be my choice.
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 1999-11-14 14:24
Brad wrote:
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David Dintenfass of the Northwest Clarinet Choir plays on a Vandoren B44 and sounds great on it. I know that would be my choice.
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Brad,
Do you play on a B44? The reason I'm asking is because using a mouthpiece just because someone else uses that mouthpiece is, in general, "a bad idea". <B>Trying</b> a mouthpiece based upon what you heard is a better idea. Also - you'll need to record yourself rather than listen to what you sound like with your own ears. There's more than one pathway to the ear when you're playing the clarinet yourself, and the sound you like when you're listening to someone else playing may not be (most probably isn't) the same as the one you produce when you <b>think</b> you are.
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Author: David Dintenfass
Date: 1999-11-16 05:58
I play alto clarinet in the Northwest Clarinet Choir here in Seattle. I've been very happy with the Vandoren B-44 and have been using it for several years. Before that I used a Portnoy alto clarinet mouthpiece (I'm looking at it right now, and as it has no model number on it, I suspect it's the only one Portnoy makes). As much as I like the Portnoy BP02 for Bb clarinet (I've used one for nearly 20 years), I was not happy with my intonation and tone with the Portnoy alto clarinet mouthpiece. The Vandoren B-44 is much better. I would characterize it as a good, all-around alto clarinet mouthpiece. On the other hand, if you're doing jazz or Klezmer you might try a more open mouthpiece and an even softer reed.
That said, I would have to say that the biggest improvement in my sound was switching to plastic reeds. Even with the Vandoren B-44 I was having trouble getting a consistently good tone with cane reeds despite lots of adjustments to the reeds. If you've played alto, you know that you need all the help you can get as the horn (even a good alto clarinet, and I play a LeBlanc) tends not to project nearly as well as a soprano or bass clarinet. I've been using Fibracell alto sax reeds (medium). They are somewhat inconsistent, but less so than cane reeds and they can be adjusted just like cane reeds. I find my intonation is much better with the plastic reeds, plus they last a lot longer and don't change their response halfway into a long concert.
While I still prefer cane reeds for Bb soprano clarinet, anyone who plays the bigger clarinets should give plastic reeds a shot. They are MUCH better than those awful ones I used for marching band in the 1970s. I hear some of the other plastic reeds are even better than Fibracells but I haven't tried 'em yet.
A tip of the hat here to Brad Stevens (also of the Northwest Clarinet Choir) for turning me on to Fibracell reeds.
-dave
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