Author: sfalexi
Date: 2005-12-20 23:28
This thread is RIGHT up my alley!!!
I played on a noname stock mouthpiece until the middle of freshman year in high school. I did well enough on it, but my HS instructor recommended I get a Vandoren B45 and upgrade. So I begged my parents, and ended up receiving one from good 'ol St. Nick instead. I never really paid much attention to detail/technique/etc. in high school and just did my best to play what was put in front me me, hence I never thought to look for other mouthpieces and just accepted whatever was given to me.
I took two years off after High School from playing altogether. Then when I went to college, and my professor (a student of Gigliotti) pushed the gigliotti mouthpiece on me. It was my first taste of well made professional mouthpiece. Around that time, I joined this board and found out that Dave Spiegelthal refaced mouthpieces. I was having slight troubles with the mouthpiece, sent it away to Dave, and when it returned, it played WONDERFULLY. About this point I started playing more and more often, and I realized (through this board) that different mouthpieces play differently, and just how many were available to try. So I tried and tried and tried. (incidentally, Brenda, I too found out that it was a little hard to get volume out of my gigliotti. Although everything else was phenominal. I liked the tone and articulation, particularly with a very hard reed which my mouthpiece, the P, was designed for - I'm considering trying out at my future position another gigliotti, but perhaps the 2 or 3 model).
But that gigliotti was the first taste of professional quality mouthpiece that I had (the B45 I had in comparison was crap). I just RECENTLY sold it.
Alexi
PS - Right now I'm working off of a Bay as well. Very nice mouthpiece, and I haven't had time to thoroughly try it out and match a reed type/size to it, but am hanging on to it as it shows definite promise in that when I played the last concert, the conductor, the clarinet teacher at the college, said to me, "I don't know what you changed from last week, but whatever you changed, leave it JUST LIKE THAT. You sound the best you've ever sounded. Whatever mouthpiece, clarinet, reed, whatever you're using, KEEP IT!"
I beamed with pride. Still need to work on technique though so I can play with my sound no matter WHAT music is put in front of me.
US Army Japan Band
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