The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Ken Mills
Date: 2005-12-22 22:09
For rapid legato tonguing I have finally settled on a new mouthpiece that has a medium facing yet accepts a reed that is softer than medium. The mpc has a gradual facing of only 1.22mm yet takes the Vandoren V12 #2.5 or 3 reed which is about the same strength as the Marca #2.5 reed that I use. These are heavy bodied reeds. At least they are strong enough to get a good upper clarion and lower altissimo range of notes. This setup seems to be friendly to rapid tonguing because the reed does not have to fluctuate over a severe curve. Yet those left-hand clarion notes, that are the worst to make good, sound full and solid now as you refrain from going any softer as I used to on the Vandoren 5JB. Yes, jazz. You have lung power? You still just can’t have good high notes on that 5JB and also have a reed that is soft enough to be responsive to rapid tonguing.
The new mouthpiece is the Selmer CP100. My analysis is that since it has quite a big chamber as well as the big opening into its bore it will take softer reeds without blowing them off the table and making them close up as they fluctuate back. You know that people can really tongue on the alto sax but not so good when they switch to clarinet. This might be why. You can hear this out there on the Embarcadero in San Francisco if you fax me a 415 673 1027.
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