 The Clarinet BBoard
|
Author: kev182
Date: 2009-02-15 07:59
Have any of you looked for a suitable mouthpiece for a long time and was immediately satisfied once you found what you were looking for?
Is it worth trying to search for this elusive "perfect" mouthpiece or do many people just learn to play on what they have...
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Tobin
Date: 2009-02-15 13:42
Both. I have looked quite a bit and found two mouthpieces that allow me a great deal of flexibility and freedom...so I've suspended the search for now.
I'll always be happy to try other mouthpieces, but I'm not searching them out. What I have is what I want, and I'm "learning" to play them.
There are now other things that have risen to supremacy on the to do/find list!
James
Gnothi Seauton
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Sylvain
Date: 2009-02-15 13:59
I found that the search was worth the frustration. I did not necessarily lead to getting the perfect mouthpiece, but helped me figure out how I wanted to sound like and try different things to see how it helped me achieve it.
Don't be afraid to try something wildly different, you may be surprised.
--
Sylvain Bouix <sbouix@gmail.com>
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2009-02-15 15:18
The search never ends. You think you've found the perfect mouthpiece and a few years later you decide to look for something else. You hear a sound that you begin searching for, your not satisfied with your projection or you articulation. Basically, you change your concept and the MP you're using does not give you the same satisfaction if did a few years ago. I've change MPs about five times in the almost 47 years I've been a professional. True, once because my dog chewed up one of my best a long time ago, no she managed to die of natural causes several years later but only because she ran faster then I was able to. Anyway, the last time I changed was about 18 years ago after hearing someone on the radio and began a search for the sound I heard, I found it in my present mouthpiece. ESP
www.peabody.jhu.edu/457
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2009-02-15 16:01
My dog ate my mouthpiece.
That's a good one.
The best thing to do first is ensure that you are playing your current mouthpiece correctly. One of the best pieces of advice I got off the board is to play an open "G" and keep taking in more moutnpiece until it squawks. You just back up slightly from that spot and VOILA, that's the best point at which to play that mouthpiece. I have been guilty of trying to get short lay mouthpieces to play with my long lay moutpiece embouchure....YIKES!
Now, I get a lot more, out of a lot more mouthpieces. Still, you need to find one that works for you........just settle in first before you leap.
.............Paul Aviles
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Ryder
Date: 2009-02-16 04:34
True, the search will never end as things change, but as i posted in another thread I've recently found the best combo so far for me! My Fobes SF CF+ sounded absolutely amazing with one of the Fobes barrels best fit for the CF+. I can't wait to order the barrel, it made an astounding difference.
____________________
Ryder Naymik
San Antonio, Texas
"We pracice the way we want to perform, that way when we perform it's just like we practiced"
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: skygardener
Date: 2009-02-16 05:08
My end to the mouthpiece search was when I started to adjust my own mouthpieces. Not surprisingly, many (if not all) people that work on mouthpieces started because they were unsatisfied with what they could find in stores.
This is just the same for those that make there own reeds.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Tobin
Date: 2009-02-16 11:47
I think there's an important distinction to make here. The search never ends IN THEORY but is must end for periods of time IN PRACTICALITY.
At some point you have to say, "this is what I want" and work with it. Of course you may experiment more along the way, but you can't explore endlessly...you're progress will be impaired.
Ed has spent 9.5 years per mouthpiece according to his story, and 18 on the last one! And I agree with Paul, without the properly instilled fundamentals to aid you, you will be selecting the mouthpiece under "false pretenses".
James
Gnothi Seauton
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Gregory Smith ★2017
Date: 2009-02-16 13:18
Paul said:
"You just back up slightly from that spot and VOILA, that's the best point at which to play that mouthpiece. I have been guilty of trying to get short lay mouthpieces to play with my long lay moutpiece embouchure...."
-----------------------
Hi Paul !
Of course it also depends on whether one is an "on the lip" or "off the lip" player...the nature of their occlusion, etc. There are so many of these types of variables to consider.
The more one learns, the more one realizes how much more there is to learn.
Gregory Smith
http://www.gregory-smith.com
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: George Stalle
Date: 2009-02-16 13:41
Has any one read good threads on proper mouthpiece selection for beginners, ie, dos/don'ts, physical things to look for? Thanks!
George Stalle
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2009-02-17 10:23
Dear Greg,
Ok, I need to learn more, what is OFF THE LIP and ON THE LIP????
.......thanks,
................Paul Aviles
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Tobin
Date: 2009-02-17 12:13
...I would guess that he means the mpc is "off" or "on"...so double or single lip embouchure Greg?
James
Gnothi Seauton
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: kchan ★2017
Date: 2009-02-17 20:45
Ed wrote:
Anyway, the last time I changed was about 18 years ago after hearing someone on the radio and began a search for the sound I heard, I found it in my present mouthpiece. ESP
-----
Sorry .. comments like this make me curious and I know it's just trivia .. but what was so special about that "someone on the radio" and what is your present mouthpiece?
-ken
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: sfalexi
Date: 2009-02-18 03:46
Nah. Why should it stop? I'll say that I've slowed down my search. I try maybe two new mouthpieces a year (if that) and so far have not found one that is better than my current mouthpiece. But I do keep trying new ones. If anything, just so I have broadened my experience on different equipment. Some mouthpieces have come close, and I have one mouthpiece that I'm going to arrange to try out this year (because I stupidly sold it years ago and have missed it since), but we'll see how that goes later.
There's too many mouthpieces out there for someone like myself not to at least give them a shot. I may find something I like better. I may not, but I enjoy trying them out. I don't tire of it.
Alexi
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Gregory Smith ★2017
Date: 2009-02-18 12:55
Paul -
I wasn't referring to you in particular about the more one learns....I was actually referencing myself!
One question before I try an answer:
When you release the embouchure from around the reed, does the "white" area deprived of blood-flow - the exact place that the reed has been resting - fall mostly on the red part of the lip or more on the front, white part of the lip (the whiskers area)?
Gregory Smith
http://www.gregory-smith.com
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Tobin
Date: 2009-02-18 12:59
...aha...so my speculation was simply COMPLETELY WRONG!
So I'm "on the lip", and I'm interested in where this is going.
James
Gnothi Seauton
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: skygardener
Date: 2009-02-18 13:13
Greg,
So "Off the lip" means that the entire red part of the lip is inside the mouth?
So, you mean, "Off the lip and on the face"?
Pehaps my imagination is over doing your description...
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Gregory Smith ★2017
Date: 2009-02-18 15:27
It has more to do with where the embouchure/reed pressure point location is than how much of the lip is "inside" of the mouth.
The key question is whether the pressure point rests more on the flat facing of the lower teeth or more on the cutting edge of the top of the teeth?
The answer to this usually determines whether one plays on the lip or off.
(BTW, off doesn't completely mean off, just more on the front of the lip structure where it is half white, half red rather than where it is predominantly on, or only on the "red" part of the lip.)
Gregory Smith
http://www.gregory-smith.com
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Gregory Smith ★2017
Date: 2009-02-19 03:10
Off. And am surprised that with so much discussion accumulated about embouchure on this bboard, it has not been mentioned. Perhaps it goes by different names that have been coined of which I am unaware.
The two different ways of addressing the reed have profound influences over - well just about everything having to do with sound production, articulation, and everything else that goes on in and around the oral cavity.
Gregory Smith
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: kev182
Date: 2009-02-19 04:17
I was under the impression that "off-the lip" is simply a good, effective, efficient embouchure and that on lip is reserved for more non traditional, classical playing styles... jazz etc...
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Gregory Smith ★2017
Date: 2009-02-19 05:12
Then you'd be surprised. You're one of the fortunate ones. It's rarely if ever taught or mentioned as you've so accurately described.
Gregory Smith
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Bassie
Date: 2009-02-19 09:33
Err... still confused. Is this about where the reed sits on the lip or where the lip sits on the teeth? Please explain, I'm fascinated!
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Gregory Smith ★2017
Date: 2009-02-19 13:17
It's more about where the perfect pressure point is on the lower lip vis-a-vis the lower teeth. How much lip over the teeth depends on one's personal physiology although the two components are not mutually exclusive.
It all has to do with the angle of one's clarinet (when the head is upright as if looking to the horizon). And it directly relates to Paul's post about the proper amount/proportion of mouthpiece to reed in the mouth.
Gregory Smith
Post Edited (2009-02-19 15:15)
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
 |
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
