Author: Roger Aldridge
Date: 2009-12-04 12:23
When I was first getting to know Walter Grabner I quickly discovered that we are on the same page regarding differences between volume and projection. I described to him it's been my experience how some of my saxophone buddies use high baffle, smaller chamber mouthpieces and if one goes to the back of the hall to listen to their sound you find that their sound drops and does not project to the back of the hall. Whereas, I'm a fan of large chamber, small baffle mouthpieces (made with exceptionally high quality hard rubber) and whenever I've asked a friend to check on my sound and balance in an ensemble they report that my sound projects to the back of the hall and can be heard better in the audience than the guys using various kinds of jazz mouthpieces.
I've had exactly the same experience with projection using a Grabner K14 on clarinet and his LB mouthpiece on bass clarinet.
With this in mind, I've come to use what I think of as a middle-of-the-road tip opening with my saxophone & clarinet mouthpieces andl, especially, use mouthpieces that have an exceptional amount of projection. Tonal ring is a key element in projection. Thus, a Kaspar style clarinet mouthpiece can be fantastic for jazz...also, in having a beautiful dark fat sound. In this way, I discovered that I do not need big tip opening mouthpieces in order to play in a large ensemble -- jazz or classical.
With respect to bending notes, etc.... Middle of the road reed strength. I normally use a #3 strength on all of my saxophone and clarinet set ups. Importantly, I use thick cut reeds. I've found that having more "wood" in the heart helps in having a stronger tonal core.
Finally, taking in the right amount of mouthpiece -- with the lower lip on the falcum point where the reed separates from the facing curve of the mouthpiece -- is extremely important in having a big and resonant sound.
Doing these things, I'm able to use the same set up for either classical or jazz playing.
Roger
Post Edited (2009-12-04 13:23)
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The Clarinet BBoard
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