Author: Buster
Date: 2011-12-04 22:34
Just food for thought:
I have a very good mouthpiece that projects too much so I don't use it. (If you can't understand why stop reading.)
It is quite down the middle in measurements. .....but for the Mozart Quintet, or Brahms Sonati, it would simply be stupid.
For large orchestral work it can sound like I am bragging, so it stays stored away. (and no it's not for sale. It is simply a stupid piece of rubber.)
-When discussing "jazz" clarinet, or set-up, the definition of time-period is essential.
What style is needed for "Black Bottom Stomp", or the music of Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, or the charts of Thad Jones/Mel Lewis is quite varied.
Last time I played "Black Bottom....." I really wished to get my hands on an acceptable old Albert System horn, but my search came up empty. Yet I found a way to sound like a period dixie-land clarinetist.
The lead clarinet voice in Glenn Miller is something entirely different, but is still within reach on a reasonable set-up.
Then you get to Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw etc..........
It comes to a point where you need to ask yourself are you emulating a person, or performing in a specific style. If you wish to emulate a person, vaya con Dios as your journey will be fraught with frustration. If you wish to emulate a style, then we're getting somewhere. With a bit of listening you can get it with about any set-up you wish. ----------Or you can search a particular mouthpiece for every specific decade of music at hand...............
Again, "jazz" style mouthpieces generally exist for saxophonists that are not comfortable on a smaller tip opening- but this is simply an issue of pragmatic comfort.
On my set-up I can play with just as much volume as a "jazz" piece. (Though it is not a competition.) I can "sound like" any style with a simple change in approach.
About the only thing I cannot do is play in the 'banda sinaloense' style- but if you have played that set-up you'll know what that entails and why it cannot be approximated by any reasonable mouthpiece.
Post Edited (2011-12-04 22:36)
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The Clarinet BBoard
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