The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: romdancer99
Date: 2012-10-12 16:20
Hello clarinet enthusiasts,
I am new to the forum and want to ask your opinion on an dillema I have. I am deciding on mouthpieces and want to ask your thoughts. I am comparing 3 mouthpieces- M30, M13 and B45 dot. They all have their pluses and minuses. Here are some of my observations. M30 is medium easy blowing, articulation is medium easy, plays even throughout the scales but when you play intervals, you need to change your tongue position in order to sound smooth. M13 is very easy blowing, articulation is very clean, easy to control dynamics but doesn't play even. Some different notes sound differently. It could be because I tried it with too soft of reeds (Vandoren blue box 3). It sounds very nice but it requires harder reeds and my embochure and air support are not strong enough yet. The third mouthpiece is B45 dot that sounds the most even of all 3. It lets me play through scales and intervals with very even sound without the need to change anything inside my mouth. The drawback is that is resistent and the articulation is not good. It is difficult to control dynamics because of the resistence. So, my question is what is more important-the ease of playing or evenness? If I choose B45 dot, would it be "cheating" if I play even without changing my tongue position? Would M13 be "cheating" also because of the ease of playing, so I will not develop good air support?
FYI, I have been playing clarinet for about 1 year and a half, I use Buffet E11, made in Germany, and Vandoren 3 reeds. Thank you very much for information.
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Author: DAVE
Date: 2012-10-12 18:16
Get a M13 Lyre, slap a blue-box 3.5 on it and start practicing. Once you've played for a few years and learn to control things, then you'll have a better foundation that will help guide you on what you prefer. Also, get a good teacher.
My advice for younger players is to get a standard set-up that works for a majority of people, play that for a long time, and THEN experiment.
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Author: NBeaty
Date: 2012-10-13 02:11
M13, M13 Lyre, M15
Blue Box 3\3.5 or V12 3.5
Go practice
For more detail, see the recent post about M30 Versus B40 Lyre.
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Author: Clarimeister
Date: 2012-10-13 03:49
On the contrary to the previous two posts. I currently play on an M30. I absolutely love the sound I'm able to produce with it. I don't think the articulation is hard to control. Response could be better and you would definitely get that with the M13Lyre, but what you won't get, in my opinion, is as full and round of a sound as with the M30. I have played on an M13Lyre and though the sound is pretty nice and focussed, feel it has a ceiling to how loud you can play and also feel it's a little thinner sounding.
Now, again contrary to my opinion on what the mouthpieces actually are. You need to figure what will be the easiest to play on at your level. I will admit, the M30 is not what you would probably call a beginner mouthpiece. You must have very good control of the embouchure and voicing, along with out biting, and extremely good air support. So that being said, you may want to try the closer faced mouthpieces such as those mentioned (M13, M13Lyre, and M15). You might even want to try the 5RV Lyre. With a medium close facing and medium length it's pretty easy to control. But, you might have luck with what DAVE and NBeaty said.
Try not only in practice, but with ensembles, lessons, or have some people listen to it with articulation and some slow etudes to see what sounds best and most importantly, what feels best for your playing at this stage. Hope this helps.
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