 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Micke Isotalo ★2017
Date: 2014-09-11 02:18
What's your experience about different tip openings on a given mouthpiece, as when the same kind of mouthpiece is provided with a closed, medium and large opening? A closed one of course requires a stiffer reed compared to a larger one, but how about sound in different registers, staccato, general playability, etc? What does a closed opening "achieve" compared to a larger one, and vice versa?
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2014-09-11 03:36
Of course there ARE plenty of other factors, BUT........
My take on it is that a more closed opening allows more 'control' over timbre and pitch simply because the parameters are closer together (less flex in timbre and pitch in a closed tip opening). The advantage is built in constancy. You don't have to work (or even think for that matter) as much about where you are pitch wise or timbre wise as you fly from one register into another.
Now, you do lose this 'assurance' with a wider tip opening but you do gain (obviously) greater flexibility of pitch and timbre. It is also easier to do effects such as glissandi and klezmer type 'yelps.' So, what you desire more in style is a big deciding factor in which way you may settle.
It is NOT so cut and dried but it used to be the common wisdom that open mouthpieces were for jazz and narrow openings were more suited for classical. However, having one type of opening doesn't preclude you from playing (quite satisfactorily) the opposite style of music.......it just makes it a little more work.
.................Paul Aviles
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Author: Dan Shusta
Date: 2014-09-11 05:49
Well stated, Paul. Now if you would please just elaborate slightly on embouchure tension differences, that would be great. (Perhaps that what you meant by "work"?)
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2014-09-11 06:54
Sorry, I have the idea in my head, it just doesn't always come across.
The best way to describe what I mean would be to describe an 'unpleasant' experience I had with several mouthpieces I had ordered from an august mouthpiece maker. I assumed at the time that I wanted to go slightly more open just to pump more air into the horn. Well of course the metrics are not that simple, and I wound up with three mouthpieces that were too open for me. Naturally I wanted to get some use out of them so I forced myself to play on a few of them exclusively for about four months. What happened to me (not having perfect pitch) is that I had to work with a tuner far more than usual because the slightest variance of pressure was throwing my pitch off the charts. The tone color changed even more drastically from register to register (even note to note). I was making ten times more adjustments than before just to keep an even sound. It would have been possible to get things to work eventually with a great deal more time and patience but for me (in part because it was also physically too open to be comfortable for the long haul) that effort would have been too much for too little return. I can achieve a tighter control on my pitch and timbre with the mouthpieces that have a smaller tip opening than those three.
...............Paul Aviles
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Author: Dan Shusta
Date: 2014-09-11 07:33
Excellent, Paul!
That has got to be the best explanation I have ever seen in print!
Many thanks.
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Author: Micke Isotalo ★2017
Date: 2014-09-30 23:00
Thank you for your comments, everybody.
I'm aware that the tip opening is just one of several parameters, as well that usually even "identical" mouthpieces differ from each another.
However, the question of interest was the one that I asked.
Mouthpiece makers usually recommends a smaller tip opening for chamber music and larger ones for orchestral music - thus indicating a "smaller" sound with a smaller tip.
A colleague of mine has experienced a nicer sound in the high register with a larger tip opening (within certain limits) compared to a closer one.
Since I myself haven't done any comparisons like this I was curious about your experiences.
Micke Isotalo
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Author: SpiritTalker
Date: 2014-10-01 00:28
Would you say that one or the other makes a difference in how well the instrument "speaks"? (other factors aside) I personally, would like to find a "loud" mouthpiece that speaks very freely (doesn't take a ton of air). Intonation-wise, I feel I can easily adjust (since the only ensemble I play with is a little trio I like to call "Me, Myself, & I" and they're a pretty flexible group, lol) I'm after a fat, beefy sound, if that makes sense.
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Author: kdk
Date: 2014-10-01 03:32
Micke Isotalo wrote:
> Mouthpiece makers usually recommends a smaller tip opening for
> chamber music and larger ones for orchestral music - thus
> indicating a "smaller" sound with a smaller tip.
>
There are and have been a great many American clarinetists who would disagree with this.
I guess it makes a difference what is meant by "smaller" and "larger" sounds. These are very much as ambiguous as "bright" and "dark" and mean different things to different people.
Karl
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Author: TomS
Date: 2014-10-01 23:08
it's all what works for you in the acoustical setting, style of music and your concept of desirable sound at the moment. Everyone is as different as one set of false teeth is to the other.
I've traveled around and around in MP specifications over my 50+ years of trying to tame this black, hollow stick.
Currently, an M13 is my best friend. Next year, might be a Behn, Smith or a Ridenour, and in god-knows-what facing!
Tom
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Author: D Dow
Date: 2014-10-01 23:09
Getting a big sound can be done on a closed mouthpiece..I think tonal concepts are in the brain so a mouithpiece naturally is only part of the factor of performing. The reed and the timbral quality you are looking for and of course how you practice you do make up for alot of perception of how you play. Players on a med closed Chedeville's ( like Harold Wright) had a very deep big sound.
Once you adjust to a given mouthpiece... much of your playing depends on imagination and how well you co ordinate all the elements that go in to producing a good tone. A sound with a good focus or centre and some ring will project...no matter the tip. Players like Karl Leister play on very small tip openings and have no trouble with projection...
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Author: TomS
Date: 2014-10-01 23:48
I agree with the idea that a close tip opening MP is capable of a BIG sound. Once you find the reeds that work and slightly adapt your voicing, embouchure and air supply system to optimize the efficiency, it can all work together to bring forth a BIG, beautiful sound.
Clark Fobes maintained, years ago, that his original CF facing, with a tip opening of only 0.96mm has "plenty of sound". More to a BIG sound than facing alone.
Tom
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