Author: Lisa
Date: 2014-12-30 05:25
I haven't read or posted on here for years, but I know I'll get great advice here! I already searched and read a ton of mp threads before posting this.
A little over a year ago the tip of my best mouthpiece cracked unexpectedly, so I switched to my second one. While I was frustrated my Gennusa Excellent GEZ cracked, I immediately switched over to my Gennusa Excellente GE* (star), with what I thought was pretty good success, despite needing a while to get used to it. But I kept thinking, "Gee, I'm better than this," as I compared myself to the playing of others around me. So one day I tried out several different mouthpieces, most of which just didn't work as well for me as my busted GEZ, including the same GEZ I tried at the music store that day!
So besides the GEZ, I tried their "best mp," a Clark Fobes San Francisco, as well asking for my old standby, Vandoren B45 that I played very well on years ago before returning it to my private college instructor. I tried each mp with a tuner, high, middle, low, slurred, tongued, fast and slow passages, etc., and was surprised that both the B45 and Fobes seemed to me to feel and play better than the GEZ, so I took both of those and left the GEZ behind. [I did read on here that different mp's of the same make/model can play slightly differently, so I understand why I wasn't immediately in love with it again.]
I auditioned and was selected for an all-state community band (here in MD), and once again felt I had the ability to sound as well as, or better than those around me, which caused me to question both of my newish mp choices. While hunting around for my stash of old new reeds (they play better for me than new new ones), I uncovered a B45 Lyre that I played on before the GEZ. I found that it plays EVER so much better for me than either the Fobes or B45. I was absolutely shocked at how well the old B45 Lyre felt and sounded - with a nice, round, full, dark, tone, good intonation in all registers, and great response whether I used a Rue 56, V12, or the Legere reeds that played best for me on the GEZ from over a year ago. I can't wait to go back to community band at the end of January, now that my playing sounds like ME once again!!!
If you've made it through my story above, thank you.  Here are my questions:
1. Since I had such good success with the initial GEZ before it cracked, should I have instead traveled around to try as many GEZ's as I could, to find one that matched the quality of the one that had cracked?
2. Have you had your mp crack w/o trauma to it? It was weird how the tip just cracked, and something that's never happened in 35 years of playing.
3. Was I 'supposed to' be able to have the most success with the Clark Fobes (which now I don't like), based on all of the wonderful reviews of it that I'd read online? And, NOW what do I do with this (expensive) mp that just doesn't work best for me after all anymore, compared to the B45 Lyre?
4. After learning the hard way to "always have a spare mp with me for emergencies," should I be satisfied with the less-than-stellar performance of the collection of mp's I already have, or should I have a second mp that I'm equally happy with - such as a second B45 Lyre or even finding a GEZ that works for me as well as the one that cracked??
5. If YOUR second/spare mouthpiece is a different model than your first one, would you be satisfied to immediately perform on it, should something happen to your first mp?
Many thanks!
-Lisa
Post Edited (2014-12-30 07:43)
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