Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2017-07-14 04:32
Justin Willsey wrote:
> I find that the reeds
> play a tiny bit lower than cane in all registers.
This is my experience, too, but coincidentally my mouthpieces (custom-faced Chris Hills) tend to play a little sharp, so I just don't have to pull out as much. I've always suspected the very flexible tip as the reason, but it's hard to decide what effect that has on the response because the material is so physically different from cane. I use two almost identical mouthpieces, one with a 1.01 mm tip and the other a 1.03 mm, both with 17 mm curve lengths. It's hard to believe, because 2/100 of a millimeter shouldn't make a noticeable difference, but my altissimo notes are perfectly in tune on the 1.03 with cane and flat with the 3.75 Légères I've been using. They are in tune on the 1.01.
So my tentative and very anecdotally-based conclusion is that very close tip openings may produce better altissimo pitch. But I've read here, I think, of players using Vandoren B series mouthpieces with Légère Euros quite happily.
Apart from having the 1.01 mm mouthpiece made for me, I do find that the pitch and quality I get above D6 have improved in the year I've been using the Euros. I can't tell you exactly what I've changed to accommodate them, but it isn't biting or pinching on the reed. I think my oral shape has changed a little - tongue may be a little higher. But when I go back to cane (for occasional reference), I don't notice any problem as a result of whatever I've done.
I do think there's a learning curve, hence time, involved, and I don't know that the adjustments need to be completely conscious, any more than adjusting from one cane reed to another needs to be.
FWIW, I would agree with others that a #3 Euro on an M15 is probably a little too soft.
Karl
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