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Re: The German Mouthpiece Experience

Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2018-02-04 20:40

zhangray4 wrote:

> I'm a student here, so I'm confused: if German mouthpieces are
> really that good, then why don't mouthpiece makers learn from
> the Germans and modify the mouthpieces to suit the French
> clarinet?
>

(a) It isn't a question of "that good" but instead one of ease of use. The result determines how "good" a piece of equipment is, and if a player sounds good - plays well - the equipment he or she uses shouldn't really be irrelevant.

(b) Over the years on this BBoard, my perception is that most of the questions related to the effort involved in playing the equipment the poster uses come from students - often high school students but sometimes players studying in university music programs. These questions are often fed by a good deal of inexperience.

There are French-style mouthpieces being made that really do fit Mr. de Jong's description. You don't really have to do much more than "just blow" - assuming a well-formed, efficient embouchure and well-adjusted reed. And I'll bet there are mouthpieces in use on German-style clarinets by German and German-school players (if such schools really still exist) that are every bit as hard to make work as some of the ones I hear about here.

I haven't ever played on a mouthpiece, at least for any length of time, that I really had to work hard to play. The Cicero Vintage mouthpiece I've been using lately (by Bob Bernardo), again with a well-adjusted reed, plays with very little embouchure effort. Likewise, the mouthpieces by Chris Hill that I used previously and going back through several by Walter Grabner, Clark Fobes and the old Babbitt-made Gigliottis. I have quickly discarded a few popular ones because I felt too much effort was needed to make a clear, controlled, flexible tone come out.

I don't think it's a question of French-style mouthpieces' being harder to blow. It may be that the prevalence of concert bands in U.S. clarinetists' experience leads many American players into playing setups that are meant to play louder with easier-blending tone qualities and with less emphasis on flexibility. But that's only an off-the-cuff thought, not a researched conclusion.

If you want to find a French-style mouthpiece that you can "just blow" there are many candidates.

Karl

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