 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Eb
Date: 2001-06-23 00:57
Hey everyone!
I was wondering what kind of mouthpiece would be best for a high school clarinet player. My daughter, plays a buffett if that really matters. I would like to get her a new mouthpiece for her birthday, because her current mouthpiece, has a chip in it, which makes her sound funky. Anyways, any help would be greatly appreciated! Hope everyone has a good 4th of July!!
~Eb~
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Author: Eb
Date: 2001-06-23 01:20
I have looked through a catalog, and wonder how these sounds?
Lurie- crystal - medium close facing.
Pomarico-crystal-?? Close, medium, open, and open +
Selmer Paris Series-crystal-facings 1-5
I would like to know which ones is the best for playing higher staff notes, and which ones sound the brightest. Also, what do facings mean?
Thanks,
~Eb~
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Author: Sara
Date: 2001-06-23 02:11
There have been a lot of posts in the past on this, but its really difficult to tell exacty which mouthpiece is best without seeing heer play. The best thing to do is to is, if she has one, ask her private teacher to suggest an appropriate mouthpiece. I can tell you a couple of options though. Theres always good ole Vandoren, quality hard rubber mouthpieces with a large variety of facings. And then theres hand made mouthpieces, which can often run in the hundreds of dollars each. But theres tons of mouthpieces out there, oh and if your daughter is useing the buffet ligature than you might want ot check into getting a new one og those as well; they kinda suck as fat as quality ! Well hope I could help!
Sara
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Author: willie
Date: 2001-06-23 05:08
What works for one clarinetist may not work for another. There are too many differances between ones own chops (embouchure), the shape of the oral chamber, teeth, etc. Plus our setups are different. Different ligatures, reeds, and even clarinets of the same brand and model will have differances. The best way to get the best mouthpiece is to try several at a time and not only listen yourself but have someone with a good ear to stand out in front of you to judge the sound that is projected. This makes a mouthpiece for a present difficult. I would recommend one that is hand faced by one of the custom makers.
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Author: Anji
Date: 2001-06-23 13:42
Drop the major mail order houses a line and ask for the woodwind desk.
IMS/WW&BW/Muncy have helpful people and their prices are not too far apart.
I strongly recommend the Legere Synthetic reed, especially for beginners.
One reed from Legere should last as long as 10-15 natural reeds and will not vary dramatically in humididty.
Facing is the combination of curve points and eventual tip opening that the reed bends across.
Think of the reed as a diving board. Harder reeds flex less and need a straighter, closer facing. Softer reeds flex more and need a rounder, more open face.
(This is a gross simplification.)
Check out the Clark Fobes stuff in the 'Friends of Sneezy' page for something special.
If you call the mail order places, let them know about your pricing search to see if they'll budge on $$.
Stick with the hard rubber stuff, and buy two when you find the one you like (one seems to inevitably disappear or disintigrate).
Congrats on supporting your kid in this,
anji
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Author: William
Date: 2001-06-23 15:37
VanDoren mouthpieces are manufactured to fit well with the Buffet line of clarinet. One currently popular model is the M-13 Lyra, but I recommend trying as many as possible before buying to make certain it is the "right one" for your child (in other words, the one that seems to play "best") as they all will play a bit differently, depending upon many factors such as, embouchure, oral cavity of the player and the condition of the reed. But the basic bore design of all VanDoren mps is meant to compliment the Buffet clarinet to enable optimum intonation and quality of sound. And, they are reasonably priced--unlike many of the "custom" mouthpieces currently one the market. And, way to go EB for supporting your childs musical education. She may not become a "professional" muscian, but appreciation for the arts is a basic rung in the "ladder" of life--and everyone knows that the more rungs your ladder has, the higher you are able to climb. Good clarineting!!!!!!!!!!!!! (to your daughter)
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Author: Sara
Date: 2001-06-24 04:00
Or in other words, just find a music store that lets you try lots of everything, ligatures, mouthpieces and all that and tell her to find one that sounds the best and works the best!
Sara
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Author: Suzanne
Date: 2001-06-24 05:09
I have two seventh graders who play Vandoren B45's, which they picked. Another good standard student mouthpiece is the Vandoren 5RV Lyre, which is easy to control and not too expensive. Vandoren will tend to have a less bright sound. If possible, let her try them out first. Crystal might tend to be a little harder to blow, more expensive, and much easier to break! (Broke one myself in high school.) The sound is often a little more muted.
Facings: A huge generalization would be that more close facings are somewhat more resistant (harder to blow) than more open facings. Another gross generalization: more open facings will sound brighter. Unless she is in jazz band or has huge lungs, something in the middle would probably be best. I'm sure Vandoren has a web page or something where you can look at facings; if not, the music supplier people mentioned above can help.
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Author: Hiroshi
Date: 2001-06-25 00:54
All of the mouthpieces you mentioned are better than Buffet stock mouthpiece.
They are attached to instruments as an ornaments not usable one.
However, not to kill future progress, standard mouthpieces like Vandoren's 5RV or B45 are recommended usually by many teachers. It may be better to stay away certain kind of special ones such as crystals. Children are growing up and their physical condition including oral cavity changes and they are not at the stage
to be able to judge which ones are suitable. 5RV and B45 are as it were Vandoren's flag ships. There are slimmer type of these called Profile 88. Those may be good for small mouth chldren.
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Author: Daniel
Date: 2001-06-25 04:48
If she needs a new mouthpiece due to a chip, i would seriously hesitate buying her a crystal mouthpiece. Regardless of whether the chip was due to her carelessness or someone else, crystal chips/breaks alot easier.
And if she's going to be marching, she'll definitely need a rubber or plastic mouthpiece (if she doesn't already). I know a guy who, in high school marched with a crystal mouthpiece, and it got shoved into the roof of his mouth (not sure where he stumbled, tripped, or got bumped by someone) and broke. He had to have stitches after they removed all the glass. (this was back in the early 60's)
Daniel
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Author: Riccardo Clerici
Date: 2001-06-25 13:31
It's really funny...a person would like to know something about crystal mouthpieces and everybody tell him to try the plastic ones...
Riccardo Clerici
Manager of
Pomarico s.n.c.
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Author: Brenda Siewert
Date: 2001-06-25 13:58
The mouthpiece I buy all the time and sell with Buffet clarinets is the Vandoren M13Lyre. It's the best one for the Buffet and many school districts require it for their band/orchestra students (such as the one in my city). It will help her immensely.
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Author: Sylvain
Date: 2001-06-25 14:42
I have played many vandoren mouthpieces in the past, ranging from the B40 (very open) to the M13 Lyre, I always found that the 5RV Lyre was the best buy for a student. It's a medium open mouthpiece and a medium facing. It will develop the embouchure of your daughter and I am sure tou will be happy with the overall sound.
Also, if she takes lessons ask her teacher to help you out in the end he/she might be the best to judge what is good for your daughter.
Happy clarinetting to your daughter, I'm sure she'll be thrilled with her new gift!
-S
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Author: ReedWoman
Date: 2001-06-27 02:29
Mr. Clerici's comment is very apropos. Eb asked specifically about crystal mouthpieces. Here is my $.02:
Several years ago, I was looking to replace the Selmer HS** that I had had for 20 years. I tried Pete Fountain (crytstal), Selmer HS** (hard rubber), and Vandoren crystal (made by Pomarico, and I think no longer marketed under the Vandoren name). For tone color and volume I liked (and bought) the Vandoren A3, which is a pretty open mouthpiece. I love the sound I get from it, but the big drawback is that I find tonguing much more cumbersome. I'm not sure why....the HS** crystal was the same way, so it's not just the openness. The other problem I had with it was that the outside diameter of the mouthpiece is pretty large, and my Bonade ligature didn't quite fit around it plus the V12 reeds, so I wound up buying a different ligature.
Head to head with the B45 (hard rubber), the sound is brighter but fuller, takes a softer reed, however, but I like it. I think the A3 would be the most open of the current Pomarico line (they can tell you for sure), and if you're going to buy one, I would probably at least try the more "normal" openings. I was looking for a jazz-type mouthpiece at the time. Someday I'd like to try one of the closer facings also, but none were available thru Vandoren at the time that I was looking, which was before I knew they were really Pomaricos.
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