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Backun Vocalise mouthpiece

Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2020-03-03 23:49

I had a Vocalise R2 (high pitch version) to try for a day and found in general that the thick rails (tip rail and the side rails) are particularly thick, which is a characteristic that I have found dampens upper partials and impedes projection. To be fair, I wanted to give this mouthpiece a shot because I had heard from several independent sources that wider rails are better for synthetic reeds and this is what I play now. Unfortunately it turned out that this mouthpiece performs in a manner consistent with other wide tip rail mouthpieces such as the Viotto and the Vandoren M30.

I will say though that I have heard players play with a wonderful, vibrant sound on the M30 and realize that for some players, their technique may still be a good match for the Vocalise. It is interesting to note that Backun does not give us a heads up about this character of their mouthpiece. In the following video, Peter Cigleris and Sam Gregory (product specialist) refer to Vandoren mouthpiece facings as a point of comparison, but use such models as the M15, the BD5 and the B45, but fail to liken it to its closest cousin the M30........what would have been much more helpful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfhXy7mqduk

So yes there are still some positive aspects. I see what Peter is talking about regarding pitch. With the Vocalise, all the registers comfortably play with exactly the same embouchure "pressure" (firmness, posture), so that pitch is rock steady throughout registers at a given dynamic.

Finally it is not an unpleasant sound. If you want to sound all "dark" and don't need to blend or project amongst others in a more competitive setting, the mouthpiece performs notably well.

I just wished it worked for me.

...................Paul Aviles

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