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RE: Ridenour mouthpieces

Author: donald nicholls
Date: 2002-01-11 02:02

re Ridenour mouthpieces- while i have never owned a Ridenour mouthpiece i have a great respect for Mr R.... i have always liked his facings- they seem to work best for embouchures that apply less pressure to the reed. Sometimes these type of facings seem to be more resistant because the reed closes off too easily if you are used to a more open facing, or usually play with more lip pressure.
as i understand it (and this IS after all not an opinion based on long term use of Mr Ridenours mouthpieces) these more "shallow" facings work well when the chin and lower lip are pulled away, down, from the reed (there are many well written descriptions of this, mine is quite clumsy). The embouchure is then a structure into which you place the mouthpiece, and pressure on the reed is actually created by the leverage as you pull the clarinet towards the body. I believe Stan Hasty, and his former students such as Dave Etheridge and Russel Dagon, teach this (they certainly describe it better than i do).
In my experience the Ridenour mouthpieces, and facings similar to his (for example those favoured by Brad Behn and Lee Livengood) will work really well with this style of embouchure and a reed that works with this.
It suprises me that you find this Ridenour mouthpiece "harder" than a B45 mouthpiece (a number 3? i would expect it to be no more open than a Van 5RV lyre or a Gigliotti 3, but i really have no idea) but i suspect that it is a good mouthpiece and would take the time to get used to it. I know a very fine professional player who used a Vandoren #3 reed and produces a fine sound, so don't worry about your reeds being "too soft" or anything like that (my friend sounds deep and resonant, clear with a good "ring" to the sound and lots of body- just a bit of everything really, i'm a bit jealous)....
nzdonald

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