 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: sanya
Date: 2005-09-03 13:19
So, I finally bought the Vandoren B45 mouthpiece that I have wanted to buy for AGES. The salesperson I was buying it from told me that I would instantly feel a difference, and I believed him because loads of other people have said the same. So yeah, I was convinced.
Bought it. Came home. Sounded exactly the same.
What does that mean, exactly? Is this what "getting used to" is? Because I sound no different at all. Should I keep trying, or what?
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Author: GBK
Date: 2005-09-03 13:25
"...Bought it. Came home. Sounded exactly the same..."
You've just discovered clarinet concept #17:
17. Your unique, individual sound is primarily formed by the "mental sound picture" in your head. The brain and the senses shape and control the sound more than the equipment.
...GBK
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2005-09-03 13:26
Does the new mouthpiece feel different in terms of ease of response, stable tuning or other factors except for sound?
I know people that can play on any mouthpiece and still sound exactly the same as they do when playing on their normal set-up, but they notice a difference in the way they all respond.
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Author: sanya
Date: 2005-09-03 13:31
If my brain and senses control the sound, what should I do to make it better?
And Chris: no, there's no difference. I'm usually pretty much in tune, so there's no more stability than there was before. I don't know, it feels the same to me.
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Author: redwine
Date: 2005-09-03 13:56
Hello,
It sounds as if you didn't need a new mouthpiece, or if you are not happy with your sound, you got the wrong new mouthpiece.
Ben Redwine, DMA
owner, RJ Music Group
Assistant Professor, The Catholic University of America
Selmer Paris artist
www.rjmusicgroup.com
www.redwinejazz.com
www.reedwizard.com
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Author: BobD
Date: 2005-09-03 14:16
Sanja...you don't even tell us what horn, reed, lig etcetcetc yer playin'....we are not attending a seance....
Bob Draznik
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Author: Markael
Date: 2005-09-03 14:33
"...getting used to it..."
My favorite optician once told me that you shouldn't have to "get used to" a pair of glasses to know they are right for you. I feel pretty much the same way about mouthpieces.
Did you have a problem with your old mouthpiece, or did you just want to tweak your sound? My feeling is, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Or, if you just want to tweak your sound, you have to understand it will become a much more subtle and involved process.
I bought my Vandoren B45 in February of 2001. If I'm not mistaken, the only mouthpiece I had owned before that was the Selmer HS* I had used since taking up clarinet in the '60's. I never liked that mouthpiece.
A friend of mine had told me that Vandoren makes good mouthpieces. I drove to the Mars store (which is now Sam Ashe) and asked for a handful of Vandoren mouthpieces to try out. I did not look at the labels until after trying them all out. The B45 stood out as the clear favorite. I like it a lot.
The point: A new mouthpiece probably won't make a huge difference unless the one you already have is a problem.
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Author: BelgianClarinet
Date: 2005-09-03 14:40
Did you try several mouthpieces ? I just did some B45's (profile 88, dual tones, special edition), none of them is the same.
None was OK sofar, so I'm ready for the next batch.
It was clear that for me the B45 is better than B40 (the standard here more or less), but the onces I tried simply weren't good enough or maybe better said : they didn't suite me, because they were not better than my old Leblanc
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Author: sanya
Date: 2005-09-03 14:51
Well, in response to all of those, the mouthpiece I had before this one was a crappy, $25 no-name mouthpiece I bought from my teacher. I did buy the Vandoren to tweak my sound, because they say that switching from a plastic clarinet to a wooden improves the sound by a lot, but if you can't afford the wooden clarinet, get a good mouthpiece. I've heard the mouthpiece and the ligature make a lot of difference.
I didn't try out a bunch right at the store because it's this big, professional place and I didn't want everyone looking at me, haha. But there is a 30-day money back return policy, and I asked the guy if I could return it and buy another one to try, and he said I could, no questions asked. So I don't know if I should keep trying the Vandoren, or give another mouthpiece a shot.
Post Edited (2005-09-03 14:53)
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2005-09-03 23:05
Sanya,
For the money, Vandoren seems to offer a good money/value of mouthpiece ratio. But like the others said above, each mouthpiece is NOT the same so you could go through TONS of B45s looking for the right one.
One mouthpiece I was pretty impressed with is the Clark Fobes Debut. I got a very decent sound out of it with a 3.5 reed (He's a sponsor of this site, under "Mouthpieces")
And that would NOT be a bad choice. Excellent value for the money.
Alexi
US Army Japan Band
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Author: Max S-D
Date: 2005-09-04 01:51
Sanya, you should go back to the store and try all the mouthpieces in your price range you can get your hands on. See if any of them makes you sound better. It may be that none of them will. I've had that experience before, with my bass clarinet. I have a weird hard rubber bass clarinet mouthpiece labeled RVS. I'm not sure what that means. This thing is pretty funky looking (it's greenish brown with dark lines from where the ligature goes). I took it to the music stroe and tried it against Selmers and Vandorens (the only mouthpieces they had for clarinet) and it definitely won out over both of those. It could be that your no-name mouthpiece is better than you think.
Anyway, don't be afraid of people looking at you. Ask if the store has any practice rooms you can go to with your clarinet and the mouthpieces. That's a good way to do it.
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Author: Chris Hill
Date: 2005-09-05 04:42
Sanya,
Have you talked to your teacher about your previous mouthpiece? Despite the lack of markings on it, it may be that the reason the B45 doesn't sound any better is that the "no name" is actually a very good mouthpiece.
Chris
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Author: RichardB
Date: 2005-09-06 16:21
I have a plastic mouthpiece with no markings. It is an AT45, which is a plastic copy of a B45 (I think). It cost me about $25. I wouldn't expect a B45 to be a lot different from this one. So may be your existing mouthpiece is better than you think?
Richard
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Author: BobD
Date: 2005-09-06 18:10
If you want to zero-in on a single mouthpiece that you will like then a good idea would be to have a reliable tech take measurements on your current one. Then with that info consult with one of the mouthpiece experts who are sponsors here. One option is to buy various mouthpieces on ebay until you find one you like. I've got about 20 or 30 acquired this latter way.
Bob Draznik
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Author: D
Date: 2005-09-07 21:02
If the store doesn't have a private area then you could ask when their least busy time is. If might be that eight thirty on a Thursday morning or after lunch on a Tuesday or something is normally pretty dead and you could try stuff without feeling too intimidated. I know how you feel about this though, I once went to buy a cheap but reasonable plastic recorder and wanted to just try a couple of different models in the shop to see how much resistance they had. Strangely, (I would never claim to be any more than competant but I have been playing recorder since I was three) I totally lost the ability to move my fingers and also the ability to co-ordinate fingers and tongue. Most blush enducing.
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