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Re: Behn Vintage Mouthpieces A+

Author: donald
Date: 2006-04-18 05:37

for those of you who may be interested, i have reccently been able to "audition" two of Brad Behns Vintage mouthpieces- one from a Charles Chedeville inspired blank, and the other a "Kasparesque" mouthpiece.
Both of these mouthpieces were expertly finished with symetrical facings and relatively thin tip/side rails. In both cases i was very impressed by the even resistance and sound throughout the range, an incredible resonance (that was more evident to an audience in a big room- as noted by Ryan25 in the previous post). i live a short walk from the Philharmonia rehearsal hall, and both Brads mouthpieces were "play tested" in the hall(along with two or three others in my collection) to string players who were really impressed by the "ring" or "presence" in the sound.... and that it seemed very even throughout the range. The left hand lower reg had much more prescence, left hand upper reg had ring without being "hard", lower reg right hand had more "punch".
The "thin railed" facings were quite different from what i'm used to, and i found that when testing these mouthpieces the advice to use a new reed (in fact, in this case also a different strength) definately improved the result (although, for what it's worth, a friend of mine from the Sydney Symphony tried them both out- and used the same reed from his standard set up, an open facing about 1.2mm, and sounded great). One comment i often hear made in relation to mouthpieces with closer tip openings is that they can't play very loudly. With these two mouthpieces i was surprised at how effortlessly i could make a vibrant ringing tone at low dynamic levels, but also at how well the sound held its shape as i pushed it to extreme dynamic levels- with no feeling of "back pressure"
I had just performed the Mozart Req (on Clarinet, sorry) and had been annoyed in a few places that i'd had to push the sound too much to be heard over the orchestra. If i'd got these mouthpieces a week or two sooner, i'm sure that that wouldn't have been a problem as there is now an effortless "ring" in my sound that i haven't felt since i used a borrowed Chedeville for a recital many years ago. These are definately mouthpieces for the hall, not for playing to yourself in the practise room!
keep playing the good tunes
donald

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Behn Vintage Mouthpieces A+ new

Llewsrac

2006-02-26 22:59