Author: Bob Bernardo
Date: 2016-12-02 23:51
I completely understand your situation. It is a tricky one so lets make it real simple. First off people say I have a nice sound. I don't claim to say this. But I did study with Fred Ormand for a bit and Iggie Gennusa for 7 or 8 years. So some has to rubbed off to maybe create my own unique sound.
Here is your answer -
You can adjust your REED CHOICE strength to fit the room.
I'm going to attempt to put your mind at ease.
I've heard 2 of the past greats and a few of the present greats which I feel have very special sounds.
Lets start with non Marcellus and Iggie Gennusa. Up close they sound just as wonderful as they do as sitting in a hall. When I first heard these players up close I got goose bumps. The same when sitting in a concert hall.
Recent players I've heard live and up close do the same and I act the same way. Underrated perhaps is Steve Barta, recently retired from the Baltimore Sym after 40 years. He studied with Harold Wright and Bob Marcellus, but he has his own special sound. Up close he is amazing. In a hall he is just the same.
We have others. They may not have the sound of the past guys, but up close Fred Ormand was a master player with the ability to teach students to hear how they sound. He always sounded great in a small room teaching or when he was with the Chicago Sym, or doing quintet work. One of my favorite recordings, not live, but as in recordings was Shepard on the Rock performed with his wife. David Shifrin also played this piece and both players kind of sounded like the horns were "Singing," with the actual singer.
Then we have Mitchell Lurie who played and tested reeds with me at Rico and we were in the most dead room you could ever think of. All cork walls for sound proofing. He sounded fie just as he did when playing live at USC.
So long story short, forget about the mouthpiece and find a great one. Use it all of the time. Never change it around. I'm not saying to not look around for that perfect mouthpiece, because the dang instrument companies like Buffet, Selmer, all of them, keep changing the designs of the horns. So every 10 to 15 years or so you may need and want to make a mouthpiece change, but DO NOT change mouthpieces to fit a room. Change your reed setup only.
When entering a room play a few practice notes and if you do not like the sound of the reed in the room change the reed. The people hearing you play won't mind and you can tell them what you are doing. This will not hurt your audition, if anything it will add respect to the people hearing you play. The ability to adapt in a very short time, like within a minute or less. So if the room is dead switch, if it echos like in a bathroom, switch the reeds. You can also move the chair or the stand around a tad if you don't like what you hear. I've done this, played a few notes and moved around a bit.
Another common mistake, even worse. A temperature change of 5 to 10 degrees or so. Be ready for a reed change here as well. I learned this from playing in the Air Force that when you were on tour a hall temperature might only be set at 68 degrees for the rehearsals or so to save money. Then a few hours later they warm up the hall for a concert and the temp is 75. Needless to say a mouthpiece change isn't the answer.
Changing mouthpieces to me is as scary as it can get. You cannot play a great audition on 2 different mouthpieces and sound the same. Something WILL go wrong. A note may not speak, you cannot "Feel," the pieces the same way so you won't play them the same way, because you may be afraid how the mouthpiece might react. For example the Copland Concerto starts off slow and you have to go from lower notes and hit higher notes softly. You have to nail these higher notes. In the same piece towards the end you have some other hairy and very high notes to hit. You must trust that mouthpiece. You must hit that high A. You have to hit the glissando.
Often I write too much. But often we have to think things through logically to win. Yes I was in the Air Force band, but I had to beat out around 100 plus people to get in. The more consistent our setup is the better your auditions will be. Gennusa took 4 students a year for college. That fear factor alone is intense and to worry about 2 sets of mouthpieces and several reeds surely doesn't set well. So keep it simple for your auditions.
Designer of - Vintage 1940 Cicero Mouthpieces and the La Vecchia mouthpieces
Yamaha Artist 2015
Post Edited (2016-12-06 04:46)
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