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Facing length and embouchure

Author: kerryklari
Date: 2021-10-24 15:38

I'm experimenting with mouthpieces. I've found lots of information about how facing length relates to tip opening, and how that affects both sound quality and the apparent hardness of reeds, but not a great deal about where embouchure - and embouchure "style" - comes into the picture.

I prefer to have a relatively small length of mouthpiece in my mouth. Does this mean that I am likely to get on better with a short facing? I also prefer a fairly soft reed, and I gather that these generally work better with short facings. It seems like I should be looking for a mouthpiece with relatively short facing and wide tip opening to fit with my general embouchure style.

The issue is complicated a little by the fact that I'm playing a German system clarinet, and they traditionally use the opposite, ie long facing length and small opening. I'm not sure how that fits in with German reeds, as they seem to have a shorter scrape length than French reeds. Almost all the information I have found relates to Boehm system clarinets. I've seen some mouthpiece information (www.woodwindforum.com/clarinetperfection/mouthpieces/) that calls 15mm a short facing, 19mm long, 20+ very long, and 0.95 a very closed tip, 1.10 medium. I've been told (by a kind person on this board) that a Wurlitzer M3+ can be regarded as a "standard" German mouthpiece. It has a 0.9 opening and a 24.8 length which makes it pretty much off the scale, but presumably the geometry of the reed makes a difference.

Any suggestions about German mouthpieces that might suit me would be welcome. I know it's best to try out a selection, but useful to have some sort of starting point.

Many thanks!

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