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Howdy fellow tubenetters,

Reading the responses to the recent poll asking what mouthpiece to use on a Besson 983, got me wondering:

What are some of the generally held assumptions concerning which type of mouthpiece to use with certain horns (bowl versus funnel cup, large vs. small, etc), or what the general playing characteristics of certain types of mouthpeices and what they work best with. (american style vs. german or euro style, etc.)

I have read many over the years here on tubenet but have never committed them to memory. I am anxious to hear some of them and then also see what other people might think of them.

I have recently started using Helleberg style mouthpeices and have been enjoying them. But for many years I didn't care for them. Not sure why my impressions have changed recently but hey, we know one thing is constant right...things change....

discuss amoungst yourselves....

ken k

ken k wrote:What are some of the generally held assumptions concerning which type of mouthpiece to use with certain horns (bowl versus funnel cup, large vs. small, etc), or what the general playing characteristics of certain types of mouthpeices and what they work best with. (american style vs. german or euro style, etc.)

I read a sort of casual comment by a high-end saxophone mouthpiece maker, that a serious saxophone player will eventually sound like himself, on whatever mouthpiece. That isn't really 100% true, and he probably didn't mean it to be taken that way (after all, his livelihood ...) but it is substantially true, for tuba mouthpieces as well I imagine.

But the tuba player is more physically intimate with sound production - a saxophone has a reed to generate sound, that has to be more or less matched to the mouthpiece facing, and a tuba player has only lips there. Fat, wide, skinny, uneven lips, whatever you're born with, and the mouthpiece that suits you probably depends a lot on you. Which could change over time - along with your taste in music, and even your hearing.

Anyway, from what I can tell, "American" vs. "German" is a Perantucci thing? May correlate with funnel, but not 100%.

Donn wrote: ... ...
I read a sort of casual comment by a high-end saxophone mouthpiece maker, that a serious saxophone player will eventually sound like himself, on whatever mouthpiece. That isn't really 100% true, and he probably didn't mean it to be taken that way (after all, his livelihood ...) but it is substantially true, for tuba mouthpieces as well I imagine.
... ...

I normally play with a rather large mouthpiece, as a good mid and low range is important for most of the music I play. However, I wanted to play some higher stuff too. So, I acquired a considerably smaller mouthpiece. I asked my teacher to comment on how I sounded with the smaller mouthpiece.

After listening to me play with the two mouthpieces alternately, he told me that he could not hear any difference in tone. He suggested that the sound concept I have in my head was overriding any differences between the two mouthpieces. He did say he could hear cleaner articulation with the smaler mouthpiece.

I felt more secure playing in the high range with the smaller mouthpiece; it was easier to control up there. I kept the new mouthpiece. I like it when I play brass quintet pieces that are exclusively mid to high in tessitura. I use the big one for playing in band.

Next time I decide to go mouthpiece shopping, I will first do some serious thinking about my sound concept, and whether I want to add an alternate concept to my repertoire. Then, I will look for a mouthpiece that reduces the effort required to make that sound.

Cheers,
Allen