scottstephenson wrote:1. i need a new mouthpice because my old vencient bach A.W. 24 got stolen ... i've played on a conn-helleberg and i coulden't get over a high c.
2. there was another reason before it got stolen, i coulden't get a c above the staff and my high range sounded grungy i guess you could say like i was flutter tounging and not meaning to, it wasn't as smooth as i would like it to be...
3. what i hope to accomplish with a new mouthpiece is to get a better high range and a smoother playing ability.
Well, if your mouthpiece got stolen, then you really do have to get another one, heh, heh. But your symptoms remind me of me too much not to make some comments. I hope I'm not being too presumptuous in offering some suggestions not relating to the mouthpiece.
I would suggest that if you can't get over a high C on a Conn Helleberg, then you can't
properly get over a high C on any mouthpiece. Your description of your upper range on your former Bach mouthpiece confirms this in my mind. For much of my playing life, I used too much mouthpiece pressure in the upper register and too little air, with the result that my tone spread and lost its core and focus, espcially in the extreme low and high part of the range. This is, pure and simple, a lack of both air flow and embouchure strength and using more mouthpiece pressure in place of that air and strength.
Try buzzing a note on the tuba, and, while continuing to buzz, pull your face away from the mouthpiece slowly. At some point, you'll lose the effect of the mouthpiece pressure and your buzz will fall apart. Keep at this until you can maintain the buzz with your mouth off the mouthpiece for a few seconds and then maintain it as you bring the mouthpiece back to your face. The point is not to make a good free buzz, which isn't important to me, but to have sufficient chop strength to make a given buzz without aid from mouthpiece pressure. It's a challenging test and one that I still can't do very well.
Easier variations include holding the mouthpiece to your lips with just two fingers, and buzzing notes. You may have to drape your little finger over the end of the mouthpiece to provide some restriction until you are moving enough air. Good chop strength and a healthy air flow go hand in hand--one is useless without the other.
From there, do lip slurs by playing up the harmonic series (no valves) from F to high Bb (top fo the staff) and down to low Bb (below the staff). Don't press the valves or use your tongue--make your chops and air change the notes (hint--air is more important here than chops). Here's a simple exercise: If the low Bb is 2, F at the bottom of the staff is 3, Bb on the staff is 4, D on the staff is 5, F on the staff is 6, and Bb at the top of the staff is 8, then play the following 4-3-2-3-2-3-2-3-4-3-4-5-6-4-5-6-8-6-8-6-8-6-5-4-6-5-4-3-2-3-2 and then hold. (The numbers are the harmonics.) Write this out on music, and then play it all without using the valves. Play them as eighth notes with quarter=60. Do it again with the second valve down, then the first, and so on until you are playing it all on the 2-4 valve combination. Again, slur all these--no tonguing, but breathe when necessary. Consciously minimize pressure while doing this, so you don't have to think about it when playing music.
These two things (buzzing and lip slurs/flexibility exercises) have really helped me move more air and reduce mouthpiece pressure, with resulting big improvemets to my tone, especially in in the upper register. I still have a long way to go. Others may suggest other things, but lack of air flow and too much pressure seem to be the biggest problems faced by those of us who never had lessons, and these exercises will expose the problem immediately.
Okay, back to mouthpieces.
I also started out on a 24AW, but I don't really think it's a great mouthpiece. The two classic mouthpieces are the Conn Helleberg and the Bach 18. Nearly every other mouthpiece traces its heritage through one of these two mouthpieces, at least in part. You can hardly do worse than to start with one or the other of these.
An advantage to the Helleberg is that it has a sharp rim that will remind you not to use too much pressure. The wide rims on the Bachs (especially the 24AW) make it too tempting to use too much pressure.
You can also get a Helleberg-like mouthpiece with a little less edge on the rim, but they are more limited and cost more. One example is a Perantucci PT-36, and another (that is even more expensive) is a Laskey 30H. But were I you, I'd start with the Conn Helleberg and solve my problems using that mouthpiece. Then, you'll be selecting mouthpieces to enhancement your skills rather than to solve basic problems.
Rick "who has been down this road" Denney
. If it makes any difference, I liked my Bach megatone 24AW when paired with either a midsize BBb or my 4/4CC.