bort wrote:No, it's not terrible. A mouthpiece is a tool, and you have to use the right tool for the job.
And since a tubist may be required to play several different-keyed instruments in different situations, you may require several different combinations for each.
Having and using only one mouthpiece/rim would be a luxury few tubists would find practical.
Instead of talking to your plants, if you yelled at them would they still grow, but only to be troubled and insecure?
After my rambling pre-coffee rant, I realized I forgot one item:
All of my mouthpieces had/have roughly the same internal cup diameter - 32.5 to 32.6 mm, or 1.28 to 1.29 inches, with a moderate rim in both width and geometry.
There is a prior post that talks about exercising different muscles of the embouchure with different cup diameter mouthpieces. Now, everyone is different. Some folks have good muscles at the "corners," and their facial ergonomics are such that they can play everything from a Bach 32 to a Tilz T5. Mine are not. If it is smaller than 1.28, I can't get a tone, range and flexibility to suit me, and if it is larger than 1.29, then I lose upper register, in spite of everything. It just isn't there. A man has got to know his limitations, and it is one of the reasons I did not mind switching from trumpet to tuba in school. It became very apparent that no mouthpiece could get the range and endurance I needed to play trumpet after school, in spite of taking lessons from the university high brass professor and working my @$$ off. So when I have to play trumpet (or preferably, cornet) I am content to use my early-Selmer Bach 3C for trumpet or 2 1/2 C for cornet and play third section parts, or the occasional taps at a military funeral or remembrance. A 1 1/2 C just makes me blubber. A 3D with the right leadpipe and good breath support will get me approaching those ledger lines above the staff, for about one concert piece or jazz band selection. Then I'm done. But I digress.
This is an often overlooked aspect when considering mouthpieces or a range of mouthpieces: can the person's fundamental embouchure handle it? Many can. Mine can not. It may take quite an extended safari to determine what cup diameter and rim profile are most complementary (that's with an "e") to a person's embouchure.
Did I say I have sold almost everything else in favor of my blokepiece Imperial with the 32.6 modified helleberg lexan rim and extender modified to .080?
Gee ... if it's not the horn and not the mouthpiece I guess (gasp) it must be me. I'll try to get some therapy.
MISERICORDE, n.
A dagger which in mediaeval warfare was used by the foot soldier to remind an unhorsed knight that he was mortal.
- Devil's Dictionary - Ambrose Bierce
the elephant wrote:I match a mouthpiece to a horn and only use that mouthpiece with that horn. ....These mouthpieces are what seen to make each horn sound and play the way I want. I *rarely* deviate from these once I have a combination dialed in. These mouthpieces have nothing to do with one another. Rims are different diameters and profiles. Cups are wildly different in both depth and shape.
lost wrote:Bloke's comments were a wow moment with the sax comparison. Makes so much more sense! Bigger tubas should probably have larger mouthpieces.
Well, to be fair, a sax player is only helping out the tone generating reed, where a brass player is generating the tone directly with just lips to work with. So it's an interesting but not compelling analogy.
I can't say why, but some very skilled players don't do well at all with rim size changes. I mean, my playing suffers in some ways if I go to something real big, but I'm talking about any changes at all, like people who will try to put a tuba mouthpiece on a euphonium so they won't have to adapt. There has to be a reason why some of us are like that, and others aren't, but I doubt it's anything obvious. I'm proof that it isn't about having a strong embouchure.
As for bigger tubas having larger mouthpieces -- I can't tell if you're serious. If you're talking about bass vs. contrabass, sure. 4/4 vs 5/4 ... not so much.
