good mouthpiece for a high school student

[numbnutstubist]

I would say to have him try out as many as you can find. But, to narrow it down:

The Marcinkiewicz N4 is a great low register mouthpiece, and the Miraphone (or Mirafone, whatever you prefer) C4 is a great all around mouthpiece. The Marc is a lot more cost effective, though (I think somewhere in the $40-60 range.) Just have the student try the mouthpiece out before buying it, whatever you decide to look at. I think that the helleberg is something that should probably come later in the students development. But, that's just my opinion. The only other brand that I would look at right now is Perantucci (most people like the PT 88.)

I hope this helps and I wish you the best of luck.

[Chuck(G)]

A plain old Bach 18 (or clone) should be just fine for most students. I don't think it's a good idea to start a student off by relying on a mouthpiece to get low range.

Save $6.00 out of the mouthpiece fund and get Donald LIttle's "Embouchure Builders for BBb tuba" book (Warner Bros.) and have the student work on it every day for a couple of months.

Low range to large extent is a matter of muscle development and air, not of a mouthpiece choice.

[SFAtuba]

I agree with the idea of trying out several mouthpieces, that is what my old band director did with me when I was in high school, and it seemed to work out. I ended up getting a pt-48 and it really did good for me for a long time.

[Gorilla Tuba]

For a young tubist who is having trouble in the low register, there may be a magic mouthpiece that could help out a little, but the problem is more likely the students inability to relax the chops and blow a steady column of air.

If you took him (or her) to a store that had a bunch of mouthpieces, it is unlikely that the player would see many benifits. Even if you did find a new mouthpiece that solved the low register woes, it would likely compromise other musical or developmental issues.

I highly recommend staying with high quality, yet basic mouthpiece until the student developed good playing habits. For 95% of tubists, a basic Helleburg, Bach 18, or similar will do just fine.

Now I will contradict myself: Most horns come with 24AW type mouthpieces. Many people do well with these, but I know many students who have struggles with the low range on these because it is fairly narrow.

In short, A helleburg or Bach 18 may be a good alternative to the narrow mouthpiece that usually comes with a horn, but I would avoid looking to "exotica" to solve playing problems.