Beginner Mouthpieces

[tubatom91]

I am currently "teaching"/"tutoring" a young tuba player and he really could use a new mouthpiece. He is currently playing a school owned Yamaha 67C4 that is dinged,chipped, gunked, and scratched. His current mouthpiece has about 50% of the rim plating intact and my instinct (and experience) tells me that it isn't very healthy. Now, I know he needs a new one but which one!? The family is by no means rich so used mouthpieces are encouraged/preferred. I let him use my PT-88 the other day and he seemed to like it. I don't want this kid to go with somthing that will just end up a waste of his mother's money. I am figuring on a mouthpiece that is a fairly large (somwhere in the neighborhood of the PT-88, but doesn't NEED to be so large). I doubt that Funnel-cup vs. Bowl-cup will really make much difference overall. Keep in mind that he is playing on a beat to hell and back Conn 12J BBb at home and a Yamaha 3 valver at school. I thank you for the help. If you cant tell I'm fairly new to the teaching game .

[bearphonium]

Try a Kelly or a Kellyberg--lexan (I think) plastic, but you still get a decent tone, at about 1/2 the cost of a metal mpc. Cool colors are only incidental.

Ally"who uses a Kelly 18 in her sousaphone"House

[iiipopes]

Yes, Faxx Helleberg is good. But for just a few more bucks, but still a fraction of the "boutique" market, the real deal Conn 120S Helleberg, or if breath support isn't quite developed yet, the 7B shallower Helleberg. Or with a bowl cup, the Blessing 18 is the best 18 Bach never made, with true Mt Vernon specs, and again reasonable in price.

But, like everything else, mouthpieces are to each his own. I can't get a centered tone worth anything out of a Wick 2L, and my 10 year old son, on the couple of notes he can play so far, sounds better on my tuba than I do with one!

Everybody should have a Kelly for playing outdoors in the cold. I have two. But they are still deficient in overall consistency from register to register to be a primary mouthpiece, especially for a beginner. I'll be using mine now that the holiday season is approaching and I'll be outdoors playing for a Salvation Army kettle and in a Christmas parade. Wrap a piece of golfer's lead tape around the throat so it will stabilize dynamic extremes.

[Tubaryan12]

Faxx 18...it's almost the same size as the mouthpiece he is currently playing and it's cheap and well made.

[tubaguy9]

FWIW, the first mouthpiece that poped into my mind was the Conn Helleberg. It's a very standard mouthpiece, and I know WWBW has the silver plate ones for $56, which is affordable for a metal mouthpiece. Also, consistant, as that a plastic one can change shape under heat...
As I said, FWIW.

[Rob]

I've heard Bloke has a "Glitter Gold" Kellyberg he's selling.....

Seriously though, the Conn-Helleberg seems to be the mouthpiece of choice. When I was in school almost everyone used them and had good results. I used and still will use to some extent one for over 20 some years. I just recently switched to a PT-50, but will use the Helleberg for parades and Tuba Xmas--places it might fall. Occasionally you might find one that comes up on Craigslist, and there are ones from time to time on Ebay. I can't imagine a way that you could go wrong with the Helleberg, especially if you are already using a large mouthpiece.

Good luck!
Rob

[imperialbari]

Which is the greater risk?:

That a metal mouthpiece will be damaged in shape and plating within a school music environment?

Or that a plastic mouthpiece (like those from Kelly) will warp within the same environment?

Which type of mouthpiece will be most expensive to replace?

Klaus Smedegaard Bjerre

[TUbajohn20J]

bach 24AW, or a Conn 2 (my own beginner mouthpieces )

[iiipopes]

The Kelly is made from lexan. Lexan does not warp, chip, crack, or scuff. I have had mine come loose from the souzy bits, drop down, fall off the parade trailer, and have to go scuttling for it across the street. No marks. It's a non-issue.

I also marched with a standard mouthpiece, both field and street, all those years ago. I was taught to take care of the mouthpiece, and therefore had relatively few incidents, and no "mouthpiece fatalities."

Teach young students to play with a conventional mouthpiece and especially to take care of it up front, as my band director, a Navy band man, did.

[jonesbrass]

If it were me, and there was a halfway decent local music store in the area, I would take my student and their tuba to the local store and listen to them play on several mouthpieces to find out which one helped them produce the best sound, fit the reciever properly, and generally produced the best results. One size does not fit all, so it behooves us to find the ones that work the best for our particular embouchure, air, etc. Good luck to both of you!

[iiipopes]

With due respect, I disagree totally with one of the recommendations.

I've played a Conn 2, which is standard issue with a number of Conn instruments, including the 5XJ series. I've listened to others, from beginners to seasoned orchestra tubists, sit down and try to make one work on a variety of tubas.

The newer version of the Conn 2 that tries to look like a Giardinelli is the most worthless piece of mouthpiece shaped crap ever to come out of the factory.

The older smooth funnel shaped Conn 2 is not a bad mouthpiece; it is a little smoother through the registers, and I can see where there might be players that can use it well.

But neither, for some reason, are able to get a broad confident center on the lower range.

[peter birch]

Harvey Phillips in " The Art of Tuba and euphonium Playing" suggests that it always woth considering the mouthpiece that the instrument manufacturer supplies with the instrument, at least for a beginner