Mythical Mouthpiece Pixie Dust

[@edwardmorton6691]

Could listen to your wisdom all day. It's a pleasure spending a few moments with someone who knows what the hell they're talking about from the standpoint of hard earned knowledge gained from real life experience. Nowadays everyone is an expert in no time flat then they spend their time leading other people astray with their inexperience and bullcrap. Anyhow, rant over! Thanks for sharing your knowledge..

[@jerrykorten664]

Great advice. I know you hammer on those old HS* Selmers, but if you regard them as a "blank" there's a lot you can make them do. But Matson probably showed you that too! The trouble I find reworking a lot of mouthpieces is the instability in the rubber (after striking a new table, and approximate facing curve - put it aside for a day an remeasure - some old brands bend about for a while after removing some material). The old Selmers had great rubber though.

[@billyboy647]

Absolutely right. And I agree with Matson; the beauty of the old Selmers for re-work is that they have enough rubber to work with. In contradistinction there are so many mouthpieces that are what I call "gutted" and have no center--bad design, unless you want to play jazz. But for classical playing your really need a mouthpiece that will really help you focus and concentrate the tone.

[@TheFinancialAdvocacyPodcast]

Happy Birthday Tom!

[@billyboy647]

and they said it wouldn't last.

[@fernie51296]

How do you feel about Brad Behn’s mouthpieces. He talks a lot about the material he uses to make his mouthpieces. His mouthpieces are also very expensive. Ive been considering trying them out. $700+ is a lot of money though. I’ve ordered the Selmer focus and concept to try out. I’m doing a bit of soul searching with mouthpieces as I’ve tried every single Vandoren and own about 8 of them and am just not satisfied.

[@billyboy647]

I have previous videos that share information about the different parts of the mouthpiece and how each influences tone color, tone shape, tuning, stability, etc. Find those videos, read the chapter on mouthpieces in my Educator's Guide to the Clarinet and you'll be in good shape to actually test mouthpieces on their performance. If you find a $700.00 mouthpiece that exceeds the performance of others costing only a fraction of the price go ahead and buy it.

[@JuanPerez18]

I think you should play on them, I own one and it is my main mouthpiece now, It is better than everything else I have played... is it seven times better than a Vandoren? I have to tell you it isn't. As it is with most high-end equipment, the price goes exponentially up to gain minimal advantages, same as a sports car, a Ferrari isn't 1000 times faster than a dodge and no one expects it to be. it is up to you to see if that small improvement is worth your money and decide, playing is the only way, I cannot tell you it will have the same results for you as it had for me. Good luck finding a mouthpiece you like.

[@billyboy647]

I wanted to add one more important thing to my response to your question. Your dissatisfaction is probably largely due to a lack of clarity in your thinking regarding what you really want in a mouthpiece. The basics must be there; the facing done well and being reed friendly, and the tuning being good. Those are pretty objective things. Just on those criterial alone you can eliminate a lot of mouthpieces. Beyond that you go into murky waters and encounter a lot of subjectivity, and getting a clear answer is difficult to arrive at. There are a few things you can hang on to, however. First, pay close attention to the shape of the sound and the consistency of the shape. Next, pay attention to the stability of the sound in shape, pitch and color throughout the range and in dynamic extremes. Learn to listen for specifics and test for specifics and to develop as clear an idea as possible in as precise a set of terms as possible in regard to what you want that mouthpiece to provide for you---make sure your demands are reasonable and that you are not asking it to provide something that will make up some fault in your own playing mechanics. If you look through many of my videos I think you'll find a lot of material that will help you arrive at some point of clarity in your own thinking, perception, and analysis. But don't expect to arrive at a fixed, hard place, just one of increasing clarity....there will always be room to improve both your technical and aesthetic ideas and further clarify them. If you avoid this process and are just looking generally, and vaguely for some "magic" to happen you'll quickly be lost, unable to find your way, and disappointed with what you've come up with. The more clearly you understand the objective nature of what you're doing the easier it will be for you to get a more satisfactory solution.

[@fernie51296]

William Ridenour hello Mr. Ridenour I wanted to take the time to respond as I thought you’d find this interesting. I’m 22 right now, and throughout my elementary, middle and high school time playing the clarinet I played closed mouthpieces (standard vandoren M13, nothing special). I was very comfortable with it and never put much thought into my mouthpiece. I also played double lip. On the marching field during marching season, in orchestra and wind ensemble. Always double lip. When I started playing in college though, I had a music director approach me about my “weird looking embouchure”. Keep in mind he plays saxophone and clarinet. I told him that I play double lip and he said that was a major problem and I wouldn’t improve much as long as I played double lip. So of course, being the student I changed to single. I started to have problems with flexibility, projection and consistent tone quality. For the first time I thought maybe my equipment wasn’t good enough. I ended up choosing at a music store a B40 13, mainly because it helped with projection. But I was never comfortable. Fast forward a few years and during my lesson with Michele Zukovsky, she told me playing double lip was actually a good thing! As it was how her father played. Now I’ve begun the process of working up my double lip embouchure again. I’m finding it doesn’t work amazingly with my newer BD5 and so will be looking for a more close mouthpiece. What do you think about the relationship between mouthpiece type and embouchure technique used?

[@billyboy647]

Fernando, thank you for your response. A closed mouthpiece works much better for double lip playing. But the most important thing is to play on VERY well balanced reeds, keep your head up, and blow across the tip of the mouthpiece, arch your tongue up and somewhat back to the point the middle of your tongue is touching the roof of your mouth (this will help voice the sound higher in pitch and concentrate the sound), and snug. I always told my students "jaw down, tongue's up, thumb's up"---that is, snug in the mouthpiece firmly against the lips--NEVER closing the jaw. I have three videos on playing double lip if you'll look through the archives. The video isn't good quality, but the information is there. But you will have MUCH more success playing double lip if your reeds are better balanced. Look on our web site "www.ridenourclarinetproducts.com" you'll find information about my reed finishing system here" www.rclarinetproducts.com/atg-reed-finishing-system My reed finishing system is inexpensive and amazingly effective--it's BY FAR the largest selling reed finishing system in the world for one reason: it works and is amazingly easy and simple. The first day you'll have more good reeds than you've ever had in your life. Regarding mouthpieces; I'd go back to a close facing. You'll see on my web site that I've been making and finishing mouthpieces since 1978. I only make close facing mouthpieces suitable for non-biters and double lip players. In the meantime let me recommend you listen to this: kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y5nOfoaiZaeXgdk Harold Wright, the greatest clarinet player of his generation--undisputed. Principle of the Boston Symphony, and double lip player. His playing is magic.

[@JuanPerez18]

Hello, I watched and learned a lot from your videos. I have a question that is unrelated to this one but is something I want to learn about so if you have time, please. I would like to know if there are any advantages of the French clarinet(Boehm) over the German system, Is there any advantage of the French design? I think I have failed to understand this basic aspect of the instrument I play when comparing my sound to players that use a German clarinet. Hearing about this about someone that is knowledgeable about building clarinets would be good I think. maybe it is a difficult and weird question, even if you are too busy for this kind of thing I want to thank you for all your videos so far since they have served me for a long time to learn and improve(I think) on the clarinet.

[@billyboy647]

This is actually an excellent question. I'll try to address is in a coming video. Thanks for the suggestion.

[@rasulaliev7551]

Thanks for video! What can you say about morgan jazz mouthpieces?? It is very important for me

[@billyboy647]

I don't know anything about Ralph's jazz mouthpieces. Equipment for playing jazz is out of my league.

[@rasulaliev7551]

Thanks

[@krsatcom]

Tom Is there such a thing as pairing the mouthpiece to the clarinet or the player and would that make a difference? Thanks Ken

[@billyboy647]

Mouthpiece choices are very person in many respects. The main concern in "pairing" a clarinet and mouthpiece is tuning. If you don't have a mouthpiece that tunes well with your clarinet and doesn't play in tune with the group you may be playing with you've got a real problem on your hands. Always check the tuning of any mouthpiece you consider buying. No matter how good it is if it plays flat or terribly sharp you might as well drill a hole in the beak and make a key chain out of it. (Mouthpieces work well as door stops too.)

[@krsatcom]

William Ridenour Thanks so much for your insight. I to have made door stops so to speak with one of my mountain dulcimer that I made. Well more like kindling. So if I order one of your lyriue 576s with a mouth piece, would they be matched so to speak? I'm in no way a professional player, but would rather start back up without regretting not doing this or that due to lack of knowledge . Thanks again. Ken

[@billyboy647]

Yes, the 576 and the mouthpiece that comes with it tune beautifully together.

[@krsatcom]

Tom, what adhesive is used on your 576 Tenon Corks? Thanks Ken

[@billyboy647]

The factory uses hot melt glue of some sort. Generally it works well. But if I had to replace a tenon cork I'd use contact cement.