Corps mouthpieces

[Rollo Tomasi]

Amen brother. You can do what you want when your the soloist, with your name on the bandstand. But most of us have to learn to be a section player first. And playing in a section means making some compromises.

Dark, warm, and full tone is part of the socialist agenda and un-American. In AMERICA we like our lead brass high, bright and lazer focused. [/sarcasm]

"Hit 'em with the blinding power of American sunshine."

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[Drew Wilkie]

Not for nothing, but who says the kid can't learn to blend with the section on his personal mouthpiece?

When this issue was brought to my attention in a certain drum corps, I was using my Monette BL4S6 Prana. When prompted to change to a 3C equivalent, I rather tersely replied with "No." And that was the end of it. I continued to use my Monette, and never had issues blending or playing in tune. If the player has half an ear for pitch and timbre, he can blend just fine on his own gear.

That's part of being a real musician.

[Dennis Argul]

Not for nothing, but who says the kid can't learn to blend with the section on his personal mouthpiece?

When this issue was brought to my attention in a certain drum corps, I was using my Monette BL4S6 Prana. When prompted to change to a 3C equivalent, I rather tersely replied with "No." And that was the end of it. I continued to use my Monette, and never had issues blending or playing in tune. If the player has half an ear for pitch and timbre, he can blend just fine on his own gear.

That's part of being a real musician.

A-freakin-men!

[BigW]

That story's really sad. Seems the parties involved have their personal turf staked out and personal egos inflated really big where this kid at the start of the story is concerned. It doesn't sound very educational to me. Good brass approach and technique is the same regardless of whether it's in a Wind Ensemble or a Corps. It bothers me that decades later, some folks in academia still have the same stereotypes about corps. Two of us definietly got one prof turned around about this stuff more than a bit because when we showed up for Wind Ensemble, we worked well together and had real enthusiasm and discipline in rehearsal and were very amenable to his directions-- somehting we *both* learned in corps.

And usually Mike- us Low Brass guys just made fun of you Sop guys and teased you all to death. And I got the women too, back in the day. We wont talk about now tho, LOL.

Anyhow-- I still take what Frank Dorritte told me in 1982 as good advice on choosing a good brass mouthpiece. I think it's still good advice, if someone wishes to add something to the list, please do. I'm always wanting to learn new things.

- Try to find one made with quality, with good plating. Not all are. Stuff you find in the case whenyou buy the horn is usually bad and cheap.

- For field use, try and find a good flat rim the embrochure can seat properly on, not a round rim.

- use as deep as cup and as wide a mouthpiece as one is comfortable with (note comfortable being the operative)

And the real trick- make sure the Moutpiece has a nice, open throat. If need be, take the mouthpiece you are using and have it opened out if you need to.

The eventual solution for me was a Dennis Wick 6BY- since I do play on a Yamaha 321S, it was designed for the horn, and while it might be a bit small in diameter and uses a small shank- it's got a deep cup and a huge throat to make up for that.

I use it on my Kanstul now and also for my Euphonium work in a Brass Quintet.

I've guided students towards mouthpieces based on those guidelines and will recommend several options. Not just one. As said before on this thread, one mouthpiece is not the solution for everyone. Everyone has a different embrochure set and center, and different lip tissue/makeup. Also, as Drew said more elequently than I-- if you have two brain cells to rub against one another as a good brass player, you can listen across the ensemble and fit in.

-Don't most folks have a recommended and very comprehensive *list* of mouthpieces for use by their students or corps rather than a very specific type!? We did back in the day, and were one of the first DCA units with '82 Westshore to even have something like that, but it was a very large list of quality stuff and no one had a problem finding a good mouthpiece to work for them and everyone was happy. there was also a disclaimer that if the mouthpiece wasn't on the list, just let the staff take a look at it and listen for a bit and see. I don't think anyone had an exception turned down- no one knows it all, for goodness sake.

Just my tuppence.

[G-horns]

.... no one knows it all, for goodness sake.

Just my tuppence.

Your tuppence has enough value to pull Greece out of debt!

[76strad]

The license plate number you spoke of earlier refers to a basic Bach Mouthpiece, but tells if theres any difference with the cup etc. (Im assuming its a Bach mpc) http://www.bachloyalist.com/

However I have never marched, not even 18 yet. But, It would seem to me that if they require a 3C, and will not budge on their view, perhaps you could get a different version of the 3C? You could order a Bach with a different rim for comfort, I know I cant hardly get good intonation on a sharp rim.

http://www.loudmouthpieces.com/

They have a 3C that is pretty much a copy of a Bach 3C, and then one with a soft rim like what's on the 1.5C. Which I will say is like falling asleep on a pillow soft, love it, yet I still get the flexibility of a sharp rim, but the darkness of a deep cup, really look at these, just a junior in high school giving his opinion.

[Bbwhat?]

To play lead trumpet successfully you need to play on equipment that FITS YOU!

Requiring a musician to play on a particular size mouthpiece, different than what they use already, is stupid. Period.

You should play on the mouthpiece that suits YOU and anyone that thinks they know what works best for someone else is full of it. The instructor can offer suggestions, but to require someone to change without any regard to a player's personal requirements is stupid. Any instructor that would make it mandatory for all players to play on the same size mouthpiece definitely doesn't know what they're doing. Uniform sound comes from the player, not the mouthpiece.

It's like requiring everyone to wear the same size shoe, because you want a uniform size step. "Oh you wear a size 7? Well, in our corps, we all wear size 12. You'll have to adapt." It's idiotic.

[CloudHype]

Not for nothing, but who says the kid can't learn to blend with the section on his personal mouthpiece?

When this issue was brought to my attention in a certain drum corps, I was using my Monette BL4S6 Prana. When prompted to change to a 3C equivalent, I rather tersely replied with "No." And that was the end of it. I continued to use my Monette, and never had issues blending or playing in tune. If the player has half an ear for pitch and timbre, he can blend just fine on his own gear.

That's part of being a real musician.

A the freak men!

I also loved it when I heard that some instructor told a student that he needed to get off his 5c to a deeper cup like a 3c. A 3C is shallower, fact. http://www.kanstul.com/MPcompare/MouthpieceComparator.html

I was told to get off my Warburton 4MD... They are almost identical but I had a custom job on the rim (I hate Bach rims) but I also had a larger throat and a bigger backbore then a Bach. My tone has darker core on a Warburton, I had to borrow a piece to prove it.

This should be a no issue and there is a way around it without confrontation: find a good custom maker and have them stamp a fake number, issue solved. Can't do that with a Monette though.

[BigW]

Cloud--

No question is too stupid when I teach- and I hope you're the same way-- there are guys who have the machine tools and ability to custom build all-metal mouthpieces to spec, even Baritone/Euphonium Mouthpieces?

I know 30 years ago a Tubist I talked to showed me a custom he used but the rim and cup were machined or molded than polished up from Lexan and then a bronze throat and shank were attached to it.

Any firms you might refer us to or recommend? You have me extremely curious now. I like to learn. I don't care if I'm ancient.

[Piper]

One time we had a brass instructor who had all of the contras, euphs, bari's and mellos playing on designated mouthpieces, but the sops were allowed to choose their own. Being a drummer I had no idea what the reasoning was behind that - it was just the way they did it.