Mouthpieces… Pfft…

[the elephant]

I sometimes find a real gem and will spend hours per day, day after day, for weeks at a stretch, practicing with it, loving it to death, thinking the whole sliced bread thing isn't as good as this new mouthpiece.

Sometimes this love affair will last for many years, and sometimes it lasts for a few hours.

And that is why I am whining right now.

I found a combo of Doug Elliott parts that is a whiz-bang winner on my Yamaha 826. Everything is a bit easier with an overall better "feel". It is a setup remarkably similar to that which I used on my Alexander 163 for twelve years. It is the same cup and rim, but with a Euro shank taper that fits the Yamaha perfectly, versus the jumbo Alex shank I used to use. The Alexander DE shank had a backbore that was only available on that overly-large shank (the A+), which was an 8. (R8A+) [The one I use on the Yamaha is an R7E.]

All in all, it is the best mouthpiece I have tried for that specific tuba. I have never liked it much on anything other than my Alex, but I have never bothered to sell it. I got a bunch of old DE parts recently, and screwed this combo together to try out on another tuba. Again, I did not really care for it. But on that Yamaha — WOW!

So tonight I decided to try some of these old parts in combos I had never thought to look at, and try them on my F tuba. I ended up with one that seemed to be electric for me. Everything was better, and the mildly (yet annoyingly) sharp second space C and the flat high Bb were in tune all of a sudden. This was not a case of New Mouthpiece Syndrome. These were real effects, and it seemed to be due to a custom shank that Doug made for the person who passed it to me. It is like a quarter inch shorter. As far as I can tell, this is the only difference from the stock version of that part.

It was uncanny. I played that mouthpiece all darn day, and my drone pitch generator and my tuner loved it. I loved it. My cats loved it. I ran hours of recital and quintet lit, and it was all easy, in tune, and "settled" on my face.

I took a four-hour break, came back…

It sucked. It was as though I had imagined it all.

Sometimes that happens to me. I don't understand it. It just does. And it sucks. I am so certain that these were not placebo effects that I will try again tomorrow, using the same method/path that I followed today, in hopes of catching the dragon's tail one more time.

It was really great. It made me really happy. I really want to get that back…

I guess maybe I practiced too hard today in my excitement. I think I spent five hours on my F tuba. I am not in good enough shape to play for that long, I guess.

Everything was better, though it took a little more effort/air/focus to get it all to work. The results were astonishing, though.

Anyway, that was my day. I hope it is also my tomorrow.

[bloke]

@the elephant

That happens to me all the time, but when I'm trying to decide what to use to play a particular piece in a particular range on euphonium.

Different from you, I suspect it's because I probably need to spend more time practicing (certainly in regards to the euphonium).

[the elephant]

And after staying off the horn for about four hours, everything is (mostly) back as before. Certainly, the best of it is there. I think maybe these were legitimate observations, and that I now need to hit the long tones all this next week to strengthen my face.

Well, alrighty, then…

[bloke]

I told you privately that I dropped out of an ensemble and (simply) failed to sign the next year's contract when a whole bunch of things about the situation went south (even though the pay level went up)...but I never did it for the money. I did it too make some nice chords and hang out with some friends...even though it actually cost money, because it cut down on my repair production.

It's difficult to motivate myself to continue practicing all that much on the tuba, but I still have some really nice paying jobs that come up, so I can't walk away from it.

I'm sure you've noticed that I picked up a non-wind instrument that I used to play quite a bit, and have been trying to pull my cobweb-covered technique back together on that instrument.

I was never able to "shred" on that instrument, but I suspect that either no one or very few make any money doing that. Carol Kaye made a tremendous amount of money playing it (no shredding), and played some wonderful bass lines. To quote her, "It's pretty easy".
To quote me "unlike the tuba".

' funny thing about playing that easy-to-play instrument:
When I play really nice bass lines - or, in a small combo, insert important tenor-voice lines that are important yet missing due to the lack of personnel, I get big smiles from the other band members, and the smiles are just as big as when I do a good job playing the tuba (again, which is not nearly as easy).

[MikeS]

Vincent Cichowicz, former Chicago Symphony trumpet player used to say,* “Changing your mouthpiece fixes all your problems for three weeks. That’s why I change every two weeks.”

*I’m going to guess he was smiling when he said it.

[gocsick]

One day I hope to be good enough that Mouthpiece changes actually make a noticeable difference to my playing. I've recorded myself with a range of pieces and unfortunately I still sound like me with all of them.

[iiipopes]

All of you have seen me post about changing mouthpieces. Sometimes it is because of curiosity, as posted above, "new mouthpiece syndrome," change in tuba, change in ensemble, etc. But as I review everything, many of the changes happened right after various bouts of dental surgery. The changes have included mini-mouthpiece-safari's, since the actual internal cup diameter and throat diameter that fit my face and breath support have not changed. But the resulting slight variations in my oral cavity, my changing breath support as I get older, and other factors, all have affected my playing.

I am getting a crown to an implant in my lower left jaw in the next few months. Yes, right in the middle of spring season rehearsals. I hope it doesn't change how I feel about my current mouthpieces: one primary for each my tuba and my sousaphone. Mouthpieces are getting too expensive to purchase new, and I have played just about everything in my preferred cup i.d. that may appear for sale used. Moreover, I just had several of my upper brass mouthpieces modified for my various upper brass instruments to work around a line of interior scar tissue in my right jaw from a fall in 2023. Fortunately, my current low brass mouthpieces on my embouchure are outside this line of scar tissue.

And we all also know the primary advice about equipment (which I confess I have not always followed): pick one, and practice, practice, practice. If in doubt, instead of purchasing a new mouthpiece, spend the money on lessons/master classes instead.

[bloke]

mouthpiece whore comment:

For those of you who have always played a Helleberg Ii / 30H cup shape mouthpiece and plan on sticking with it for the rest of your amateur or professional career, you might consider trying my Sellmansberg II thing.

I just had a bunch more of them fabricated, there are some other subtle changes to the throat and back pore compared to the widely sold versions with that cup shape mentioned above, but I strongly suspect that the rim contour and narrower overall contact surface on my version will help some people with flexibility.

[Charlie C Chowder]

Wind players have their mouth pieces, electric guitarist have their pedals.

CCC

[bloke]

Wind players have their mouth pieces, electric guitarist have their pedals.

CCC

yes, as well as (though not nearly as interchangeable) necks/set-ups.

1. pedals (sound characteristics)
2. necks (instrument accessibility characteristics)

I suspect that tuba players pay a ton of attention to 1. (with mouthpieces) though others don't notice much difference, when the same player is playing the same instrument with a different mouthpiece. (probably about 1% - 5% of the sound difference, compared to what pedals accomplish)

I suspect that tuba players don't pay enough attention to 2. when auditioning or choosing mouthpieces.

[the elephant]

I need to do a lot of long tones with this new setup to become more comfortable with it.

Well… I need to do a lot of long tones.