Hi.
When I first started playing Traditional Jazz (the original old Jazz from between 1900 to 1930) nearly 25 years ago, I came across a band leader who played a crystal glass mouthpiece, and I liked his sound and bought it for myself. Unfortunately, the company doesn't make them anymore, so I'm asking for advice here.
My current mouthpiece is crystal glass one by the German company Zinner with an extra wide tip opening - or whatever the correct term is for the distance between the reed and the tip of the mouthpiece. I'm originally from Germany, so please excuse me if I use the wrong technical terms for things. When I bought it, they used the number 8 to show that this was the widest tip opening they had - not sure how that translates to other brands. I play this mouthpiece with a Vandoren reed in a strength between 2 and 2 1/2 (I start with 2 and keep clipping it down a hair until it works perfectly) because the openness makes thicker reeds very hard to play.
I also have a classical mouthpiece from my clarinet beginnings which uses a German reed (Solo Esser Gold) strength 4+, and I use that mostly for practicing to keep my endurance and strength up.
I recently heard a story of a musician who rushed to a parade gig and dropped his crystal glass mouthpiece and broke it. Desperately, he had his wife get his spare - and then dropped that... So now I am a bit concerned that the same might happen to me, and I'm wondering what advice you can give me for a spare mouthpiece.
My style of playing includes pulling notes a LOT (i.e. seamlessly change the pitch of a note to another note by use of my embouchure) which generally isn't so hard, but obviously having the largest available tip opening makes it a bit more challenging. One reason why I bought this mouthpiece is that it was considerably louder than my classical one - when I started, I had just joined a High School Dixieland Band, so volume was everything then, and it still is important to me to make myself heard. Most people seem to like my sound a lot (which is interesting given that I play a cheap student metal clarinet that was made some time before 1939 and is not well tuned at all - but it handles very well for my style of playing).
Pretty much the only type of music I play on clarinet is Traditional Jazz (or "Dixieland" in simpler and better known terms), so I'll have to compete in volume with trumpet, trombone, and a rhythm section.
I probably wouldn't mind getting another crystal glass mouthpiece, but I am also open for other suggestions.
What I'm looking for is something that allows me to play fairly loud (probably with a large tip opening again), but still gives me good control for pulling notes, and the sound shouldn't be harsh - ideally, something sweet sounding for emotional playing. And it should work with Vandoren reeds which are at least considerably wider than my other reeds, so I'm guessing that might make a difference, too.
I hope this information is helpful
Thanks!
When I first started playing Traditional Jazz (the original old Jazz from between 1900 to 1930) nearly 25 years ago, I came across a band leader who played a crystal glass mouthpiece, and I liked his sound and bought it for myself. Unfortunately, the company doesn't make them anymore, so I'm asking for advice here.
My current mouthpiece is crystal glass one by the German company Zinner with an extra wide tip opening - or whatever the correct term is for the distance between the reed and the tip of the mouthpiece. I'm originally from Germany, so please excuse me if I use the wrong technical terms for things. When I bought it, they used the number 8 to show that this was the widest tip opening they had - not sure how that translates to other brands. I play this mouthpiece with a Vandoren reed in a strength between 2 and 2 1/2 (I start with 2 and keep clipping it down a hair until it works perfectly) because the openness makes thicker reeds very hard to play.
I also have a classical mouthpiece from my clarinet beginnings which uses a German reed (Solo Esser Gold) strength 4+, and I use that mostly for practicing to keep my endurance and strength up.
I recently heard a story of a musician who rushed to a parade gig and dropped his crystal glass mouthpiece and broke it. Desperately, he had his wife get his spare - and then dropped that... So now I am a bit concerned that the same might happen to me, and I'm wondering what advice you can give me for a spare mouthpiece.
My style of playing includes pulling notes a LOT (i.e. seamlessly change the pitch of a note to another note by use of my embouchure) which generally isn't so hard, but obviously having the largest available tip opening makes it a bit more challenging. One reason why I bought this mouthpiece is that it was considerably louder than my classical one - when I started, I had just joined a High School Dixieland Band, so volume was everything then, and it still is important to me to make myself heard. Most people seem to like my sound a lot (which is interesting given that I play a cheap student metal clarinet that was made some time before 1939 and is not well tuned at all - but it handles very well for my style of playing).
Pretty much the only type of music I play on clarinet is Traditional Jazz (or "Dixieland" in simpler and better known terms), so I'll have to compete in volume with trumpet, trombone, and a rhythm section.
I probably wouldn't mind getting another crystal glass mouthpiece, but I am also open for other suggestions.
What I'm looking for is something that allows me to play fairly loud (probably with a large tip opening again), but still gives me good control for pulling notes, and the sound shouldn't be harsh - ideally, something sweet sounding for emotional playing. And it should work with Vandoren reeds which are at least considerably wider than my other reeds, so I'm guessing that might make a difference, too.
I hope this information is helpful
Thanks!