Mystery to Mastery › Forums › WindWorks › Mouthpiece Honeymoon? › Reply To: Mouthpiece Honeymoon?
Thanks for the thread. I’ll add my 2 cents…
I also have done the safari thing. Once I started studying with professional orchestral players/ teachers (45 years ago), I played exclusively on a Bach 1 1/2C (pre-Selmer acquisition) because that’s what they did and recommended. Since coming back to playing, I have experimented as you describe. My goal (this year) is to play the Brandenberg #2 on Bb piccolo without straining. Which means I need consistency around G above High C. For those of us who have subscribed to the Ultimate level and viewed the related videos, Greg acknowledges not only switching mouthpieces moving through the Windworks stages, but also switching horns! Nice to be a Yamaha sponsored artist! So…while the mouthpiece is important for aperture setting, there is more to the sound equation above High C. My axe is a Bach Strad Bb/ 25A leadpipe (again pre-Selmer acquisition) which for the orchestral literature was the gold standard back then. I just ordered the Bobby Shew Lead mouthpiece based on this discussion. I note its inner diameter is similar to a Bach 2 which I also own but dont really prefer. Again it’s going to be based on cup dimensions.
Related to the later-stage videos, Greg mentions starting to fool around with bigger gear to see if it affects/ improves his upper range. I believe his logic is similar to weigh lifting- work harder in practice so that in performance (on smaller gear) it will be ‘easier’. With that logic, I have been playing for the last 3 months on a Bach 1B and have seen improvement on my 1 1/2C. I also do mouthpiece buzzing as warmup on both a trombone and/or tuba mouthpiece thinking it will make me work harder the muscles that set the trumpet aperture corners. My thinking it’s similar to lip free buzzing as the rims are so wide. It definitely helps the facial muscles feel loose. I sometimes even use them when resting during trumpet practice if I feel lactic acid building up.