B15M

I read his post when it was new so it's been a while but, I thought he said to play what fits and don't worry about the number.

patdublc

Several years ago, Allen Vizzutti started a master's class with "big mouthpieces stink; small mouthpieces stink; lip slurs stink; any questions?" It was rolling in the floors funny. But, the point of his lecture was - find what works for you and don't base your decisions on what somebody else plays. He prefers a bright sound and performs mostly as a soloist so a medium wide diameter, shallow cup works great for him. I've used this quote many times with students as a basis for getting away from "bigger is better" or "smaller will help me play high notes" mentalities.
After that lecture, I experimented with the Marcinkiewicz Vizzutti mouthpiece to see what it was like. It wasn't for me because there wasn't enough cup room to get the sound that I wanted. But, that experiment led me down the path of finding the sound/range/endurance balance that I had been looking for.

pat

tpter1

Hmm... Manny explained it really well (big surprise, eh?), but here's an example:
My B12 is the smallest I can play on for my Bb; my 1c is the smallest I can play on my C.

It's all a matter of perception, I think.

__________________
-Glenn
"Roses have thorns; shining waters mud. Clouds and eclipses stain the moon and the sun; and history reeks of the wrongs we have done. After today, after today, consider me gone."- Sting

rowuk

The reason is simple: no more work than absolutely necessary. If a big fat dark sound is necessary, you need something different than a mouthpiece for 4 hours of double C with a lead trumpet sizzle.

__________________
Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again.

B15M

This is what you are referring to:

"Bobby Shew says play the smallest one you can get away with. Different ideas for different people."

Your answer doesn't fit.

If you take a look at the great classical players I think you will find that most of them play on fairly big mouthpieces.

tpter1

B15- If you re-read Manny's answer, I think you'll find Rowuk's answer makes a bit more sense. It seems to be all about perception within the context. A lead player thinks of how small he/she can go, where a symphony player thinks how big he/she needs to go. Either way, it works out very much the same in the end.

If you think of it this way: the smallest Manny can get away with is what he's on; the largest Bobby Shew can play on is what he's on; then the issue of perception works out. Reverse that and substitute largest for Manny and smallest for Mr. Shew, and it still means the same thing, essentially.

Both types of players play on the equipment that is properly sized for their requirements.

__________________
-Glenn
"Roses have thorns; shining waters mud. Clouds and eclipses stain the moon and the sun; and history reeks of the wrongs we have done. After today, after today, consider me gone."- Sting

Manny Laureano

Bingo.

ML

rowuk

To take this one step further........
I think many players that use huge mouthpieces don't realize what they are sacrificing.
I do quite a bit of freelance work and often have a second player that doesn't have a focussed sound, or no projection into the room even although up close it sounds OK. I also notice the necessity of them breathing much more often than I do.
I usually have an extra mouthpiece in my case and a couple of them have switched to smaller mouthpieces after registering the advantages.
I really believe you have to "earn" the biggest or smallest mouthpieces!

The casual player should check the results in the rooms that they will be performing in before committing. Many times 1 size smaller (1 1/4C instead of 1C, Monette B2 instead of 11,12 or 15) will reap tremendous benefits in core sound, endurance and phrasing!
For people that think smaller is not cool enough - Wynton plays B2, Urban Agnas plays B/C3 and the list of pro players not using Bach 1s is also probably quite long!

__________________
Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again.

Liad Bar-EL

I seem to have forgotten the equivalent sizes between mpc makers; so, I don't know what a Monette B1, B2 or B3 is like in terms of Bach sizes for instance. If anybody knows, I wouldn't mind receiving a PM so as not divert the focus of this thread.

Thanks,

Liad

trumpetmike

Wouldn't it be nice if there were no markings on mouthpieces?

Nobody would worry about what numbers/letters were on the mouthpiece, it would all boil down to whether a mouthpiece works or not.
I have a couple of prototype mouthpieces from Denis Wick that I have used a few times and when other people have tried them they have nearly all liked them, but without the number they often couldn't tell whether it was bigger/smaller than their regular mouthpieces. Some guessed that they were bigger, others smaller.
When we see 24 on a Schilke mouthpiece we are expecting a bucket, if we see it on a Bach we are expecting something very different - without the numbers we wouldn't go in with the preconceived notion of what we were going to discover about the mouthpiece. We would be forced to evaluate each mouthpiece on whether it works for what we want it for - which is really all that matters.