dizforprez

I dont think any one should take this approach to working with a teacher...sorry trickg but I think you are wrong here..

kdawg

I live in north dakota and i got the mouthpiece from my teacher
? for trikg though...
you said you don't change your embuchure??? you mean changing my embuchure will give me a few more notes???
now i'm confused big time...
oh and i had a few friends listen to me today...
they liked the 64.7 and the schilke 13a4a the best... but they said the holbert had an "older" sound (their words)

BobList

Scott Holbert makes some great mouthpieces.... They are true custom units....I played lead and rock on one for over ten years.... I own about 4 of them, different cups and BB's.....I'm having him modify the rim slightly for me on the lead piece....you oughtta ask him about yours...he may give you the option to trade out a backbore or something...all of his pieces are two piece design, and are short shank now...if you have an older standard length, he prob will modify it for you...he also modified his throats into more of an "hourglass" shape..they were more "straight" in years past. ck him out at WWW.HOLBRASS.COM., or call him at 410-551-3244
Bob List, Baltimore

trickg

dizforprez, did you guys miss the line I added at the end? Basically I gave credence to the teacher. Here it is again, just in case you only read part of my post.I know at least a couple of people that have been screwed up by a teacher that they were working with and had to go back and fix the damage that the teacher caused. Just because they ARE teaching, doesn't mean that they SHOULD teach. I'm giving kdawg the benefit of the doubt because I don't know:
1. His name
2. Where he is from
3. How old he is
4. How long he has been playing
5. Who his teacher is
6. What he sounds like
7. What he is looking for in a mouthpiece
8. What kind of lead playing he is doing
9. What he is looking to achieve in his playing

Give me a break guys! If kdawg is a High School kid, then yes, he quite possibly should take his teacher's word on EVERYTHING. However, if he's been around the block for a while and has been playing for 20+ years, then he certainly shouldn't just go brain dead and accept everything his teacher says as gospel, unless of course he has an exceptional teacher with impeccable credentials.

I know guys that play as if playing in the stratosphere is everything (hence my earlier comment about changing embouchures so that you can gain a few more notes on your top range) and they will sacrifice almost all other aspects of their playing, their sound, flexibility, low range, articulation, toward that end. I'm not saying that I agree with that, but I respect a player's decision to do that, although I may not want to play with them. :wink:

Then, there are guys like me that do not have great range and endurance, but I've always been told that I have a good sound and good intonation, and although I have worked on range in the past, it always seems to have a detrimental effect on my sound, and I won't make that compromise.

Each player is an individual with different strengths, weaknesses, and goals toward what kind of music they want to play, and how they approach playing, and that really has to come from within and although it can be influenced by a teacher, they shouldn't dictate to you what your wants and goals as a player should be. I thought that by contradicting myself in my original post on this thread, I made that clearthat maybe kdawg should take his teacher's word on it, because it may in fact be a correct assesment, but it seems that I was misunderstood.

I'm not trying to drive a wedge between kdawg and his teacher, but I do think that he needs to examine what he's looking for out of his playing and try to reconcile that with both his equipment and what his teacher feels about it. I don't see how the mouthpiece, being that it is a pretty moderate piece and not really extreme in any way, such as like say a Jet Tone MF model or a 6A4a, is really going to make that big of a difference, but I have been wrong in the past and I may be wrong on this one too.

Ultimately, it's up to kdawg to decide if he wants to listen to his teacher (of whom I know nothing) or go with his gut and stick with the GR.

dizforprez

well trickg,

the way you started off with "screw him" and stuff to that effect are pretty strong words. even if you say something that backs down from that later on it would be lost due to the power of your first few comments.

dont make me pull out the swagger stick on ya now :wink:

trickg

Point taken. :)

Maybe the "screw your teacher" part of it was a little harsh, but teachers can and do make mistakes too. They aren't infallible just because they are teaching.

I once was working with my HS band director when I was a Senior in HS on my solo for music contests, which just happend to be the first movement of the Haydn trumpet cocerto. I was going in after school a couple times a week to work on some of the musical concepts, and it seemed that the stuff he was telling me to do just didn't jibe with what I was hearing on the recordings that I had, or how it felt to me musically. So I got a second opinion from another guy, the K - 6 grade music teacher, an accomplished classical pianist and organist, and the guy who would be my accompianist for contests.

As it turned out, my band director was NOT telling me correct information, and I ended up dumping my lessons with him, and doing everything with my former music teacher, who to this day is my mentor and dear friend.

This was a case where the teacher was NOT right. Not even close, and this is a guy with a college degree in music education.

The thing is, kdawg knows that the mouthpiece feels right, but he has ears of his own to determine what his sound is like. What exactly does "not enough core" mean? We would have to actually hear him on his different mouthpieces to make that kind of determination. I'm also under the impression that he is using this mouthpiece for lead work, which means that he is probably going to be going for a brighter, more edgy sound anyway.

We are all taking this topic WAAAAAAY too seriously. :P

dizforprez

"We are all taking this topic WAAAAAAY too seriously"


WE?

trickg

It's you guys that had the big issues with the way I stated my initial replay to kdawg. I just felt that a little explanation about my line of thinging was in order. I'm not offended in the least. :wink:

kdawg

so here's an update on my mouthpiece...
i'm starting to shift back to my holbert piece. It just feels better on my lips. I've figured out why it has more "core" - the GR pieces have more higher overtones. Yesterday I was practicing the Hummel for a bit, then I shifted to jazz and my 64.7 and it was like... I dunno it really sucked. My sound was breaking up all over the place and I couldn't get the "centered" feel I get with the Holbert piece. The same thing happened today and all I used was the GR. I think i'll end up trying a Monette BL2 (or a copy, i dunno that's just more money) before I call Scotty to get my problem fixed. (I hate using the phone if I e-mailed him would I get the same response?)

trickg

I tend to not switch equipment very much because I don't think that you can develop any real consistency when you are constantly switching your equipment. I use one horn and two mouthpieces for the playing that I do. I have one mouthpiece that I use for legit and one that I use for when I'm playing in the big band and rock band. I did switch to a Holbert piece about 6 months ago (from a Schilke 14A4a) but other than that, I have used the same two mouthpieces for nearly 6 years. Prior to that, I used one mouthpiece for everything and one of my two current pieces I've been using since 1990.

I've been on a couple of mouthpiece safaris, but it seems that I almost always wind up back where I started, so I usually will look at mouthpieces, talk about them, but when it comes to actually using something else, I usually just stick with what I've got and what has been working for me in the past.