screamingmorris

My daughter got me the Denis Wick *used* for $20 4 years ago as a Father's Day present.
After 4 years of use the plating is wearing off the rim.

Why are you being antagonistic?

- morris

eisprl

I believe it's a mental thing (as it is with most of trumpet playing)

I was describing the very same topic on mp's once with Jens. (How it can sound great in the store but when you get it home it doesn't have the same characteristics as it did in the store). He said that it's a mental thing. If you are playing the same mouthpiece for an extended period of time it's obvious that you know what it can do or what it can't (for you anyway). If you try a mouthpiece in the store (especially one you haven't played before) you throw all expectations out the window and you are left wondering what this mouthpiece can do. You try it for a minute and realize that you might be better at high F's or what have you. You bring it home along with the expectations of your old mouthpiece. So if you had a thin high F, then your brain goes back to thinking about your old mouthpiece and that's what's going to come out.

If we can somehow get ourselves back into that 5-10 minutes in the store (with no expectations) then the mp should do what it did in the store. (I mean, you did it already, right?)

In my opinion if you are playing high Fs in the store without warming up then I wouldn't blame it on not warming up.

Also, in my opinion, while you are in the store you are in performance mode (you have an audience, whether you are in a practice room or not). When you are at home there is no one to impress. This also brings to mind what Bud Herseth is famously known for saying "Always perform, never practice".

Just my thoughts, sorry Jens if I described that conversation a little shabby.

Eric

__________________
Eric Sproul
Practice is like filling a leaky bucket

Bb: Yamaha Xeno 8335
C: Bach Stadivarious 239L and 25A leadpipe (Owned by Eric Sholtz)
Flugel: Yamaha Bobby Shew 6310Z
Mouthpieces: GR tech
www.stadband.ca

rowuk

The 13a4a and 14a4a are extreme mouthpieces IMHO.
As with all shallow mouthpieces, there is a danger of the lips bottoming out if the rest of the embouchure does not match. The successful players that I have met seem to have the tongue arched to funnel a relatively narrow, high pressure beam of air through the lips. The shallow cup with a relatively small throat and tight backbore "support" the lips with a cushion of air as long as there is an equilibrium between the pressure in front of and behind the lips. Larger mouthpieces do not support in this way and I can see where one could have big problems after playing the shallow mouthpiece for a while.
Don't fear - more practice can re-develop everything that changed.
This gets us back to a mouthpiece selection being "intellectual" and not "careless" or "animal". Intelligent decisions are based on defined expectations, basic knowledge about what a mouthpiece does and an extended play test situation in your actual, normal playing environment. Anything less is not sensible.

__________________
Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again.

Keith Fiala

Mouthpieces are funny animals!!! All too often trumpet players think that they will significantly increase their range if they switch to this, that or the other.

It has been said many different ways by many different professionals, that you must pick a mouthpiece for your playing situation. Deeper cup for darker sound, shallower cup for brighter sounds. Deeper cups will also require more energy to play in the upper register vs. a shallower cup... affecting endurance more than it would ever affect range. Maynard could play Dbl. C's on his flugel horn using a flugel mouthpiece... defeats the purpose of the flugel affect, but nonetheless it could be done.

Range comes from learning to control airspeed, small muscle movements in the lips to create a smaller appeture (to a point) and relaxing physically / mentally enough to perform them consistently. Too much of one thing (or too little of another) will not allow for the upper register to last. If you use very little airspeed and just pinch the lips together, you'll be shot physically very quickly. If you use arm strength vs. appeture control - well, we know what that causes... nothing but pain.

Bottom line -
Listen to your tone, is this the sound you want to project to your audience? Don't sacrifice the #1 thing you'll be judged by just for the sake of attempting to play high notes.

DaveH

This is very true.

All great players will have and will prioritize a clear, open, resonant, and full bodied tone.

For the most part, unless the audience is made up of trumpet players who judge players by their high registers, it is tone and sound that matters to the listener.