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.
Quote:
| (Something I'm going to add here is that it is possible that your sound is a little thin on this mouthpiece and your teacher may in fact be right, but you really need to consider whether you want to sacrifice a little sound for playability.) |
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.