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Originally Posted by JackD 1) How do you hold the thing? (This is a Yamaha Custom 4 Valve) It has a finger hook, but I thought you used the little finger for the 4th valve? :?: |
You can use the little finger for the 4th valve. You can also use the index finger of the left hand. I use the left-hand index finger. Think of the pinky hook as being there only for page turns, or when you have a quick change from your picc harmon, to your picc bucket mute, to plunger. (Just kidding...)
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2) What about tuning? I was suprised to see there were no movable slides - unless alternative fingering is the norm? Anyone have a fingering chart in that case?
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Some piccs have rings or triggers, though many don't. The slide adjustments would be quite small and most piccs require a certain amount of "lipping" to play in tune anyway, so you certainly can do it all with the lips. If you're playing D trumpet parts on picc in A, you generally tune the 4th valve to play the "Low F" (1st and 4th valves) in tune. It's a good idea to learn the idiocyncracies of any picc you enter into a love/hate relationship with. On the Getzen I hold conflicted feelings for, I split the difference between sharp upper Cs and flat lower Cs, and then tune the low F. At that point, playing C# 2 and 4 is less flat than 1, 2, and 3 is sharp.
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3) I was using my Schilke 15B - a mouthpiece I bought primarily for lead playing. I got a bigger (nicer) sound on my Bach 1 1/4C but the range was cut to shreds using that mouthpiece (That may have been affected by my attempts to play Brandenburg for 30 minutes straight though :oops: ) The sound with the Schilke was still pretty nice though - my question is are there specialist 'picc' mouthpieces, or is the 15B ok?
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Yes, there are special picc pieces, and yes, the 15B is okay if it works for you. Some players use their Bb mouthpiece on picc. Some use the same rim and cup, with a different backbore. Some use the same rim but a shallower cup. Some use a smaller, shallower mouthpiece. Sometimes a player's picc mouthpiece is designed specifically for picc, sometimes not. There's absolutely no hard and fast rule.
(Hey -- after 20 years owning a picc, I was finally paid to squawk on the thing this last Christmas. That means I'm qualified to comment, right? Right?)