| Oh great. Now I have to be serious for a moment.
Regarding breathing, air can only go to one place - your lungs. Just take a full comfortable breath. Don't raise your shoulders (you can't get any air in them). Your stomach will naturally go out a bit, but don't try to make this happen. Just let it happen. Be sure to keep your chest up in a position of good posture (but relaxed - don't tense up your shoulder muscles). As you blow the air out, don't let your chest collapse downward. As you run out of air, your stomach will go in a bit. If you keep your chest (properly) up, as you run out of air, you'll notice all the blowing muscles working to squeeze the air out of your lungs. By this I mean the muscles of the chest (rib cage), back and abdomen. Breathing is natural, so don't make a big deal of it.
Regarding using different mouthpieces, players that have to play a variety of styles do sometimes choose to use different size cups. But usually, they stick with one rim size and only vary the depth or shape of the cup and perhaps the backbore. I really don't think this is necessary for most High School or College players, but if you feel you must, then it would be best to choose perhaps two mouthpieces that have identical or nearly identical rims. For you, given that you already have familiarity with the Bach 3B, I'd recommend using it for Concert Band and Orchestra, and getting a 3C for Marching (if playing 1st parts) and Jazz Band. The 3C is the shallowest of the Bach C Cup mouthpieces relative to its cup diameter and it gives a bright tone and a relatively easy upper register. The rims of the 3C and the 3B are just about as or more identical to each other than with any other Bach mouthpiece rim size (in other cases, such as when comparing a 7C to a 7D, the rims are completely different).
This is the setup used by Charlie Davis in Los Angeles, and it sure works for him! Many other players including Arturo Sandoval play great on a Bach 3C size mouthpiece.
But whatever you do, please, please, please heed my advice in my original post in this topic. There's already too much competition for work out there!
Cheers and good night,
John
P.S. And you're welcome for the post. |