Quote:
Originally Posted by Warren  Thanks for the help Rowuk. A lot of people can play the trumpet, like the guy who gave me the advice last night, but not many people KNOW the trumpet as well as you do. I wanted to question his advice about moving to an 11.5C, but he's a pro so I doubted myself first.
His other comment was that a 3C makes you lazy. I would think that an 11.5C makes you "lazier" than a 3C as the 11.5 is probably a bit easier to squeeze out some higher notes on. My thinking incorrect? |
I wouldn't just assume that the pro didn't know what he was talking about, and I'm not saying that you are. But, it's possible that he would assume you're aware of the phenomenon of masking. Saying a 3C makes you lazy, though... hmm. I can only guess that he would say that because the 3C maybe has a sharper bite which might help you control your sounds and pitch easier than the softer bite of the 11.5C. I wouldn't do it though if I were you. I used to be a big Bach fan, because well... that's what I grew up playing, and I had pretty much settled on a 3C my second year in college. However, a guy I was playing with in a band several years ago (this is after college... WAY after) introduced me to the Marcinkiewicz E13*C Chuck Findley. I tried so many mouthpieces... you name it, I've probably played it, and this thing is the best thing I've found for me.
Keeping in mind that masking is probably most of your issue, I still have found that the standard Bach 3C off the shelf has a much too small bore size for me, and I've felt the same with it as you probably do. I feel I'm just being swallowed up and that I should be able to hear myself better. Now, I know that we can have a tendency to play sharp to be heard or to play brighter (with smaller mouthpieces) to be heard, but that's just not it. I had my 3C bored out and solved that problem without sacrificing sound, precision, etc. You have to be careful though. I don't remember what number I had it bored out to, but you can go too far very easily and mess up the mouthpiece. Not a big deal so much with a Bach, but you know what I mean. By the way, if you look at the comparison on Marcinkiewicz's website or catalog for the E13, it says that it's close to a Bach 7E or Schilke 13A4A... no way man. I used to use a 13A4A for lead playing and they're completely different mouthpieces. I have a great pedal range with this Marcinkiewicz, something I couldn't do with that Schilke. I guess you get the picture that I'm a Marcinkiewicz convert huh?