kdawg

yes... i thought i'd found my money mouthpiece. my pride and joy. my no more safarii for you mouthpiece. my GR 64.7ms. yet when i pulled it out in my lesson today, my teacher told me "it didn't have enough core"
i was heartbroken.
i had just spent 110 on that beautiful piece of metal... only to find out it was a paper weight.
so my question to all of my fellow trumpeters is this:
do i need to head back down the cash paved road of another safari???
or is there something i can do to make this paperweight sound the way it feels???
thank you, and goodnight
kdawg
(btw... of course i'm still using it... it makes everything just line up on my horn... since i play lead in most of the bands i play in i'm more worried about the trombones hearing than anything else)

TangneyK

"is there something i can do to make this paperweight sound the way it feels?"

Yes. There is. Practice.

--Kevin

trickg

My question to you is this: Who's sound concept are you playing towards, yours, or your teacher's?

If YOU like the way that it feels, blows, plays and sounds, screw your teacher. Who the heck is he to tell you that your sound doesn't have enough core? That's just his opinion. Your sound is your sound, and if YOU think it has enough core, go with it. The more you play on this mouthpiece, the better your sound is going to get on it. You can always work on your sound, but that work is going to be hampered if you don't have the right mouthpiece for the job. (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 say stick with the GR.

dizforprez

call GR, they might be able to give you the best of both worlds....

but i think that in the end it will come down to your playing concept and not the gear

jazzman54

what mp did you play on before? did that have enough core for your teacher... what does your teacher play on

Gnostic

:)

Nonsense Eliminator

You should talk to your teacher about what he feels is missing. End of story.

My own (limited) experience with GR mouthpieces leads me to believe that your teacher's criticism may have some validity, depending on what you were playing before. I also have experienced the Instant Paperweight phenomenon -- and my teacher was absolutely right. The mouthpiece I was using didn't have the right sound. Once I heard what he was talking about, it was as plain as day.

As for Patrick's comment about sound concept -- I'm going to have to disagree with that a little bit. The teachers I have learned the most from had an idea of what I should sound like that was better than the one I had. Certainly, there was room for individuality, but certain ingredients in the sound would not be compromised, period. A good teacher doesn't try to make you sound like him (or her), he tries to make you sound like you, only better. Sometimes we aren't as aware of things as we should be and make poor equipment decisions that make it difficult to achieve a mature sound.

jamesfrmphilly

take your teacher with you when you shop for mouthpieces

kdawg

the mouthpiece i use is a Holbert mouthpiece.... about the same diamater as a bach 5...
i also used to use a schilke 13a4a for lead... and oddly enough i was looking for a mouthpiece with more "core" so i tried the GR
then after i fell in love with that i also bought a GR 65MX
i use all 3... the holbert has a darker mellow sound, the gr 65 has a nice overall sound, and the 64.7 works for lead...
you guys are right... the sound concept is in my head... and i do sound the same on all of my mouthpieces, yet each mouthpiece has it's own unique "sound" to it.
it probably doesn't sound like it has much core because GR's produce more higher overtones (that's what i think i've heard)...
i think i'll just record myself on each mouthpiece and see what i come up w/
thanx,
kdawg

trickg

NE, you have a very valid point, and one that I conceded to at the end of my post, is that maybe his teacher does know what he's talking about. Since I'm self taught, I've never had a teacher try to impart to me their ideas about my sound.

kdawg, you play on a Holbert mouthpiece? Where are you from? If you live close enough to Scotty, you should talk to him about making some adjustments to your Holbert equipment. He usually has a good idea of what to do with a mouthpiece to get you the right feel and sound.

Good luck dude. I hope that everything works out.

P.S. One of the reasons that I have never opted to change my embouchure much is because I won't compromise on my sound, and most of the experimentation I have done toward that end hurts rather than helps my sound. I won't do that for a few more notes on my range.