Re: What's all the debate about mouthpieces?!


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Posted by Sean Chisham on April 13, 1999 at 19:56:22:

In Reply to: What's all the debate about mouthpieces?! posted by Paul on April 13, 1999 at 17:18:47:

When you do not use a piece of equipment very often or for any "mission critical" applications, then the quality of the piece of equipment is probably less carefully scrutinized. For instance, I own a TV. When I bought it, I just drove over to Best Buy and picked out a 26" TV which was relativelly cheap and had a remote control. I don't watch all that much TV. Now, if I were doing some heavy duty video editing for 5+ hours/day over the course of many years, and my livelyhood depending on the product of those video edits, then I probably would have been much more selective in getting just the right features. Would I have purchased the same television? Maybe, but I would have gone to the shop and "tryed it out" in person to see if it was going to meet my needs. Unfortunatelly, there is only so much I can do in a TV shop to evaluate the performance of the TV. This is why I would want to take this potentially expensive investment into my video editing studio to give it a run through in the environment I would use it for.

This is the same as with mouthpieces. The average joe may not have a need to be terribly picky in mouthpiece selection. For those of use who spend many hours/day, EVERY day, using that mouthpiece, we will want one which matches up well with our horn, ourself, and our settings.

There are SO many selections in equipment these days that it can be blinding. This is a "good thing" in my opinion. Only 20 years ago or so, there were MUCH fewer choices. The choices are also now very diverse. If you get a chance sometime, stop by a booth at a conference with your horn and try out some different mouthpieces. You will be surprised at how they each have their own playing characteristics. Some are more useful than others, but that is a subjective decision for you, the individual, to make.

sean



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