Clarinet and Saxophone – why is the mouthpiece so important?
Want to find out why your teacher makes such a fuss about her/his mouthpiece? Tired of working had and getting very little for your efforts? Hear a sound you just can’t get from your own set-up? It is time to examine the basics.
If you get the right match between your reed and mouthpiece
you are at least 70% better off – vibration starts with the mouthpiece
and reed set-up and it is by far the biggest single determinant of your success. Your
instrument acts like a megaphone to the sound from the mouthpiece – bad
mouthpiece fit equals bad tone, good mouthpiece fit equals good tone. The more you have
experienced by trying mouthpieces the more important you realise they are to the process of
personalising your music making. What others hear from you determines the largest part of what they think of
your playing!
You can help your high notes, even up register response,
improve tuning, aid projection or mellow your sound and most importantly enjoy your practice and performance more - all benefitting from a change in
the mouthpiece.
Important features explained –
Tip Opening
This is the measure from the plane of the table (the flat surface upon which the reed is positionee and secured with the ligature) to the maximum opening of the curvature measured at the tip of the mouthpiece. A narrow tip opening makes for very easy playing with softer reeds. With harder reeds both response and focus are improved and pitch is very stable. A wider tip opening is not very comfortable to play with reeds which are too hard - softer mid-strength and softer reeds are the order of the day. A wide tip introduces more flexibility and freedom but requires more care from the player to control the result!Facing Length
This is the measure from the end of the tip rail to the point at which the curvature begins as it leaves the horizontal plane of the facing. A longer facing allows for more freedom of vibration and flex for the reed making soft reeds feel even softer and harder reeds feel comfortable. A shorter facing requires a ‘softer’ reed as a hard reed will not be able to work without lip fatigue, and the shorter facing adds a ‘snap’ or ‘bite’ to the sound as it emphasis the tip vibration of the reed.Tip Rail
At the very end of the mouthpiece where the reed tip ‘seats’. This area must be clean and undamaged or the vacuum necessary for the creation of the sound will be inefficient or impossible to obtain. A narrow tip enhances higher harmonic partials in the sound as the reed vibration is less muffled. A wider tip helps to ‘cut-out’ some of the higher partials and brings about a darker ‘warmer’ sound.Side Rails
The reed seals all along the length of the side rails in the process of vibrating. These rails need to be parallel and undamaged or performance will suffer.Table
This is the point where your ligature holds the reed. It is meant to be either flat (preferred) or slightly scalloped (a minority choice) where an airtight fit, which contributes to successful vibration of the reed, is obtained. If this area is damaged or poorly finished your reeds are likely to play with more difficulty and suffer warp more quickly.Baffle
The baffle is the area just behind the tip rail and it has a very important role in the production of the sound. It is useful to understand the terminology when discussing this area. A ‘high’ baffle is one that restricts the vibrating air column; effectively squeezing it once the air has passed the opening of the reed. It excites the air, disturbing the flow and this adds a bright, 'edgy quality' to the sound – this is what is usually associated with a ‘jazz’ mouthpiece. A ‘low’ baffle does the opposite – it allows for the expansion of the vibrating air column in this critical area and emphasises the lower partials of the sound – creating the qualities associated with ‘classical’ orchestral, wind band or solo playing.Throat
This is the transition area where the opening beyond the baffle is focused into the straighter bore of the mouthpiece. Here you will see many variations of shape (round, square, tapered, blunt) but each intended by the manufacturer to complement the other areas of the internal flow of air in the mouthpiece.Chamber – Saxophone
This is the region found after the baffle and before the throat of the mouthpiece. Most mouthpieces now utilize a fairy standard medium chamber. This is so common that unless specified otherwise you can assume that this is what is in use. A small chamber, when available, adds a further compression to the flow of the vibrating air column boosting the feeling of projection by emphasising ‘edgier’ higher partials in the sound. Conversely a large chamber, when available, ‘rounds out’ the sound by not restricting the airflow and creating a warmer sound. This style of mouthpiece was very popular in the early days of the saxophone and is sometimes referred to as an ‘old boxcar’ style alluding to the large space inside.Bore – Clarinet
The bore is the area after the throat that begins the internal dimension of the clarinet taper leading into the barrel. Bore sizes have largely been standardised with the popularity of the nominal ‘French’ bore clarinet being now dominant but some types of instruments with unusual, usually larger bores themselves, must be matched with an appropriate larger bore mouthpiece to obtain proper tuning.Material –
Most student mouthpieces (and even some supplied with much more expensive instruments) are made from modern plastics to keep down costs. Plastic resonates easily and, if well designed and crafted, works well to encourage early playing. Ebonite or rod rubber is the preferred material for most professional range mouthpieces. The inherent vibrational qualities of ebonite are superior and mouthpieces can be crafted by cutting, not moulding as in the case of plastic, allowing for greater finish quality and consistency. Some ‘jazz’ mouthpieces exploit an ebonite/plastic highbred material that adds a ‘brightness’ and liveliness to the feel of the mouthpiece with its distinctive vibration characteristics. Various metals (brass, stainless steel, and alloys) are used in some saxophone mouthpieces largely for manufacture reasons when wishing to create high-baffle ‘jazz’ mouthpieces. The vibrational qualities of metals are different to those of ebonite and plastic both for the player and the audience but I believe are not inherently darker or brighter – that depends much more upon the design.My advice is try to not go 'mad' chasing the perfect mouthpiece - they all exist for a reason and players are all different. What you prefer will be likely to change not only as our playing needs change but also as time passes and we tend to look for different aspects of performance from the mouthpiece. It is not unusual to own and use several different mouthpieces and enjoy them all for what they do to enhance your playing.
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The tips and comments above are the result of many years of providing help and advice, my personal interest and study, and the teaching that I have done during my career. I have many colleagues and teachers to thank for sharing their thoughts and suggestions on this and other topics. In addition I am indebted to Woodwind & Reed, Cambridge ( www.wwr.co.uk ) where, in the course of helping customers, many of these concepts have been refined and have proven helpful.
Thomas Dryer-Beers
