Comments on: Clarinet Mouthpieces

By: Hans Mathias

Hans Mathias — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 17:57:24 +0000

I have taken up swingjazz with my clarinet again, after having a 25 years break. In my younger days the reeds and the mouthpiece was a nightmare and a never ending story. I’m using Vandoren V12 2,5 and a Vandoren B45. I see the B45 is good for students. However, the mouthpiece is just a simple piece of plastic. Are there really objective differences or is it simply that whatever fits your personal style, is the best mouthpiece?
As to reeds, haven’t anybody been able to make reeds from a plastic/carbon whatever material different from wood? I have tried one German one (Fiberreed) and one Canadian (Legere) one, but they really don’t work.
But may be it comes down to Bopep’s (Ken’s?) statement – it’s all about practising.
My style i rather rough – people say I play the tenorsaxophone on my clarinet.

By: T Watson

T Watson — Tue, 04 May 2010 05:50:07 +0000

I use a Pomarico crystal mouthpiece and I love it! People that I know that have tried them either love them or hate them. But I think that the tone that you get from a crystal mouthpiece is just wonderful.

By: Malcolm Burnett

Malcolm Burnett — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 06:00:10 +0000

Thank you for sharing your insights into channeling breath through a mouthpiece that suits one’s oral anatomy. Any pieces & reeds that may utilize the timbre of a pair of Boosey & Hawkes – Empire (grenadilla) well – to help narrow the choices? Do the hard rubber pieces give more mouthfeel to the air column? Thanks.

By: M Malley

M Malley — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 16:58:23 +0000

Bolek Peplowski – Your cleasmates would love to hear from you! We’re having a celebration on Sept. 6 in Plymouth. Organizers couldn’t locate you, so I’m giving this site a try! All the best – M

By: Bolek Peplowski (bopep)

Bolek Peplowski (bopep) — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 22:17:48 +0000

The most important aspect of your mouthpiece is not your mouthpiece at all, it’s the physical characteristics of your mouth. The mouth cavity, airway and surrounding muscles are unique to every individual. Imitating setups your favorite players use will not give you their sound. Following the advice of other players who swear by this or that mouthpiece may not get you the results you’re looking for. I knew Stan Getz “The Sound” and he was as mystified by what gave him his ‘sound’ as everyone else. His setup was simply the best match for the mouth he was born with and it doesn’t work for everyone. (I tried it and it sure doesn’t work for me.) Famous quote from Coltrane: “Let’s face it, we would all sound like him, if we could.”

You have to play a lot – like many hours a day every day – on whatever setup you have and first learn to open your throat and expand and control the air in your mouth before you begin searching for and spending big bucks on your optimum mouthpiece. You will feel it when it happens – the column of air in your mouth resonates with your instrument. It’s a loose, but controlled thing – not tight and controlled. It’s louder, but more centered than you thought you could ever play. It’s an epiphany that comes only after spending many boring, diligent and passionate hours on your ax. Every great player has done it – has paid the dues. There are no shortcuts.

Once you feel that open sensation, then you can begin going through the endless array of available mouthpieces, but even then, be ready to kiss a lot of frogs before you find your prince.

I’m currently playing six nights a week in a jazz club in Thailand. Clarinet is my focus, but I also use my tenor and alto (both vintage Conn Connquerors). My clarinets are a Buffet Festival and a Leblanc Concerto. The Buffet gives me a warmer, deeper sound, but I love the key arrangement on the Leblanc, which Eddie Daniels had a big say in, so I alternate horns according to whether I feel like sounding warm, or feel like showing off finger-dazzle. The clarinet mouthpieces that seem to give me best sound and projection are Morgans – the J6 and J7. I use Ponzol reeds 2.5, when I can find them and Marca, Pete Fountain 2.5 and 3 when I’m out of Ponzols. I don’t have to use a microphone with this setup and stay above the group easily, even in the low register.

So how did I find this site? You guessed it. I’m damn curious about who might be making great mouthpieces and the possibility that something better than what I’m playing on might be out there. Benny Goodman and Stan Getz changed mouthpieces often and never stopped looking. None of us do. But they would both agree that it’s folly to become a gear-head and think that a piece of equipment can replace thousands of tedious hours in front of a music stand.

By: Tony Riley

Tony Riley — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 18:07:35 +0000

I play a Selmer St. Louis clarinet with an Eddie Daniel’s Rovner 11 ligature on a Hite mouthpiece. It gives me a good free blowing sound and as I play tenor, alto and soprano saxophones Hite mouthpieces are good for players who have to switch from clarinet to saxophone. On saxophones I play Dave Guardala Studio mouthpieces.

By: Gero

Gero — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 10:26:32 +0000

Have you ever tried Pomarico crystal mouthpieces?
The response is immediate, thanks to the very hard material and there is a complete range of different openings to chose from (from very very open mouthpiece, much more than Vandoren 5JB, to very closed, more than Vandoren M15).

By: coaster

coaster — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 08:58:05 +0000

Please keep the mouthpiece advice coming. I’ve played/studied clarinet for 20 years and have yet to find a mouthpiece I like. I’m currently on a Clark Fobes San Francisco model; it’s the least unresponsive of all pieces that I’ve tried. Still, it’s not free-blowing, it’s constrictive, and there’s no volume when I’m out on a gig. I’ve tried jazz-specific models, like the Peter Ponzol, which was a mockery of a mouthpiece. I can barely get a sound on it. Any ideas, anyone? Is clarinet just not my instrument??

By: JJTowerofPower

JJTowerofPower — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 08:56:43 +0000

I play the M15 for just about anything, and I was wondering what sort of a difference I would experience in my jazz tone if I switched to the much more open tip opening, but similar facing length 5JB.