Mouthpiece decision dilemma

[NotATrumpet]

How can I decide on a mouthpiece when every one I try ticks all the boxes when practicing but doesn't on a gig or rehearsal?

[EriKon]

Stay for longer on one of the mouthpieces and review after more occasions what's good about the piece and what you're missing with it.

[LeTromboniste]

Start by identifying what you find is wrong or suboptimal on the mouthpiece you're coming from.

[timothy42b]

If possible, shoot a little phone video while comfortably practicing at home, and again at the gig, with the same mouthpiece of course.

The mouthpiece and horn are the same both places, so it might not be the mouthpiece. You could consider whether it's something you're doing differently. It could be posture, breathing, etc.

Last year I had a very embarrassing moment. The director asked me to play a passage on a new piece we were working on. It started on a middle G, and I couldn't get the note to sound. Nothing would come out.

At home I tried to duplicate it and eventually found a way. Tilting my head back at the wrong angle made that note unplayable, and that's what I'd done when watching him for a kind of weird rhythm.

[ghmerrill]

It's always taken me months to really settle on, or reject, a mouthpiece (whether tuba, trombone, or euphonium). Some you can exclude within a given "trial period" and return them. But mostly it just takes time with them to explore the details -- in part, in order to decide what you really want out of it.

And yes, trying one in your practices may work just fine; but when you're in a rehearsal or gig, other features get exposed.

[UATrombone]

Psychology?

[NotATrumpet]

Thank you all for your replies. They've been most helpful.

[Kbiggs]

Choose two contrasting passages of 30 seconds to one minute in duration, like an excerpt of a Bordogni etude and a Kopprasch technical study. Record yourself playing these two excerpts with mouthpiece A and then with mouthpiece B.

While you’re playing, take note of what works well and what doesn’t. Include your impressions of the rim shape and size, the feedback, low register, high register, loud/soft, the “left side” of the note and the “right side,” etc. Write those down.

Then listen, and analyze along with your impressions.

[JeffBone44]

This seems common. I've tried many mouthpieces that sound and feel great at home, but when I bring them to an ensemble, something is off.

I've recently discovered that it's not the mouthpiece, it's me. My biggest problem with ensemble playing has been playing with increased tension. When I relax, just about any mouthpiece I try can work fine in an ensemble setting.

[Kbiggs]

Remember that you—the player, the mouthpiece, the horn, the entire unit—sound different in different rooms. Harrison Reed here on TC wrote a nice post about this a little while ago. We have to remind ourselves that we will sound different in different venues.

You might need to adjust a little for different acoustics, but not allow the acoustics of the venue change our playing. Example: if we’re used to playing in a dry concert hall and then go to a fairly live on, we might need to shorten our held notes a little, and perhaps play not quite as loudly or with as much intensity, but more definite articulation. The hall will allow our sound to reverberate a little, and will thus be perceived as louder by the audience, but our articulations might be a little muddier.

The opposite might help when going from a live hall to a dry one: hold the notes to their full extent, with a little more intensity or volume, but slight softer articulations.

Like Jeffbone44 said, keep playing as you have been playing, with the same relaxed breathing, production, etc., and allow your ears and feedback to adjust to the venue.

[harrisonreed]

Yeah, it's true. I have a mouthpiece design that I love that is nearly unplayable in the tiny Wenger module practice rooms. The sound just doesn't even start to bloom until you're ten feet away from the horn with that thing.

The problem with "at home" and "in the practice room" is that you're dealing with playing into a wall, usually directly in front of your bell. This is what happens:

sound-wave-reflect.gif

So if you pick a mouthpiece that helps you sound good in this type of situation, usually a big deep mouthpiece that sounds diffuse and helps the horn send sound out everywhere in the room around you, then when you get on stage you will sound really diffuse and "meh".

If you use a mouthpiece that can "send it", and will cut through a big ensemble in a good way, often you will get directional sound that sounds terrible in the practice room.

The difference between these two sounds is the amplitude. A greater amplitude in one direction will just make the effect seen above worse. It bounces off the wall and goes right back into your bell. You're physically phase cancelling yourself out. But on a real stage this effect doesn't happen like that. It bounces off the wall and goes everywhere.

I think this is a big problem with American trombonists in general -- they choose equipment based on the crappy rooms they play in in school and then some of them spend the rest of their careers trying to make it work on stage.

[NotATrumpet]

Yeah, it's true. I have a mouthpiece design that I love that is nearly unplayable in the tiny Wenger module practice rooms. The sound just doesn't even start to bloom until you're ten feet away from the horn with that thing.

The problem with "at home" and "in the practice room" is that you're dealing with playing into a wall, usually directly in front of your bell. This is what happens:


sound-wave-reflect.gif


So if you pick a mouthpiece that helps you sound good in this type of situation, usually a big deep mouthpiece that sounds diffuse and helps the horn send sound out everywhere in the room around you, then when you get on stage you will sound really diffuse and "meh".

If you use a mouthpiece that can "send it", and will cut through a big ensemble in a good way, often you will get directional sound that sounds terrible in the practice room.

The difference between these two sounds is the amplitude. A greater amplitude in one direction will just make the effect seen above worse. It bounces off the wall and goes right back into your bell. You're physically phase cancelling yourself out. But on a real stage this effect doesn't happen like that. It bounces off the wall and goes everywhere.

I think this is a big problem with American trombonists in general -- they choose equipment based on the crappy rooms they play in in school and then some of them spend the rest of their careers trying to make it work on stage.

This is exactly what I'm experiencing. I spend over two hours a day practicing at home in a very nice but smallish room where I always end up on a larger, deeper mouthpiece. I then get to a rehearsal or gig, sound terrible, loose confidence and start questioning everything. Harrisonreed, you've just lifted a curtain and the light is flooding in. Thank you. I'm now going to stick with the mouthpiece I know works outside the practice room and which, by the way, feels good and is also much easier to play. Win, win.

[dukesboneman]

I know exactly what you`re talking about.
On most of my doubles, I`ve settled on a mouthpiece that works great for me.
However........
On my everyday small bore horn , it`s been a Quest for the holy grail, even though it`s ight in front of me.
I`ve tried Schilkes, Bachs, Wicks, Picketts, Jettones, Giardinellis, etc.....
I`ll settle on something that in my practice sessions sounds Fantastic!!
Then I get on the gig and I can`t either - Hear myself (too Dark a sound) , suddenly not very flexible,
Great high range, NO bottom or the reverse On & On & On......
The mouthpiece I keep coming back to is my Mount Vernon Bach 7C.
I think at 69 years old it`s time to (Save a lot of money) and except that the 7C is MY mouthpiece.
Full disclosure - I`ve been on the Mount Vernon 7C (on and off) since 1978.
And yet we keep looking...................