Sunday, September 30, 2012

Expand Basic Skills With A Bach 3C Trumpet Mouthpiece

By Patrice McCoy


After a new comer to brass instruments has practiced for a few years, the next step is to change the mouthpiece. Instruments originally are paired with tips that are designed to aid in learning and developing the necessary control to advance their techniques. The natural progression is to get a slightly larger tip like the Bach 3C trumpet mouthpiece to continue developing playing ability.

A player needs to understand why it is important to change the tip as they progress in their instruction and capabilities. The mouthpiece is an intricate combination of a rim, cup, backbore, and a bore. These areas combine to produce a variety of sounds and are so highly influenced that the measurements are made to the 1/10 of a millimeter.

Each piece is made to compensate and develop the sounds a player produces, hiding or strengthening playing weaknesses. The usual tip a novice begins with is very narrow, this is necessary to develop the techniques and basic skills of a brass instrument; a larger size is the natural progression to produce cleaner sounds and greater skills. This transition can often be difficult for a student.

With a larger piece, there is first more difficulty reaching the necessary air force to produce the desired high notes. There is an instant improvement in overall quality of tones that can be produced however. Once the physical skills to achieve the deeper air flow are obtained the complications of changing tips are resolved with beautiful results.

Generally speaking, the rule for playing brass instruments is to use the biggest size possible. The more narrow a tip is, the poor the quality and less range it provides. The mouthpieces are also able to be paired to the individual player based on their preferences, skills, and desired music.

When a student is deciding on a new tip there are a number of issues that are often ignored. Advanced and professional players will often recommend that the tips are tried, however for the novice this is poor advice. To a new player, all tips will have an odd feeling and leads to selecting a tip which is more like their first one; this will not help the player advance.

The lips, teeth, jaw, mouth, and embouchure of an individual all play a vital role in determining the proper choice in mouthpiece. For instance, a person with thicker lips will fair far better with a wider opening than a person with thinner lips. This is due to the space filled with the lips and ability to move air. The size of the jaw and placement of the teeth can affect the ability to use certain cups comfortably as well.

To help a student develop their abilities, instructors will often suggest changing to the Bach 3C trumpet mouthpiece for better quality, control, and expand physical capability. This is the midlevel switch which enables more refining of skills before moving to advanced custom pieces. Some novice players can find this step difficult to accomplish due to the combined technical difficulty and physical challenge it presents.




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