[Trombone-l] Alto Trombone Mouthpiece Advice

[Daniel Cloutier]

Sorry, I forgot to put the proper subject line on my
Alto Mouthpiece Post.  Here it is again:

Mark, you wrote:

>I'm having trouble finding the "right" MP to use.  My
>main bone is an old (1967) 48H and my normal MP is a
>Yamaha 48 MP. In my gig bag I also have the
following:

>Bach 18D
>Denis Wick 12CS
>Jet-Tone UG-S
>Bach 12C
>Bach 15C
>Olds 1
>Conn 3
>A really old "FRANK HOLTON & CO - COREY" (whatever
>that is - I don't even know where I got it)

Mark, you are on the right track with trying several
different types to find out which has the best
intonation and sound.  During my original 3 year Alto
mouthpiece journey, I begain on a Yamaha 42B (tiny)
and ended up on a Bach 15D.  I tended to shy from the
Bach "Alto" pieces like the 15E and 12E because I
found them too shallow and lacking in depth of tone.

The best descripive word of a good Alto sound I have
found is "melancholy," and I found  Bach 15C did very
well well for that.  However, I had some intonation
issues with that cup depth.  So, I tried just a little
shallower (15D).  The nice melancholy tone was stil
there, but the intonation issues had gone away.  I had
finally found the right Alto mouthpiece for me.

However, after about 15 years on the 15D, I found that
my sound had centered considerably and that the 15D
was no longer the melancholy sound I wanted.  So, I
went deeper to the 15C and found back that sound. 
Intonation was no longer an issue on the deeper 15C
because my face was a lot stronger than it had been 15
years earlier.

Then, about a two years ago, I did a major mouthpiece
switch on Tenor--the first in almost 10 years--to a
larger rim diameter.  I then found that the 15C on
Alto was too big a jump from my bigger Tenor piece. 
So, I switched to an 11C for Alto.  That was about a
year and a half ago, and I am quite satisfied.

All that to say, keep trying various models and listen
for melancholy tone and good intonation.  When you
find what you are looking for, stick with it until
either the tone or intonation becomes unsatisfactory.

An aside issue is whether to use the same rim diameter
for Tenor as for on Alto.  There are those in either
school.  I am in the "different rim size" school, for
two reasons.  First, I have found that I'm not real
crazy about the tones of those in the "same rim"
school that I have heard: they sometimes strike me as
sounding like diffuse smallbore Tenors instead of
Altos.  Second, I believe that using the smaller rim
on the Alto creates a built-in paradigm shift; a
physical catalyst for mentally switching concepts
between Alto and Tenor.

As always: IMHO, HTH, and YMMV.



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