[Trombone-l] Mouthpiece advice

[Ray Horton]

Among the two or three dozen high school students I've had over the last 
decade or so, I had three that the 6 1/2 AL was too large for.  All 
three were small of build, two were female, and all three seemed to have 
serious jaw or tension-related problems that I could never fully solve 
(one, who was principally a violinist playing trombone for fun, later 
had surgery in college). 


I just mention this to point out that:  yes, the 6 1/2 is a great 
all-around mouthpiece, but, there are kids out there for whom it might 
not work.   I had another, (again, a very small guy, but no real 
problems except that the 6 1/2 was too big,) for whom I delayed moving 
from a 7C to a 61/2 until 11th grade (used an adapter on his 42B for a 
year or so) and had good results with that. 


I have some young kids (6th, 7th graders) come to me with a 12C and I do 
try to get them off of that as soon as I can, but I often use the 7C in 
between.  Any disagreement with that?


RBH


Wayne Dyess wrote:
> I'm with Ken, especially re:  the 2nd paragraph below.
>
> And Ken...  I might be playing my Remington today if I could find a  
> small shank version.
> :-)
>
> Wayne
>
>
>
>
> On Dec 1, 2007, at 3:04 AM, leveller1 at suddenlink.net wrote:
>
>   
>> If they don't know a 6-1/2 is supposed to be big and more  
>> difficult, most
>> students won't have *any* difficulty with that mouthpiece and  
>> they'll tend
>> to get a more characteristic -- and more satisfying -- sound almost  
>> from the
>> get-go.
>>
>> And the "more satisfying" part of that, IMHO, leads to more  
>> motivation, more
>> time on the horn, and actually, a *greater* likelyhood they'll  
>> develop that
>> secure high register. As quickly and as easily as they would have  
>> on a 12c.
>>
>> At least that's been the experience not only in Wayne's area of  
>> Texas, but
>> pretty much across this state, I think.   In fact, my grandson's  
>> class of
>> beginners in Austin two years ago were all  started on .525 trigger- 
>> horns
>> and 5G-range m'pieces. I nixed the 5G in favor of a 6-1/2 (my only
>> interference in the matter) and, (just as my own students whom I  
>> put on the
>> m'piece), he's doing just fine.
>>
>> Yeah, there have been some great and beautiful players who have  
>> played on
>> 12c's and smaller, but, on average, it's my bet those m'pieces have  
>> been at
>> the root of far more discouragement and drop-outs than the 6-1/2.
>>
>> Me? I still play my Remington, although nobody else seems to play  
>> one. ;- )
>>
>> So there's another $0.02.
>>     
>
> ==========
> Another personal note:
>
> I was never discouraged because of the 12C, but I did have a rather  
> severe embouchure change once I got to college and under the tutelage  
> of a fine teacher.  I attribute the bad embouchure not so much to the  
> mouthpiece, but rather to the habits of a young student without a  
> private lessons teacher.  The Remington that I was encouraged to  
> switch to certainly opened up my sound. The loss of upper register  
> was somewhat discouraging, but I simply worked my way through it  
> using the Remington exercises given to me by Neil Humfeld (who also  
> demonstrated how to practice them).
>
> wD
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