10/30/2018
Bigger mouthpiece? Small mouthpiece? Is the "goal" to have everyone in a high school trumpet section on the biggest mouthpiece Bach makes? Then why not a 1A? Who's right? Well, it depends on what kind of playing you want to do. The bigger sizes do give the player a big phat tone in and under the staff, but the upper register is usually difficult for most players on large pieces. The higher notes are aided by using a semi shallow/smaller cup mouthpiece and if you check the famous screaming trumpet players most aren't using a 3C or bigger. It's not that one can't develop a working range on a large mouthpiece it's just that it takes longer and it's a harder climb with tons more work and effort,etc. Big pieces can also contribute to more mouthpiece pressure against the lips in that the player is having to blow through a wide open elevator shaft and can't get the proper resistance support to be able to get the upper register. People are different, with different lips, teeth, blowing capacities, facial musculature,etc. Certainly some can play a 3C, but others can't. Forcing all trumpet students into this large piece is pretty arrogant, and no matter what, it won't give any uniform sound in a trumpet section really. This is equal to an "instructor" fixing everyone's tuning slide the same with little scratch notches. Fact is different people play the horn in different ways. Some are downstream "straight ahead" players, others are upstream with the horn tilted upwards at an angle. I say to these "instructors" leave the kids alone and let the serious students choose the mouthpiece that works for them with help from their private teacher. I went through at least a half dozen mouthpieces in my teen years. It's a search that everybody does and something everybody should do rather than someone forcing people onto what "they think" gives a uniform sound. If you have a student player who has closed throat issues, it won't matter what size mouthpiece he's on. A bigger mouthpiece will exasperate the issue he already has. He'll still have a pinched "strangled" sound even with a bigger sized mouthpiece. I can understand that a corps or band is trying for a uniform sound in the trumpet section, I get that, but it's not really achieved by forcing everybody on the same equipment, it's achieved by teaching the kids how to approach the music with the equipment they have and are used to.
