Tough Decision to make
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@trumpetb said in Tough Decision to make:
If I am looking for a rich and fluffy tonality and I have trumpet c cup mouthpieces then moving to a deeper cup can transform the instrument tonality closer to what I require.
When working with the front end of a mouthpiece, I find it is not influencing the tonality of the horn as much as it is working with the texture of the sound the embouchure can deliver to the horn. It is the front part of the mouthpiece that interfaces with the face, but the back part of the mouthpiece (bore) that interfaces with the horn.
For me, the deeper cup gives me more versatility to play with the puff of air I can deliver to the horn and in this way can bend and texture the notes I play with a horn, any horn.
I love using my Flip Oakes 3C mouthpiece on my flugelhorn that has a very deep cup (can insert my pinky finger to the DIP joint it is that deep). I also prefer my Kanstul G2 (copy of the Gustate-Heim Miles Davis mouthpiece) for my Committee as it provides the most texture of any mouthpiece I own to the dark rich sound of the Committee.
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Perhaps it is my bad in describing a mouthpiece change transforming an instrument.
I accept that the reality is that the instrument stays the same it is the tones and articulation emerging from the bell that is transformed.
Many are the times that players have said they went on a trumpet safari and changed instruments to find a positive change to their tone and were satisfied that they found their ideal instrument. Then over several weeks or months their tones changed back to their original tones that the old instrument had delivered to them before the safari.
Then the safari began again.
The same is true of mouthpiece safaris. The player changes mouthpiece, player is happy with change, tones shift back and safari begins again.
It is often said that the players own sound eventually emerges with the new equipment.
This is I believe an example of the players embouchure and the players tonal concept changing the tones that emerge from the bell and this is a transformative act.
If this happens naturally without our intending it to happen, why can we not learn to control this and intentionally transform the tones that emerge from the bell by the conscous control of our tonal concept and our embouchure.
Dizzy sounded like DIzzy not because that was how the trumpet made him sound it was because that was the result of his tonal concept and his embouchure.
The same is true of Miles of Chet and of Harry James of Wynton and of any player you care to mention.
I cannot get a Louis Armstrong trumpet and a Louis mouthpiece and expect to sound like Louis.
I can however play like a mariachi or a jazz player or a blues payer or a symphonic player.
We are in control of the instrument or the instrument is in control of us.
I am no great player there are many more finer players in here than I will ever be and I firmly believe that anything I can do you can do better. You just have to believe it.
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One could spend months, and dollars, trying all the myriad mouthpiece and horn brands and models. in combinations. If anyone wants to, it's your time. Have at it. If I'm horn shopping, I go on the assumption that I'll use the same mouthpiece, not be looking to change that, too. So, mpc. is a given, then try other horns. Other wise the option combinations are legion. Like I said, your time.
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Oh, this thread went on much longer than I thought!
I ended up purchasing several horns, but for Bb, I bought an Olds Super Recording (jazz/commercial) and a Thein MH One (classical). They are both very fine instruments.
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Right on kehalani, I consider this to be of paramount importance, simplicity and a quick solution.
For an amateur, options can be explored to reach the very best solution and if it takes a while to find the best combination then that is time well spent.
But for me or any professional time is money. I need a solution for a gig right there and then. Like a session musician we have to deliver the goods with no mistakes or we get "he aint ready".
I think we are similar in this kehaulani we both need to provide the results required quickly or we dont get the gig. If we cannot do that we do not deserve the gig.
I have stood there with a film crew standing by in an audition against other guys with just one melody that they stipulated to decide it, and one shot at getting the gig, and I got the gig. They dont mess about and we shouldnt either.
We cant say hang on a few days or weeks guys while I change my gear and perfect my setup.
For this reason I keep a range of mouthpieces to hand that I know I can play on that gives me choices, and I know how I perform on each and I can predict how I will perform after a change.
If I get the chance I ask the band what tonality they need for the session and take it from there.
It takes just a matter of moments to make changes and I can see the effects immediately.
I have sometimes taken 3 or 4 mouthpieces and two quite different instruments to auditions or gigs with new guys so I can mould the tonal options to what they need like a chamelion when I am there.
I see it as tone chasing.
My system works. I can predict and test a combination and then shift darker or brighter in increments and zero in on the sound that I am looking for and the band wants.
I usually hit it immediately or maybe need one change. Sometimes they want brighter sometimes they want darker and I can deliver it.
All we have is our sound and it is up to us to create the sound that is needed but we need the tools to be able to do that quickly and easily.
Just having one instrument and one mouthpiece makes no sense to me, all professionals need a rich tonal palette available to them and this is my way of providing it.
Option combinations are really only legion if you dont know all your gear and how it all works together and have enough choice.
Respect to you kehaulani
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Some great and interesting discussions here by some great members. This is what I like to see at Trumpet Boards.
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@Trumpetb Dreams and their outcomes can be quite different... you mentioned Columbus. His dream was to reach India by going westward. He never got there - some fat ass unknown continent got in the way, but he never grasped that idea during his lifetime. The results of his dream were definitely not what he originally wanted...
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@barliman2001 Love it
Dreams are often in a different place to where we think they are.
Columbus had a dream and it was not where he thought it would be. The result of his folly was the discovery of the New World and the Mayflower.
We are chained to our aspirations we are fenced in by our expectations we are restricted by our desires.
I have never limited myself to whatever I am expected to achieve and because of this I have exceeded my own limited expectations.
I was condemned at school for being a dreamer. I believe it was the best part of me. I have excelled and exceeded in all things because of my dreams.
The founding fathers dreamed of a place where they could be whatever they wanted to be.
President Lincoln dreamed of freeing the Nation of the scourge of Slavery.
Dr Martin Luther King dreamed of a nation who would collectively judge a man not by the colour of his skin but the content of his soul.
President Kennedy gave the Nation a dream and the moon landings were the result.
The result of Dr Kings dream was the election of President Obama.
The world is not perfect and we are not perfect beings but all we need is our dreams and the courage to act upon them and we can make the world a better place.
The very best things we have are our dreams. They take us if we have the courage to follow them, beyond our feeble existence into a world of beauty and new capabilities beyond our wildest imagining.
Long may they continue.
