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Thread: Schilke 52E2

  1. Schilke 52E2

    So, I just purchased a Schilke 52E2 mouthpiece on ebay, should be here next week. My question. How long should I expect the adjustment time to be? I have been playing on a 6 1/2, and more recently, a Yamaha 48. Will I have time, with a couple hours practice each day, to adjust to it before all-county auditions November 30? Should I hold off until afterwards? Just jump into it?

    Tell me what you think! Thanks!


  2. #2

    Schilke 52E2

    Going from a Yamaha 48, or even a 6 1/2AL, to a 52E2 is a huge step up in diameter and depth, and the rim is significantly thinner and much more rounded. It's likely that your range, endurance, intonation, and articulations will all suffer until you've built up your embouchure strength and made the necessary adjustments to be able to use the mouthpiece efficiently. You MIGHT be able to pull it off in time for auditions if you practice diligently and intelligently, but it's a fairly tall order.

    FWIW, two VERY successful low brass instructors in the Triangle who between them have had at least one student (and often more) win first or second chair (and sometime both) in the NC All State Middle School, High School, or Senior HS Honors Bands every year since at least 2004 (and whose names you would probably recognize) actively DISCOURAGE their students from changing equipment until AFTER county/district/honors band auditions, so they can concentrate on learning the music for the audition instead of having to learn the music and figure out a new mouthpiece/horn at the same time. Their argument is that you want be at your best for the audition, and if you're playing equipment you're already thoroughly accustomed to, that's one less potential problem lurking in the back of your mind while you're taking the audition. It makes sense, and their results certainly seem to lend credence to their stance.

  3. Schilke 52E2

    Pam is absolutely right. (Everything she's written on this forum seems to be spot-on.)

    Stay on your current equipment for a while. A 6.5AL-sized MP is not a wimpy choice for a middle-school player. Your young body and chops will go through a lot of development within the next 5 years or so, and you'll have plenty of time to step up to bigger equipment.

    And if you play it smart, you will decide at some future point that you've reached your ideal balance of equipment-to-physicality, and then you'll devote yourself to MUSICALITY!

    Yes, the 52E2 is too big a jump, especially for your age. But don't sell it. A couple of years from now, make a smaller step to a Schilke 51D. Who knows ... it may be all the mouthpiece you'll ever need!

  4. #4

    Schilke 52E2

    Let me cast my vote along with the others who say, "Wait until after the audition."

    We all want to jump right into new things, but sometimes it takes discipline to time the move strategically. A friend of mine during my CG Band days was an avid runner. He ran the Boston Marathon every year, among several other big events. One year, he chose to wear a brand-new pair of very high-quality running shoes for the Marathon. I won't go into details, but let's just say he probably has not done that since that one time.

    I was forced to use a new horn for a recital performance recently. We were doing a premier of a piece for 5 euphoniums in Tucson, and my own horn was "re-aligned" during the flight in the luggage bay to the point where the tuning slide did not work. It was easily fixed later at a shop, but there was no way to get it working properly for the performance. So I borrowed a brand-new horn from Custom Music's booth and played on that. This was not ideal!! The one I borrowed was my own brand, which helped, and it had a larger bell than I usually use, which probably helped me balance better with the group. But A) it played like a new horn, and B) it played differently from the horn I was very used to. My performance was affected negatively in some ways, and it certainly made me feel less comfortable.

    Your case is slightly different because you have more time to adjust. But you still would probably be better off staying with your familiar mouthpiece. For one thing, I personally think you should spend as much time as possible during the next month practicing toward what you will be doing. Having to also adjust to a new mouthpiece and learn how to do some things (or possibly most things) differently is a distraction.



    Dave Werden (ASCAP)
    Euphonium Soloist, U.S. Coast Guard Band, retired
    Adams Artist (Adams E3)
    Alliance Mouthpiece (DC3)
    YouTube: dwerden
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  5. #5
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    San Diego, California
    Posts
    460

    Schilke 52E2

    Qwertre,

    Whatever you decided to do, stick with the mouthpiece for a while and get comfortable with it or you might end up with an expensive "mouthpiece farm" like I have now.

    I'd wait till after auditions.



    Euphs:
    Miraphone 5050 Ambassador
    Wessex Travel (Tornister) Euphonium 'Maly' ER154
    Yamaha 201 Baritone
    Mp: Wick SM4 Ultra X
    Groups:
    The San Diego Concert Band

  6. Schilke 52E2

    FWIW, When I was in High School and switched from a yamaha 48 to a Bach 4, I think it took me 4 months to really get use to it. I would stick with your current mouthpiece and incorporate the new mouthpiece when you will have several weeks of serious practice time to dedicate to the new mouthpiece and not your all-county auditions.

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