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Thread: When should I buy a different mouthpiece?

  1. Question When should I buy a different mouthpiece?

    Hello,

    I started playing in the band at the beginning of this school in August, and have practiced regularly since then. I use a Yamaha YEP-321 4 valve Euph and use the standard Yamaha 48 mouthpiece that came with it. I was wondering at what point I should look into getting a different mouthpiece, I've had no real issues with the mouthpiece, but then again I wouldn't really be able to tell anyways if I did. At the moment i'm still just working through a lot of the normal stuff that comes with learning a new instrument, but I've become fairly comfortable with it at this point. When would it be reasonable to try out new mouthpieces? I mostly am wanting to increase my higher range, so should i just focus on reaching higher notes with my current mouthpiece or should i try other pieces to see if they could help. Answers are appreciated!

  2. #2
    Welcome to the forum!

    The 48 is OK for where you are now. I'd think your range should extend for the "core" range of most band music, which is :
    bass clef: E below staff, to Bb an octave above the staff.
    treble clef: F# below the staff to C above the staff

    You want to have enough strength to play nice melodies within a couple notes of the top/bottom of that range, maintaining a consistent tone. And you should be able to do lip slurs fairly well at slow tempo. Then if you would like a larger sound and a little more room to develop within the mouthpiece...

    Paul Droste (former euphonium prof. at Ohio State) played on a 321 for a while as a Yamaha artist. He used a 51D and sounded quite good on it. The other choices that might improve the tone a bit would be a Bach 5G or maybe a Denis Wick 5BS.
    Dave Werden (ASCAP)
    Euphonium Soloist, U.S. Coast Guard Band, retired
    Adams Artist (Adams E3)
    Alliance Mouthpiece (DC3)
    YouTube: dwerden
    Facebook: davewerden
    Twitter: davewerden
    Instagram: davewerdeneuphonium

  3. Thank you for the advice Mr Werden! This forum and your videos on YouTube have been very useful for me starting out

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