Originally Posted by
mscolegrove
... one of my friends said that the mouthpiece I use is too small for the bass.
People use a wide range of mouthpieces for bass trombone. A pretty common one is the Wick 2NAL. It's a bit small for a lot of concert band or orchestra stuff, but can be very good for dance band. So, yeah, I think the 4G may be a bit small to get a good bass trombone sound, and it will make the lower (and valve) registers more difficult.
Later, I talked to my teacher about this and he said that playing two different mouthpieces would mess up my embouchure and it would be better just to pick one instrument or just double on tenor.
Hard to decide what to say about this. I'm going to go with "Nonsense".
I really love the sound of the bass and would like to keep playing it but I'm afraid my euphonium chops would change for the worse.
Any advice on switching mouthpieces or in general? Thanks!
Well, you could try it and see how it goes for you. However, if your teacher has already discouraged it, then I expect he'll continue to complain about it and be critical if you go against his advice. Just out of curiosity, what does HE play? Does he play trombone, for example?
Gary Merrill
Wessex EEb Bass tuba (DW 3XL or 2XL)
Mack Brass Compensating Euph (DE N106, Euph J, J9 euph)
Amati Oval Euph (DE 104, Euph J, J6 euph)
1924 Buescher 3-valve Eb tuba (with std US receiver), Kelly 25
Schiller American Heritage 7B clone bass trombone (DE LB K/K10/112/14 Lexan, Brass Ark MV50R)
1947 Olds "Standard" trombone (Olds #3)