In our many years of service to brass communities around the world, these might be the 3 most significant questions that are posed by players young and old. You probably have asked these questions yourself, and the answers are waiting for you here.
When do I need to find a new mouthpiece?
Sound should always be the leading motive in your mouthpiece choice (read more about guiding your choice with sound here). With this in mind, here are some indicators you might want to change mouthpieces.
- Your sound concept is developing and you are looking for a different sound (slightly brighter, darker, more focus etc.).
- You love your sound, but you are having an unexplainable issue in a certain area of your playing. Issues with range, articulation, and tuning can be linked to the mouthpiece. You might be unconsciously manipulating your embouchure to get the sound you want which will have a poor affect on the rest of your skills and endurance. Or, you might need to tweak a rim or cup contour for slightly better support.
- New performance environment. The classic of these is realized in players who are used to playing in a concert setting, and then start playing in a marching band. Playing indoors and outdoors pose very different performance challenges and finding mouthpieces that individually support those needs is best.
- Similarly, you might want a different sound concept for your jazz section than your concert or orchestral section. In some cases you'll find you keep the same size mouthpiece, but use a lightweight version in one scenario, and heavier one in another. Learn more about how mouthpiece mass can change the sound here.
Does Gold sound better?
The vast majority of musicians cannot hear a tonal difference between a gold mouthpiece and a silver mouthpiece. This is not the case for the instrument itself. An instrument's plating will most certainly affect the tone, but the tone creator, the mouthpiece, determines tone by how it supports your embouchure and it's weight (If you have questions on how to choose the best mouthpiece size for your needs, click here)
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Why silver or gold?
Here are some legitimate reasons to choose one over the other:
- Allergy - many people choose gold because they have an allergic reaction to to silver
- Many choose silver because they find their embouchure has more "grip" on silver, and the gold is a little slippery
- Many choose gold because it feels softer and more comfortable to play than silver.
Why does my mouthpiece suddenly feel/perform different?
When you pick up your mouthpiece and look through the shank towards the throat, is it a clean crisp view, or are you growing a garden? While nobody will admit it, brass players are notorious for not cleaning their mouthpiece. Clean your mouthpiece once a week and you might just fix some consistency problems in your playing.
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