New mouthpiece

[Saxy Man]

Hi.....

I recently bought a bari mouthpiece which is kinda long and skinny, and I CANT get ANY sound out. I can play that note without the neck or body of the sax, bur nothing else.

Any tips?


Thanks... :D

[Gandalfe]

What kind of mouthpiece is it? Is it new or used? If used, does it look like someone modified it? Is the lig working? Have you tried different reed strengths. Details man, we need details.

[Saxy Man]

It's a new one, fabric style ligature and also tried two metal style

[Boarass]

One of the most embarrassing moments of my life was when I went to a music store to try out mouthpieces for my tenor and NONE OF THEM WORKED. It was extremely fortunate that I was trying them out by myself and in a soundproof room; if anybody had actually seen me blow and heard the resulting lack of any sound save for the "thuuuuuh" of air going over the reed, I would probably have shot myself then and there. As it was, I simply can't set foot inside that Sam Ash store ever again :oops:

Many of the mouthpieces I tried that day were also "kinda long and skinny." They were metal and I'm willing to bet yours is, too. These are jazz pieces. In hindsight, it's plain as day why I couldn't get out a single note--I was trying to go directly to a jazz piece after playing for four years on a really closed, really crappy stock plastic tenor piece. It just wasn't gonna happen.

I'm assuming that you've already spent a great deal of time fiddling with all the standard things, like fiddling with the reed placement and the tightening of the ligature and whatnot. What you might try next is tightening up your embouchure a lot and blowing really hard. I mean hard. Just let it all loose, man. Chances are you're trying to make a note on this mouthpiece the same way you'd go about making a note on the mouthpiece you were playing on before, which will never ever work because your new piece requires a much tighter embouchure a heck of a lot more air. If you just blow as hard as you can, you should be able to get a note. Once you can do that, work from there. If you're blowing like a maniac and still no sound is coming out, either try a softer reed or get an experienced player to test the piece out for you--it might not be you after all.

Good luck, and let us know what happens!

[Saxy Man]

It's actually ebonite, but i'll try tightening my embouchure on monday. Thanks!

I should have tried it at the store... the sales guy made it sound perfect... damn sales people...

[mark_m]

A decent mouthpiece on a decent bari should not be difficult to get to sound, and should light up with a loose embouchure and good breath support.

Try a medium reed, like a 2 1/2, and very loose embouchure, with plenty of air behind it. I don't mean high pressure, just plenty of air and diaphragm support available. A likely thing is you're closing the reed up with too much squeeze.