danny_w
12-31-2004, 04:38 AM
This is probably a dumb question, but I thought it was worth asking just the same. I don't have another lesson until next week so I can't ask my teacher until then.
I am a "late bloomer" beginner on alto and I have been taking lessons since late October. I had been using the stock plastic Keilwerth mpc and Vandoren 2.5 reeds, and things were going along pretty well. I just ordered a new Selmer C* mpc and ligature, and have received it since my last lesson in early December. I've been trying to practive with the new mpc, but it seems so much harder to blow and the reed/rail contact point is so much lower on the mpc that I have to take much more of it in my mouth for a full sound ( and it makes my jaws hurt). Also, the hole in the mpc where it goes on the neck is much smaller and this makes it more difficult to put onto the neck, and pinches the cork much more. Are these things normal, or is there possible something wrong? I had been led to believe that the C* would be easier to blow, and it appears to be exactly the opposite. I also have to use much softer reeds (1.5) to get a sound that is even close to the old mpc. I will of course have my teacher take a look at it next week, but so far it is very disappointing. I think I will go back to the old mpc and reeds until then.
I am a "late bloomer" beginner on alto and I have been taking lessons since late October. I had been using the stock plastic Keilwerth mpc and Vandoren 2.5 reeds, and things were going along pretty well. I just ordered a new Selmer C* mpc and ligature, and have received it since my last lesson in early December. I've been trying to practive with the new mpc, but it seems so much harder to blow and the reed/rail contact point is so much lower on the mpc that I have to take much more of it in my mouth for a full sound ( and it makes my jaws hurt). Also, the hole in the mpc where it goes on the neck is much smaller and this makes it more difficult to put onto the neck, and pinches the cork much more. Are these things normal, or is there possible something wrong? I had been led to believe that the C* would be easier to blow, and it appears to be exactly the opposite. I also have to use much softer reeds (1.5) to get a sound that is even close to the old mpc. I will of course have my teacher take a look at it next week, but so far it is very disappointing. I think I will go back to the old mpc and reeds until then.