http://www.bulletproofmusician.com/how-many-hours-a-day-should-you-practice/
Good ideas and sound (get it?) advice from a number of perspectives.
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Basic Tuba Mouthpiece Types
A bit of information on tuba mouthpieces. Mouthpieces are the first mechanical variable in the learning process and something I try to have the student understand as a tool in and of itself. It's the interface between the player and the instrument and a bad mouthpiece can hold back or even discourage a young musician. I'll start with the cup, move to the rim (just a little info there) and finish with an opinion or two.
For the purposes of this blog, the 'cup' is the inner contour of the mouthpiece. It's the shape you feel as you run your finger down the inside of the mouthpiece. There are two basic types, "Bach" and Helleberg. I'll use quotes as I'm trying to identify the physical characteristics of the "Bach" style mouthpiece, and the corollary playing tendancies, and not the brand of mouthpiece.
A "Bach" style cup is shaped similarly to a trumpet cup. There is almost immidiate curvature from the rim inward progressing to the throat. If you feel down in there you might also notice that it feels like there is a bump at the bottom of the cup, near the entrance of the throat. This is commonly reffered to as the 'shoulder'. These characteristics make for a crisp front to the articulation and a more flexible feel as one sweeps through the partials. The issue can be that it's easy to bark and hard to play without cracking or missing pitches at louder volumes.
A Helleberg style cup, sometimes referred to as a funnel shaped cup, is shaped more like a french horn mouthpiece. There is a significant amount of distance toward the bottom of the cup before the mouthpiece narrows. The is very little 'shoulder' in a mouthpiece with this inner contour. Typically, these mouthpieces play with a mellower sound, due to the smooth entrance to the throat (that lack of shoulder) and tend to have a more rounded sound on the articulation. A large issue is that the student can 'get lost' in the depth of the mouthpiece and the sound can be dull and thud-y.
The rim of a 'Bach' style mouthpiece is well rounded with a gentle inner edge while the Helleberg style has a flatter rim with a sharper inner edge. These rim styles on the respective mouthpieces represent a compromise, trying to make sure that comfort and flexibility are balanced. (I know this is really brief, see the note towards the end of the blog.)
Both styles have been proven to produce a correct, characteristic tuba sound. An air column that is not well developed can bring out the less desireable sides of either one while a strong air column can make them both work in most playing contexts, so trying to buy one for marching band and one for concert band becomes less of an imperative. With younger players, the biggest factor will be comfort. My dislike for the rounded rim of the 'Bach' style mouthpiece drove me to play the Helleberg style as soon as I could get one. It didn't sound better necessarily, I just was more comfortable playing on it for longer periods. Being able to play on in for longer periods allowed me to learn to push more air which led to a better sound which helped me feel good about practicing more which ... You can see where this is going. There is an aspect of valve type that plays into this as well. The piston valved tubas tend to play better with the Helleberg cup mouthpiece and the rotary valved horn with the 'Bach' cup. There are some acoutical physics and fluid dynamics at play here.
Just go with me on this one.
My students are encouraged to try both so they can feel the difference. I've actually had several over the years prefer a combination of horn/mouthpiece that generally would be less advantageous but worked for that student at that time. Taking the time to find that out was a big plus for the students in question.
What are your thoughts?
For the purposes of this blog, the 'cup' is the inner contour of the mouthpiece. It's the shape you feel as you run your finger down the inside of the mouthpiece. There are two basic types, "Bach" and Helleberg. I'll use quotes as I'm trying to identify the physical characteristics of the "Bach" style mouthpiece, and the corollary playing tendancies, and not the brand of mouthpiece.
A "Bach" style cup is shaped similarly to a trumpet cup. There is almost immidiate curvature from the rim inward progressing to the throat. If you feel down in there you might also notice that it feels like there is a bump at the bottom of the cup, near the entrance of the throat. This is commonly reffered to as the 'shoulder'. These characteristics make for a crisp front to the articulation and a more flexible feel as one sweeps through the partials. The issue can be that it's easy to bark and hard to play without cracking or missing pitches at louder volumes.
A Helleberg style cup, sometimes referred to as a funnel shaped cup, is shaped more like a french horn mouthpiece. There is a significant amount of distance toward the bottom of the cup before the mouthpiece narrows. The is very little 'shoulder' in a mouthpiece with this inner contour. Typically, these mouthpieces play with a mellower sound, due to the smooth entrance to the throat (that lack of shoulder) and tend to have a more rounded sound on the articulation. A large issue is that the student can 'get lost' in the depth of the mouthpiece and the sound can be dull and thud-y.
The rim of a 'Bach' style mouthpiece is well rounded with a gentle inner edge while the Helleberg style has a flatter rim with a sharper inner edge. These rim styles on the respective mouthpieces represent a compromise, trying to make sure that comfort and flexibility are balanced. (I know this is really brief, see the note towards the end of the blog.)
Both styles have been proven to produce a correct, characteristic tuba sound. An air column that is not well developed can bring out the less desireable sides of either one while a strong air column can make them both work in most playing contexts, so trying to buy one for marching band and one for concert band becomes less of an imperative. With younger players, the biggest factor will be comfort. My dislike for the rounded rim of the 'Bach' style mouthpiece drove me to play the Helleberg style as soon as I could get one. It didn't sound better necessarily, I just was more comfortable playing on it for longer periods. Being able to play on in for longer periods allowed me to learn to push more air which led to a better sound which helped me feel good about practicing more which ... You can see where this is going. There is an aspect of valve type that plays into this as well. The piston valved tubas tend to play better with the Helleberg cup mouthpiece and the rotary valved horn with the 'Bach' cup. There are some acoutical physics and fluid dynamics at play here.
Just go with me on this one.
My students are encouraged to try both so they can feel the difference. I've actually had several over the years prefer a combination of horn/mouthpiece that generally would be less advantageous but worked for that student at that time. Taking the time to find that out was a big plus for the students in question.
What are your thoughts?
A very brief reminder.
School is either out or ending. Time to sterilize mouthpieces and get horns cleaned and checked. Please make sure that you stay healthy and remember what Jack says. "A clean horn is a healthy horn and a healthy horn is a happy horn."
Pick a local business to support by having them clean and repair your instrument!
Pick a local business to support by having them clean and repair your instrument!
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