Any orchestral players who use an atypical mp?

Robert P · Heavyweight Member Joined: 28 Feb 2013 Posts: 2595

Is there anyone who uses something outside the realm of a Bach 1C, 1 1/2 C etc.? I don't mean Al Hirt using his Jet-Tone on the Haydn but a regular member of a pro orchestra who uses something unusual that falls outside of what you would consider the normal range.

Or would it just never happen due to various factors?
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Vince.Green · Veteran Member Joined: 02 Sep 2004 Posts: 148

I don't think you'll find too many out there. I'm not sure if he posts on here to confirm the details but I do have a friend who plays in the Montreal Symphony who was playing on a wedge mouthpiece in I believe the Stork 4 range size wise with a 28 throat.

JoseLindE4 · Heavyweight Member Joined: 18 Apr 2003 Posts: 791

What do you consider the normal range?

Robert P · Heavyweight Member Joined: 28 Feb 2013 Posts: 2595

JJMDestino · Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2017 9:08 pm Post subject:

Bud Herseth played a large portion of his career on a Bach 7. John Hagstrom plays on a piece with a rim significantly smaller than a 1. Gerard Schwarz played a 5C. I know some guys out there playing 3C sized pieces in orchestras.

Nonsense Eliminator · Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2017 9:14 am Post subject:

JJMDestino · Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2017 9:54 am Post subject:

So I should have said portion of his career (4 years). Who knows if he would have switched if he had never had the accident.

trumpetman.rob · Regular Member Joined: 21 Jul 2016 Posts: 34

If I were a professional Orchestral Trumpet player I would have a 1C made and have it stamped 10-1/2C just to give folks on TH something to talk about...

John Mohan · Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2017 12:22 pm Post subject:

JoseLindE4 · Heavyweight Member Joined: 18 Apr 2003 Posts: 791

It's always wise to spend time trying to make the majority equipment work. There is a reason that most players use it - it works for them. That said, if those larger sizes don't work for a player (assuming they give the mouthpiece an honest try), it seems foolish to me to keep beating your head against the wall getting poor results.

I sometimes wonder if there's a tiny bit of self-selection going on with orchestral mouthpieces. There's no doubt that the majority of orchestral players are using something in the 1 range, but the overwhelming majority of applicants and aspiring players are also using that same equipment. If 90% (totally made up number) of aspiring orchestral trumpeters are using a 1 something, then it stands to reason that a similar amount of professional orchestral players would use the same equipment. That doesn't mean that everyone should be using mouthpieces in that range.

That players can get top level results on relatively smaller equipment should tell us that it is possible and that for a certain percentage of players, it's probably the best way to go. You only figure that out by trying new things. Either you can produce the sound needed or not.

If Johnny Oneanaquarter gets optimal results from a big mouthpiece while Timmy Sevensea gets optimal results from a smaller mouthpiece, Timmy will be at a huge disadvantage if he's locked in on making a big mouthpiece work. As a result, Johnny Oneanaquarter wins the audition and Timmy Sevensea sees further evidence that big mouthpieces are the way to go even though in his case, that's entirely wrong.

Dave CCM/SSO · Posted: Thu Mar 09, 2017 3:44 pm Post subject:

Guys,

It's all about the sound. If you've ever been seated right next to a player in a major orchestra, then you know what im talking about. They play with a massive amount of sound. It needs to be warm, rich, and resonant while also having enough brilliance to project over a 90 piece ensemble with only 3 or 4 people in the section. For many people, playing with something smaller than the "standard" orchestral range of sizes actually reduces endurance. It simply takes far too much work to try to get a huge orchestral sound on equipment that is not made for that. It becomes counter productive.

Of course, every player is a little bit different. If it were possible to get the sound required on a smaller mouthpiece, I'm sure many people would and have tried tried. From those that I have spoken to, they always end up back at the "go to" sizes. There are of course exceptions to the rule.

It's important to realize, however, that this is an incredibly specialized type of playing. Most people do not need to project over 90 people in a hall that seats 1500 or more audience members.

Happy trumpeting!
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trumpet.sanity · Heavyweight Member Joined: 24 Oct 2016 Posts: 763

Up until the last couple decades, orchestral players mouthpiece sizes ranged all over the place.

This new phenomenon of "EVERYBODY MUST PLAY A BACH 1C" is new school. And I don't really understand it. College proffessors and private teachers have been brainwashing trumpeters to play on such big hardware, often to their detriment for years and years.

Then those students tell their students and on and on the cycle goes.

I mean Vincent Bach made mouthpieces ranging from 1-20. Why do you think that is? Because different players played different pieces and felt comfortable and were successful.

Everybody didn't start with their 7C, move to a 3C when their band director or lesson teach told them to, then to a 1C in college, like we do in this cookie-cutter mentality of a world we live in now.

People used to think for themselves and played what worked for them and was comfortable and did the job. This was before the "Borg Collective" of trumpet dogma came along.

snichols · Posted: Thu Mar 09, 2017 6:30 pm Post subject:

ravel · Veteran Member Joined: 22 Oct 2005 Posts: 127

3b 22 throat

Heim · Veteran Member Joined: 14 Dec 2013 Posts: 181

If we are going old school didn't Harry Glantz play a Conn 4? Roger Voisin a Bach 6c?

trumpet.sanity · Heavyweight Member Joined: 24 Oct 2016 Posts: 763

You must play a Bach 1C. Resistance is Futile....

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AyenRCJ_4Ww

It's just so insane to me that people believe only one mouthpiece model can produce "the only acceptable " orchestral trumpet sound.

I'd love to find a principal player of a major orchestra. Have him show up to different rehearsals, using different mouthpieces. One day a 1C, next time a 5C, and later maybe a 10.5C .........and see if anybody realizes the change, or if anybody really gives a

snichols · Posted: Fri Mar 10, 2017 1:00 am Post subject:

trumpetera · Posted: Fri Mar 10, 2017 4:11 am Post subject:

I play in a full size opera orchestra, and have over that last 10 years ben hired as guest principal trumpet in some of the big orchestras in my area of the planet, Swedish Radio Symphony, Royal Stockholm Phil, Oslo Phil, and I do all my classical playing on slightly modified Yamaha 14C4's, one for piston valve trumpets and one with a Breselmair backbone drilled for rotary vale trumpets (the bottom of the cup and the throat has ben opened up to a kind of very subtle double cup.

Mpc's are like shoes, IMHO, not everyone is made for the size 10's.
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jaysonr · Posted: Fri Mar 10, 2017 5:29 am Post subject:

dstdenis · Posted: Fri Mar 10, 2017 5:36 am Post subject:

I like Chris Martin's answer to this question (from the Jens Lindemann interview):