Mouthpiece?

Altosaxophonerules · Mouthpiece?

What mouthpiece would you suggest for playing jazz music?
How about Classical Music?

Altosaxophonerules

I'm talking about Alto.

Jacob

That's a very open-ended question.

What kind of sound are you looking for?

Altosaxophonerules

Well, lets tell the story, I've been teaching this student for free, working for volunteer hrs. Well, he has a pretty decent saxophone, a Yamaha YAS-23. The stock mpc I'm asumming is an 4C. He wants to buy a mouthpiece for jazz playing, and another one for classical playing. I've been looking at the meyers mostly. He's looking for a bright sound in Jazz and a dark sounding mpc in Classical. I've also been looking at the Selmer Super Sessions. He's been playing for 1 yr.

Louis Scuderi

Meyers are great. I use them on both alto and tenor, I would say they are an all around piece. I personally don't think it is worth it for a student who has only been playing for one year to look into to buying two new mouthpieces, let alone one. You're the teacher, and this is mainly up to you.

reisio

The right solution is to use any *##! mouthpiece you like (for either style).

I'd personally use something conservative like a S80 or the like for classical, but most of the professional classical saxophonists of today seem to have the most disgusting, abrasive tone...I think you could get away with using a Meyer for classical.

Louis Scuderi

Altosaxophonerules

Well, I've talked to him over the Web and he told me that he wants something that could play BOTH. Maybe I heard it wrong. 1 mouthpiece. Cool

Tully

A medium chamber, medium facing Meyer 5 should work well for both. Since he's only played for one year, I would not go with a tip any larger than that.

Altosaxophonerules

Yes! that should work AWESOME!!! now I'm planning on letting him try out some mpc's at the music store.

JPSaxMan

I wish my teacher would buy me mouthpieces Laughing

Altosaxophonerules

Just helping him out, I'm not paying, he pays me back, and his parents usually don't need change, so I get the whole bill. Very Happy

I get a discount when I go to the music store. Go there every week to get some lessons, always have a look at the saxes, ask the ppl there if any new products are here. I'm always there to try reeds, almost every week I but 2 weeks of the brand and try them out.

Jimmy Scimonetti

There's a lot of VERY exciting mouthpieces out there, some of which just hit the market. I'm not trying to Bash Meyers or Selmer C* 's, but it's always a good idea to start looking "outside of the box." Here's some incredible "mellow" mouthpieces that I don't see mentioned as much as they should:

WILKERSON ULTIMATE - (aka "the ugly white mouthpiece") Available in:
DARK - No baffle - GREAT classical mouthpiece
TRADITIONAL - Very small baffle - versatile for classical & session work.
Contemporary - High baffle (jazz/R&B/funk/Rock)
http://www.wilkersonultimate.com/about_steve.html

VANDOREN OPTIMUM - Available in AL4 and AL5
I've found this mouthpiece to be dark, fat, but NOT stuffy. Very popular
at our shop.

JODY JAZZ HARD RUBBER - VERY AFFORDABLE - Made of REAL hard
rubber; NOT ebonite or plastic. The mouthpiece has more of a "charcoal
grey" instead of the straight black found on "ebonite" mouthpieces. This
color (and the fairly nasty smell like burnt rubber) comes from the high
Sulpher content; which is the "active ingredient" found to be the most
desirable on vintage mouthpieces. Example: "Ever see an old HR Berg
or Meyer that has turned to a nasty shade of green?"

I've been told by some Mouthpiece manufacturers that the EPA no longer permits such a high sulpher content for the production of mouthpiece blanks in the US. For this reason, all the "good" blanks must come from either France or German were the restrictions are apparently more relaxed. I guess good mouthpieces are getting hard to find.
http://www.jodyjazz.com/index.html

MORGAN CLASSICAL - I'm ashamed to say, I don't have this mouthpiece in stock. While we have over 1000 pro alto mouthpieces, I've never stocked this one. My classical market is pretty low in our area, so I haven't really had the need. I have, however, heard quite a few positive remarks about them.

BAY - Pretty expensive, and hard to find. He's a legend here in LA, and adjudicators LOVE seeing Bay mouthpieces hanging off the end of a sax!

E ROUSSEAU - NC3, NC4, or NC5 (new classic) A bit stuffy for my taste

Hope I helped out! Please give me a call (at the contact information below) if you have any questions.