I, along with Bruce Hembd, have written enough to have a whole category of Horn Matters articles just on mouthpieces (see here). That said, there is an important topic area we’ve hardly written about that is worth a close look.
The relative intonation of the top and bottom of your horn
Periodically I go back to the mouthpieces I used when I was younger. I can play on them still, sure, but the high range is often so flat. Pancake flat.
Something changed in how I play over many years, slowly. Those old mouthpieces, I can make them work still, but it is like weightlifting in the high range to get them up to pitch. Especially the mouthpieces I used when recording my original two solo CDs, but also the mouthpiece I used on my Rescued CD too.
In both cases I must have kept the high range in tune with embouchure strength, which felt totally normal to younger me. But now the high notes want to be rather flat.
Testing things the last few years I realized that I have a subset of older and newer mouthpieces that are better, ones that produce octaves nicely from bottom of staff to top. Among the best are the vintage Moosewoods, I wrote about them here last fall.
A feature, not a bug
As I thought about this tuning issue more this summer, the flat high range issue, a question came to mind. Was this a flaw or and actual design goal of the mouthpiece maker? Or even the horn maker?
Two scenarios as to why it could be a feature
I tune my double horns horn so that they are dead on in tune F horn and Bb horn on a third space C. To my mind they need to match perfectly on that pitch, or you are just creating issues.
But I have taught and been around enough to know that a lot of players set their horn up so it is a bit sharp on the Bb horn. This is at least in part due to confusion about how the slides work in balancing F/Bb horn on certain popular horns – see this article for more.
And some horns, notably many Conn 8Ds, can only be tuned with the Bb horn slightly sharp.
The result of this scenario is that for many players their high range lays naturally sharp. It stands to reason then that when testing mouthpieces players in this category would prefer one that for me now feels flat in the high range. The sharp tuning and the flat mouthpiece averaging out as being better in tune for them.
Alternate theory: players also tend to play sharp up high because they have the embouchure too tight in the high range. Their horn may be tuned right, but they still have a strong tendency to drift sharp due to tight chops.
These two scenarios are not the only possible ones either. But in either scenario, a mouthpiece that plays a bit flat up high helps balance things out for a good number of players. This feature thus must be to some extent driven by realities of the market.
Related: Your horn has tendencies, too
Years ago, I remember one of my teachers talking about how certain brands of horns had intonation that widened out at extreme ranges or closed in. In other words, your horn may tend sharper high and flat lower, or it may tend flat high and sharp lower. Ideally all the octaves line up, but horn and mouthpiece tendencies are a part of what makes that happen.
Why exactly? And a recommendation
For sure there are specific design elements that cause this to happen, elements you can’t easily modify, but some mouthpieces (and horns) will be better than others. There is some relationship to mouthpiece fit and bore, but also I believe the backbore shape and likely other factors are influences.
Which is part of why you need to own several quality mouthpieces by different makers. I’ve written about this before:
If you are a serious student of the horn, set aside some money and be sure you own at least five good mouthpieces! One of them might improve or solve your octave intonation problems. Because your high range should not be flat or sharp, it should easily lay right in tune.
Side point: That same mouthpiece would tend to be sharp in the extreme low range
The mouthpiece that plays flat in the high range also closes in on the bottom and will be sharp on the lowest notes. That feature probably helps out some players, as many tend to naturally sag flat on low notes.
In short, if the mouthpiece tends to be sharp down low and flat up high, it will balance out some common playing tendencies on both ends of the horn. And even if you don’t have those tendencies, you can still totally get used to pushing things into tune against whatever tendencies exist. But I would propose that if your horn were really well tuned top to bottom you wouldn’t want a mouthpiece with these tendencies.
Step one is easy octaves
I think the key thing is you don’t want to feel something that should be easy, like playing octaves in tune, is a problem. If it is, you need to adjust something or several things in your equipment setup.
Myself, I’ve been working through my mouthpiece options with some extensive late summer testing, and I’ve found several good setups with my various horns that produce, for example, a great octave F-sharp bottom of the staff to top. That octave should be easy, and can be with the correct setup.
What was the best mouthpiece from your testing?
What is good for me is not necessarily going to be good for you. Experiment a bit, and if you feel the issue at all try some other mouthpieces.
That said, if you want to see the exact results of my recent testing, please read this post in my personal blog. While you are there, check out a few more articles and the site in general. The older blog content was once here on Horn Matters, while the newer content is unique to my personal site.
My goal is not to make you a head case
Don’t make yourself crazy, but this large issue is worth checking out. Check the balance of the sides of your horn, get them lined up really well, and then check the octave jumps. It may also be helpful to do the octaves on the same fingering to see how the ranges really lay (T0, for example). Plus, remember that slurs should be easy! Easy things need to feel easy, not hard. If you find easy slurs to not be easy you are not on the correct mouthpiece for your horn.
Put these issues into your mind as you test mouthpieces. Above all, you don’t want to be always pushing things up (or down) to make a range, especially the high range, sit easily in tune.
