Re: Mouthpiece


[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ TubeNet BBS ] [ FAQ ]

Posted by Rick Denney on March 17, 2003 at 17:53:42:

In Reply to: Mouthpiece posted by Terms Diagrams on March 17, 2003 at 16:15:36:

I don't know of a site that shows these details pictorially on tuba mouthpieces.

The throat is the diameter of the hole at its narrowest point, and the backbore is the shape of the tapered tube downstream from the throat.

There is no standard way to measure cup width, shape, or rim sharpness. Most measure cup diameter where the rim goes tangent to the inside of the cup, though there are exceptions. Roundness of the rim affects its apparent diameter, too.

The reason there is nothing specific written about the shapes is that it's quite hard to define the effect these have on playing. The effects depend to some extent on the shape of the player's face, what he is used to, his expectations, and so on. About the only general relationship that I think can be stated is that a larger throat widens the pitch slots, given the player more pitch flexibility for a given sound. Intonation tendencies seem to be related to the resonant frequency of the air in the mouthpiece, which is a function of the total volume and the size of the throat. A large cup with a larger throat may have the same frequency as a smaller cup with a smaller throat. The resonant frequency seems to affect the ease with which notes in certain ranges speak. Shallower, more cup-shaped mouthpieces seem to add higher harmonics to the sound (which is either good or bad depending on the instrument, the player, and the objective).

Beyond these general effects, I don't think one could make many universal statements.

Rick "who thinks the best way to measure a mouthpiece is with the lips" Denney


Follow Ups: