Beechler …

[john]

I was halfway through my Sax lesson today when my instructor got all excited and rushed to the door to collect a Beechler Bellite metal mouthpiece he ordered … he was as excited a a kid with a new toy seriously!! I could see he was itching to try it out. So instead of finishing the lesson i said to him, go on open it, lets see you try it out (i thought this’ll be interesting to see what a pro does with a new mouthpiece he’s never tried). First of all he said don’t expect it play wonderful, it might not sound at all very good, let it warm up first (temp outside was above freezing) & i’m going to put some tape round it to protect it, as i’ve got 1 week to try it out & return it if i don’t like it). Then he said i’m trying this out cause i’m looking for a specific sound. i asked sound for what type of music? he said i want this specifically for Jazz. Anyway he puts it on, plays up and down all the registers, very bright sound, screams through all the altissimo range, really loud pure clean notes. I said i can see you keeping that one, he said i don’t know yet. He said i’ve got to adjust my embouchure for this mouthpiece. He said by next week a lot of the tones you hear now you won’t hear them next week (wasn’t quite sure what he was on about the) when i replay the same stuff i’ve just played. So i asked whats the difference in playing this new mouthpiece to the previous one, and he said imagine driving a truck and then driving a small car, well my existing mouthpiece is like driving a truck, this one’s like driving a car, so i’ve got to adjust my embouchure and the air flow considerably. Intersting stuff which i thought i’d share.

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