My vote: *bad* I cannot recommend any hornist use multiple different mouthpieces at the same rehearsal/performance or even within hours/days of each other-except if the person is a mouthpiece maker or testing many varieties before purchasing.
The serendipitous occasion: _________________________________________________ After I forgot my Giardinelli C8 at home before a dress rehearsal, another hornist in the section lent me an extra. This mouthpiece worked immediately, and so well that I gave the guy 50 dollars for it after rehearsal and sold the C8 to someone else (also for 50 dollars). The hypothesis: _________________________________________________ A hornist should not have to adjust the embouchure to fit to a piece of metal, the same way that person would not cut a portion of a foot off to fit into a too-small shoe. When a hornist tells me something like: "I am waiting to get used to my new mouthpiece", this is quite alarming. The shoe has to fit the first time around. If it is leather, and too small, there is a bit of leeway for the leather to stretch and mold itself to the shape of the foot. Looking at this in reverse, one could assume that the embouchure changes, as leather would, to fit the mouthpiece. When a hornist uses multiple and different mouthpieces, one could assume the embouchure adjusts a differently, one time for each different mouthpiece. Each change could be visualized as usage of separate muscle groups in the embouchure-more or less simultaneously. The consequences: _________________________________________________ Unawares, I was using two different mouthpieces at a gig (horn and Wagner tuba-one for each in order to facilitate the fast instrument swaps). It only took four days of rehearsal for my embouchure to collapse. Fortunately the concert was still several days away. Another hornist in the group was able to correctly diagnose the problem. He suggested that I pick one of the two mouthpieces and stick with it. Along with remedial exercises, the move to a single mouthpiece did the trick. My embouchure recovered a few days before concert time. Rachel Harvey _______________________________________________ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
