While very basic, the assessments of skills is the knowledge that the student
can "get around" on the instrument sufficiently. 3 octave F Major concert scale
slurred, 3 octave F Major arpeggio slurred, even tone, good tone, smooth
slurs, good rhythm and no missed notes. Ability to sing notes played on a piano
on cue....Trills are far down my list and should be for any teacher. My
non-music majors have different expectations and a different skill set to
conquer.
It is so dangerous for younger students to hear larger, bigger, biggest,
especially in our Bigger is better culture of TVs and Trucks, so myself saying
the smallest possible just helps put a limit on going too big. Going too big is
much worse than too small IF OTHER VARIABLES are working properly.
Going too big on bore and cup depth can be worst of all. Many players have
never recovered from using larger than 5mm of bore size. There are of course
exceptions, but most of my students are very average size and lung capacity. I
think 5mm is a good place to end when needing to go bigger and in special cases
maybe you can go larger.
Wendell is so right about Inner Diameter measurements. There are many different
ways to measure this. "Grip" is one of the variables. I have tried a mouthpiece
with a so-called 18mm inner diameter but it felt 1mm smaller. Another design
showed 18.2mm inner diameter, but felt even bigger on my lips.
My own history? I went from a Holton DC, for 10+ years...it was way too small
of a inner diameter (16.8, or 17mm?) and I rolled in and out between high and
low notes ( horn players would describe as a break). I made it work, and work
well. With the fates working to make my life easier, I was given a Pizka
mouthpiece (17.5 inner dia., 5 mm bore) which I played for a few years and
realized the fact of inner diameter. After conquering the Pizka mouthpiece, I
moved to a 18mm inner diameter mouthpiece and then many normal horn
difficulties I had worked hard to solve were more balanced and even.
Do not experiment too much and all at once. You will become confused and lose
sight of what feels good. Same thing happens when I work with golfers trying
out Drivers (I work for Titleist on the side). I have to remind seasoned pros
to go home and come back if they are losing focus. All my horn playing
experience has paid off on the golf course and my own bag.(I play to a 6 these
days, going on 15 after the baby was born).
Matthew
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