Your Mouthpiece and You: An Overview

The mouthpiece of a clarinet is arguably the most important part of the instrument; and unfortunately, the process of finding the right one is often oversimplified – especially for younger students who may not have yet fully developed their embouchure. 

During my time teaching I have seen countless students come in to their lessons with mouthpieces that were given to them by their directors as part of a blanket operation to surgically fix their clarinet section’s tone and intonation, or as a gift from a family member that used to play “back in the day”. They all mean well of course, and what is given is usually of decent quality and does objectively improve what I hear in lessons. What this misses though is the nuances of each player’s anatomy and playing tendencies, and can potentially become a roadblock to their continued success with the clarinet if the mouthpiece does not mesh well with their playstyle. Oftentimes you may even find yourself wanting different mouthpieces for different scenarios. I myself switch between BG France B2 for my classical and chamber playing, and a Vocalise G for more klezmer humor. Both serve me well, depending on what style I’m playing at the time.

To truly understand what mouthpiece suits you, your student, or your child best, one simply must have the opportunity to play them, and play a lot of them at that. Similar to how each clarinet can vary from instrument to instrument even among the same model, mouthpieces can vary quite a bit, even with today’s machine-accurate manufacturing. But there is no reason the selection process can’t be relatively simple.

The most common approach to a new mouthpiece is usually by asking yourself:

• What kind of response do you like? Do you prefer pushback and greater resistance in your playing, or do you prefer a more effortless, hair-trigger response?
• Do you need a more focused and classical tone, or a more spread and flexible one?

Additionally, there are several parts that change how a mouthpiece responds, to name a couple of the important ones: 

• Tip Opening – the distance between the tip of the mouthpiece and tip of the reed. The greater the distance, the greater the flexibility in pitch and volume. Smaller tip openings offer better control and a more focused sound, typically at the cost of reduced dynamic range.
• Facing – the curve of the flat table at the front of the mouthpiece, which affects where the reed meets the mouthpiece and thus how much of the reed can freely vibrate (which impacts response and tone quality).

There are a number of other components that can affect the sound; however, these two are the most frequently-advertised and easiest to measure.

From there, the rest can be figured out through trials and playtests. If you have access to a music store with a decent selection, they are an invaluable resource for the process. I usually recommend my students bring a friend for an outside perspective, and select about three to four different mouthpieces at a time–any more and it can become an overwhelming sea of choice! From there, play a typical warm up: long tones, scales and arpeggios, and an etude or two you’ve been working on that covers a decent range of the instrument. Keep in mind how the mouthpiece responds and feels to playing the whole time, and do not hesitate to write some notes about your thoughts for comparison. 

Aside from sounding good, the most important part is how it feels to play to you. For example, if you like the control and response of one model, but the tone feels thin and airy, maybe you like that tip opening but need to find something with a different facing. Reeds can also play a big factor in this. Maybe the mouthpiece ticks all the boxes, but suddenly the reed feels too weak and the altissimo begins to squeal. As they are organic material, the longer they are strapped down on the mouthpiece, the more they conform to the shape of that specific mouthpiece, which can affect how they play on others. Reeds will also respond differently to the difference in facing and tip opening. Try to keep as much consistency in your setup as possible while you are testing, but do not hesitate to swap out for a different strength or brand when it feels right. I find that I prefer stronger reeds on more open mouthpieces, and slightly softer ones on more closed mouthpieces, but this varies from person to person.

Hopefully by the end of this process, you will have found something that sounds great, and feels precisely how you want it to, regardless of the price tag or perception by others on the market. Just as Jonathan reminded us in his blog last week (See, “Picking a Clarinet: Why It’s More Subjective Than You Think”), when it comes to the clarinet world, nearly everything is customizable to your own personal preferences and goals. What matters isn’t about having the best, newest, or fanciest mouthpiece out there, but something that fits you and serves its role well. That way, you can rest easy knowing that your mouthpiece won’t hold you back during your performances.

-Alexander Malone