There are a few players who use some kind of jaw force, like Steve Williamson and Marcellus, as you pointed out, though perhaps it isn't the best for students to begin with, even if that want that kind of sound. Great video! I love these exercises.
I agree! Leather ligatures deaden the sound. I relate those leather ligatures like someone covering Pavorati mouth and tell him to sing! Dead dead dull
I have a Selmer hs ** that did not play at all...I sent it to Brad Behn and that piece now is totally great....the ONLY thing I don't like about it is that it is a slightly different shape than my Chedevilles and my jaw has to drop just a bit more to play it and I don't like having a more open mouth when I play...Marcellus always said...that a more open throat kills a good tone...and having your mouth more open tends to open the throat...p.s..Pasquale Cardillo played selmer pieces and I love his tone
My college teacher, Clem Hutchinson played and ann arbor kaspar...I remember once, he accidentally dropped it and turned white and yelled out " that's the end of me" it meant so much to him, but lucky for him, it did not break
I think that Dale gets his money from his youtube and spends every cent of it on cornering the market on the best vintage pieces...I do remember that I talked to Matson back in the day and he had first hand experience working with Wright and his / Maclanes Henri Chedeville...you know, the one that started it all......he told me that Wright sounded the same on most mouthpieces and that is true, I believe,,,it's not the mouthpiece,,,it's the player...sure...the mouthpiece and reeds are of the utmost importance but,,I doubt very much that if you gave wright's exact set up to a player like Larry Combs ...that he would sound any different than he did...or Drucker..he would still have that bright nanny goat sound without any center to it at all..
I wonder how the Seggelke Boehm would sound in comparison (with matching mouthpiece and barrel, of course). They collaborate with Ch. Neidich and make excellent instruments.
I would assume you have experimented with modern attempts to create clarinet mouthpieces that reflect the characteristics of the best of the Chedeville and Kaspar designs. Perhaps a presentation or three on some of those if you have the time?
What does it mean that my 1989 E11 passes this test better than almost all of the instruments you're demonstrating here? (I do use an M13 mouthpiece and a Muncy barrel that both drastically improve it over the standard setup, but it's still markedly more uniform in tone and tuning on this particular test than all but one or two of these)
generally speaking,,,a great tone can not be copied,,a bad tone can be copied..i can sound like depeyer, or goodman,,,but harold wright?i can only dream
I recently bought a new Brancher ligature, partly because of your review. I am not unhappy with the sound and playability, however, I find it very hard to position it correctly, because it keeps slipping up on the mouthpiece when the screw is being tightened. Did you encounter the same issue, and if yes, did you find a satisfying solution?
I have a cheap Chinese saxophone from Amazon ( Eastar) but I use a Meyer 6 and I love it. I bought a pro tech neck strap and a used hard case from Facebook. Market place. Having fun over here in Anaheim. Im looking to join a mariachi banda.
He was a very famous, influential teacher and player. I recently bought 2 inverted ones and was very disappointed with the quality of them. Thank you Dale. God bless you. Bill. Uk
Very nice tips, Dale. Here are my tips to help sax players with their embouchure. I used too hard reeds when I was young because the intonation seemed so much easier with the harder reeds. I noticed how saxophonists that use softer reeds have much more expression in their sound, so I learned to use softer reeds. When I started playing softer reeds, it was difficult at first, but this helped me to use much less pressure. This helped me to play all of the saxes (soprano, alto, tenor, and bari) with a much more beautiful and expressive sound. When I was young, I learned the jazz embouchure by accident (I was taught the classical type embouchure). When I practiced my extremely loud long tones, this forced me to push by bottom lip out more to get that powerful sound. I didn't even know there was a jazz type embouchure. When I saw saxophonists teaching the jazz embouchure on RU-vid in recent years, I realized that is the embouchure I use. I only play jazz and dance club music now, so I never use the classical type embouchure anymore. Jazz saxophonists can avoid the biting by using the jazz embouchure instead of the classical embouchure. If you play in a concert band, you should keep using the classical type embouchure... you just have to learn to use your muscles around your mouth to support your mouthpiece and not your bottom teeth. A big thing that can help you get the correct mouthpiece placement in your mouth is being able to play the whole range without moving your embouchure. You have to get the point where the reed separates from the mouthpiece (towards the tip) over your bottom lip. If you get the mouthpiece in the correct position, you can play quick octaves (even 16th notes) without changing your embouchure. Most people have a slight overbite, and it is recommended to sax players to move your bottom jaw forward, if it is comfortable to do so... if not, you might have to move your mouth over the mouthpiece a little more. I've seen a guy on RU-vid ("Get Your Sax Together" channel) now teach a third type of saxophone embouchure (very close to the jazz embouchure), where you make both lips pucker out a little (like a kiss). I think Michael Lington uses this embouchure.
A big favorite of mine....I'm a huge Fred Astaire fan, so the first time I heard this on "Shall We Dance" when I was a teenager, I grabbed my horn and tried to play it! You sound great, of course, and it works really well on eefer!
Love that sound on the "principal clarinet reed"! And now, tell us how many mpcs you own....I bet it's HUNDREDS! Oh, and you fooled me alright with that eefer reed....I gasped when you showed it! LOL
btw, your sound reminds me a lot of a certain clarinet makers that we know.....and it's the double lip. I hear a "bubble" in the oral cavity that I don't hear in people who bite....myself included! btw, I just went down a 1/2 step in strength on my V12s so I can work on that bite.
so, i read that the kaspar ann arbor pieces are more like the chedevilles vs the kaspar cissero pieces,,,seems like getting an ann arbor piece and getting a new facing on it, would be about as close to a great piece as you could get??
I first bought one in 1989. Growing up in Boston, it was the mouthpiece of choice amongst all the teachers in the area. During my first lesson with Tom Martin in 1995, he told me that I would need a new mouthpiece. Years of marching band and swabbing my mouthpiece incorrectly ruined the tip. After going through his collection of Johnstons, we decided to get a new 5RV lyre 13 profile 88. Played this mouthpiece for five years until Gigliotti made me switch to his mouthpiece. In 2017, after twelve years of no playing, I picked up my horn again and I gravitated toward this one. I’ve since worn out this mouthpiece but still own it. My biggest regret was Not having Matson reface it. I mistakenly thought that he wouldn’t touch a stock mouthpiece. Only after his passing did I find out that he absolutely would have.
This might cause some controversy, but I've never liked any of the Rovners, with the Star Series being the only exception. The Star Series is the only one that has given me any type of response that I find satisfying, and the fact that it's the best looking for me is a huge bonus
Rubber is definitely more vibrant, glass is pretty stiff, but metal is very bright. I love rubber with hard reeds, glass with light reeds, and metal for basically just jazz.
My teacher use to fix my ligature to play more like the previous gens. He had an old mouthpiece with the reed glued onto it then would lightly tap the lig with a mallet to make it more round. Then adjusted the front to bend how it gripped on the reed without touching the mouthpiece. Then took a file to even the rails and make them less thick. Setup right you don't have to tighten too much and the lig will last longer. Get better articulation too. In the 90s every ligs all came out different. Some weren't even round at all new right out of the box.
i am much older than Dale..I played with 11s kaspars for years no problems on Buffet..reeds began to chage in the way they are cured..sorry some of your conjectures i disagree with....basically moennig did a ton of work of marcellus set up...
A nice selection of Links here. The No USA 5* that is held up and described as 'refaced beautifully', may play great but the refacer has cut through the brass and into the black bite plate. I've owned nice playing refaced Links by BP and TK that were cut through to the bite plate in this way, their early work perhaps, but the blanks might have been worked or damaged already? Bending the tip open and cutting less brass from the baffle avoids this problem of opening up tips, but bending can change how the pieces sound.
For me, best ligature of all time is the original Harrison. Depending on what you want, either the gold or silver plate work. The current Rico H is a faint imitation and should be avoided
