Many people will get a good 5 tip opening jazz mouthpiece and play that for the rest of their lives. There’s already a bunch of things you need to get used to when moving to a jazz mouthpiece so don’t make it more difficult for yourself. If you are getting your first jazz mouthpiece and upgrading from the Yamaha 4C or other stock mouthpiece that you are currently playing, I suggest you start with a 5. You should only move to a larger tip opening if you feel restricted in terms of how much air you can put through the mouthpiece. So there is a trade off, and I would say that anyone who is not putting in a couple hours of play time a day consistently should probably stick to the lower tip openings. Larger tip openings are more difficult to play because they require more air and are not as easy to control in terms of timbre and intonation. It is generally best to start on smaller tip openings and then work your way up, but how far up you go depends on you. Everyone is different physically and has their own unique way of playing the saxophone, so what matters most is to choose a setup that makes you comfortable.
#Tenor sax mouthpiece facing chart professional#
There are plenty of professional saxophone players who play on a smaller tip opening. Are larger mouthpiece tip openings better?Īnother big misconception is that larger tip openings are for advanced players and smaller tip openings are for beginners. If you are sticking with the same tip opening, you may still need to change your reed strength since as I said earlier there are other factors affecting how different mouthpiece designs respond.ĭo not make the mistake of expecting the reed that works on your current mouthpiece to work the same way on a different one. If you’re going up in tip opening, you should go down in reed strength. Please make sure you get some new reeds with any new mouthpiece purchase. So the result is usually, wow this thing is really hard to play.
#Tenor sax mouthpiece facing chart upgrade#
One thing that trips a lot of people up when they upgrade to their first jazz mouthpiece is that the tip opening is bigger but they use the same reeds as they had on their small tip classical beginner mouthpiece. This is why as you play more open mouthpieces your reeds will need to be softer and as you play more closed mouthpieces you will want harder reeds. While a harder reed requires more energy or air to start vibrating. The part that is bending back and forth against the mouthpiece.Ī softer reed is more flexible and will therefore require less energy to start it vibrating. The strength of the reed is a measurement of its flexibility at the tip.
Matching Reed Strength to Your Mouthpiece Tip Opening This is why players who find themselves in very loud situations like lead alto in a big band, or rock and other contemporary styles will often want a larger tip opening. So while this isn’t so much of an issue in classical styles of music or for casual saxophone players, those saxophonists who are putting a lot of air through the horn might feel restricted if the tip opening is too small. The main drawback to a small tip opening mouthpiece is that it can’t take the same volume of air as a larger tip opening can. They are looking to get a very pure and controlled sound. This is why classical musicians also prefer to play smaller tip openings. Smaller tip openings also make it easier to control the sound in terms of timbre and intonation. The smaller the distance, the less energy needed to get that sound going. The tip opening is the actual distance that the vibrating reed needs to travel back and forth in order to create your saxophone sound. This is why we start beginners on small tip openings like 3 and 4. Smaller tip openings are easier to play than larger ones. You can check out this post called “3 Key Traits of Your Mouthpiece” which will go into those other factors.īut with all other things being equal, here are a few general points to keep in mind about tip openings. The tip opening is only one out of many factors that contribute to how a mouthpiece plays and responds. So you see there is only about 2 tenths of a millimeter difference between the 5 and the 7 or basically a couple of hairs.
078 1000ths, and the 7 tip opening measures. For example, a 5 tip opening on a Vandoren mouthpiece will be ever so slightly larger and a Meyer 5 mouthpiece will be ever so slightly smaller. While Inches and millimeters remain consistent, a mouthpiece labeled a 5 tip opening can vary in actual measurement from one brand to another. We can use the common system of labeling mouthpieces and call it a 5. This Burnin’ mouthpiece right here has a tip opening that measures. There are three different systems of measurement commonly used.
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