As beginner I don`t know a great deal. I have just bought an old second hand Boosey ang hawks Regent b flat clarinet which is a big inprovement on the Chinese inport I bought new! The mouth piece has a no:2 on it , it was suggested I tried a yamaha mouthpiece 6c but Ifound the no:2 better. I use a rico 1 1/2 reed .The 6c mouthpiece is easier to play but sounds windy?

If it sounds windy then it`s the reed strenghth that needs to change.

Any time your instrument sounds windy it`s usually the reed strenghth not the mouth piece.

I know my beginners all start on 4cs until their 3rd year of playing but they do increase from 1 1/2 strenghth reeds to 2 1/2 strenghth reeds before changing mouthpieces due to the same problem you are having.

I Hate yamaha mouth pieces I have tried millions of different mouth pieces reeds and ligitures and yeah yamaha is definatly not on my list of good ones. My favorite or vandorens I used a b45 way back when I was a beginner clarinetist now I am playing on a professional genuine crystal mouth piece which i love but it is way way out of the price range of a beginner (payed over $1000 for it) I strongly recomend a B45 thought. the airy sound means that you need to use a softer reed or sometimes a stronger one...really depends on the mouth piece...give a B45 a try though!

-Jen

Yamaha mouthpieces aren`t the greatest but they`re certainly a huge improvement over the majority of `stock` mouthpieces.

$1,000? Isn`t that sort of overkill?

When you play 3-4 hours a day and have been recruited by universitys when you are 15...not really no!

Sure, but I don`t know any (even) proffesionals who use mouthpieces that expensive! You really couldn`t make anything else work for you? I`m playing on a nice vintage Chicago Wells B2, great orchestral mouthpiece. Did some refacing work on it (for practice, mostly) and it works great, but I`m considering sending it to a real expert to get it even better.

How do crystal mouthpieces work for you? I tried the Mitchell Lurie crystal and didn`t like it very much.

Hi

You should contact a music store and get there some mouth pieces for testing. When you test them, don`t forget to try the mouth pieces with different reeds. Get for example some reeds of strength 1, 1 1/2 and 2 (e.g. 3 reeds each) and test the sound of different mouth pieces with different reeds.

Personally, I would recommend to start with a less open mouth pieces than the Vandoren B45. As a beginner it might take you too much effort to generate a decent sound. Try maybe instead the R5Vlyra.

Martin

I love my crystal mouth piece! Mine has such a nice...crisp sound to it...very very nice.

-Jen

thanks all 4 ur help

I`m dying of curiousity Jen- what mouthpiece do you use?

Also, I was under the impression that crystal mouthpieces were no different in playing than hard rubber.

I got it when I was over in Switzerland. I had it custom made for my horn and for my playing level and so on. I got it at a little music shop just outside of bern. The guy measured everything, my lips my tounge...everything. And then h ran away with my clarinet and a few days later I had this amazing crystal mouth piece. There is no brand name on it seeing as it is custome.

-Jen

cool! but per my second question- why a crystal? They look great (depending on your preference) but from what I`ve heard hard rubbers are better in most aspects

well A) the look. B) They didn`t make hard rubber custum ones there. C) My crystal plays better than any other mouth piece I have ever played on for any of my instruments.

-Jen

a thousand dollars is ridiculous. kaspars and chedvilles are less. plus your playing and your ear will change as you get older. this means that what you like in terms of equipment will probably change too.

Well that is later. This is now.

-Jen