What's the feeling on switching horns and mouthpieces. I have heard some guy from Boston say you shouldn't switch from tenor to bass, but if you are going to then keep the same rim.

I have a student who wants a little more 'bite' on the articulations, but wants to keep a very sonorous tone so we don't want to cut back on the cup too much. I think her bass playing is better than the tenor.

Here is what her set up is.

Tennor is a Yamaha YSL882O with a rotor valve and a Yamaha Custom Peter Sullivan mouthpiece.

Bass is a Bach 50BG with independent rotor valves modified by Minnick, lightweight slide, and a Bach 1.5G mouthpiece.

What are your suggestions and opinions?

JOhn

The only thing I can add is that I have played around on several mouthpieces. The ones that had flatter rims seemed to just let notes pop out and helped my flexibility, but I was not too happy with the quality of my articulation. It seemed to require a bit more work to soften articulations.

Sorry, I hit the post button too soon.

I have always had trouble going back and forth from larger mouthpieces to smaller mouthpieces regardless of the rim. Going from playing solo euphonium literature and 1st ensemble parts on large mouthpieces, to jazz trombone playing on smaller mouthpieces was always a task. Both types of music can be very similar in range demands. SO I began to try to at least keep the rim SIZE the same.

You use different equipment on different horns. And you use that equipment because each respective horn is meant to do a specific job. i.e. .500 straight tenors are meant for upper register "lead" playing, and .565+ bass trombone with two rotors and 30 feet of extra tubing (I exaggerate a bit...) are meant for lower register playing.

In Regards to switching from .547 Trombone to .570 or so Bass Bone:

Maybe if you just keep the respective roles of the tenor trombone and Bass Trombone in consideration, the psycological aspect of it will clear itself up...by that I mean, you play bass bone, you think "burly hardworking lumberjack", you play tenor trombone you think "Workyard Foreman" who doesnt dig too deep into the trenches of the work but simply commands and leads.

What size of mouthpiece will it take to make that difference happen?

Even though they are identical, they have different personalities and roles.

That's my Two Cents.

Raul

The "Truth" about rims???
It's whatever works for you. Some players find it difficult to change, others have much less of a problem with it.
I use the same rim for my large and small tenors. But for bass trombone playing it just doesn't give me the sound I want. I use a smaller rim for my alto. I tried using the same rim on my tenor, and it worked, but the sound just didn't have that brightness I wanted.
You have to find a balance between what is comfortable for you, and what is the right tool for the job.
For what it's worth, I used to find it horribly difficult to switch. Now, I really don't. Just the other day I played bone quartets on my alto on a 7C, switched to tenor on large DE rim, and then went to play a show on bass bone (I use a Ferguson L, about a 1.25 rim) just fifteen minutes later.
What makes the difference? In my humble opinion, it's how much we depend on the rim of the mouthpiece to support the musculature in the face. The less we rely on it, the easier we can switch around.
Your mileage may vary.