Video

Nice sound! On both- but I can understand how you mean about the BD. Did you try the BD5 and 4? I have those, and like them at the moment. BD4 has the biggest opening. It works with strength 2,5-3. Harder is impossible for my style and emboushyre

I usually use around 8 out of 10 in a box with maybe 1-2 concert quality ones. If you know how to work on reeds you can use most of them that is if the quality is there. That's at least my experience playing Vandoren V-12 for over 25 years.

I’m an Eb clarinetist and I’m recently practicing III Concerto by O. Navarro, which contains Bb and Eb solo parts. When I practice only with Eb clarinet it sounds all well and good. But when I’m going through the whole piece and switch from Bb to Eb, I can’t even play a satisfying long note. I was shocked bc I just got my brand new buffet Tosca Eb clarinet half year ago, and I’ve had a lot of doubling experiences with clarinets and even saxophones. I realized doubling when playing a concerto is much harder than in wind band. That’s why I found this video and I hope it helps.

i'm a freshman and REALLY want to try All-State I'd say I'm at like a Sophmore or Junior level tbh but I'm TERRIFIED. I play clarinet are there any tips?? ESPECIALLY for fast tempos, sixteenth notes and all that stuff

Sounds great as usual! Love the Eb clarinet

Didn't know this piece. Definitely going to check it out. Thnx 👍

Great band 👍

Suena genial 👏👏👏👏👏👏

Very nice.

This feels like something out of a James Bond or similar detective action movie. Love it!

Yay E flat! It's an unusually catchy piece! The performance came through; I hardly noticed the mic difference since y'all were so well balanced!

Wonderful!

thank you

yall sound amazing ! thank you for posting

Hi John, thanks for the video! It’s was incredibly informative. What did you think of the ishimori?

You sound great on both mouthpieces! Thanks for the video!

Like!

Perfect, now for balancing, asp please

Have you tried the Baroque ligatures by Charles Bay? I got one a couple days ago and I’m a big fan

Have you tried the Rovner Vangogh ligature?

🎉👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

Bravo! Wish I were there

Superb Tone 😀

So pleasant to my ears! I love it. The punctuation, rhythm, sounds fitting into each other, this is a beautiful collaboration. Thanks for posting it, Mr Kurokawa!

You two play so well together, like extensions of each other's voices! Edit: Flying back to Chicago is quite a story! What did you do at Yamaha? I heard they're developing a new model; were you testing that? Loved this new kind of video :)

Wonderful, John. What are the pedals you both are using?

Hope you’re enjoying the festival. Would be good to meet in person if there’s time P. Cigleris

That is a work out. Great job

John how did I not know about this

And the winner of this comparison is the woodstone kodama II, the only one were the sound of the clarinet got spirit!

Thanks for always sharing with us! Cool tune!

Genial 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

I personally use a gold Bonade ligature (from Taplin Weir, of course). Simple, effective, gold is my favorite material, and it doesn’t obliterate the wallet haha.

This is such a beautiful exercise! I hope you can share the notation with us....

PLS NOT ME SEEING THIS AFTER REIGON ETUDES CAME OUT

Thanks for this interesting review of these different ligatures. I am currently using a Rovner Dark on a Vandoren BD5 mouthpiece, which I like very much and plays well for me, but over the past 6 months I have bought and played a couple of other ligatures with which I have had mixed results. I have a BG Duo in silver, that plays well for me with this mouthpiece, and I also bought a Rovner Versa, which I am not happy with, so I very much appreciated your take on that ligature. On top of not being particularly happy with the way that the Versa responded for me personally, I also found that if I didn't leave the flaps covering the plate on the reed side of the ligature, that if I left the ligature on my mouthpiece, even loosely, when it is stored in my case the metal plate on the Versa started leaving visible scratches/depressions in the table of my mouthpiece, which is a huge problem. I stopped using the Versa and will probably not use it again. I will be very interested to see if you try the BG Duo in your part 3 video, and if so, what you think of it. In the meantime, thank you for all of your videos! I find them to be very interesting and I enjoy them very much.

Great! I’ve experimented with varying extremes of break in procedures, and your process is pretty much exactly what I’ve settled on as well. More than this hadn’t yielded better results for me, and definitely not playing reeds in for at least as long as you describe has been disastrous! I can get away with more with my saxophone reeds, but not clarinet!

Have you ever tried the Luyben ligatures?? I highly recommend them

Where do you find exercises for this? I’m glad I found your channel as a 4th year clarinet player going into high school

Joel was my mentor in woodwind repair, and a fantastic craftsman!! Lomax for the win!

Thanks for the review. I've had a BD2 for a couple of weeks now. I have a range of vandoren and selmer mouthpieces but no custom jobs. I found that the mouthpiece felt more open than it actually was (like you) and especially when I compared it to a M15 and M13 lyre. For my embouchure, mouth/throat and clarinet, I didn't find the issues you described. It readily responded over the whole range and had a focused tone like the M15. I really really like it. I use vandoren 56 Ru le pic or d'addario classic reserve reeds on a full Boehm Leblanc LL clarinet.

Have you tried Brad Behn’s adjustable barrels? I use a Silverstein ligature and just swap the barrel between A and Bb, and it works great.

Great video...!!! Of the ligatures in this video, the Rovner Van Gough checks all of my boxes. Price for this--as most Rovners--is reasonable (NO Silverstein for me as price alone is a deterrent), Rovners last for years, etc. Okay, I have used Rovners for many years, and I do have a bias. But...I have never tried the Van Gough. A suggestion for all clarinetists that have the issue of ligature caps that are too large and do not fit the case: try the Silverstein Omnicap mouthpiece cap. It fits over the tip, is not bulky, and will protect the mouthpiece and reed. I use them for all of my mouthpieces, and my only issue is that if you are not careful, they can get lost. Looking forward to more videos like this...

Excuse me for a question, when playing, should the lower lip stay on the teeth or should it be in the direction of the teeth?

I'm surprised how much I liked the sound of the snake-skin ligature... This is quite interesting!

I definitely prefer metal ligatures but I also agree the kodama II is great. I'm also a fan of the BG super revelation.

Your videos are always great! Thank you for making them.

As a side note to my other comment, I am now a very happy owner of a set of Yamaha CSVR-ASP clarinets! I sat with Tomoji Hirakana, who went with me note by note until the entire instrument played and sounded very even, with much less resistance than my old Buffet set, and is now much more reed and mouthpiece friendly! Thought I'd let you know because you also play CSVR clarinets :)

Have you tried the Rovner dark? I know it's a budget model, but after comparing it to how many other ligatures (Versa, Silverstein, Vandoren optimum, and a few more) work for me, I've actually found that it actually feels better than most. It holds the reed to the mouthpiece extremely firm if I want it to (can take mouthpiece off clarinet and reed stays) and it is durable enough to last me 6 years with no signs of deterioration. I also think it looks quite nice and clean on the instrument :)

I loved your analysis on different types of mouthpieces and how much ligatures affect them. Overall, I quite agree with your thoughts for these ligatures, both in terms of feel and sound. I'd like to add my two cents, as someone who enjoys playing 2 setups, 1) a very closed/flexible mouthpiece with a medium reed (M13 Lyre) and 2) a medium-open/"hold" mouthpiece with a medium-resistant reed, but also as a student who's not quite adjusted fully to either particular setup. I find that on the M13 Lyre and all my favorite closed tip mouthpieces, my ligature choices were based on the kind of sound and feel I was going for; a good balance of overtones, aka vibrancy in the sound, with just enough resistance to control dynamic and color. For me, that meant a metal ligature (currently a bonade inverted) works well with a 3½ blue box reed. It requires a lot of sensitivity with my air stream, embouchre, and voicing, but it allows me to sing with that balance of higher frequencies I look for in this setup. On my Kanter and other favorite open mouthpieces that emphasize the fundamental a lot more, I found myself going for a less resistant ligature that also emphasizes the fundamental a bit more, and encourages a more gentle feel and sound for the way I play these mouthpieces. The only exception I've found to this so far is the B40, where I prefer a metal ligature (Bonade non-inverted). I think this is because, despite being a relatively open facing mouthpiece, soundwise, it harkens a lot closer to the M13 Lyre and my favorite closed facing mouthpieces. This all to say, I think that someone used to one mouthpiece type or another would find the other type to be less affected by the same factors, because they are already so different. They require different physical and tonal approaches, especially when you compare mouthpieces that encourage "vibrancy" or "hold" using just your air/embouchre/voicing, and those that encourage "darkness" by biting and constricting the vibrations of the reed. My own preference is one that doesn't require biting, so I know very little about those mouthpieces that encourage it, such as the Vandoren BD and HD series. However, for the more old-school mouthpiece which are designed for minimal jaw pressure (there is still so much variation in these), I find that, regardless if it is a more fundamental emphasizing mouthpiece or overtone emphasizing mouthpiece, they are a lot more sensitive to ligature and reed changes. I think I only came to this conclusion, though, because they are what I'm used to. Fantastic video overall, as always, Mr Kurokawa!