Love your videos. Not to be off topic, but I was wondering about your fingerings starting from high F. Some of them are a bit nonstandard for me, including the F, F#, G, which probably shows my ignorance more than anything. For example on the F, you close all three holes on the left hand. Anyway, is there a reference you might point me to. I was looking at C. Rose's table for the boehm clarinet, and these are not included even in the alternate fingerings. Thanks man!
Hi, sorry I am just getting through the backlog of comments! For the F, F#, and G I am using a series of "chromatic" fingerings taught to me by Michele Gingras. I use these because they make for a more fluid chromatic scale in that area of the instrument, especially at faster speeds. In regards to the F, I am 'half-holing" the top tone hole, it's not completely covered. This technique is used to make the note more stable and less prone to "cracking."
Dark & depth,. Good for some but what about articulation with such attributes? Could you elaborate on how it translate to articulation ? I.e. Mendelssohn, Beethoven, Smetna… It’s not easy nor is it clean when one has that much “depth” in the tone.
Of course! In general I found the articulation on the PlayNick Nommos B2 and Puccini Tosca to be quite responsive and easy to produce (Puccini Tosca was, in general, just slightly easier for me). For things like Mendelssohn, (depending on the reed of course) it's certainly no "slower" than other mouthpieces I've played. Perhaps it's just particularly well suited to my oral cavity and articulation style, its hard to be sure. However, the articulation itself isn't as naturally "crisp" or pointed as another style mouthpiece, instead being a little more naturally round, less aggressive. For some excerpts this may be beneficial, for others, not as helpful. Of course with any mouthpiece there will always be trade offs. Not that it's impossible to achieve that extra point you might require, but I don't think the mouthpiece naturally goes in that direction. I found double tonguing to be relatively easy on the Nommos B2/Tosca mouthpieces in general, so things like Smetna and Beethoven should be fine, though ultimately it depends on how "crisp" you like those passages.
I've been using a bd5 the past few years. I spend about half my time playing a vandoren blue box 3.5, which I really like, and the other half trying to get a synthetic setup to work (legere EC but experimenting with silverstein after your comparison). In my mind, the synthetic is like 5% worse, which is not terrible but also enough that I switch back to cane every time I try it (and inevitably switch back to plastic after my one good cane reed dies and I can't replicate it). Do you think getting a b2 and committing to the plastic setup would be worth trying?
Honestly, I think we’ve had pretty similar experiences. I spent about 4 years on the BD5 and continually switched between cane (also Blue Box 3.5s or v12 3.5s) and trying to get Legeres to work. I had better luck with the Legere Soprano Sax reeds on that mouthpiece; response and sound were good, but intonation was an issue, as they tended to play a little low for me. I did like the B2/Vivace combination when I tried it for this video, but not enough to switch. It’s one of the most “cane like” synthetic setups I’ve tried and while I’m sure I could have switched to it full time if I had wanted, I had a similar feeling as you; I wasn’t quite getting what I knew I could get with cane. For me, there is a certain comfort factor with the best cane reeds that is difficult for synthetics to match. But these companies are getting so close, it really is amazing. I guess to answer your question, if the feeling that cane plays 5% better bothers you, it will probably still bother you on this setup as well. I will say that the Silversteins played better on this mouthpiece than any mouthpiece I’ve put them on since, (it really did feel like this mouthpiece was made for them,) but in the end I knew I would probably switch back to cane eventually anyway, so I saved myself the trouble. Still, looking forward to future iterations! P.S. Did you study with Hawkins at Oberlin?
I found that the v21 works really well with this mouthpiece
Oh, that's good to know, thank you for sharing! I am sure it will be helpful for others who watch this video!
Love your videos. Not to be off topic, but I was wondering about your fingerings starting from high F. Some of them are a bit nonstandard for me, including the F, F#, G, which probably shows my ignorance more than anything. For example on the F, you close all three holes on the left hand. Anyway, is there a reference you might point me to. I was looking at C. Rose's table for the boehm clarinet, and these are not included even in the alternate fingerings. Thanks man!
Maybe an idea for you for another video :)
Hi, sorry I am just getting through the backlog of comments! For the F, F#, and G I am using a series of "chromatic" fingerings taught to me by Michele Gingras. I use these because they make for a more fluid chromatic scale in that area of the instrument, especially at faster speeds. In regards to the F, I am 'half-holing" the top tone hole, it's not completely covered. This technique is used to make the note more stable and less prone to "cracking."
Dark & depth,. Good for some but what about articulation with such attributes? Could you elaborate on how it translate to articulation ? I.e. Mendelssohn, Beethoven, Smetna…
It’s not easy nor is it clean when one has that much “depth” in the tone.
Of course! In general I found the articulation on the PlayNick Nommos B2 and Puccini Tosca to be quite responsive and easy to produce (Puccini Tosca was, in general, just slightly easier for me). For things like Mendelssohn, (depending on the reed of course) it's certainly no "slower" than other mouthpieces I've played. Perhaps it's just particularly well suited to my oral cavity and articulation style, its hard to be sure. However, the articulation itself isn't as naturally "crisp" or pointed as another style mouthpiece, instead being a little more naturally round, less aggressive. For some excerpts this may be beneficial, for others, not as helpful. Of course with any mouthpiece there will always be trade offs. Not that it's impossible to achieve that extra point you might require, but I don't think the mouthpiece naturally goes in that direction. I found double tonguing to be relatively easy on the Nommos B2/Tosca mouthpieces in general, so things like Smetna and Beethoven should be fine, though ultimately it depends on how "crisp" you like those passages.
I've been using a bd5 the past few years. I spend about half my time playing a vandoren blue box 3.5, which I really like, and the other half trying to get a synthetic setup to work (legere EC but experimenting with silverstein after your comparison). In my mind, the synthetic is like 5% worse, which is not terrible but also enough that I switch back to cane every time I try it (and inevitably switch back to plastic after my one good cane reed dies and I can't replicate it). Do you think getting a b2 and committing to the plastic setup would be worth trying?
Honestly, I think we’ve had pretty similar experiences. I spent about 4 years on the BD5 and continually switched between cane (also Blue Box 3.5s or v12 3.5s) and trying to get Legeres to work. I had better luck with the Legere Soprano Sax reeds on that mouthpiece; response and sound were good, but intonation was an issue, as they tended to play a little low for me. I did like the B2/Vivace combination when I tried it for this video, but not enough to switch. It’s one of the most “cane like” synthetic setups I’ve tried and while I’m sure I could have switched to it full time if I had wanted, I had a similar feeling as you; I wasn’t quite getting what I knew I could get with cane. For me, there is a certain comfort factor with the best cane reeds that is difficult for synthetics to match. But these companies are getting so close, it really is amazing.
I guess to answer your question, if the feeling that cane plays 5% better bothers you, it will probably still bother you on this setup as well. I will say that the Silversteins played better on this mouthpiece than any mouthpiece I’ve put them on since, (it really did feel like this mouthpiece was made for them,) but in the end I knew I would probably switch back to cane eventually anyway, so I saved myself the trouble.
Still, looking forward to future iterations!
P.S. Did you study with Hawkins at Oberlin?
Hello what is the name of that tuner thanks
Hi Bill, it’s the Tonal Energy Tuner and Metronome. Thanks for watching!
@@ParkHouseCreations Thanks so much Bill.
Vandoren v12 number 3 would be compatible to Puccini Tosca mouthpiece?
Yes, definitely!