Over the past few days I’ve been listing most of my mouthpiece collection for sale. That has caused me to think about each mouthpiece and why I used them and then stopped using them. The overwhelming majority of them only saw about two weeks of use. The special few that saw years of use were always a compromise between different playing characteristics. Of course these playing characteristics only apply to me as people with different lips will experience different things with different mouthpieces. The following is a list of the aspects of a mouthpiece I would consider:

1. Accuracy vs. Intonation
I’ve found that certain mouthpieces can significantly improve my accuracy, but always at the expense of intonation.

2. Comfort vs. Articulation
Some mouthpiece rims are extremely comfortable for me to play on. Usually at the expense of the clarity of my articulation.

3. High Range vs. Low Range
The best mouthpieces I’ve ever played had an okay high range and an okay low range. Mouthpieces that have a great high or low range do so at the expense of the other.

4. Ease of playing vs. depth of sound
Some mouthpieces will produce an incredibly rich and full sound, but usually at the expense of it’s ease of playing. (No, this point is not just related to bore size.)

The list above is just the major points to consider when choosing a mouthpiece. If anyone is interested in seeing the mouthpiece collection I have for sale head over to the mouthpiece section of the hornplayer.net website.