[crash480]

My 13 year old son is moving along great playing the alto, p'mauria le bravo. Playing zzz reeds #3 on a carlton hard rubber mouthpice. It's a long and mcquade name brand. He likes it. I think it was $80. I think it's time to find him a better one. He has tried some name brand different mouthpieces in the $200, 250 range, but doesnt like them. Will they be that much better, with practice, or keep him playing the one he is on. He wants a metal mouthpiece for fun, any good, in-expensive recommendations. Thanks

 

[lydian]

Classical or Jazz? Any player's sound he wants to emulate? How long has he been playing? What's the opening on his current mouthpiece? Does he have a teacher who can advise him?

 

[1saxman]

He likes his current mouthpiece. Keep him on it but you might look into another one of the same kind but a size bigger - like if its a #3, get a #4. You don't want to make big jumps in mouthpieces or reeds. The more open mouthpiece will be harder to play with the same reeds so he might drop back to #2.5 reeds until they start to feel soft, then move back to the #3s. In this way his embouchure (chops) get stronger and he will be able to project more. A metal mouthpiece is always attractive to the young ones but there's really no point in going there for a young player.

 

[Reet McVouty]

My 13 year old son is moving along great playing the alto, p'mauria le bravo. Playing zzz reeds #3 on a carlton hard rubber mouthpice. It's a long and mcquade name brand. He likes it. I think it was $80. I think it's time to find him a better one. He has tried some name brand different mouthpieces in the $200, 250 range, but doesnt like them. Will they be that much better, with practice, or keep him playing the one he is on. He wants a metal mouthpiece for fun, any good, in-expensive recommendations. Thanks

Let him play the mouthpiece he has until HE wants to change it. Making him move on prematurely may cause him more harm than good. Like mdavej said, is there anyone's sound he want's to emulate? Let him play along with that persons music. When it come time that he wants to achieve a certain sound go to the resources section here for mouthpiece education. https://theowanne.com/

 

[swperry1]

If he likes the sound of his current mouthpiece and it doesn’t get in the way of what he’s trying to play, then why replace it? Especially at 13. Did hid band director or lesson teacher say a change is needed? Does he have any idea what he even wants to sound like or even what a good saxophone sound is? Also, Moving up a tip size is most definitely not a thing a person does as a measure of progress. Tip size also has nothing to do with how loud a person can play or how well they’re able to project their sound.

 

[crash480]

I dont know the specs on his current mouthpiece, when I bought it, it seemed like a good price of a hard rubber mouthpiece, I will research it. He plays jazz and have been playing for 6 or 7 monthes. His teacher wants him to upgrade his mouthpiece, he feels it will improve his playing.

Here is a link of him playing.

Sorry younger son recording

 

[lydian]

Sounding great for only 6 months. But I respectfully disagree with the teacher. I don't get any sense that something related to the mouthpiece is holding him back in any way. He has a lot of room to grow on what he's got. He really needs to develop his sound a lot more (I'm talking years) before changing mouthpieces. I'm not hearing that he's even developed a sound concept yet. No kid just starting out would have developed that yet.

My advice, hold off on the mouthpiece. Have him listen to and try to emulate an artist's sound he admires for a least another year or two.

 

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[crash480]

Thanks much for your time. I tend to agree, let him keep going, we will try them out now and then, if he loves one, then things can change.

 

[skeller047]

2 things -

Does the teacher feel that the mouthpiece itself is a bad design or poorly made? That can cause issues that will be hard to correct later on. If not, if the teacher is looking to get an instant boost from a "better mouthpiece", then I would think seriously about changing the teacher instead of the mouthpiece

Regarding metal, there aren't a lot of metal mouthpieces for alto that would be appropriate for someone just starting out, even someone as obviously talented and motivated as your son (he sounds quite good for someone with less than 1 year under his belt). So even though your son is attracted to them, I would gently steer away from that area.

One of the many reasons for the myths surrounding metal vs hard rubber is that most alto sax mouthpieces made of metal are designed for pop music, with high baffles and smaller chambers. There are exceptions, but that is the general condition. Stay on hard rubber for alto; tenor is another story.

 

[Reet McVouty]

I dont know the specs on his current mouthpiece, when I bought it, it seemed like a good price of a hard rubber mouthpiece, I will research it. He plays jazz and have been playing for 6 or 7 monthes. His teacher wants him to upgrade his mouthpiece, he feels it will improve his playing.

Here is a link of him playing.

Sorry younger son recording

I would question his teachers advice especially if the teacher is not a saxophone player. I listened to the clip and can tell you Matthew has a good tone for someone that hasn't been playing long. The way I found to get a really good sound when I was young was to play along with records of my favorite players. Trying to match their sound with my own enabled me to develop a good tone very early on and this was playing on a plastic stock mouthpiece. Right now his embouchure and proper reed strength and placement are more important than a mouthpiece upgrade. It may be beneficial to find him a private saxophone teacher but be careful, advanced students tend to get bored in class while waiting for other students to be brought up to speed.