[Saxaghram]

Hi, I have been playing on a Eugene Rousseau classic 5r for half a year now and I moved up from 3 blue box vandorens to 3.5. Lately, I have been noticing that my sound is worse with low notes and high notes. It it because I am using a hard reed with an open mouthpiece? Should I move down to a 4r Rousseau?

 

[Super Action Man]

no. keep the mouthpiece and go back to playing 3 trads. it'll be a lot cheaper. there is absolutely no shame in using softer reeds, especially with a mouthpiece with a wide tip opening. it doesn't matter what strength reeds you use as long they work for you. with 3.5s, you're having trouble with high and low notes, so those don't work for you. harder reeds aren't nessesarily better. I use a 2.5 on my tenor and 3s on my alto and if I went any higher my playing would suffer.