Mouthpiece Testing Guide

If you are consuming online clarinet content, like this blog, and you haven't checked out the Earspasm YouTube Channel. You have to go do that right now!

Michael Lowenstern makes absolutely fantastic clarinet content that is also highly entertaining. Including the video I want to share with you today, which is titled Drunk Mouthpiece Testing!

I'm sure you can tell just by the title that the video is going to be entertaining, but even better than that it is exceptionally educational.

Michael is joined by professional clarinetist Michael Norsworthy, and they go through a ton of mouthpieces and discuss a lot of information on what to look for in a mouthpiece.

The mouthpiece is one of the most important parts of the equipment, and this video is the perfect guide to what you should be doing when you are shopping for a new mouthpiece!

A couple quick things from the video if you don't have time or interest to watch the video.

1. Try many different mouthpieces. Different brands, models, and multiple of the same model.

2. Bring new reeds to try mouthpieces. Broken in reeds are married to your mouthpiece, so if you use your current reeds you will probably end up liking mouthpieces that are similar to your current one.

3. Focus on how it feels and how easy it is to play, more than how it sounds. Sounding great isn't worth it if it takes a lot of work to get the notes to come out. That being said, it should also be easy to get the sound you want.

4. Don't dwell. Trust your instincts. You will know very quickly how you feel, and the more you play a mouthpiece the more you may convince yourself you like something that isn't optimal for you.

I hope that helps, but the video is even better, and if you aren't subscribed to Earspasm you definitely should be!

Here is the link to the video again:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvUyBJ_lL_I

Happy Mouthpiece Testing,
Josh