Posted by Jeff Miller on January 15, 2000 at 09:51:36:
In Reply to: Re: Doublers-READ THIS PLEASE posted by Don Q on January 15, 2000 at 02:53:02:
I double primarily on tuba and bass trombone. I've tried a lot of different mouthpiece approaches to this, including Doug Elliott's stuff (I tried a tuba rim on a bass trombone sized cup). (I do use loads of Doug's mouthpieces on various tubas and cimbasso, but with a standard rim/cup/shank proportion; Hi, Doug...)
I have to say that the main problem with using a tuba rim on a smaller mouthpiece is that even though the rim feels "right" on your face, the sound of the instrument just doesn't work (for me, anyway). I got a big, diffuse, crappy bass trombone sound trying this setup. I find that you will have to manipulate a lot of other things in your playing to make the sound semi-acceptable.
This was a lot harder for me that just sticking a proper bass trombone mouthpiece in the bass trombone, forgetting about my face more or less entirely, and trying to produce a nice trombone sound with as little effort as possible.
In short, I think that the mouthpiece is a tool, like an artist's brush, which we should pick and use to make our jobs (i.e. externalizing an internal sound concept on a given instrument) as easy as possible. For me, that means using a setup actually designed for the instrument in question. Try to stick it in, and then forget about what your face feels like. Otherwise you will probably end up screwing up your production technique in an attempt to force that giant mouthpiece to sound smaller. Just remember that it's a euphonium, or trombone, or whatever, not a tuba.
Feel free to ignore this, of course, but I hope it helps.
Jeff