Four years is long enough to have chops enough to play so if you're biting to get the high notes then in my opinion it's the wrong mp/reeed set up for you.
Lots of practice, four or more hours a day, for six months or so may get your chops into the sort of shape that they can deal with anything but that's not practical for most of us.
Many players pick a mouthpiece aiming at a certain sound and struggle on with it. Other players will pick an expensive piece believing that the money spent will give them a quality sound and it doesn't.
You will see players aiming at a wide tip opening with as hard reed as they can get, as if it's some sort of measure of ability or a mark of progress.
In truth the right mouthpiece on the right instrument with the right reed is a pleasure to play top to bottom and will encourage play and practice just for the thrill of it and once you're practicing, everything else will follow.
You don't have to spend vast amounts of money and if you buy second hand and look after the piece you can put it back on the market and it will cost you very little.
It took me quite a while to find my tenor piece and a little longer to find the right reed to go with it.
Don't struggle. It shouldn't be hard. Maybe a few lessons with a good teacher could point you in the right direction. Not everyone can self teach.
I may be completely wrong. Only you can decide. Good Luck.
Colin, I appreciate your thoughts and perspective, but I still do not want to give up on the mouthpiece just yet, for a few reasons that I think are important.
(a) I think I exhibit the problem on most mouthpieces, and most sizes of saxes even ones with significantly smaller tip openings
(b) it is a habit that I had in high school, and since playing again I have continued the habit.
(c) I don't mind my lower register tone in general
(d) I am still doing gigs, so going a drastically different mouthpiece may make my overall playing less reliable in the short term.
My current practice routine (small which it may be) has been geared mainly towards simple II-V-I exercises and scales and not much towards upper register stuff or tone in general. That's why I would like to try some exercises on the current mouthpiece. If I try the exercises and have no results in 3 months, then it is a fair sign that the mouthpiece is not fit for me, and I will move to something else.
Sounds to me that you need a more open tip and a softer reed. A good ex. For opening the top reg. LONG FIFTHS ie. C. G. C. G. C.....C#...G#. .. etc played slowly, but played fast good for flexibility. It's also a good idea to buy a top of the range MP that suits you as they are hand finished and they do what it says on the tin. The reason you don't find many on eBay. If poss but S/H and you can always sell it on without losing a bomb. But difficult to find.
I'll add that to the list of exercises to try, thanks James!
or stick with the current mouthpiece and go up on the reed strength.
Long story, but I was playing RJS 3M, realised I was biting and bringing the reed down so the mouthpiece was more closed, so I have been progressively moving down until now, where I am at RJS 2M / Rico 2.5. I believe I don't squash the reed down as much as I used to with the softer reeds, so that is progress. I also believe I get more volume in general now out of the MP than I did back in the 3M days.
so Eldavo i suggest (again) follow my advice i stated above (in #4), simple but very effective.
I already acknowledged your exercise, does that mean I have to add it to the list again?
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In summary, I want to try to focus on exercises to work out the embouchure to help further avoid my biting habit and give me reasonable control and tone up there, at dynamic levels other than flat-out. I'll be trying all the ones suggested so far a go, and am willing to try others that are suggested.
Time duration: 3 mths for reevaluation.
Fixed items: Vandoren V16 T9, at 0.116" tip opening.
Variable items:
- Reeds, Currently trialling RJS 2M and Rico unfiled 2.5, but have some new softer and harder reeds to experiment.
-
top teeth pressure "pressing down a bit more with the top teeth---it seems to loosen the jaw"
- RH thumb pressure "pushing up with the RH thumb in the thumb hook---aids the first suggestion"
- blowing faster, colder air in the upper register "the embouchure doesn't have to work as hard if the air is doing most of the work"
- consciously working to "open the teeth" more as I play
Exercises:
- Bb1,Bb2,Bb3 - B1,B2,B3 etc to drum track
- Long fifths C2-G2, C#2-G#2 etc.
- Top tones book tone matching
Cheers,
Dave
