Larger mouthpiece, shorter phrases?

[PaulT]

I have recently moved up to a slightly larger mouthpiece and I like everything about it better... except that on longer phrases, I seem to run out of air a note or two earlier than I used to (and when I go back to my previous mouthpiece, I get those one or two notes back). Is this an inevitable result of the slightly more open throat and slightly larger cup or will my blow adjust with time and practice?

Details: .508 bore. Went from Bach 7C to Yamaha Nils Landgren (? think size difference between a 6.5AL to 5G, relatively speaking?}

Bach 7C: 24.75 rim, 5.85 mm throat
Nils Lindgren: 25.11 rim, 6.25 mm throat

The size increase is minor, but I feel and hear a clear difference. I like the feel and tone of the Nils Lindgren with this horn. When I go back to the 7C, it just feels a little cramped and sounds a little nasally.

One thought is that maybe I'm working harder on some of higher notes than I used to with the smaller mouthpiece and with continued use, my chops will adjust. I hope this is case. Or is it inevitable, bigger mouthpiece, shorter phrases?

[PaulT]

(I have cleverly adjusted by picking up the tempo, but this technique probably only works in my basement)

[Doug Elliott]

... when I go back to my previous mouthpiece, I get those one or two notes back.

... When I go back to the 7C, it just feels a little cramped and sounds a little nasally.

[PaulT]

I just spent some time working "long as I can blow" tones. I did 25 or 30 long blows with each mouthpiece (wasn't really counting, but it was a lot). My metric is how many beats can I hold a Bb with the metronome set at 84. ( And I'm better than I was last year by at least five beats or so). I hit the occasional solid 40 count before running out of gas with the 7C with maybe an average in the 35, 36 range. The Nils Landgren was close, occasionally the same, but usually two beats less.

The good news, well, two good newses. The first good news, I'm better than I was a year ago and a year ago I was better than I was the previous year. The more pertinent good news, today (after the "long as I could blow tones") when I went to the Bordogni I was working on last night (#11), I blew right through the phrase that had been gassing me*. Not only did I play it and finish it the way I wanted to, I even had a little left in the tank.

So, maybe I just had a couple bad days and I needed to do some "stretching exercises". Anyway, today I am playing the sections that had been bothering me the last two days. I am resuming lessons with a favorite instructor next week and I want to "show off" my Bordogni, (as he is the guy that started me on it before he went off to grad school), so I have been Bordogining away.

So, I don't know, maybe there is always a tradeoff with mouthpieces. If you can do all you want to do, need to do, go with the tone. If you can't, go with the one that does the job, as getting the music right is more important than hitting the tone dream. Right now, today, the Nils did all I wanted it to do and it sounded great. So it goes.


*(measure 49 (?) the "dminuendo e rallent" that begins on G and then scales down four and half measures in a series of slowing triplets until it comes to rest right before the "a tempo")

[ArbanRubank]

Someone stop me if I'm wrong, but it appears to me that what you did was sensitivity training on your chops and you got them to vibrate well on less air, thereby extending your phrases. I think it's inspiring!