TromboneChat

Do different mouthpieces affect intonation differently?

The reason I ask is that I have been playing a number of 51-sized mpcs, namely an older, long version 51, a Symphony Series 5.1, a DE 102 E8 and a DE 102 G8. Today I was working with a tuner and I found with several of these the intonation was more difficult than others. One in particular seemed better.

Yup.

It's a pretty deep topic. Not only do different MPs affect the partials and how far you might need to pull the tuning slide, but they also affect the octaves. Learning that octaves going sharp or flat wasn't necessarily my fault was a big deal to me.

Anyone sitting in front of their tuner going nuts about why their high Bb is going sharp or flat when their lower Bb is dead on, and the upper note is otherwise perfectly slotting, "should I lip it?" -- that person shouldn't beat themself up.

One way that I can tell that a mouthpiece is too big is if my pitch is flat in the upper register.

This is something I struggled with on-and-off over the years: finding mouthpieces that (1) feel good (2) sound good and (3) are in tune. At some point, you just have to find a mpc (or limited number for different horns) that works well all over, experiment and analyze it for its idiosyncrasies, and then get to playing and practicing. I guess you could say the same about instruments, too.

FWIW, I believe that timbre also affects intonation. The tuner might say one thing while your ear/brain might tell you something else.

I had a custom schilke 20 years ago that was unplayably out of tune. Very expensive paperweight. Not just anybody can design mouthpieces. That's why most new mouthpieces are based on something that has already been proven.

Yes, when I have a mouthpiece that is in the ball park of fitting me correctly my intonation is better. When anything is a little too large or too small, I have to change my pitch tendencies.

I have experimented with this and noticed on my Hammond mouthpieces where I have bought the whole series of 11, 12 and 13 that I need to compensate with the tuningslide when I change between 12M, 12ML, 12MXL, 12XL, 12L. It's about 5 mm difference between 12M and 12L. All the mouthpieces are in tune, just need that first adjustment. I've noticed this too especially on alto if you compare the small Bach 15E, 12E designed for alto compared to the 11C, 7C, 6 1/2AL designed for tenor. I agree some mouthpieces are "wrong" because they do not make harmonics line up right, but that is to me another kind of problem I avoid those. They could fit another horn and be a good mouthpiece there though.

/Tom