The question any band director or horn teacher needs to ponder is what mouthpieces will give a new player the best chance of success? What will help them stick with the horn, to make it easier to play, to not quit?

Some mouthpieces are better than others. Although some may recommend Giardinelli to students, and good examples of older production versions of these mouthpieces are sought out by some players, I personally really don’t like the stock rim and the larger bore models are certainly difficult for younger students to play with focus and good articulations. Do a back-to-back comparison of a new C-8 with say a Yamaha 30C4. The Yamaha is a lot easier mouthpiece to play. It is too small for an advanced student (it is less than #20 bore!) but the quality is good and it will give a new player a much easier start. A C-8 on a single F horn will be really hard for any beginner to manage.

Two of the more popular mouthpieces out there are the Holton MC and MDC. I played both as a student. I would suggest if you are shopping to do a back-to-back comparison of these mouthpieces with the Schilke 30 and 27. When I have done this with students they usually chose the Schilke over Holton.

The mouthpiece that I would most want to suggest be considered more often for younger students is the Laskey 75G. This works well on basically any type of horn, sounds great, plays great, has a very friendly rim, and is affordable. It has also only been out a few years. Several current ASU students are using this mouthpiece.

One attitude and approach to equipment that may be taken is that “my horn is what it is and I just need to learn to play it.” There is an element of truth to this attitude but is your horn basically hard to articulate on? Does your sound just not project well compared to others around you? Maybe a different mouthpiece or leadpipe would help; maybe a whole new horn would open up a new level of playing to you that you have never experienced previously. You still have to put in the practice hours, of course, but equipment still is a very important element. You will want to keep your eyes open to see what might make things better.

Every horn player is (or at least should be) interested in finding better equipment. But what equipment is better? Any answer to this question is colored because every horn teacher is biased (including me!) by both their individual sense of what sounds best and by their sense of “what works” both professionally for them right now and for their current students. There are many different models of horns and mouthpieces on the market and any number of them will do well. As a teacher I am very comfortable teaching students who have different tonal ideals and would not insist that a student use any particular brand or model of horn; I just want to feel that it is, in fact, a good instrument, no matter what their tonal ideal is.

The choice of a horn is obviously a very important one. Good and bad horns can be made from brass or nickel silver, can be large or small bore, can have a screw bell or fixed bell, etc. Different types of horns will be preferred in different places and it is to your advantage to aspire to fit into the musical situation that you have the closest affinity for. Rather than give specific recommendations as to horns [but see the end of this article...], I would suggest if at all possible speaking to several full time professional players of the horn in your area. What you want to obtain is a horn that is of the quality level that a professional would play it or at least consider playing and you also want a horn that should retain some resale value in your area.

On mouthpieces, I would first suggest in general that hornists don’t use the mouthpiece that “came with the horn.” A change of mouthpiece can make an incredible difference. If possible, try several mouthpieces of the same model; if they are all significantly different, there are probably quality control problems with that brand and you should think about performing on a different brand. Look for a mouthpiece that is neither very large nor very small that plays easily with a good, resonant sound; they are available! As an additional suggestion on mouthpieces, in general don’t use one with too wide or too rounded a rim. I feel that both of these design areas tend to make the horn harder to play and play accurately. Finally, do be sure that any mouthpiece you use is properly sized for your horn leadpipe inlet. There is a distance that a mouthpiece should fit into the receiver; if it goes in too little or too far things will not work as well as they should.

There are a lot of mutes on the market, each with a unique shade of tonal color and slightly different playing qualities. If you can, try the mute before you buy it–especially try the low range, which on some mutes is quite poor. In general many professional players in the USA prefer “Rittich” style mutes, the ones that look like a tall cone. I would by choice recommend a tunable version of this type of mute. While it may make sense to purchase a cheap mute for a school program, for personal use always look for something up the ladder in terms of quality. As to stop mutes, try several if possible and pick the one with the best projection, as this does vary considerably. Copyright John Ericson. All rights reserved.

To give a slightly more concrete answer, I made both of my solo CDs on the Paxman 25A at the right. The 25A is a larger bore horn generally similar to a Conn 8D but with some of the qualities I associate with a Geyer style horn. At this point in time I still own the horn but if I had to replace it I would replace it with something a bit smaller. I have played Geyer style horns in the past and would be very tempted to look in that direction again. I won my job in Nashville playing a Yamaha 667 and during my time there switched to an 8D with a Lawson flare to better match the mostly Lawson section. I have played it all.

The horn I actually play right now is a triple horn, a Paxman model 83L compensating triple. This horn I describe further in an article in the February, 2006 issue of The Horn Call, the journal of the International Horn Society. It uses the same tapers as the Paxman 23L double, an instrument that feels good to me if you want another suggestion. I find that the 23L is sized somewhere in the middle between large and small bore instruments.

I do have several specific, less expensive suggestions for students and for amateurs looking for new horns, mouthpieces, and mutes.

New horns that I like generally:

• Conn 8DR
• Yamaha 667

The Conn 8DR is a larger bell horn in rose brass and the Yamaha 667 is a smaller bell brass horn. They both give a good “professional” sound when coupled with a good mouthpiece.

On mouthpieces, as noted above, I would first suggest in general that hornists don’t use the mouthpiece that “came with the horn.” A change of mouthpiece can make an incredible difference. New mouthpieces that I recommend in order of price from low to high:

• Laskey 75G or 75J
• Moosewood A-11 or B-12

The Laskey 75G is a really excellent mouthpiece and is very popular in the ASU studio (and surprisingly affordable). Also very popular among my current students is the Moosewood B-12. I also recommend the Laskey 75J and the Moosewood A-11; they are similar to the others except that they produce a bit brighter (75J) or darker (A-11) tone colors and are a better match for the emboucure and articulation style of some players. 

My current main mouthpiece is a Laskey 80J. These past two years I have done a lot of testing of Laskey products. I am very impressed with these mouthpieces. The 80 series has a bit wider inner diamater than the 75G/J mentioned above,18 MM compared to 17.5 MM. Another mouthpiece I have tried a lot lately is a Lawson F660 with a B705 rim. This was a “homecoming,” as I used this rim as a Doctoral student, and it is similar enough to the Laskey that I can switch back and forth. I should note that both of my CDs were recorded playing, believe it or not, an old Conn 5BN mouthpiece (long out of production). I have swithed mouthpiece many times; always keep your eyes open as to what is out there.

I should also mention that I don’t use the same mouthpiece on every horn. I regularly use a Stork CMB-12 on natural horn, a Moosewood BD cup on descant, and a Laskey 80F on Wagner tuba (and sometimes on natural horn).

Be sure, as also noted in the above article, that any mouthpiece you use is properly sized for your horn leadpipe inlet. There is a distance that a mouthpiece should fit into the receiver; if it goes in too little or too far things really will not work as well as they should. The reason I emphasize this point is because I found a stock B-12 very good on my big Paxman horn but the smaller shanked B-12Y to be even better. It fits maybe 1/16 of an inch further into the leadpipe than the stock B-12.

For a student with braces I would suggest trying to locate this mouthpiece:

• Neill Sanders 17M

This model has an unusually wide, reverse peak rim design which spreads the pressure well. I found this mouthpiece to be useful during a period when I had a lip injury, and some teachers also find this mouthpiece useful in working on embouchure changes. Unfortunately, this mouthpiece has been out of production for a number of years but Moosewood can supply you with a copy of the rim to fit one of their models. The comfort is worth the expense compared to other options with braces.

As noted above, in general I prefer “Rittich” style mutes, the ones that look like a tall cone. In my opinion one of the best mute values out there is the tunable “Rittich” style mute made by Stonelined (Humes and Berg), which runs under $50. I also like the TrumCor #45, also a Rittich style mute, and other good mutes are out there. Avoid mutes made of aluminum or plastic. For a stop mute I have been happy with Tom Crown but the TrumCor and Alexander stop mutes are excellent.

I recently discussed the advantages of mouthpiece buzzing as a “pre warm-up”. I would also like to mention some further advantages to incorporating buzzing into one’s practice routine, both with and without the mouthpiece. It’s interesting to observe that buzzing is a technique which is rarely mentioned in most method books, however it is remarkable how many brass instrument teachers and professionals strongly acknowledge and advocate buzzing.

Mouthpiece buzzing

Mouthpiece buzzing exercises are good for attaining good concepts of air flow because the mouthpiece gives much resistance than the trumpet does, allowing for a free, relaxed feel while blowing. Furthermore, the embouchure tends to be very relaxed when buzzing the mouthpiece. When playing an ascending line via a glissando, the embouchure can remain much more relaxed than it does when “reaching” for the next overtone when playing on the instrument itself.

Mouthpiece buzzing can also be a good ear-training technique. Next time you encounter a passage that is particularly difficult to hear, play through it slowly on the trumpet, then try playing it slowly with just the mouthpiece. Play some of the difficult intervals on the instrument, then try to match the pitches on the mouthpiece. Add one note at a time, alternating between the trumpet and mouthpiece alone. When you return to playing the entire passage on the trumpet, you will see that your accuracy has been greatly enhanced.

Lip Buzzing:

Lip buzzing, without the mouthpiece can be a very good exercise for developing an “awareness” of proper embouchure formation. Lip buzzing is particularly good for working on embouchure focus. When focusing, or drawing in the embouchure as you ascend to higher pitches it is particularly important, however, to be certain that your lips always remain relaxed – not tense.

Lip buzzing exercises are good for working on embouchure strength because you can concentrate on developing fast vibrations (i.e. high pitches) without relying on the mouthpiece to maintain proper lip formation or even worse, using mouthpiece pressure to hit the hit notes. For this purpose lip buzzing can be even more beneficial than mouthpiece buzzing.

Edward Tarr once told me that if you can’t buzz the pitch, you can’t play it. While he probably didn’t literally mean this, it is certainly likely that if you can buzz the pitch with your lips alone, you certainly should be able to play it.

Like many practice techniques, it is probably wise to not go overboard with excessive daily buzzing exercises. However, I do think that you will find that mouthpiece buzzing and lip buzzing can prove to be useful auxiliary exercised in your practice routine.