The Brass Instrument Mouthpiece: a Systematic Historical Approach

Description

Selection of the mouthpiece is as important for the brasswind player as choice of instrument. Manufacturers offer a wide range of mouthpieces for modern instruments, but for historical instruments it can be difficult to determine what mouthpiece specifications would be appropriate for a particular time and place. The difficulty arises partly because historic mouthpieces can rarely be known with certainly to be original for an instrument or confidently attributed to an instrument species and dated, and partly because of the large number of variables. These include those governing the fit to the mouthpiece receiver of the instrument, the features of the rim affecting player comfort and endurance, and the dimensions of the cup, throat and backbore that contribute to the acoustical behaviour of the mouthpiece together with the instrument and thus their response and timbre. This paper reports on a wide-ranging study of mouthpieces for all brasswind species in which parameters have been developed and prioritised, allowing a more focussed view of the possibilities for many instruments used in period performance.

Period	4 Jul 2026
Event title	28th International Wind Music Conference, Internationale Gesellschaft zur Erforschung und Forderung der Blasmusik
Event type	Conference
Location	Bern, SwitzerlandShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International