Metalite Mouthpiece from Tony Tate on Vimeo.
Another mouthpiece I got in the mail was the Rico Royal Metalite. As you can hear, the sound is pretty good. However, for me at least, this mouthpiece was making me work very hard. The tip opening was pretty wide, and, the baffle inside this mouthpiece offers some push back. But the baffle is precisely what gives it that really focused sound I think.
I prepared this video for a friend of mine to hear it, as he is interested in the mouthpiece should choose not to keep it. At this point, I think I will pass on this one. After I’d been playing another month or so I could probably handle it, but not right now. My friend will probably pass on it as well. So, I may have it back in a few weeks. I really like the sound.
The Vandoren V16 mouthpiece, which plays so much easier, makes me work in other ways. There is a wide variance in pitch. I mean it is very free and offers me a wide range of pitch. Therefore I have to really concentrate on playing in tune. The Metalite seems to center your pitch for you. I’m used to the concept of having a lot of room because I have been playing a Claude Lakey mouthpieces on my Alto sax for years. They also offer a very wide variance or range in pitch. And when I first began playing it there was definitely a learning curve as far as playing in tune.
The Vandoren mouthpiece also produces a different tone depending on how hard I push it. I can go from a bright piercing sound to a dark tone in a moment, though I haven’t quite grasp exactly how it works. Also, at moments I sound like a Tenor player, and other times I clearly sound like I never ever knew what the hell I was doing on Tenor sax. At one time I really did though.
I won’t quit. I’m too excited about it now. I will keep recording myself, which is how I learned in the first place what I sounded like and that gave me a direction in which to move forward. If I suck I’ll post it. If I sound pretty good, I’ll definitely post. If I start sounding really good, maybe someone will repost me:)
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