Mouthpiece (woodwind)
Single-reed mouthpieces are basically wedge shaped, with the reed placed against the surface closest to the player's lower lip (the table).
Some players (including many German clarinetists) prefer string or a shoelace, which is wrapped around the reed and the mouthpiece, to commercially manufactured ligatures.
Today, as with the saxophone mouthpiece, the reed is placed against the surface (the table) closest to the player's bottom lip.
Some clarinetists in Madagascar today still play with the reed on top as can be heard[clarification needed] on the CD Bémiray: Polyphonies des Hauts-plateaux.
A baffle, or section of the mouthpiece roof sloped close to the plane of the reed, became a design feature for enhancing volume and projection.
These mouthpieces give the instrument a brighter and edgier sound (more high partials) than the traditional shape as designed by Sax.
His students and other disciples felt that the desirable tone for a classical saxophone was a softer, rounder sound—a sound that can only be produced by a mouthpiece with a large, rounded interior (often referred to as an "excavated chamber").
By 1970, narrow-chambered mouthpieces had become nearly universally popular for playing in an environment with amplified instruments, and virtually all new designs featured a narrow chamber, high baffle, or both.
[5] Clarinet and saxophone mouthpieces[6] have been made out of hard (vulcanized) rubber, brass or other metal, crystal, glass, plastic, and wood.
[7] Some recent designs by Van Doren, Bari, and Saxgourmet reflect the theory that the mass of metal over the shank of the mouthpiece, which contacts the neck cork, stabilizes the connection and enhances the integrity of the harmonic series.
On a capped double-reed instrument the function of the mouthpiece is simply to provide a chamber within which the reed can vibrate, with a hole through which air can be blown.
A pirouette is a wooden mouthpiece assembly or lip rest used in some European double-reed instruments, including the piffero, shawm and rackett.
