Tip for anyone buying anything.
Try them first. Instruments are a must to play on first, but keep in mind that you’ll probably be upgrading a mouthpiece in the near future as well. Go into a store a try an instrument, make the drive. Have a road trip for music! And with mouthpieces, if there’s not a store close to you I believe WWBW has a trial where you can call them and order mouthpieces on trial. Your band director might have some and if you take private lessons then ask your teacher about them. My teacher has a policy that if I can try one of hers until I buy the same model, try both of them to check the difference, and give her the one I don’t like. And if you find a mouthpiece you like, I do recommend getting two and sending the worst back. Because even though they are the same model, they’ll have slight differences. But during that trial, play scales, slow pieces, fast pieces, loudly, and softly. And play with different reeds, you never know if it’s just a fantastic reed or a fantastic mouthpiece. See if a Rico Grand Concert, a Gonzalez, or a Vandoren blue box would be the best fit. My biggest tip is to write down what you feel when you play it (stuffy, articulate, freeblowing i.e.) and do the same a week later.
