Mouthpiece characteristics effects on intonation

[Mary Ann]

Klaus would have been the one who could really expound on this, but I'm still curious. Has there been a study done that relates various mouthpiece characteristics (e.g., depth and shape of cup, backbore size and shape, etc) to intonation characteristics, such that if an instrument has a particular characteristic that is difficult to deal with, a different set of tapers in the cup/backbore can positively affect that? From experience on horns I can tell you that there are "horn and mouthpiece pairs" that work better than others for ease of playing. I use a particular mouthpiece on my horn because of that; the match is good. (On my horn, the bell tapers make a huge impact too; however it isn't intonation but slots. And cut bell horns can much more easily change out bells to see what works better.)

[bloke]

As is known, I'm not a scientist. My >experience< is that shallower cups and in particular smaller throats offer more intonation flexibility, and that no (tuba) mouthpiece in particular - in my own experience, even though at first I may have been fooled from time to time into falsely observing otherwise - alters intonation relationships >of partials< significantly.

Tuba mouthpieces aren't all that much longer overall than other brass mouthpieces, and contain an even smaller percentage of the mouthpipe capillary portion - percentage wise, within them - compared to any of the other brass instruments' mouthpieces.

This is outside of your inquiry even further, because not only is it not scientific but it also is strictly opinion and preference: I definitely prefer instruments with friendly intonation characteristics over mouthpieces that offer more intonation flexibility, though both characteristics are obviously of benefit.

Finally, I would just like to say that I'm not sure why I like at least three of the four mouthpiece cup shapes that I offer for sale, and that I like them mostly based on trial and error.

Even further off topic and even more personalized, yesterday I was playing a couple more nursing home jobs in extremely resonant rooms which were also not all that large. I was using my f tuba and the mouthpiece which I have spent many years figuring out via trial and error. I was playing pieces the equivalent of "whisper quiet" (if played in a typical concert venue) no effort (which sounded somewhere between mezzo piano and mezzo forte to my ears).
I haven't played that instrument in several days, not even one note before the downbeat. Unlike what the truthism is (about great players making anything sound great, etc.) extraordinarily good equipment (however that is mysteriously defined) can help good players >seem< to be extraordinarily good players.

This (beloved by many) repaired-for-someone-several-years-ago YBB-103 - with a shallow/small-throat mouthpiece - pretty flexible...

[peterbas]

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[Mary Ann]

I used a translator to get the written part, but the video wants personal information and likely is in German too, which ich verstehe nicht. Danke anyway.