I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season, and find yourselves refreshed and ready to tackle another year! I’ll be posting my usual semester preview next week, but as promised, here are the results from the Mouthpiece Survey. Before getting to the results here are a few points to keep in mind.

• Creating this survey was a learning experience, and I am grateful to those who offered input. I ended up throwing out one of the survey questions entirely because it was poorly constructed.
• A free account with Survey Monkey only allows a maximum of 100 respondents per survey. Therefore, the scope of the survey is limited. It was suggested that I create multiple surveys to allow as many respondents as were willing to participate, but this would have made working with the data much more difficult. In other words, Survey Monkey wouldn’t have collated all of the data from multiple surveys and created the neat graphs and charts you are about to see. Based on the participation in this one small survey, I think a much more comprehensive and wide ranging study of mouthpieces would be well received by the horn playing community.
• What do the results mean? By themselves, very little! Draw from the results whatever conclusions you like. It is simply information, which I hope in some small way will assist players in finding the right mouthpiece for them. Rather than attempt to interpret the results for you, I have simply included the survey questions, along with a graphical representation of the responses (for those who want an overview). For those who want all the gritty details, a more complete rundown of the responses can be found at the end of this post. Enjoy!

Please indicate your primary mouthpiece, i.e. the one on which you do the majority of your playing.

Please indicate your primary mouthpiece, i.e. the one on which you do the majority of your playing.

Answer Choices–	Responses–
Alexander	1% 1
Antoine Courtois	0% 0
Atkinson	2% 2
Bach	0% 0
Benge	0% 0
Beck	0% 0
Best Brass	0% 0
Blessing	1% 1
Breslmair	1% 1
Bruno Tilz	0% 0
B&S	0% 0
Cantesanu	1% 1
C. F. Schmidt	1% 1
C. L Hmann & Co.	0% 0
Champion	0% 0
Conn	2% 2
Couesnon	0% 0
Crampone Buffet	0% 0
Curry	0% 0
DEG	0% 0
Dell ‘Osa	0% 0
Denis Wick	0% 0
Engelbert Schmid	4% 4
Faxx	0% 0
Finke	0% 0
Getzen	0% 0
Geyer	0% 0
Giardinelli	3% 3
Giddings and Webster	1% 1
Greg Black	0% 0
Hans Hoyer	1% 1
H. N. White	0% 0
Holton	2% 2
Houser	13% 13
Kanstul	0% 0
Kelly	0% 0
Josef Klier	2% 2
Jupiter	0% 0
Karl Hill	0% 0
King	0% 0
Kruspe	0% 0
Laskey	24% 24
Lawson	2% 2
L’Olifant	0% 0
Marcinkiewicz	0% 0
McCracken	1% 1
Miraphone	0% 0
Moosewood	7.00% 7
Olds	0% 0
Osmun	4% 4
Neill Sanders	0% 0
Patterson	1% 1
Paxman	0% 0
Paxman-Halstead-Chidell (PHC)	5% 5
Pizka	0% 0
Raoux	1% 1
Reynolds	0% 0
Sansone	0% 0
Selmer	0% 0
Seraphinoff	0% 0
Schilke	2% 2
Stölzel	0% 0
Stork	7.00% 7
Thein	0% 0
Thompson Edition	3% 3
Warburton	1% 1
Werner Chr. Schmidt	1% 1
Wedge	1% 1
Windhager	0% 0
Yamaha	2% 2
ResponsesOther (please specify)Schmid

Holton Farkas VDC

custom made by Stork since 1980

3%

3

Total

100

Please indicate any other mouthpieces that you currently use or recommend to your students (check all that apply)

Answer Choices–	Responses–
Alexander	5% 5
Antoine Courtois	2% 2
Atkinson	2% 2
Bach	12% 12
Benge	0% 0
Beck	0% 0
Best Brass	0% 0
Blessing	0% 0
Breslmair	1% 1
Bruno Tilz	8% 8
B&S	0% 0
Cantesanu	2% 2
C. F. Schmidt	4% 4
C. L Hmann & Co.	0% 0
Champion	0% 0
Conn	6% 6
Couesnon	1% 1
Crampone Buffet	0% 0
Curry	1% 1
DEG	0% 0
Dell ‘Osa	2% 2
Denis Wick	3% 3
Engelbert Schmid	11% 11
Faxx	1% 1
Finke	0% 0
Getzen	0% 0
Geyer	2% 2
Giardinelli	16% 16
Giddings and Webster	4% 4
Greg Black	0% 0
Hans Hoyer	0% 0
H. N. White	1% 1
Holton	26% 26
Houser	16% 16
Kanstul	0% 0
Kelly	0% 0
Josef Klier	8% 8
Jupiter	0% 0
Karl Hill	2% 2
King	1% 1
Kruspe	1% 1
Laskey	35% 35
Lawson	12% 12
L’Olifant	1% 1
Marcinkiewicz	2% 2
McCracken	1% 1
Miraphone	2% 2
Moosewood	27% 27
Olds	0% 0
Osmun	12% 12
Neill Sanders	0% 0
Patterson	3% 3
Paxman	6% 6
Paxman-Halstead-Chidell (PHC)	13% 13
Pizka	0% 0
Raoux	1% 1
Reynolds	0% 0
Sansone	0% 0
Selmer	1% 1
Seraphinoff	3% 3
Schilke	25% 25
Stölzel	0% 0
Stork	15% 15
Thein	0% 0
Thompson Edition	4% 4
Warburton	2% 2
Werner Chr. Schmidt	1% 1
Wedge	1% 1
Windhager	3% 3
Yamaha	9% 9
ResponsesOther (please specify)	2% 2
Total Respondents: 100

From which material is the RIM on your primary mouthpiece constructed? Please answer even if you do not use a two or three part mouthpiece.

Brass, silver plated	37% 37
Brass, gold plated	28.00% 28
Brass, unplated	1% 1
Delrin	1% 1
Sheet metal	2% 2
Stainless steel	7.00% 7
Stainless steel, H-Kote (black)	9% 9
Stainless steel, H-Kote (gold)	3% 3
Sterling Silver	6% 6
Titanium	3% 3
ResponsesOther (please specify)

Unplated nickel silver

Silver, gold plated

one piece, brass, gold plated

3%

3

From which material is the CUP on your primary mouthpiece constructed? Please answer even if you do not use a two or three part mouthpiece.

Brass, silver plated	55.00% 55
Brass, gold plated	14.00% 14
Brass, unplated	3% 3
Delrin	0% 0
Sheet metal	3% 3
Stainless steel	15% 15
Sterling Silver	7.00% 7
Titanium	1% 1
ResponsesOther (please specify)

silver, gold plated

one piece, brass, gold plated

2%

2

Total

100

Please indicate the inner diameter on the rim of your primary mouthpiece. If choosing “other,” list measurement in millimeters (mm).

Answer Choices–	Responses–
16.00mm to 16.49mm	6% 6
16.50mm to 16.99mm	10% 10
17.00mm to 17.49mm	16% 16
17.50mm to 17.99mm	39% 39
18.00mm to 18.49mm	18% 18
18.50mm or greater	5% 5
ResponsesOther (please specify)

Whatever an off-the-rack Stork C-12 is…

Don’t know. Standard Moosewood.

19mm

Conn Constellation 7BW – “average width” – mm unknown

Not sure

19mm

6%

6

Total

100

Please indicate your primary instrument, i.e. the one on which you do the majority of your playing.

Answer Choices–	Responses–
Double Horn	92% 92
Single B-flat Horn	2% 2
Triple Horn	3% 3
Descant Horn	0% 0
Natural Horn	1% 1
ResponsesOther (please specify)

Alexander compensating double horn mod. 102st

Vienna Horn

2%

2

Total

100

Please indicate your primary occupation as a horn player.

Answer Choices–	Responses–
Amateur	17% 17
College/University Student	27% 27
College/University Teacher	11% 11
High School Student	6% 6
Orchestral Musician	31% 31
Recording Studio Musician	0% 0
Soloist/Chamber Musician	1% 1
ResponsesOther (please specify)

Chamber Musician

Private pre-college teacher, chamber musician

Military Band

Semi pro

Student/Freelancer

Former military musician

orchestral musician and college/university teacher

7.00%

7

Total

100