Is your tip opening sabotaging you? A tip opening has a big impact on the flexibility and control of a mouthpiece.

Every part of a mouthpiece's design impacts how it plays, and the tip opening is only one part of that equation. When choosing a new mouthpiece, the best way is to play as many as you can and pick your favourite. You'll also want to try different reed strengths with a new mouthpiece. The right combination of reed and tip opening can make your mouthpiece play like magic.

Let's break it down. The tip opening is the distance between the tip of the reed and the tip of the mouthpiece. In general, a smaller tip opening is easier to control, has more resistance and requires less air. This makes it a good choice for classical players who seek a focused, pure tone. Conversely, a larger tip opening allows for more air to flow through, resulting in a bigger, more free blowing sound with greater flexibility and projection. Medium and large tip openings are often preferred by jazz and contemporary players since they have the flexibility needed for those music styles. It's important to remember that the tip opening directly affects the strength of the reed you can use. Smaller tip openings work best with harder reeds, and large tip openings work better with softer reeds.

Finding a good combination of tip opening and reed strength can help you tune the response of your instrument for the style of music you desire to play. If you know what kind of music you want to play, that can help you pinpoint what kind of setup you'll need to help you achieve it. For example, let's say you want a mouthpiece for your marching band. You want to choose a mouthpiece with lots of potential for volume with good control. Both a mouthpiece with a small tip opening with a hard reed or a medium tip opening with a medium soft reed could be good options. They both have potential for lots of volume, but there are still advantages for both choices. For example, a smaller tip opening has less flexibility for pitch bending, but helps keep a focused and pure sound, whereas a larger tip opening gives way to more projection and tone flexibility. To have a very stable sound for a marching bend with lots of potential for volume, you may want to consider a mouthpiece with a hard reed and a smaller tip opening.

If you don’t know what style music you want to play and this is your first mouthpiece upgrade we recommend starting with a 5-6 tip opening (more on that to come). This is a good middle ground that is fairly flexible with reed choices and styles of music. This is a recommendation from the Jody Jazz website: "Here are some general guidelines to follow when searching for the right tip opening. If you play for less than an hour a day you are probably best off if you stick to the lower numbers. Too large a piece will be difficult too control in the lower registers, it will be difficult to play at soft volumes, you will run out of air too soon and your embouchure will tire out too soon." JodyJazz.com

Sizes 3-5 are generally used for classical saxophone mouthpieces, while sizes 5-7 are usually used for jazz and most other styles of playing. Sizes 8 and above are less commonly used but are preferred by some players, namely those wanting huge flexibility. And, if marching band is more your thing, we recommend sizes from 4-6.