Roland Aerophone Mini - The "Straw" mouthpiece
Being a recorder player, when I first tried the Aerophone Mini two were the things that bothered me immediately:
the presence of click-clack keys and
the sax-style mouthpiece.
Many have complained about the noisy keys in the whole Aerophone family, but personally I have come to terms with them very quickly: you just have to “break-in” the instrument. After a few weeks of medium to intense usage, the noise has lowered somehow. Nonetheless, I did two other things to improve the situation: I passed a very fine sandpaper over the surface of each and every key, because I did not like their sharp corners too much. And then I put some silicone-based grease into the key mechanisms, which effectively has improved a lot the situation not only regarding the noise, but also the responsiveness of the keys. I actually passed the same sandpaper all over the instrument, especially on the back, but this is a matter for a future article (EDIT 2020/07/14 See Tweaking the Aerophone Mini).
Now, regarding the mouthpiece, first of all there are a couple of considerations to be made.
As you probably know, the Aerophone Mini doesn’t have a reed or bite sensor, which all its elder siblings have. This creates an odd situation in which a recorder-like instrument comes with a completely useless sax-like mouthpiece. And you must use a sax-like embouchure with your mouth and lips, otherwise a lot of air would leak from the sides. It is very uncomfortable.
But after all that, I discovered that Roland was producing another mouthpiece, model OP-AE01MP, that doesn’t have the reed. You would expect a recorder-like embouchure, wouldn’t you? Nope. They “invented” a sort of conical mouthpiece with which it’s much like blowing into a thick straw.
Apparently, the OP-AE01MP is not yet distributed outside the US. Being in Italy, I asked for help from a friend of mine in Wisconsin (thanks again Mary!): she received the product in a few days and then sent it to me via USPS. In total, it took a month and about 75€.
Was it worth it?
When you switch from the original mouth piece, model OP-AE05MPH, to the new rounded one, the first thing you notice is that the quantity of required air is completely different, where much less is needed with the rounded one. The second thing you realize is that… a lot of air is coming out from the sides! In fact, you have to get used to the new mouthpiece and probably develop some muscle memory (and strength) in order to completely surround and seal the “straw” with your lips. After three months, my lips still hurt if I play too long...
But after all, it’s not that bad: truth is that with practice and exercise we can get used to and learn how to properly use any musical instrument, including one with a straw-like embouchure.
