CHIbrass Arnold Jacobs mouthpieces are a joint project with CHIBrass and Windsong Press to make them available to others and continue passing on Jacobs’ legacy of teaching, artistry, innovation and brass playing philosophy.
CHIBrass Arnold Jacobs Mouthpieces
Jacobs 1 – A copy of the very first Helleberg mouthpiece Arnold Jacobs ever purchased when he was a student and used more than any other mouthpiece throughout his career.
Jacobs 2 (small Shank), Jacobs 2A (Large Shank) – These are great all around mouthpieces that produces a wonderful clear high overtone rich sound on the large horns and makes a great Eb or F mouthpiece as well.
JS Helleberg – For those needing a wider cup and bigger sound this may be what you have been searching for.
JR Helleberg – Essentially a reimagining of an original 1930s Helleberg that Arnold Jacobs owned intended for Eb and F tubas
Arnold Jacobs Adjustable Cup – He used this to fine tune the character of the sound for a particular piece of music.
CHIBrass Floyd Cooley Mouthpieces
Floyd Cooley 1 – Based on a very fine example from the first batch of the Floyd Cooley Helleberg that Floyd had made in the 90s.
Floyd Cooley 2 – Floyd had ten special mouthpieces made that were just a little larger in several ways than his others with the same Floyd Cooley rim contour.
Floyd Cooley 3 – The CHI Brass Floyd Cooley 3 is a copy of one of Floyd’s favorite mouthpieces he used before he began making his own.
Arnold Jacobs: Song and Wind
With a career spanning seven decades with the Indianapolis, Pittsburgh and Chicago Symphonies, Arnold Jacobs has earned a reputation as a world-class performer. Equally significant are his teachings. During his career, thousands of students have passed through his studio. Finally, there is the definitive book on his career. Arnold Jacobs: Song and Wind is written by Mr. Jacobs’ assistant, Brian Frederiksen, and edited by John Taylor. With a length of 296 pages, material comes from masterclasses, private interviews, previously published writings and contributions from his students and colleagues. Subjects include: The Performer: Early Years, Curtis Institute, Indianapolis Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Conductors, Other Performances, York Tuba The Teacher: Physical Elements, Mental Elements, Performance, Instruments, The Jacobs Studio Discography, Full Documentation And more . . .
Also Sprach Arnold Jacobs
Compiled by Bruce Nelson, a student of Arnold Jacobs and Edward Kleinhammer. About Arnold Jacobs, he writes, In addition to being an outstanding musician, Arnold Jacobs undoubtedly was the most influential brass teacher of the second half of the twentieth century. Countless brass (and other) musicians from all over the world travelled to Chicago to study with this master. Additionally, Mr. Jacobs also gave master classes that were popular with students, teachers and professionals in many different locations. Even if it were all known, it would be impossible to reduce to writing all of the advice Arnold Jacobs gave to thousands of students over a period of almost 70 years. Nevertheless, this book is an attempt to preserve in writing, by topic, the common ideas and variations of those ideas from which so many musicians have benefited.
Horns of Valhalla – Saga of the Reiter Brothers by Norman Schweikert
The Reiter brothers, Josef and Xaver, were true heroes of the horn, having filled solo positions in the Munich Opera, other European orchestras in Sondershausen, Hannover, Karlsruhe and the Bayreuth Festival, before coming to America in the latter half of the 1880s. Here they were solo horns of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Metropolitan Opera, the New York Symphony with Damrosch, Scheel’s Orchestra of San Francisco, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the first season of the Philadelphia Orchestra, and finally the New York Philharmonic with Gustav Mahler and Josef Stransky. They appeared as soloists with several of these orchestras. The older brother, Josef, returned to Munich and left us rather early in 1909, but Xaver, with his hair down to his shoulders, lived on in Valhalla, New York, until 1938, a real character to the end of his life!