Also, Mr. Grabner is a really great guy. Last spring, I played at the Skokie Valley Concerto Competition. I was playing on one of his older mouthpieces. I didn't advance to the finals, but Mr. Grabner heard my performance, and he talked to me after the competition. He said I had done a great job, but he thought I should try out one of his newer mouthpieces that he had just developed.
I said sure, I'd love to try a new mouthpiece, because I had the finals of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Youth Auditions coming up in a week, and people often describe my tone as too bright. So I went to his studio a few days later and tried out some of his new mouthpieces. They were fantastic! They had a dark, mellow tone, and I really liked the difference. I picked the one I sounded best on, and when I asked Mr. Grabner how much it cost, he said that I could have it.
Well, a week later at the CSO Youth Audition finals, I won first prize. I'm sure that Mr. Grabner's new mouthpiece helped me get there. It is a seriously fine mouthpiece produced by a seriously fine man, and I recommend it to everyone.
