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The plastic or metal dome/shed type roof is a palate plate call, the dome always faces the roof of your mouth this exposes the latex to your tongue this way. Here's some instruction on mouth reed use I've shared in the past!--------
Learning to use a mouth reed takes persistent practice, do not give up too easily, even if it seems a bit difficult at first! Make sure you're using the right tool for the job here. You want to start with a light tensioned single reed latex mouth reed as a beginner, no double reeds here or very tight latexed reeds, they're not user friendly. You want to start with cow sounds first, soft ones at that, then you will graduate to louder & longer tones as you master the small ones. Bugles will come or stem from your cow sounds. A bugle is no more than a lengthened out cow mew where you would add more air & a bit more tension on the reed itself with your tongue. These bugles are reserved for AFTER you master cow sounds. You want to achieve one goal before you move on to the next one!
Do Not Over Blow! This is very common for new ones to do so, do your best to control your air out put as if you were just breathing the air out past the diaphragm. Make sure you have a 100% seal where the tag of the call is up against the roof of your mouth, you must dam the air up. If tag is stiff, then chew on the tag & saliva it up a bit, to soften it with your front teeth, as you hold the main frame in your right hand. This will make the tag pliable & will now mold easily to your palate. The front of the call itself should be near the back of your front teeth or gums, you do no want it too far back. Adjust front or back from there for best position per individual, make sure you have it sealed or you'll get a hissing sound, that shows air is getting over the top of mouth reed & escaping just under your pallet! Tip of tongue is reference to front of tongue portion, I like the little flat spot on the end of tongue for use, I make a small curl out of it. Some find that using the front portion back of tongue & shaping it like a bicep then using that small part of the arch in contact with the latex works best for them. To start getting a sound out of your call, say shhhh as you apply light pressure on latex with flat part of tip of tongue. For more elk like sounds, now put a bit more tension on the latex & slowly increase airflow in a controlled manner. For cow sounds work the very end of latex near your mouth opening, only light tongue pressure is needed with controlled air flow such as breathing type air. Don't push the air or force it out, avoid quick bursts of air! Play with tongue tension for best sound quality, & make sure your tongue is salivated for slickness & you'll notice less tickling! Do your best to keep solid contact with tongue on reed when making sounds, this can change a bit for more nasally cow sounds, then you would slide tongue just off latex & create the needed vibration of latex to get the nasal effect that a cow will use at times! For all bugles & screams you do not want your tongue slipping off reed, you will lose major volume there if you do! See how this info works for you! But, perfect your cow sounds first before moving on, or being concerned with bugling!
If this info helps you out to get reasonable sounds after a bit of practice & you'd like to further your progress & education, then you may like to consider a DVD we have out called "Mastering The Mouth Reed" It will go into step by step proper use of mouth reeds. In addition to this it will share with you how to make the many sounds that both cows & bulls make, & there's quite a few of them, including those difficult grunts & chuckles. If you'd like to see an example of these sounds that you can learn, please feel free to check them out on a 10 minute video clip we have out demonstrating the many sounds. Go to
www.elknut.com & click on the leaf/link "Video Clips" it will take you there! I truly hope this helps you out!
ElkNut1
