An improved mouthpiece for use with single reed woodwind instruments is provided. The mouthpiece includes a tapered shaped tone chamber that creates shaped-charge dynamics in the tone chamber air column to improve coupling of the air column to the reed. The tapered shape is obtained by varying the width of the tone chamber along the interior surfaces of the side walls from a top surface of the side rails to the bottom surface of the tone chamber. In addition, the width of the bottom surface is varied along a length of the tone chamber from a tip rail to the central bore of the mouthpiece. The transition from the top surfaces of the side rails to the interior surface of the tone chamber side walls is sloped to achieve a venturi effect between the top surfaces and the reed at the region of the tone chamber adjacent the tip rail.