Klarinet Archive - Posting 000417.txt from 1994/02

From: "Jay Heiser, Product Manager, Govt Systems" <jayh@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: Workshops (Jay Heiser's thoughts on doubling as a life's work)
Date: Mon, 28 Feb 1994 11:34:41 -0500

--> This is an open invitation to all. Let's talk about doubling
-->and how it can open new career paths and gig opportunities. Why
-->should you double? Double on what?
-->
-->Michael B. Favreau
-->Ithaca College

Several very good reasons to double, ranked in order of
importance by me:
1) its fun!
2) its a requirement for many gigs
3) it provides new opportunities for musical growth

1) Doubling is fun. I'd own every musical instrument in the
world if I could. I've got harmonicas, guitars, recorders, all
kinds of neat stuff. Its a lot easier to play a second woodwind
with proficiency than it is to start from scratch in some other
instrument family (although music is music, and learning one
instrument is a tremendous advantage when learning any other).
1b) could be, 'its easy', since for most people learning a second
single-reed instrument doesn't seem to be a problem (I'm aware
of glaring exceptions).

I love playing a show and having all my horns lined up in
front of me on their little stands, all ready to go. For me,
the more doubles the part has, the more fun. I never turn down
a chance to add a double. I even paid to rent an alto flute when
I played "La Cage aux Folles" a few years back so I could play
all 5 horns on the Reed 1 part. It would have been 6 horns
if I'd been able to play an oboe solo on the soprano sax that I'd
been covering on the flute, but the singer freaked when I brought
in the new horn at a rehearsal. ;-) (note that the cast is
almost always flakier than the instrumentalists).

2) Doubling is a requirement for doing just about everything but
orchestra and band. I love band, but most of the amateur bands
are a bit, how shall I say, unchallenging? Community band just
isn't as much fun for me as shows. (I run into lots of players
from the service bands here in DC, and most of the reeds double.
Can you imagine those cats playing amateur shows for free? They
must really love playing.) You can't even get into a jazz band
if you only play clarinet. Really good bands expect all the
saxes to have at least one double.

There are a few musicals written for clarinet only, but in my
experience, more of them call for a clarinet/flute double. I
hate swapping around parts & sharing parts in the pit orch. Its
a major hassle. If everybody doubled, life would be easier.
Note that the pros doing these kinds of things are expected to
double and get paid extra.

Amateur musicals are the perfect place for musicians looking for
a challenge. There's a constant demand for good players, you
get big audiences & feel like you're playing for something important,
and its a heck of a lot of fun. Some flute players manage to
get gigs w/o doubling, but reeds should double if they want to
have their choice of shows.

The more parts that you can cover, the more gigs you can get.
This is important for both pros & amateurs.

3) New opportunities for musical growth. Difft instruments are
prominent in difft genres, they have difft repertoire & difft
performance experiences. You can learn a lot by walking in
someone else's musical shoes.

WHAT TO DOUBLE ON:
When I was in high school, my hero was George Marge, a studio
musician from NYC who played all the double & single reeds,
flutes and recorders. He used to play the ocarina in the
McDonald's commercials. He played over 30 difft horns. Neat.
Anybody know what he's up to?

My suggestion is that a clarinet player wishing to diversify
or play shows start on sax. After a couple of years of that,
get a flute. I personally haven't been sufficiently motivated
to learn the double reeds. Amateur double-reed doublers are
exceedingly rare, so its acceptable to cover the oboe part
on flute or clarinet and the bassoon part on bari. This is
not a purist kind of thing. Whatever is most expedient is
fine as long as it isn't obtrusive (and believe me, its easy
to be obtrusive on an oboe). Picc part can be covered on a
C flute until you get a picc and get comfy on it.

I applaud the efforts of anyone who wants to learn double reeds,
but examine your goals before you pay money & time.

In general, doubling books are arranged by size, but there are
lots of exceptions. Any of the reed players might be expected
to play clarinet. Reed parts for a std bigband are loosely
arranged like this:

1) picc, flute, Bb clar, alto sax (alt soprano sax, Eb clar,
alto flute -- most likely to play unusual instruments)

2) flute, Bb clar, alto or tenor sax (picc)

3) Bb clar, oboe, tenor (english horn)

4) Bb clar, oboe, tenor ( eng horn, bari, bass clarinet)

5) bass clarinet, bassoon, bari sax (Bb soprano clarinet,
bass sax, contrabassoon)

A show that doesn't have saxes will either separate the flutes
and clarinets, or have a fl/cl doubling part or two. Oboes
usually need Eng Horn. Some sax shows give up on expecting
single & double reeds together and have a 4th book with only oboe
and eng horn.

It makes sense to choose the top, middle or bottom, buy all the
horns in that range, and learn to play them. Then work your
way out to the other parts.

I've seen every possible combo of woodwinds. I don't know what
goes on in the brains of some of these arrangers, but it makes
my life exciting.

Yes, I have thought long & hard on all these issues and I'm glad
that the question came up. I support Multi-instrumentalism!
======================================
Garden Status:
Ice is just about gone. Ambitious
gardners started seedlings indoors a
month ago. I did not.