Klarinet Archive - Posting 000588.txt from 1995/06

From: John Baetens <JSBtens@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: Saxophone Players who St...
Date: Sun, 25 Jun 1995 21:48:32 -0400

Sal Lozano writes:

>Once again....as far the embouchure goes, in order for a
>clarinet player to get the feel of playing the saxophone up
>to good saxophone playing standards....it takes more that
>just loosening up. When they loosen up they have a greater
>pitch risk than ever before. Finding those notes that are
>problem spots( let alone fixing them) is difficult.
>Then there is a issue of good time. Learning how to swing
>if they have to or other styles like rock and roll and other
>more contemporary music. That is what you get these days
>when you take up saxophone. If they are too stiff,
>they won't work and that clarinetist will starve as a sax
>player. When a live show comes into town like chorus line
>or grease, they won't be into a sax sound that is too stiff or
>doesn't swing.
>I'm not saying that clarinet is easy The sax switch to clarinet
>is also difficult but it takes more than just learning fingerings or
>loosening to play a saxophone correctly.
>yeah, yeah, I know this is a clarinet list.

Sorry Sal, I have to disagree. I've seen it happen too many
times. The summer after I learned to play sax I started
high school. In the school band my sophomore year I ended
up at the end of the first section of six clarinets, but we had
a dance band in which all the high school sax players joined
and I sat first chair, ahead of 3 seniors and several juniors who
had played nothing but sax for years.
My clarinet buddy stayed on clarinet until college, when he
taught himself alto sax. Up until this time, he was only
interested in the classics, but when he started on sax, he
quickly got into Jazz and then rock and roll. He went off
to Hollywood to be a star. It never happened, but he did
make a very good living as a studio musician for several
years. I would put his ability right up there with the best
of them.
Another clarinetist from our high school, who was two years
ahead of us in age and light years ahead of us in talent, ended
up first chair clarinet at MSU (that's Michigan State, not the Screaming
Eagles). Six months after taking up tenor sax, he
blew away the whole section at MSU.
While it certainly is possible for a good sax player to switch
to clarinet, I think it is a hell of a lot harder.
As far as pitch risk, this is another thing that makes sax playing
easier. It is much easier to adjust your pitch on sax than
clarinet while you are playing. And because clarinet players
have better developed facial muscles, it is easier for them
to do than sax only musicians, assuming they have a good
ear.

John Baetens