Klarinet Archive - Posting 000627.txt from 1997/10

From: "David S. Naden" <dnaden@-----.net>
Subj: Re: Clarinets players becoming sax players
Date: Wed, 15 Oct 1997 06:14:17 -0400

After reading the many e-mails concerning clarinet players becoming sax
players, I though I put in my two cents worth. I originally started as
a saxophone player and switched to clarinet in the tenth grade--not as a
double, but as my new primary instrument. Obviously, this was not easy
to do, but it taught me a valuable lesson. There ARE some significant
differences between playing clarinet and saxophone, and those
differences are more obvious when going from sax to clarinet. Good
clarinet technique, tone, etc. takes more time to develop properly.
Because it is based on an octave, and because fingers do not cover the
tone holes, saxophone is a much more forgiving instrument. Simply put,
it is easier for a clarinet player to play sax well, than it is for a
sax player to play clarinet well.

David S. Naden, Graduate Student
Cal State Los Angeles

KIMBERLY L. RIECK wrote:

> > My friend and I picked up tenor sax our sophmore year in order to
> play in
> > Jazz
> > Band. Another clarinet player picked up alto sax. We had to compete
> with
> > all the "original" sax players to earn our spots on the band and did
> so.
> > The jazz saxophone section was made up of 3 players whose main
> instrument
> > was clarinet and two players whose main instrument was sax. The
> clarinet
> > players held the highest chairs. The point I'm trying to make is
> that it
> > is not that difficult for a clarinet player to pick up sax and learn
> it
> > well enough to beat out players whose main instrument is the sax.
> At
> > least, it wasn't for us, and the sax players we competed agaist
> weren't
> > awful.
>
> I agree. It is not too hard for a clarinetist to pick up the
> saxophone. I recently picked it up this semester and I have really
> enjoyed it. Besides having my fingers confused on which instrument
> that I am playing on at the moment, it has been really easy for me to
> pick it up. But with practice, I know that I will overcome it.
>
> Kimberly Rieck
>
> UW-Superior

   
     Copyright © Woodwind.Org, Inc. All Rights Reserved    Privacy Policy    Contact charette@woodwind.org