Klarinet Archive - Posting 000018.txt from 1999/07

From: "Kevin Fay (LCA)" <kevinfay@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] doubling
Date: Thu, 1 Jul 1999 12:31:31 -0400

George wanted to know:

<<<I'm just wondering, how many of you double on sax or flute/picc or all?
Does this affect the clarinet embouchure in any way at all?>>>

I double on sax. My experience is that it does no damage to one's clarinet
chops, IF AND ONLY IF you have a good clarinet embouchure to begin with, and
continue to perform "legit" soprano clarinet music on a regular basis.
Clarinet chops are, IMHO, always the first to go.

I also play "stage-band flute" -- which means I stink. Every time I play
flute I get dizzy. (Note: I think this may explain a lot) I "learned" flute
as a necessity when I was hired in college to play a musical ("Carnival," I
think). I emergency-taught an excellent flute player how to play enough sax
to get by on the Reed 2 book; she reciprocated for me.

If you really want to get the doubling (musical theater) gigs, don't forget
double reeds. Most oboe/english horn players don't double on other
instruments at all, and their formal training tends to completely ignore
popular or jazz idioms. Consequently, there is usually a shortage of folk
who can play the traditional reed 3 book (which typically calls for double
reeds, clarinet, flute and tenor sax).

I am especially lucky in this area. As I said, my flute playing stinks bad
-- and I don't play double reeds at all. My wife, however, is an excellent
flute/picc/double reed player. So unless there is a call for (shudder)
bassoon, we can play most any book by splitting the part . . .

. . . until, of course, the kids showed up. Rugrats kill your gigging
ability almost as much as a dental disaster. But that's another string.

kjf

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