 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Wayne
Date: 2001-09-25 06:51
Does the abilty to play the clarinet generally make it easier able to grasp playing the sax or oboe? Are there comparisons between the three?
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Author: SFAlexi
Date: 2001-09-25 07:08
Well, I'm new to this website, and no master at any instrument, that's for sure. But I want to let you know that I picked up the sax extremely quickly after clarinet. I find it to be a much simpler instrument to play. The fingering is the exact same for a respective note below and above the octave key. And the higher octave has the same fingerings as the clarinet (with the exception of the C). I picked it up within a month and quickly became as good on sax as I was on clarinet. I can't say anything about oboe, although with that double reed it must be pure "heck".
Alexi
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Author: Wes
Date: 2001-09-25 07:10
Yes, there is cross fertilization. However, each is a big time challenge and time consumer. The oboe, from a player, is particularly difficult. This is because one must make good reeds in order to play well. If you don't play well, everyone knows it as the oboe is easily heard. The oboe requires special maintenance and careful adjustment also. There are cultural aspects such as the use of the American scrape on the reeds and the use of an oboe that produces the "American oboe sound", generally the Loree. And the saxophone, while easy to produce a note on, takes a lot of study and work. Good luck!
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2001-09-25 12:27
My experience is the same as that of SFAlexi.
I went flute-piccolo-clarinet-alto-tenor-soprano-baritone(sax).
I play simple scales to test oboes after servicing. I don't think clarinet helps much with oboe. It's in a world of its own with clumsy, less logical fingering, and a requirement for enormous breath pressure and lip strength.
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2001-09-25 15:21
I agree with the above, years ago, starting on clar, I bought and played alto sax almost immediately, later played bari sax easily, but never did as well on tenor sax!!! For our local symphony I started TRYING to play oboe and making reeds, never did well even tho the fingering is somewhat similar to the old Albert cl's. I "fought" the "ill wind that nobody blows good" for 10 years , it won! Don
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Author: David Spiegelthal
Date: 2001-09-25 17:59
I started on clarinet (a couple of centuries ago) then picked up sax while in high school. For me sax has always been much easier than clarinet. Don't know about oboe, although I just bought one and am going to try to "re"-learn it (I played oboe for one year waaaayyyyy back in the 7th grade, and although I remember how to make reeds I've completely forgotten how to play the instrument!). I suspect that, as noted above, the oboe is another beast entirely.
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Author: MusicMedic.com
Date: 2001-09-25 21:31
I agree that the help each other. One exercise that has allowed me to play both, (I am primarily a Saxophonist) is the mouthpiece exercise.
On saxophone try playing an A 880 on the MP alone. When you get that begin to open your range downward by half steps. Play A, then Ab, Then A again, Then G, Then A, Then Gb ect.. This will open your air passage and give you a more full tone. Most saxophonists aim too high when they begin this exercise.
Now on the Clarinet I understand that you want to get the highest pitch possible on the MP (usually an F#). This will tighten up the embouchure and give you the clarinet firmness that you need.
As you can see these are two different concepts and totally different ways of playing.
Curt,
www.MusicMedic.com
Curt@MusicMedic.com
Repair Kit, discount cases and more!
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Author: Filipe T.
Date: 2001-09-26 20:34
I think that playing a lot of instruments is like knowing a lot of languages, the first language that you learn is very hard, but if you learn a new language, it'll be easier, and the third language will be even easier......and so on...... The same is with instruments, the first instrument is VERY hard to learn, but the second becomes easy, and the third even easier.....I think that every woodwind player should start with the clarinet, because it's not a very easy instrument(what i mean is,if you start with the clarinet, the other instruments will become easier, I don't know, that's what I think)
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Author: Filipe T.
Date: 2001-09-26 20:40
The oboe is the hardest instruments to learn out of the clarinet, oboe , and sax. (duh!!)But i think that tonging in the oboe is SOOOOOO easy, same with the sax. I think that the clarinet is a really hard instrument to tongue, is it just me??? Or do you guys have the same problem???( oh, forgot to ask: Why is it so hard to tongue on the clarinet??)))
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Author: Micaela
Date: 2001-09-26 21:04
I tried learning oboe this summer. The embouchure totally defeated me, the reed is so little! I could get a relatively ok sound, but not without making my lips hurt and getting in the way of my clarinet playing, so I stopped. The tonguing and basic technique weren't all that different. I think, if I had practiced, I could have learned it fairly quickly. The fingerings are like the upper register of the clarinet, with some variations. I've known a lot of clarinetists who also play bassoon, I think it's also fairly similar.
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Author: Josh
Date: 2001-09-26 22:12
I play the bassoon to pay the bills, and lemme tell ya, bubster, ain't nuttin' similar about the burping bedpost and the licorice stick...good ol' Mr. Heckel had WAY too much time on his hands when he came up with THAT key system...ten left thumb keys and five right thumb keys...what was he thinkin?!? (but WE get to have all sorts of nifty rollers. It's all about the rollers. Rollers are why I play the bassoon. Viva les rollers! *silly grin*)
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Author: Jim
Date: 2001-09-27 04:27
"Beast" is the right word for the oboe!
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Author: Kyle Jubenville
Date: 2001-09-29 17:11
Ok, The fingering system for the Clarinet, the Flute, the Sax and the Oboe were all developed by the same dude. Theobald Boehm. and they all have similar fingerings. They all have basically the same finger lay-out. Clarinet is difficult as far as fingerings go because the fingerings don't stay the same in the octave change(as they do for Flute, Oboe, and sax). Clarinet also has a HUGE range. e to a''' is not something to shake a stick at. and I actually think that the well balanced reader is a Flute/Clarinet player because Flute plays normally up to c'''' and just to get all the ledger lines lol and have a awesome ability to read a 4 or 5 octave range. but anyways, I am babbling. back to my point. It definately helps learning the clarinet first because the mouthpiece is much smaller so when you switch to Saxophone or when you just decide to learn it, the mouthpiece is bigger and much more forgiving. Flute..the fingerings are pretty much the same..thats about it. lol Cept there is no octave key on a flute. it is all in the embechoure(took me 6 months to get a decent tone teaching myself). and finally oboe. The only thing that tends to freak other woodwind players out is that the oboe has 3 octave keys, and on professional oboes..there are 3 different fingerings for one note. (Yes i know that they are 3 different fingerings for Eb/Dd on a full boehm clarinet or on a 7th "C" ring clarinet). But the challenge about oboe..is the reed. not the fingerings really. I have played oboe for about 3 years, and it still kicks my butt. it is like a vacation when i pick up my clarinet, sax, or flute when I have been playing just oboe for a little while.
and as far as the bassoon goes...lol it is the only instrument that is considered to have improvements invented in the near future lol and I can see why :-)
hope I didn't babble and ramble on for too long.
:-)Kyle
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Author: Terry Horlick
Date: 2001-09-29 18:49
Hey Kyle, I find that switching to the FB Bb clarinet (with all those extra fingerings for everything) from a standard is a bit like coming home to the sax. The articulated g# and the forked fingerings are a page taken right out of the sax manual!
My mother learned to play sax in the late 30's and could never make the switch to clarinet. So when I was a wee tyke and wanted to play sax she demanded I do clarinet first. I don't know if she was right or not, but the switch to sax at age about 10 years was a piece of cake! I now don't notice any difference when I swap back and forth, but the flute still feels a bit clunky (might be because I have good saxes and clarinets and aso-so flute!).
Terry
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