 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: will
Date: 1999-08-07 15:36
I have been playing the clarinet for 3 years, and recently, I have been thinking of doubling on another instrument. But WHICH instrument is a harder choice for me to make. Would playing the flute help to improve my embouchure on the clarinet? And would playing brasses (such as trumpet) affect my playing on the clarinet? I would also be interested to read about the experiences of "doublers". Thanks!!
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Author: Melanie Brown
Date: 1999-08-07 15:54
I dabble in various instruments from time to time, and none of them have affected my embouchure at all.
Here's what I've done:
Bassoon: Tons of fun. Fingers basically like the low register on clarinet. My tonguing on clarinet actually improved after playing bassoon. The only problem for some is that bassoon requires long fingers and/or large hands to deal with the thumb keys. Also, reading bass clef takes some getting used to. When I was playing bassoon in one band and clarinet in the other, I would occassionally start reading my clarinet music in bass clef!
Euphonium: My brother plays it and goes to TubaChristmas every year, so I thought I would give it a shot. The fingerings are the same as trumpet, and I play basic trumpet, so that wasn't a problem. Euphoniums in bass clef are in the key of C, but treble clef baritone music is in Bb, so it can be similar to playing clarinet transposing-wise. TubaChristmas was a blast! I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to try something different. The one problem I had on all brass instruments was that I couldn't articulate. I also initially had difficulties lipping up to different partials. Once more, my embouchure wasn't affected.
French horn: I played this to fill out our bottom band for festival. Playing horn had the challenges of articulation and finding the pitches, but with horn I was forced to listen carefully and tune with my right hand in the bell. Horn is a listening instrument to find the pitch you want. You really have to hear the note before you play it.
Saxophones: The classic double for clarinetists.
Other flavors of clarinet: I played alto clarinet in the Atlanta Youth Wind Symphony this year, and that really improved my embouchure as a whole. It's a shame that alto clarinets get such a bad rap. They are really quite wonderful to play. Bass is fun. Contrabass Bb is even more fun! I love playing the harmony or the bass line in music as a refreshing change from always having the melody in high registers.
I hope this gives you some perspective on playing different instruments in addition to clarinet!
Melanie
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Author: Steve Epstein
Date: 1999-08-07 16:42
This is a tough question to answer. Tough, because it depends on who you are and what your goals are. I am an adult novice/intermediate who used to play in high school and now plays strictly for fun, with whomever I can and whatever I can. My inclination is to give you "out of the box" advice, and say: look, why do you have to play an obvious doubling instrument like sax or flute? Why not play a brass instrument or something totally different? Andy Statman performs on both clarinet and mandolin. Howard Johnson (Gravity, Substructure, TS Monk Tentet) plays all the brasses and woodwinds, concentrating on bari sax and...tuba! But this may be bad advice if your goal is to become a top-level classical musician. Or it may not be. I think, however, if your goal is anything "less" than that, you should think about doing completely different things than staying with closely related instruments. I don't think you'd regret it.
This is not advice, just food for thought.
Steve
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Author: Daniel
Date: 1999-08-08 02:03
The easiest first double for most clarinetists is saxophone. The fingerings are essentially the same with some minute differences. Flute takes some alterations to get used to, such as no resistance, virtually no weight. And some other issues that are nonrelated to clarinet. Sax uses an essentially similar embouchure.
If you go with flute, be sure you practice clarinet regularly. I began making the mistake of over-practicing flute for a couple weeks and it took me a week to get my clarinet embouchure back.
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Author: GKF
Date: 1999-08-08 21:35
I think it depends on what your goals are. If you can dedicate a lot of time to it, maybe it would suit you well to try something totally different! If you're looking for something easy, though, while you continue to concentrate on clarinet, try saxophone. It's very esay for clarinetists to switch to sax -- the usual reaction to playing the full range chromatic scale for the first time on sax is, "That's it?!"
Saxophone is a good double, because there are so many types of saxophones. For instance... Clarinet always has been my main instrument. I started lessons on alto sax in the 8th grade -- played tenor in grades 9-12 for jazz band, played soprano with various quartets, and last year started playing bari for jazz and quartets!!! So, you will likely never get bored if you play the sax. It is very easy to switch between the saxes, especially if you start out as a clarinetist.
GOOD LUCK!
GKF
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Author: Hiroshi
Date: 1999-08-09 00:31
I recommend Alto Sax.Soprano sax is very difficult to sound in tune. (I play both.Alto better.)
I do not recommend flute although I play it.Although flute's mechanism is nearly a perfection,its tunes are very difficult.It takes almost one year to emit all registers,and another year to play sufficiently all scales.I think we should start playing it in early teens.By the way,flute embouchure has nothing to do with that for clarinet.In other words,it does not do any contribution to improving clarinet embouchure.
Many people in this BBS says brass playing does not effect badly clarinet embouchure.But their brass means big brasses with big mouthpieces such as euphonium. I think small mouthpiece brass such as trumpet will do harm.My brother played trumpet and I observed he needed very much effort to 'make' trumpet embouchure during his first 6 months.
Doubling makes your opportunity doubled.But playing more than 2 instruments is not recommended,since practice time of each instrument is dilluted and you cannot go beyond mediocrity level.For fun only? That is another matter.
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Author: Daniel
Date: 1999-08-09 06:06
Many fine doublers make a good living playing all the woodwind instruments. My sax teacher plays clarinets, saxes, oboe and bassoon all at a high level (bassoon and sax at soloist level and clarinet and oboe at performer level, flute at a passable level).
To make it in the world of doubling, usually clarinet and sax will do it, if you usually only play the low reed books. To play the higher books flute (and/or piccolo is neccessary and sometimes oboe. Bassoon isn't neccessary unless you play the 5th reed book often, and in a symphonic show setting... in a normal and/or jazz setting, the basson part can usually be played on bass clarinet.
Hiroshi wrote:
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I recommend Alto Sax.Soprano sax is very difficult to sound in tune. (I play both.Alto better.)
I do not recommend flute although I play it.Although flute's mechanism is nearly a perfection,its tunes are very difficult.It takes almost one year to emit all registers,and another year to play sufficiently all scales.I think we should start playing it in early teens.By the way,flute embouchure has nothing to do with that for clarinet.In other words,it does not do any contribution to improving clarinet embouchure.
Many people in this BBS says brass playing does not effect badly clarinet embouchure.But their brass means big brasses with big mouthpieces such as euphonium. I think small mouthpiece brass such as trumpet will do harm.My brother played trumpet and I observed he needed very much effort to 'make' trumpet embouchure during his first 6 months.
Doubling makes your opportunity doubled.But playing more than 2 instruments is not recommended,since practice time of each instrument is dilluted and you cannot go beyond mediocrity level.For fun only? That is another matter.
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Author: Ginny
Date: 1999-08-10 23:48
I think Steve's point is good, if you want to be a top of the line classical musician, do no more than play around with another instrument.
In my family we can pretty much play any instrument. I don't even think of it as doubling, so I guess picking up another instrument seems kind of normal. Music's music. My just turned 11 year old can pick a tune out on guitar, clarinet, recorder, piano, even the violin, we just borrowed a trumpet. For me, all instruments seem about the same, excelling beyond my basic level of musicality is always a battle though. My husband claims the first ten instruments are the most difficult. Just pick the one that appeals to you, find the notes and have fun.
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Author: Daniel
Date: 1999-08-11 04:55
Again, read my post following Hiroshi. My sax teacher is very fluent and subs in the Houston Symphony often on bass clarinet, sax, and bassoon. And
Cincinatti Conservatory requires doubling majors to be equally competent in the classical style on three instruments... able to give full length senior recitals on all three and pass the adjudication process.
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Author: will
Date: 1999-08-12 12:19
Actually, I am not aiming to earn a living by doubling. I was just considering joining two bands playing different instruments in each, since I am still a student. But thanks for all your advice and suggestions, and I hope there'll be more!
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Author: TwrlGrl
Date: 2000-01-01 19:44
I think a good instrument for you to double on is the alto clarinet. I tried out on it for All-Region and I made the band. I also tried on my clarinet (1st love) and made it also. The fingerings are the same except for the low Eb. Also, if you like the "sax" sound, the altissimo registar sounds just like an alto saxophone. Another suggestion would be a bass clarinet. I've tried it a couple of times and it has a nice sound. I hope this helps you.
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