Author: A Brady
Date: 2010-06-03 19:12
I can think of two experiences playing saxophone which resulted in an ACTUAL negative playing effect on my clarinet. The first occurred when I was in Grad school at FSU; I played the Bari Book on the Barnum and Bailey/Ringling Bros Circus one weekend, something like 10 shows over 3 days (like doing push-ups with your chops). I literally had a bruise in the shape of the bari reed on my lower lip and had to reschedule a Monday morning clarinet lesson (which Professor Ormand was NOT happy about.)
The other incident was a summer between semesters in college when I picked up a gig with a jazz quintet playing alto and flute six nights a week for 5 hours per night. Great fun (it was at the beach), but I completely let my clarinet practice routine slide, and, on returning to school in September, I was pretty much blown out of the water by my much better prepared colleagues in our auditions.
The lesson here is that, as a professional doubler, which I have now been for many years, you must be prepared on ALL instruments that you are being payed to play at a high or artistic level: this involves major time expenditure and a focused effort to approach each instrument on its own terms, but the rewards, both financial and artistic, can be great.
In terms of professional disadvantages, I have definitely picked up on anti-doubler bias in certain circles, to the degree of having lost gigs because of it, and to the point where I have considered different business cards listing my various doubles separately, ie, one for classical playing, another for theatre work, another for jazz, etc.
This second issue is not universal, but is real at a certain level, and should be considered by any serious performer hoping to actually obtain professional work.
AB
Post Edited (2010-06-03 19:56)
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The Clarinet BBoard
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