 The Doublers BBoard
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Author: oboesax
Date: 2010-04-23 18:05
I was wondering, as a parent of a 14-year old who plays oboe, alto sax and bassoon all well (as well as English horn, soprano sax and some clarinet) if any of you who are full-time musicians and double did something similar when you were young.
She practices them all seriously and finds time to practice each one about one hour a day (totalling three hours a day of practice on average). She is also a straight-A student. At times she will practice more if she has the time or has an audition.
Several professionals have advised me that she should pick one instrument to study in college. Do you agree with this, and if so, when does that time come? She seems willing to continue to practice all of them and wants to audition for conservatories on all three.
Oboe and alto sax are both her "first" instruments as she started them both when she was 9. She is thinking of switching to bassoon as her primary double reed instrument as she likes the sound better than the oboe. Sax will be her second instrument, as she doesn't want to be primarily a jazz musician, but really enjoys playing in big bands and the musical she recently played in.
From what I can tell, she practices more because she is switching off. For example, her oboe embouchure lasts about one hour of intense practice. If she only played oboe, she'd be done for the day. But she moves onto bassoon and then sax. She also sees benefits from doubling, which others have discussed on this board. Because she has been working on trills on bassoon, her trills on oboe are suddenly better. Because she had to work hard to learn bass and then tenor clef for bassoon, she can suddenly transpose easily between Bb and Eb on saxes.
Her sax teacher is a doubler and thinks she should continue on everything (but he doesn't play double reeds). Her oboe and bassoon teachers don't double.
Comments?
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Author: Merlin_Williams
Date: 2010-04-24 03:10
If she wants to pursue doubling as a career, it's probably a good a idea to pick either oboe or bassoon as the main double reed.
She should also start working on clarinet and flute.
You say she likes the bassoon better than the oboe. In that case, she should be working on clarinet, bass clarinet, baritone sax and tenor sax as well. They are the instruments most frequently grouped with bassoon on doubling books in musicals.
Jupiter Canada Artist/Clinician
Stratford Shakespeare Festival musician
Woodwind Doubling Channel Creator on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/c/WoodwindDoubling
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Author: oboesax
Date: 2010-04-25 18:44
Thanks Merlin. She is currently playing both oboe and bassoon, as her bassoon skills are not yet up to her levels on sax and oboe. But she really likes the baritone sax.
Should a musician start out planning to play as a doubler however? Are most union-playing doublers older and more experienced, perhaps having already performed in professional orchestras or military bands? Around here, most of the doublers playing in the musical theaters are retired military band professionals I believe.
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Author: oboeidaho
Date: 2010-04-26 15:12
I played the oboe, bass clarinet and sax in HS (as well as piano). I was WAY better on oboe, and that is what I picked to major in college/grad school. I pretty much didn't play sax for 20 years, but I did take clarinet lessons and tuba (!).
This really depends on your daughter and what inspires her - if she loves the bassoon, her technique will catch up if she focuses for a while. She is way too young to be deciding a major now - by the time she gets to college it will probably be more clear to her what she wants to put her focus into.
But for now, I think it is great that she study all three. It is VERY good that she have separate teachers - the sax teacher can give her pointers on doubling even if he doesn't do oboe. But if she is interested in playing in the pit (musicals mostly) she eventually will need to pick up the clarinet - but I wouldn't push it at this point. Most of the gigs I do are oboe/English horn, but when there is a book with doubling I often get the call just because I CAN play clarinet and sax GOOD ENOUGH.
Just my .02! Good luck!
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Author: oboesax
Date: 2010-04-26 19:11
Thank you for the comments. My daughter is thinking that she will study one of the double reeds and the sax in college. Her sax is as good as or better than the oboe at this point, but it's hard to tell because sax is easier to play (according to her; I don't play sax). She can play concertos on both. She can already play the clarinet as she had to learn it to play in Thoroughly Modern Millie in January, but she does not study it. She also really likes the soprano sax and plays it well and in tune.
Interestingly, she got a call today to play in a community college dinner theater musical--because of the oboe/sax double.
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Author: concertmaster3
Date: 2010-04-27 06:06
I say find a school that has a bachelors in multiple woodwinds and send her there. I can't think of it off the top of my head, but it will pay off. I got my current job because I play multiple instruments well, and have gotten many calls for theatre shows. Smaller colleges with smaller budgets are willing to pay for teachers that can teach all of the woodwind instruments.
Pick one, and practice a little more on it,
and then practice on the others. The musicianship of the main instrument carries over. Private lessons do wonders (The only reason I haven't had formal private lessons on my doubles is because I went to an arts conservatory and had friends help me develop my embouchure!), and at this point, for the secondary instruments, embouchure development will probably be what she'd need to concentrate on. It seems like she would have the concept of learning fingerings down pretty good.
I myself, do recitals on Oboe, Bassoon, Clarinet, Flute and Violin (Just haven't done any sax pieces yet on them, only because they didn't fit in with the concept of the recitals, or just not enough time to learn the pieces) as a soloist or an ensemble, and have performed in orchestras on Oboe/English horn, Flute, Violin and Saxophone.
If she has the gift to do so, have her learn them all and work on a good sound! This will be the major key to getting and keeping jobs as a performer, especially on the double reeds.
Ron Ford
Woodwind Specialist
Performer/Teacher/Arranger
http://www.RonFordMusic.com
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Author: rcnelson
Date: 2010-04-28 01:54
Indiana University, University of North Texas, Vanderbilt and Bowling Green State (OH) are the only ones I know that have a BM in multiple woodwinds. There are several others that have masters and DMAs.
Ron
Selmer Mark VI tenor (1957), Selmer Mark VII alto (1975)
Buescher True Tone soprano (1924), Selmer CL210 Bb Clarinet, Gemeinhardt 3SHB Flute, Pearl PFP105 Piccolo
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Author: plclemo
Date: 2010-06-21 12:24
While I was in high school, I not only doubled, but I tripled on clarinet, tenor sax and bassoon. The hardest part was remembering the embrochure for each instrument. The fingerings were very similar. (I am NOT a full time musician but I play in our church orchestra.) I am currently learning to play the oboe so I am switching between oboe and clarinet now. I have not played sax since 1978, and the last time I played the bassoon was in 1990. If I were her, I'd see if I could major in an orchestral instrument (like her oboe) and a marching band instrument (like her sax).
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Author: oboesax
Date: 2010-06-26 00:02
To follow up, my daughter continues to practice oboe, saxes and bassoon daily. She learned the bassoon quickly as she was asked to play 1st bassoon in a number of symphonies. In one orchestra, she was asked to "double" on oboe, English horn and bassoon in the Carmen Suite.
I am wondering how she will maintain serious studies on this many instruments. She plans on playing in one youth orchestra on oboe and a different youth orchestra on bassoon, plus a jazz band, all outside of school and in addition to three school ensembles. Plus in September she will start working with a musical director and play in a number of community theater pit orchestras--which means she will also need to practice the clarinet regularly. She will like doing all this, but I can see it could be difficult to fit in enough private practice time.
Getting a good sound is something she is learning to think about. She is at Tanglewood right now for sax, and she was told that she has a great soprano sax sound. She's also been told the same at auditions for bassoon and English horn. Oboe--she still has to work on that.
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