Most saxophonists double on other woodwind instruments as an economic necessity. Sad to say, their playing often sounds as if it is driven more by economics than a real love for the instrument. When you approach one of the other woodwinds, you are entering its world, full of history, pedagogy, and performance practices that predate the saxophone by more than 150 years.
Which Instrument to Choose?
Flute
If you’re primarily an alto player, you need to pick up a flute. You’ve probably already seen some flute parts on your jazz ensemble music, so its time to hit the garage sales, hang out on eBay, or keep an eye on those buddies at school who are looking to bail out of their musical studies, and would like nothing more than to sell (give?) you their flute. Some recommendations:
Yamaha and Jupiter make excellent student model flutes. There is a relatively new instrument sold under the name Sonare that comes with an honest to goodness Powell headjoint for under $1,000. All serious doublers eventually purchase excellent instruments, sometimes better than some professionals who don’t double. This usually because we need all the help we can get. Its easy enough to sound sub-par, I don’t need an instrument of dubious quality to help me along. Some doublers become true “instrument junkies,” owning several instruments of each type, dozens of mouthpieces, and every new accessory as it is introduced. There is no need to go down this path. These things are tools, your passion should be for the music, not the mechanisms.
Start with some very basic lessons from a flutist, or a good doubler. My first flute teacher was a very serious doubler, then I moved on to what became a couple decades of flute study. This opened my ears to Bach, Mozart, and Debussy. Sure there’s the Debussy Rhapsodie for Saxophone and Orchestra, but it seems the saxophone spends most of its time counting rests.
A good doubler should have played all the Bach Sonatas, along with the A minor Partita, the two Mozart Concerti, and several French works, such as the Faure Fantasy, Enesco, or Chaminade. The 30 Karg-Elert Caprices are especially good for players coming from saxophone, because they are very similar – in Karg-Elert’s quirky way – to the 24 Studies for Saxophone. Telemann’s Twelve Fantasies are great for flute or saxophone. The Marcel Moyse “falling exercise” is a well-known flute warm up from De La Sonorite'. I use this exercise for a warm up in some fashion for flute and saxophone.
Clarinet
Ah, the dreaded “pain-o-phone.” If you play tenor, or bari sax you’re going to have to deal with this beast. Saxophonists have complained about the clarinet for as long as they have had to play it. Pete Christlieb says his clarinet, “Squeaks in the case.” I was on a gig with Ernie Watts once and he asked if there was any clarinet in the book. When I replied to the contrary, he said he had left his clarinet in Los Angeles (about a thousand miles away) and that was about as close as he wanted to get to it.
A love for the clarinet is hard won, especially if you didn’t begin your study on it. The fingerings over the break are non-intuitive, and the embouchure at first seems to be everything you’re trying to avoid on the sax. Once again, be on the look out for discarded instruments, it’s the horn everyone wants to quit.
The mouthpiece and reed combination on clarinet is extremely critical. Don’t purchase anything without a knowledgeable clarinetist at your side. You can start with this basic list of items:
Mouthpiece Vandoren B45, or B45*
Reeds Vandoren 3 to 3 ½, or Vandoren V-12, same strength
Ligature Bonade, or Bonade inverted (don’t invert a regular ligature and look like a boob)
There are also many good student instruments, and you can often find a used Buffet R13 (generally the instrument of choice among pros) for under $1,000. Always be on the lookout for bass clarinet. They are often the instrument of choice for those jazzers looking for an unusual sound - who aren’t too concerned about intonation.
Below are listed some basic texts to get you started, along with very short repertoire lists for each instrument.
Flute
Texts
Thomas Nyfenger, Music and The Flute
Trevor Wye, Proper Flute Playing
Roger Stevens, The Artistic Flute
Theobald Boehm, The Flute, and Flute Playing
Edwin V. Putnik, The Art of Flute Playing
Technical Study
Taffanel – Gaubert, Daily Exercises
Marcel Moyse, Exercises Journaliers
Marcel Moyse, De la Sonorite’
Etudes
Anderson, Op. 15, 30
Berbiguier, Eighteen Exercises or Etudes for the Flute
Garibaldi, Kohler, etc.
Literature
J.S. Bach, Six Sonatas (Barenreiter, Henle, or Peters editions only)
G. F. Handel, Sonatas
W. A. Mozart, Concertos in G, and D
Faure, Fantasy
Clarinet
Texts
Jack Brymer, Clarinet
O. Lee Gibson, Clarinet Acoustics
Keith Stein, The Art of Clarinet Playing
Technical Study
H. Klose, Celebrated Method for the Clarinet
(primarily scales and arpeggios pages 123 – 128)
Carl Baermann, Complete Method for the Clarinet
Etudes
Rose 40 Etudes (two books)
Rose 32 Etudes
Literature
Weber, Concertino
W.A. Mozart, Concerto in A
(no, you don’t own an A clarinet, but you should know this piece)
Note that the Daily Exercises in the back of this book are drawn from other woodwind exercises, remembering that the other woodwinds have a much clearer pedagogical path to follow.
Serial Monogamy
Woodwind doublers can benefit from adopting this attitude in their practice regimen at several levels. When you pick up your clarinet, you should believe that you are a clarinetist. This means you have studied clarinet for a period of time from a clarinet teacher and that you have played in ensembles solely as a clarinetist. Another level where this should occur is during practice sessions. If you need to prepare several woodwinds for a performance you should set aside time to focus upon each instrument. Doublers cannot allow their proficiency in one instrument to permit unsatisfactory performance in another. During the day, practice flute first, so your embouchure is sensitive and malleable, then clarinet, which requires more strength, then saxophone because then finally you can have some fun.
Unity
Try to unify your concepts relating to musical performance, once again at a variety of levels. Your practice routine can combine the teachings of many of the best teachers across the woodwinds. Some examples follow;
The Marcel Moyse “falling exercise” is a well-known flute warm up from De La Sonorite'. I use this exercise for a warm up in some fashion for most woodwinds.
Joe Allard’s “tone matching” exercise—where the sound of a standard fingering is compared to that of the same pitch produced as an overtone— is one I use not only on saxophone but on flute and clarinet as well. On clarinet you are reminded of the differing harmonic structure of this instrument from other woodwinds in that it produces every other harmonic.
Many articles have been written about the oral cavity as it relates to resonance, tonal variation, and pitch control in individual instruments within the woodwind family. I view the position of the oral cavity in relation to the overall pitch register of the instrument played. This means my oral cavity position will be similar (not the same) for instrument that produces the same pitch. If I am playing a concert middle C, my oral cavity will be similar for D1 on the soprano saxophone, A1 on the alto, D2 on the tenor, A2 on the baritone saxophone, D1 on the clarinet, etcetera. This only a very general rule, and will not be true in all cases on all instruments, especially as you approach the extremes of their ranges.
The concept of unity can be brought to the area of equipment as well. I play medium facing, medium chamber mouthpieces on all single reeds. I do this because I believe similar concepts of embouchure, support, and resistance can apply. If I played mouthpieces with high baffles for jazz on the saxophone, the concepts listed above would need to change for classical performance. I simply don’t have the time to make radical changes between styles. By unifying your concepts toward the woodwind family, practice on one instrument supports that of another.
Double Reeds
I played bassoon all through high school and college, and have continued to have bursts of minor bassoon experience every few years, but the bassoon and oboe are not as critically necessary as the flute and clarinet. However, deciding whether to study these instruments bring us to the question of how do you want to delineate yourself within the marketplace.