Brass doubling?

ByBret Pimentel

I have now successfully completed both my written and oral comprehensive exams, and am one large step closer to finishing a doctorate in multiple woodwinds performance.

In the oral exam, one of my professors asked why woodwind doubling is a well-recognized musical specialty, but doubling on brass instruments is not.  The question was an odd one, especially since brass instruments fall precisely outside my area of expertise. I didn’t have a good answer, except that brass players seem to be particularly protective of their embouchures, and presumably don’t want to risk ruining them by switching instruments. (That seemed to be satisfactory for purposes of the exam.)

I do know of one school that offers a “woodwind specialist” master’s degree, a “string specialist” master’s degree, and, yes, a “brass specialist” master’s degree: Michigan State University. (Degree descriptions here.) The string degree requires one primary instrument and one secondary, the brass degree requires one primary and two secondaries, and the woodwind degree requires one primary and three secondary instruments. I expect if anyone is doing the string degree, they do violin/viola or cello/bass, hoping to get one of the “high strings” or “low strings” teaching jobs. The only combination of three brass instruments that strikes me as marketable is trombone/euphonium/tuba, a “low brass” specialist.

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  • Using a pencil like a pro

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    pencil
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  • MS Word music hack: Automatic sharps, flats, and naturals (Updated 2019)

    ByBret Pimentel

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    Type this (plus space bar) Get this
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4 Comments

  1. C’mon … shouldn’t you have said that woodwind players are simply much smarter than brass players? Any woodwind player knows that. Brass players don’t, of course, because … well … they aren’t smart enough to know.

    ;-)

    Kidding. Of course. (And married to a former trombonist. Guess he was smart enough to stop playing!)

    Reply

  3. What about folks like Ira Sullivan and Seattle’s Jay Thomas and the late Floyd Standifer? They all doubled brass and woodwinds… Patrick Bartley, the up and coming superb alto saxophonist, was recently videotaped making pretty decent bebop sounds on a trumpet… / Many years ago I read a book on swing era jazz that reported that some of the string section players of Paul Whiteman’s orchestra had learned to be adept doublers on sax when needed… / One of Seattle’s finest flutists recently revealed she’d been practicing her violin regularly for a few years and has been doing well in string quartets… I’ve known several trumpet players who are also decent trombonists… And I saw a string group recently where one of the ‘cellists picked up a violin and played beautifully… The Dorsey Brothers both started on trumpet and both could pick up a trumpet in later years and get by… Harry James had been a child prodigy on the drums! The current principal clarinet of the Berlin Philharmonic started out first on piano, then ‘cello, and won prizes on both before taking up clarinet at age 11 or 12… (I’ve performed on clarinet, saxes, flute, oboe and bassoon. I consider clarinet & oboe my main ones…)

    Reply

  4. Congrats Bret! I’m one of those oddballs that doubles on a Brass Instrument. I’d say my main instruments are Bassoon and Saxophone….but in three community concert bands, I’m playing French Horn. I took a Brass 1 class in college and Horn was my chosen instruments. I ended up having to march Horn the following fall and played Horn in Concert Band the next year due to having my Wisdom Teeth cut out (and being told by my oral surgeon to NOT play bassoon for 6 months….that SURE put me on the “poop list” of ,my band director…where I stayed ’til he passed away. Fast forward many years….and had a car wreck in 2005. I had to stop playing Horn completely in 2011 (fractured jaw was the start of it). 2024, I knocked two lower teeth loose with a bari sax mouthpiece. Ended up having dental surgery to remove all teeth and roots. I had to learn how to play EVERYTHING all over again…with full dentures top and bottom. I was not able to have implants due to damage to my jaw from the car wreck. 4 months after the surgery, I picked up a Horn in a music store and the ability was still there…and the tone wasn’t half bad. I went back a week later and bought that horn…and it’s my main Horn to use today, a year later… I may NEVER have the range back to play 1st Horn again….but I’m fine with that. My range is low Horn and I’m FINE with those pedal tones with the occassional rip up to a G. I’m STILL playing woodwinds…but my adopted brass playing ability is still there. I truly did miss not playing Horn for those 13 years.

    Reply

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