Buying woodwind instruments

ByBret Pimentel

General advice

The information on this page is intended for beginning and intermediate players, including woodwind doublers who already play another instrument. Here are some rules of thumb:

  • Get the advice of a good teacher, preferably one that doesn’t get a sales commission from a music store. It’s okay to ask advice before starting lessons. A good teacher wants you to have a good, working instrument.
  • In fact, be very skeptical of anything you are told by music store salespeople. My students frequently begin lessons with poor, non-working woodwind instruments that were highly recommended by the guitar player working behind the counter. Ask the salesperson to demonstrate the instrument. If they can’t do it, there’s little reason to take their recommendations.
  • The most important consideration for a beginner’s instrument is its condition. Woodwind instruments use pads made of leather, skin, or cork that MUST seal properly. Poorly adjusted instruments are one of the top causes of frustration in beginning players. Don’t waste your time fighting with a leaking instrument. Cosmetic flaws like worn or scratched finish or small dents (except in vital spots such as a flute’s headjoint or saxophone’s neck) do not necessarily affect an instrument’s playability, but may be warning signs of larger problems. It is possible to buy a non-working instrument and have a good technician restore it to playable condition, but it would be a good idea to get their appraisal of the instrument before you buy it.
  • Don’t buy musical instruments from department stores, megastores, or warehouse stores. These temptingly cheap instruments are made from inferior materials and are almost always in poor adjustment. Good repair shops won’t even work on them because they tend to break under the normal strains of routine maintenance.

Flute

  • Materials: The most inexpensive flutes are made of nickel. Don’t be fooled if the salesperson says “nickel silver,” it’s still just nickel. Nicer flutes are at least plated with silver, or, even better, made of solid silver. Sometimes the headjoint will be solid silver and the body silver plated. Generally, it is thought that the more silver, the more “ring” there will be in the sound (though acoustical studies have failed to verify this). Professional instruments are sometimes made from other materials (platinum, “rose” gold, etc.), but the nuances of these metals are lost on all but the finest flutists. Some flutists experience irritation where the lower lip contacts the instrument; a gold-plated embouchure plate may help (for some extra money).
  • Keywork options: The only significant options for flutists buying less than a custom instrument are inline versus offset G, and the split E mechanism. Some flutists find the inline G key more ergonomic, and some prefer offset. Hand size is one factor, but try both to see which is a more comfortable, less tense reach. Offset G flutes are much more likely to have the split E mechanism, which makes the difficult high E respond more easily.
  • Keys with open holes are popular with American flutists, but realistically make little difference in the instrument’s sound. Still, many flutists insist that open holes improve tone and/or pitch, and facilitate some extended techniques like microtones and pitch slides. Closed holes are a little easier for beginning flutists to cover with their fingers. Removable plugs for open-holed flutes are commercially available, but if you have an open-holed flute you might as well learn to play it “unplugged.”
  • Student instruments usually have a footjoint that is keyed down to a low C. More expensive instruments often (but don’t necessarily) have a low B footjoint, which stabilizes and adds resonance to some notes. The low B itself is occasionally used in flute solo music, but the beginner or casual doubler won’t miss it and might like the lighter weight of a C footjoint.
  • For more information, see my flute page.

Oboe

  • Materials: Generally, cheaper oboes are made of plastic, and more expensive ones are made of grenadilla wood. All else being equal, the tonal advantages of wood are minimal at best, but oboes of superior design and workmanship are almost always made of wood. (This doesn’t mean that just because an oboe is made of wood, it’s a good one!) Wood instruments require careful maintenance to avoid cracking. Previously cracked oboes, if expertly repaired, are perfectly playable but drop significantly in resale value. Keywork on cheaper instruments is nickel plated, more expensive instruments may have shinier silver-plated keys.
  • Keywork options: Oboe keywork options are staggering. Pay for the most complete keywork you can afford. I would prioritize the “extra” keys in roughly this order: F resonance, left F, low B-flat, split-ring D, low B-flat resonance, third octave key. American oboists should avoid ring-key models, fully-automatic octave mechanisms, and thumbplate oboes.
  • For more information, see my oboe page.

Clarinet

  • Materials: The wood vs. plastic discussion in the oboe section applies here.
  • Keywork options: Clarinets, thankfully, have little variation in their keywork. Beware “full-Boehm” instruments, which are favored by a few professionals but rarely used in the United States.
  • For more information, see my clarinet page.

Bassoon

  • Materials: The wood vs. plastic discussion in the oboe section applies here. Wooden bassoons are made of maple.
  • Keywork options: Above the most basic student instruments, bassoon keywork options are perhaps as complicated as with the oboe. Advancing players will find use for a high D key, Ab/Bb trill, and whisper lock, and may find optional rollers to be handy.
  • For more information, see my bassoon page.

Saxophone

  • Materials: Saxophones are made of brass. Sometimes professional instruments are made with special alloys or plated with silver or even gold, but the differences, if they really exist, are too subtle to matter much to most players. The color of the lacquered finish has no effect on the instrument’s sound—don’t be concerned about a lighter or darker gold color. Cheaper instruments sometimes have nickel-plated keys, but this doesn’t affect playability in any way.
  • Keywork options: A high F-sharp key is present on most newer high-quality instruments (but also some of lower quality), but is not a high priority for a beginner. Some professional saxophonists don’t use the high F-sharp key anyway, preferring alternate fingerings. An articulated low C-sharp key is usually present on higher-end instruments and eases navigation of the low register.
  • For more information, see my saxophone page.

Similar Posts

  • Woodwind trill technique

    ByBret Pimentel

    Ideally, a trill is done with one finger, and preferably a finger that is nimble and independent, like an index or middle finger:

    flute bassoon clarinet

    In many cases that isn’t possible. When two fingers (or more!) are needed, it’s best if they can be fingers of the same hand, moving in the same direction (moving down onto keys/holes simultaneously).

    flute clarinet saxophone

    If the most obvious trill fingering involves more than one finger, try moving them each individually and see if you can produce something that works. If the pitch of the trilled note isn’t quite right, many woodwind players lean toward a sharper upper note rather than a flatter one.

    There are good fingering charts available online and in print that offer possible trill fingerings for when common/standard/obvious fingerings don’t work. If you find you need to invent a fingering, a good starting point is to finger the lower note on your instrument, and see what holes there are that you could open with a finger or two to possibly produce the upper note. Try each of them, and some combinations, until hopefully you find one that produces the right pitch. If you have a good understanding of your instrument’s registers, you may also find that you can borrow fingerings for one or both notes from other registers.

    Sometimes the tone, pitch, or response of the trill fingering isn’t good when you sustain it as an individual note, but will work acceptably in the context of a trill.

    The two notes of the trill should be about equally balanced, so that if you were to record it and slow it down you would hear that the individual notes of the trill are equal in duration and volume. Trills should also fit volume-wise into the context of the musical phrase; use strong and consistent breath support, as though you were playing a single long note.

    Trill speed is an artistic decision. Generally trills should be fast enough to give the impression of an effect applied to a single note, rather than a sequence of separate notes. They usually shouldn’t be so fast as to sound jarring or unnatural. The speed of the trill can change for musical effect, and when it does it usually starts slower and accelerates. The best way to learn appropriate trill speeds is by listening to great performances and recordings.

  • What is voicing?

    ByBret Pimentel

    I’d like to address the term “voicing,” which I think is often misunderstood. Here’s my best definition:

    Voicing refers to the relative size of the oral cavity, which can change depending on the position of the back of the tongue.

    There are a number of other terms that are used to describe this same concept in woodwind playing. I don’t take issue with any of these terms individually, and I think that as a teacher it’s useful to have a variety of possible ways to explain this concept. (These terms can become problematic, however, when they are used in opposition to each other: “Open up, and blow cooler air.”)

    Here are some examples of ways of describing voicing. I consider the terms in the left column all to be descriptions of the same thing, and those on the right to be likewise equivalent to each other. Read More “What is voicing?”

  • Clarinet pinky fingerings

    ByBret Pimentel

    Recently I discussed the topic of clarinet “pinky” (little finger) fingerings with my woodwind methods class. With all that school band directors have on their plates, it’s not surprising that this topic doesn’t always get taught thoroughly to beginners. It can be a bit of a puzzle to a non-clarinetist, but the important concepts can be mastered with a minimum of effort if they are taught clearly.

    This is an important thing for woodwind doublers to understand, too, since they may be bringing with them some fingering habits that worked well on their other instrument(s), but which may not apply to clarinet in the same way.

    The following notes on the clarinet require use of a pinky key:

    These notes require left hand pinky These notes require right hand pinky
    left hand pinky notes right hand pinky notes
    These notes use EITHER left or right hand pinky
    fingerings using either pinky

    Pinky keys are also used in the altissimo register, in resonance fingerings, and so forth, but for today we’ll focus on the notes in the chart. If you’re unfamiliar with the fingerings, check them out at the Woodwind Fingering Guide.

    The crucial decision-making deals with the notes in the last row of the chart, which each have two fingering possibilities—one using the left pinky, and one using the right pinky. If your clarinet is in proper adjustment, there shouldn’t be a difference in tone or intonation between the two fingerings, as they open or close the same toneholes. (With a poorly-adjusted clarinet, it’s possible for, say, one fingering to open a certain pad wider than another pad, perhaps affecting pitch and tone.) So our only criterion will be ease and precision of fingering.

    Consider this passage, and we will walk through a systematic thought process for selecting fingerings:
    example 1

    Read More “Clarinet pinky fingerings”

  • Novelty and solo multiple-woodwind performance

    ByBret Pimentel

    For a decade now, virtually every solo recital I have played has involved multiple woodwind instruments. I enjoy the variety and the challenge, and audiences are always duly appreciative and complimentary.

    However, I do wonder sometimes about the novelty aspect of using multiple woodwind instruments in solo “classical” performance. Often well-intentioned (and much-appreciated!) audience members will tell me something like, “It’s so amazing that you can play all those instruments!” That’s nice of them, but would they say something similar at a single-instrument recital? “It’s so amazing that you can play that instrument.”

    Photo, José Camba
    Photo, José Camba

    I’ve leveraged the variety a couple of times recently to do composer-themed recitals, one of music by Debussy and one of music by Telemann. On a single instrument, I would mostly shy away from playing an hour of music by a single composer. Such a thing could be done, but to make it a real success would require both a very engaging performer and an appropriate audience: for listeners with a casual appreciation of classical music, an hour of Bach flute sonatas or an hour of Brahms clarinet sonatas could be a bit of a drag. My recent Telemann sonata included music performed on six different solo instruments, two of them relatively rarely-heard (recorder and EWI), and that seemed to be enough to keep the audience on board.

    But were they on board purely because of the composer’s and performers’ art, or was it the feat of instrumental derring-do that held their interest? Of course I would like for my performances to stand on their own, regardless of how many or how few instruments I use, but it’s hard to tell when the audience is distracted by the parade of shiny objects. I’m not bothered by having a gimmick per se, but I don’t want it to be the only thing holding the performance together.

  • ClarinetFest 2014 presentation: The 21st-century woodwind doubler

    ByBret Pimentel

    I gave a presentation at the International Clarinet Association conference (“ClarinetFest”) last week on woodwind doubling, with a particular focus on the rising expectations on woodwind doublers to play more instruments at a higher level (including “world” and even electronic woodwinds). Here is the blurb from the program:

    The typical working woodwind doubler in the 20th century was a strong player on one or two instruments, with a lesser level of achievement on one or two more. Woodwind doubling continues to be a marketable skill in live performance and studio work, but the expectations of woodwind doublers have changed with the music industry; 21st century “doublers” may be expected to play a much larger group of instruments (sometimes including “world” woodwinds and electronic instruments), and to play each of those at a more virtuosic level and in a variety of styles. This places increasingly high demands on woodwind players, but also offers a variety of rewards. This presentation profiles the modern woodwind doubler, and includes practical information for developing valuable doubling skills.

    Here is the handout: The 21st century woodwind doubler

    Victor Chavez from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville did a brief write-up on the ClarinetFest blog.

    The crowd, as usual, was small but enthusiastic. I got to reconnect with some old doubler friends and meet some new ones. I was gratified to have many of them mention that they follow this blog (hello!) or make use of other resources on this site.

    I understand there are several doubling-related events going on at the International Double Reed Society conference this week, as well!

  • Woodwind technique and conservation of energy

    ByBret Pimentel

    That people prefer to move in energetically optimal ways has been established for decades and now represents a central principle of movement science. … Energy optimization may also occur over the course of a lifetime, as years of experience could allow people to learn the optimal way to move in familiar situations and allow training to tune physiology to be more economical. An additional hypothesis—one that underpins many modern theories of motor control—is that people can adjust their movements to continuously optimize energetic cost.

    Selinger, Jessica C., Shawn M. O’Connor, Jeremy D. Wong, and J. Maxwell Donelan. “Humans can continuously optimize energetic cost during walking.” Current Biology 25, no. 18 (2015): 2452-2456.

    I certainly see this phenomenon in my own woodwind playing and teaching. How many times have you encountered these?

    • More resistant notes failing to respond because there’s just enough breath support for the less-resistant ones

    • Embouchures losing their shape, reverting to a neutral/normal mouth position

    • Voicing, such as the high, cold-air voicing needed for clarinet playing, or the low, warm-air one for flutes and double reeds, lapsing into a medium, luke-warm state that negatively affects tone, pitch, and response

    • Pitch sagging at ends of notes as breath support peters out

    These are often addressed by teachers as “habits,” which may be true, but they may also be fed by the brain’s capacity—and priority—to micro-optimize our muscle use to conserve energy. No wonder they are difficult to overcome! Patience and persistence are necessary to train our bodies to put the right amount of effort into playing our instruments.

    A factor in this is establishing a suitably high bar for success. For a beginner, the only question might be, “did a sound come out?” For a slightly more advanced student, it might become, “did the correct approximate pitch come out?” A more advanced player might examine the precision of the pitch, the quality of the tone, and the immediacy of the response, among many other factors. It takes a relatively low amount of energy to meet the beginner’s threshold of success, but potentially much more for the advanced player’s.

    Additionally, this intentional use of greater energy resources must be managed carefully to avoid its misapplication, which can result in excessive tension.

    I find that when I am playing at my best balance of efficiency and effort, an hour of playing a woodwind instrument leaves me feeling like I have done some light exercise; I’ll feel the mild and pleasant fatigue of having taken a walk or reorganized a bookshelf. Serious tiredness or soreness are warnings that I’m overusing my body. (Your results may vary depending on your physical capabilities.)

    Be in tune with your own body as you play, and teach your students to be in tune with theirs, so that you’re in the sweet spot of working hard enough but not harder.

3 Comments

  1. This is a very good article. I wish my kids had read this when I was a band director!

    I’m looking to buy several non-playing clarinets and saxophones for a fund-raiser for my son’s high school band, The Franklin County High School Flyer Band, Frankfort, Kentucky. Can you direct me to someone/somewhere who/that might be able to help me?

    Thanks in advance . . . Bob Bosworth

    Reply
  3. Pingback: Buying a Woodwind Instrument - What to Look For- A Music Mom

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