Need a panflute? Woodwind doubling gear woes

ByBret Pimentel

Toothpaste For Dinner

A handy “panflute flowchart” from toothpastefordinner.com.

So how much gear does a woodwind doubler NEED?

I HAVE a B-flat clarinet. I NEED an A clarinet. Mozart, you know. And Nielsen and Stravinsky. And orchestral playing. And I really NEED a good bass clarinet, too. And something tells me that if I can get my hands on those, I will discover that I really NEED an E-flat, and maybe a C, and contrabasses in one or more keys.

At least once a month I get a phone call from someone looking for a baritone saxophone player. (I HAVE a soprano, an alto, and a tenor…) As far as I can tell, there isn’t a privately owned bari anywhere in town. If I managed to scrape together the cash to buy one, how many gigs would I have to play on it before it paid for itself? It doesn’t matter, because deep in my soul I NEED a baritone sax, too.

I have tinwhistles in a variety of keys. My current favorite maker has in them in all twelve keys, and some of those keys in multiple octaves. Traditional Irish music tends to stick to a small handful of key signatures, most playable on a D whistle, but what kind of self-respecting doubler turns down a gig because the whistle part is in A-flat? I NEED more whistles.

In a related vein, I recently played for a musical theater production that called for “bamboo flute” among other things. I showed up with a big Rubbermaid bin full of flutes—imagine my embarrassment when I discovered the part called for a bamboo flute in C# major, one that I don’t have. I had to play the part on Boehm flute instead. I NEED… well, you get the picture.

And yes, I HAVE a panflute. A Romanian-style one, anyway. I still NEED a South-American-style…

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    During a rare visit to a music store this week, I overheard a very young clarinetist asking a salesperson to help him locate some unusually stiff reeds. The salesperson was as surprised as was I that the young man was interested in such an extreme equipment choice—but apparently for different reasons.

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    To me, this is a little like congratulating someone on moving up to a larger hat size. “Oh, it’s nothing, really. I started out in a 7¼, but I worked really hard and now I’m ready for the 7½. But the real greats all wear at least an 8, so that’s where I want to end up.” Bigger isn’t better—you should wear whatever fits your head.

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    There’s no such thing as “moving up” to a stiffer reed, just “moving” to a different strength to suit a new mouthpiece or to correct an error in your previous reed choice.

  • Reader email: maintaining doubles

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    I love getting good questions by email:

    I have a question about maintenance on your doubles. Once you feel like you have a good foundation and can play them at a high level, how do you maintain that in your practice routine?

    There’s no great answer to your question. Playing one instrument “at a high level” takes lots of time and commitment, and playing several just multiplies the requirement.

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    • Focus on fundamentals. There just isn’t time in the day to give each instrument the 3-4 hours of practice they need. What time I do have, I try to really pack with long tones, scales, and other really fundamental stuff, and make everything as perfect, polished, and controlled as possible.
    • As a practical matter, I find that I need an hour or more with an instrument to make any progress when I’m practicing, and I need to practice it a few days in a row to get some momentum going. So if I’ve only got a couple of hours, it’s usually not useful to cram in half a dozen instruments. I try to rotate them in such a way that each instrument gets practiced for a few days in a row, then gets a few days off. Something like:
      • Monday: flute, oboe, clarinet
      • Tues: oboe, clarinet, bassoon
      • Wed: clarinet, bassoon, saxophone
      • Thurs: bassoon, saxophone, flute
      • Fri: saxophone, flute, oboe
    I hope that helps. Good luck!

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    Why scales?

    ByBret Pimentel

    I recently asked one of my (woodwind) students why she thinks I make her practice scales. She didn’t have a ready answer, and I realized maybe I hadn’t been clear about the value of scales. Here are some reasons to practice scales (and arpeggios, and other methodical technical materials):

    photo, Aprilyn Podd
    • To develop good finger movement. Scales provide a systematic way to work each finger, and to work them together in just about every combination.
    • To build familiarity with the instrument. A rigorous scale routine makes you use every key and every fingering on the instrument.
    • To get comfortable playing in every key.
    • To explore the instrument’s range. Full-range scales are a good way to make yourself play in the highest and lowest registers of the instrument every day.
    • To provide a canvas for working on other techniques. Ever notice how woodwind instruments articulate a little differently on different notes? How different notes respond differently to vibrato? How some notes tend to be flat or sharp? Learn your scales well, and then use them as a way to take those techniques through every note on the instrument.
    • To train for musical situations. Most music is made up of bits and pieces of scales and arpeggios. Getting those patterns into muscle “memory” frees up mental bandwidth for sight-reading, ensemble, expression, and more.
    • To develop your ears. Internalize major, minor, diminished, whole tone, chromatic, and other modalities.
    • To satisfy requirements. If you are a music student at just about any level, scales are probably part of your lessons, exams, and auditions for the foreseeable future.
    • To have a familiar, habitual technical workout that you can improve upon for the rest of your life, without need for an étude book.

    Practice scales every day!

  • The magical properties of air

    ByBret Pimentel

    Often, when I discuss with my students issues in their playing technique, I follow up by asking them, “How can you solve this problem?” They learn quickly that “breath support” (or a rough synonym like “more air”) is generally a safe answer.

    And with good reason. Breath support is absolutely key to tone production—it is crucial to reliable response, consistent tone quality, and stable intonation. If I can get a student to improve their breath support, I can generally count on each of those things improving immediately and noticeably.

    But I think there are other things that are improved, perhaps indirectly, with air:

    • Finger and tongue movement. I am lumping these together because I have a theory that air helps them in the same couple of ways. The first is that focusing on breathing—a movement so natural that we literally do it for our whole lives and barely think about it—diverts attention away from the finger and tongue movements that woodwind players get so stressed and tense about. This lets the autopilot (or Gallwey’s “Self 2”) take over and execute in a relaxed, natural way. The second way air helps here is that good breath support requires good breathing, and good breathing gets more oxygen to the finger and tongue muscles.
    • Expression. Expressive playing often involves things like dynamic contrasts, vibrato, and nuances of tone color (to name only a few). Each of those things functions better when well-supported: dynamic range expands, and vibrato is smoother and more controlled (again a result of better-oxygenated muscles?). Tone color, I think, actually gets less flexible, in the sense that it becomes more consistent note-to-note despite quirks of the instrument; this means that tone color changes may be applied in a more deliberate way.
    • Confidence and relaxation. Deep breaths are a common and effective insecticide for pre-recital butterflies. The breathing should remain centered and Zen even after the music starts.
    Pictured: air. Photo, Matt Peoples
    Pictured: air. Photo, Matt Peoples

  • What would go wrong if you played louder?

    ByBret Pimentel

    My university students are often, at least at first, quite timid about playing loudly. (This is probably a side effect of learning the instrument in a school band program. They learn to play quietly because their section is too loud. Or, they get the hand from a band director who doesn’t have the time or bandwidth to correct tone production issues.)

    When I push them in lessons to play with soloist-level dynamic range, they often give me a weak mezzo forte instead of the fortissimo I’m looking for. The more I ask for volume, the more they dig in at an unimpressive medium-ish.

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    So I give them permission to play so loud that something goes wrong. Then they usually find some volume they have been holding in reserve, but still fall short of what they are capable of. I usually have to insist more and more firmly that they play louder and louder to show me what will go wrong.

    And, virtually all the time, nothing goes wrong. They find some more available volume, and probably a fuller tone to go with it. If I’m lucky, they learn the lesson and feel less timid about volume in the future.

    The issue does often come back when we encounter something new, unfamiliar, or stressful, like a complicated ornament or a note outside their comfortable range. In those cases, I have to remind them to go ahead and put air into the instrument, and to allow whatever bad thing they are dreading to go ahead and happen. If it does (and it usually doesn’t), we can hear it and troubleshoot it. But sabotaging themselves by choking off the air just guarantees failure.

    Use your air confidently and powerfully. You might discover that what you have been worrying about isn’t a problem at all.

3 Comments

  1. I NEED an A clarinet, a baritone sax, a tenor sax, a piccolo, and a contra alto clarinet.

    Then I’ll need whistles in every key…

    I think I’ll have every orchestral woodwind. It’s going to be nice knowing that the next time I decide to buy a woodwind after that, I’ll be able to trade one in to offset the costs.

    I’m envious of your tub-o-whistles. I saw it at NASA in 2007 and was amazed.

    Reply

  2. This made me chuckle a little.

    I needed a panflute for Secret Garden. Cost me all of $39 for a two octave C major diatonic from G to G. Worked great, and it’s tunable too.

    I also decided I “needed” a low D penny whistle. Turned out the part was playable on a regular D whistle. Oops. The low D whistle has a crazy stretch too, so it’s probably not going to get played much.

    Reply

  3. I started on the flute (then piccolo and alto flute)……

    Then gigs started coming, and I didn’t want to sit around watching the music go by, so…

    Like Merlin, I needed a panflute for Secret Garden. Probably got the same one. I got the low D penny whistle, it sits in the closet with the other whistles (not a full tub).

    I have acquired a Bb, A, Eb and bass clarinets. They get used. Well, not the Eb so much.

    Got an alto sax and bassoon because my son quit playing them. Can’t let them sit around unplayed. Got a soprano sax just because. All of these get played regularly.

    Sometimes I think I need a bari sax. Then I tell myself that I don’t want to schlep it around, and I can play the part on bassoon.

    Reply

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