Reader email: Chinese woodwinds

ByBret Pimentel July 21, 2012March 15, 2017

I recently got email from a reader about the use of Chinese woodwinds in theater and film music. I did my best to answer his questions, and I’m posting them here in case they are of use to anyone else. Both questions and answers are edited here for length and awesomeness.

My question for you is about bamboo flutes. I see the term bamboo flute thrown around (such as in the reed 1 book for Aida) and I wonder what exactly that means. Do those musicians own 12 bamboo sticks with holes drilled in them, or do they use a specific style of bamboo flute from a particular part of the world?

If the part calls for “bamboo flute” with no other clarification, I think that leaves it pretty well open to interpretation by the flutist and musical director. Aida is set in the Old Kingdom of Egypt, where, according to my Wikipedia research, bamboo per se did not grow. Probably the best-known bamboo-ish Egyptian flutes are neys, made from bamboo-like reeds.

My guess is that most woodwind players would substitute some variety of bamboo transverse flute, such as an Indian bansuri, a Chinese dizi (perhaps with the buzzing membrane replaced by a piece of tape), or a non-culture-specific bamboo flute like those sold by Erik the Flutemaker. Doug Tipple’s PVC flutes make an excellent and economical substitute for bamboo, with nice tone (I dare you to hear the difference) and consistent intonation and response. You might be able to contact musicians who have worked on specific shows, and find out what solutions they came up with; the Internet Broadway Database is a good starting point.

Your listing for The Lion King is much more specific, which brings me to my next question: dizi keys. I happen to be in China right now. Tunable dizi flutes are cheap, and one-piece dizi are cheaper. Do I need 12 tunable dizi? What keys are actually played in theater and film in the US?

I was lucky enough to make a very short trip to Beijing a few years ago, and picked up some dizi and some xiao while I was there. It seemed like lots of tourist-oriented vendors were selling very cheap and low-quality instruments. I made use of the excellent concierge service at my fancy hotel (someone else was paying!) and got them to put me in a cab to a more musician-oriented shop downtown. (I mimed to the proprietor what I wanted, and we haggled over prices by typing our counteroffers into a calculator.)

Tunable seems like the way to go if you can afford it—it doesn’t hurt anything to have a little flexibility. I’m not aware of good-quality dizi that aren’t tunable; is it possible the non-tunable ones you’ve seen are of “souvenir” quality or intended for feng shui use (in other words, barely playable)?

The most common keys seem to be D and then C for solo repertoire, and G and then F for Chinese opera. (Remember, the key on these refers to the three-holes-closed note, not the six-holes-closed note.) I think you would have to deal with a real specialty shop to find others, but they do exist.

What is used in Western film and theater depends, I think, largely on the knowledge of the composer/orchestrator. I think sometimes parts get written for bamboo flutes in whatever key is convenient for the singers’ range, perhaps without a second thought that the flutes aren’t fully chromatic like Western instruments. If the composer collaborates with a dizi player, though, I think the parts are likely to be in one of those common keys.

Do I need a xiao (end blown Chinese bamboo flute)? They seem widely-used in Chinese opera, but I’ll only ever play Broadway-style shows.

I’m not aware of any use of the xiao in Broadway-type shows, and in terms of pure usability for gigs, I would give it a fairly low priority. One instrument that I have been hearing now and then in television and film is the bawu, a sort of transverse reed instrument, which I’m anxious to get my hands on. I don’t know of any Broadway uses of it yet.

I hope that helps.

Best,
Bret

Musicianship | Woodwind playing and pedagogy

Planning breaths
ByBret Pimentel November 15, 2018November 15, 2018
Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases, at no cost to you.

When learning a new étude or repertoire piece, it’s common to practice at first with focus on the notes, often playing them at a slow tempo and/or divided into chunks. This is a good approach for mastering the needed finger technique, but it may neglect one of the crucial parts of a performance: breathing.

In some music, it’s obvious where to breathe. But in a page of nonstop sixteenth notes, it’s harder to find the right places, and to execute them gracefully. Adding to the problem, I find that when I am nervous or playing under pressure, my breathing is one of the first things that falls apart: I start breathing in unaccustomed places, or skipping breaths that I know I really need.

I recommend establishing a breathing plan early in the process of learning new music. That way you can practice the breaths just like you practice the notes—they become a part of your muscle memory, and will happen automatically even under pressure.

The first step for a wind player should be to mark in the musical breaths, the ones that demarcate phrases. These are breaths that you will take (or possibly fake) regardless of your need for oxygen, because they serve the music. How exactly to do that is beyond the scope of this post, but here are a few quick tips:
- Beware breathing at bar lines. They look like nice stopping points, but often don’t make musical sense. (They are there only for your convenience in counting.)
- Background in music theory helps a lot, but you can also use your ears to help you figure out intuitively where a phrase comes to rest, or steal ideas from a good recording.
- To go deeper, consider studying phrasing, perhaps from a book like David McGill’s. (Put that one on your wish list if you haven’t read it already!)
Once the breaths required by the music are in place, you may decide you need more, perhaps because you haven’t worked the piece up to its full tempo yet (or because the piece isn’t written with sensitivity to your desire to survive). Mark in-between “survival” breaths as needed, perhaps in parentheses so you remember which ones they are. Put them in the best places you can find, and execute them as musically as you can, but as your tempo increases you may be able to skip them. If so, be sure to erase them so your marked-in plan stays up to date.

Choosing places for survival breaths is a trial-and-error process. Mark some in and give them a try, then adjust as needed. If you feel uncomfortable while playing, this can lead to panicked decisions on stage, so choose breaths for your comfort.

Particularly for the oboe, you may find you need some “breaths” where you can actually exhale stale air. Mark these clearly, too.

Always update your pencil marks if you decide to change the plan at all, so that your plan is 100% clear and you can practice it in a consistent way. You can change your mind later, as long as you change your marks.

To summarize:
- Start early in the process of learning a new piece.
- Mark in musical breaths, which you will observe even if you’re capable of playing longer without stopping.
- Mark in survival breaths, if necessary. Use trial and error to get them right.
- Practice the breaths just as diligently as you practice the notes.
- As you get closer to the performance, you might alter the breathing plan as your interpretation evolves, or as you no longer need some of the survival breaths.
- Be strict about keeping the markings current, and about playing just what is marked.
Well-planned, thoroughly-practiced breaths contribute to a relaxed, musical performance.
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Woodwind playing and pedagogy

Shaping a phrase
ByBret Pimentel November 24, 2021March 2, 2022
When a woodwind player plays a phrase like this:

…it could have a variety of shapes, depending. But often a rising line gets a subtle crescendo, and a long note at the end gets a little decrescendo:

To play create this shape, you blow air that makes the shape. You can imagine playing a single note, like this:

…and then let your fingers and tongue play the notes over the shape.

But sometimes less-experienced players blow like this:

That makes the phrase sound weird, like the notes each have their own shapes. For the notes to unite into a phrase, they need to combine into one shape.

To practice this, first decide what shape your phrase should have, and mark it into your music. Then, without your instrument, blow air that makes the shape of the phrase. Then pick up your instrument and do the fingerings, blowing the air shape outside the instrument. If some notes should be tongued, add that next. Once you are comfortable with all those steps, combine them to play a smooth, connected, well-shaped phrase.
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Woodwind playing and pedagogy

The woodwind doubler as orchestral utility player
ByBret Pimentel November 22, 2011March 15, 2017
Photo, Scott Schram

I got an interesting email recently. I’ve edited it heavily and fictionalized almost all the details, since I’m using it here without permission, but you’ll get the idea:

Dear Bret,

I found your web page through a Google search. My company is presenting a themed cruise for classical music lovers departing from Seattle in February, featuring performances by a full symphony orchestra.

I am looking to hire a woodwind doubler to serve as a sort of human insurance policy, should something happen to one of our woodwind players while we are out to sea. I’m wondering if you know anyone in the area who would be interested. We will rehearse in Seattle before departure. Compensation is room and board on the ship and travel to the Hawaiian islands, plus $50 per service to attend all rehearsals, and $100 per concert if called upon to perform. I need someone who can play flute, oboe, clarinet, and bassoon, and the repertoire is standard symphonic fare: Mozart, Schubert, Brahms, etc.

Let me know if there’s anyone you could recommend for this. There’s a nearby university with a degree program in multiple woodwinds, so I figure there must be a number of students or graduates who are available. I would like to hire someone in the area, since unfortunately we can’t pay for travel to Seattle.

Thanks!

Eddie Skousen, President

Classical Cruises, Inc.

I’ll confess to being sort of fascinated by the idea of being hired as a kind of utility backup for an orchestral woodwind section. And I did put out a call for some potential hires, but didn’t get any nibbles. It’s a creative idea, but there are a number of practical obstacles: Read More “The woodwind doubler as orchestral utility player”
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Woodwind playing and pedagogy

Woodwind Doubler Census 2021 results, part 1: demographics

ByBret Pimentel June 3, 2021June 3, 2021

Thanks to all who participated in my 2021 woodwind doubling survey, and to those who helped spread the word. I’m releasing the results in installments, so be sure to use my social media links, RSS feeds, etc. to keep up.

I got 284 responses, an improvement over 2011’s 187. The numbers for each of these questions don’t necessarily add up to exactly that number, since not everybody responded to every question.

Gender identity

I provided more options for gender identity than in 2011’s survey. Here’s the breakdown. (Percentages are of those who answered the question.)

2021 Data
Male	222	78%
Female	49	17%
Female, Transgender	1	~0%
Nonbinary/nonconforming	10	4%
Transgender, Nonbinary/nonconforming	1	~0%

2011 Data
Male	146	78%
Female	41	22%

Age

As was the case 10 years ago, the numbers skew toward the younger end. I’m not sure if this is affected by the survey being distributed primarily online. No respondents claimed to be younger than teenaged or older than in their 70s.

2021 Data
Teenage	22	8%
20s	72	25%
30s	67	24%
40s	40	14%
50s	41	14%
60s	35	12%
70s	6	2%

2011 Data
Younger than 20	19	1%
20s	54	10%
30s	31	29%
40s	36	17%
50s	33	19%
60s	12	18%
70s	1	6%

Region

I provided options for this that broke down by continent. A few of you island dwellers responded with “other” and specified locations in Oceania and the Caribbean. I probably need to rethink this question for 2031, but for purposes of data reporting I have lumped everyone together into continents for now.

The continued absence of responses from Africa and South America may be related to language barriers and/or other factors. I did get a few responses from Asia this year, which I didn’t in 2011.

2021 Data
Asia	3	1%
Australia	11	4%
Europe	20	7%
North America	249	88%

2011 Data
Australia	11	6%
Europe	12	6%
North America	162	87%

Which of these best describes where you live?

The “city, but not a ‘major’ one” option was added based on feedback from the 2011 survey. A few of you used the “other” option to explain more complicated living situations (such as multiple locations), and for reporting purposes I’ve taken the liberty of lumping those into the categories I thought were the closest match.

2021 Data
major city or metropolitan area	127	45%
city, but not a “major” one	69	24%
suburb or exurb	63	22%
rural or remote area	24	8%

2011 Data
major city or metropolitan area	93	50%
suburban area	66	35%
rural or remote area	23	12%
other	5	3%

Describe your current level of formal education (in any field).

“Less than high school diploma” is a new option this yea. The categories in the graph are abbreviated; the full text from the survey is in the data table.

2021 dATA
Less than high school diploma	8	3%
High school diploma or equivalent	6	2%
Some college	33	12%
Bachelors degree	70	25%
Some graduate school	18	6%
Masters degree	103	37%
Doctorate	38	13%
Other degree type or comparable certification	6	2%

2011 Data
High school diploma or equivalent	8	4%
Some college	28	15%
Bachelors degree	59	32%
Some graduate school	16	9%
Masters degree	53	28%
Doctorate	16	9%
Other degree type or comparable certification	6	3%

Thanks again for your participation and stay tuned for more survey results.

Woodwind playing and pedagogy

Woodwind Doubler Census 2021 results, part 3: training/education

ByBret Pimentel June 10, 2021June 10, 2021

I got 284 responses, an improvement over 2011’s 187. The numbers for each of these questions don’t necessarily add up to exactly that number, since not everybody responded to every question.

Which was your first instrument, among the major woodwinds?

2021 Data
flute	37	13%
oboe	13	5%
clarinet	106	38%
bassoon	6	2%
saxophone	119	42%
none of these apply	1	~0%

2011 Data
flute	22	12%
oboe	10	5%
clarinet	77	41%
bassoon	5	3%
saxophone	73	39%

Which of these have been part of your education on woodwind instruments?

2021 Data
school band/orchestra program (high school or younger)	262	93%
private lessons outside of school	248	88%
summer camps	188	67%
university band/orchestra program	241	85%
university/conservatory bachelors degree with formal concentration(s) in multiple woodwinds	27	10%
university/conservatory bachelors degree with single-instrument or other music concentration	182	65%
bachelors-level study on secondary instrument(s), but not as part of a formal multiple-woodwinds program	111	39%
university/conservatory masters degree with formal concentration(s) in multiple woodwinds	35	12%
university/conservatory masters degree with single-instrument or other music concentration	75	27%
masters-level study on secondary instrument(s), but not as part of a formal multiple-woodwinds program	31	11%
university/conservatory doctoral degree with formal concentration(s) in multiple woodwinds	10	4%
university/conservatory doctoral degree with single-instrument or other music concentration	24	9%
doctoral-level study on secondary instrument(s), but not as part of a formal multiple-woodwinds program	6	2%
other university/conservatory music degree or certification	14	5%
self-taught on one or more instruments	167	59%

2011 Data
school band/orchestra program (high school or younger)	175	94%
private lessons outside of school	170	91%
summer camps	131	70%
university band/orchestra program	143	76%
university/conservatory bachelors degree with formal concentration(s) in multiple woodwinds	27	14%
university/conservatory bachelors degree with single-instrument or other music concentration	97	52%
university/conservatory masters degree with formal concentration(s) in multiple woodwinds	13	7%
university/conservatory masters degree with single-instrument or other music concentration	37	20%
university/conservatory doctoral degree with formal concentration(s) in multiple woodwinds	4	2%
university/conservatory doctoral degree with single-instrument or other music concentration	5	3%
other university/conservatory music degree or certification	12	6%
self-taught on one or more instruments	118	63%

What factors influenced you first to get involved in woodwind doubling?

Besides the provided answers, several of you included personal anecdotes of influences including boredom, norms of the early music scene, orthodontia and injuries, career aspirations like instrument repair and studio work, and the Lawrence Welk Show.

2021 data
just interested in more than one instrument	202	72%
required/helpful for a jazz (or other improvisatory music) group you played in or wanted to play in	139	49%
had or wanted opportunities to play for musical theater	196	70%
influenced by a teacher or role model	136	48%
wanted to improve employability	138	49%
an ensemble you were in (or wanted to be in) needed someone to play a specific instrument, and you were willing to learn it	118	42%
an ensemble you were in (or wanted to be in) didn’t include the instrument you already played and you needed to learn another	46	16%
your training/experience as a teacher required you to branch out	56	20%

2011 Data
just interested in more than one instrument	40
required/helpful for a jazz (or other improvisatory music) group you played in or wanted to play in	37
had or wanted opportunities to play for musical theater	35
influenced by a teacher or role model	23
wanted to improve employability	19
an ensemble you were in (or wanted to be in) needed someone to play a specific instrument, and you were willing to learn it	19
your training/experience as a teacher required you to branch out	9

What sources have you used to learn about or otherwise engage with woodwind doubling?

Besides the provided answers, nine of you wrote in something to the effect of “lessons” or “teachers,” which I didn’t include as an option because I covered formal training in other questions. A few of you also wrote in “YouTube,” which I have lumped in with “social media sites.”