Review: “Double Troubles” by Paul Saunders

ByBret Pimentel

A few months ago I wrote a review of So You Want to Play in Shows…?, a book of woodwind doubling etudes by Paul Saunders. Recently Paul sent me Double Troubles, a new collection of etudes. Like So You Want, the new volume includes a piano part plus access to downloadable backing tracks. As I said in the previous review:

This is an elegant solution to one of the problems of woodwind doubling etudes: how do you enforce quick instrument switches? … Saunders’s book, used with the recordings, provides a simple way to work out quick switches alone in a practice room.

Like in the previous book, these etudes are musically interesting and in styles typical of contemporary musical theater. Double Troubles is overall somewhat more challenging, including some saxophone altissimo and flute third octave up to C (though most of the extreme high register playing on both instruments is marked as optional—Paul clarified to me that the upper register is preferable, and the optional 8vbs are to make the etudes more approachable if needed). The book also incorporates soprano and tenor saxophones on some etudes, in addition to the flute/clarinet/alto used in the first book.

Two of the etudes are by guest composers, Darren Lord and Jennifer Whyte. Here’s a quick-and-dirty demo of the tune “Disco Nap,” which is Darren Lord’s contribution:

I had fun playing through these, and recommend Paul’s doubling etude books as one of the best sources of practice material for the flute/clarinet/saxophone doubler.

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  • Review: Butch Hall Native-American-style flutes

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  • Required recordings, fall 2009

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    Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases, at no cost to you.

    Almost two years ago I posted a review of the ClariMate digital clarinet mute by Buffet-Crampon. My conclusion at that point was that the ClariMate was an interesting concept, but with some technical issues.

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    To their credit, members of Buffet-Crampon’s ClariMate team have stayed in touch over the last couple of years, and ultimately offered to exchange my ClariMate for a new unit. I have spent a little time with the new unit and I do find it to be more stable, though it’s not clear to me whether that’s due to a defect in the previous one or to improvements to the firmware and apps.

    I did manage to complete the reed calibration process in the Windows app, but only after many attempts with the new unit. And I still find that I do not have any real control of pitch bends. Most of the time the pitch is completely unaffected no matter how much or how little pressure I put on the reed. I do hear very occasional small bends while playing, but they are not intentional and I can’t figure out how to make them happen on purpose.

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    I also experimented a little with the new MIDI functionality. The ClariMate website now offers free “MIDIMate” software, a rudimentary soft synth for Windows and MacOS with a handful of sounds. I was also able to use the ClariMate with another Windows soft synth, and with a music notation program for note entry, though both were considerably more glitchy than MIDIMate or the ClariMate apps.

    In researching the new MIDI capabilities, I did a web search for “ClariMate manual” and clicked the first result, a PDF hosted on the ClariMate EU website. It contains this text: “MIDI will work in USB or bluetooth mode via Windows or MacOS, and in bluetooth mode via Android and iOS. We recommend using MIDI in USB mode to reduce latency as much as possible.” I was unable to get ClariMate MIDI working with my Android device, and a representative has now confirmed that MIDI is “not yet available on Android, but should be soon.” He also pointed me to a more up-to-date version of the manual, which does not include the misleading text. (If you are looking for a current manual, you should visit the ClariMate website to make sure you aren’t looking at something outdated.)

    The fact that MIDI capability was falsely advertised at the ClariMate’s launch, and that Android MIDI was falsely mentioned in a recent user’s manual, seem consistent with an apparent pattern of over-promising and under-delivering. That’s concerning when selling a not-inexpensive gadget to tech-savvy clarinetists, a finicky bunch if ever there was one. The older manuals should probably be removed from the ClariMate websites so they will disappear from Google results, and it would be responsible of Buffet-Crampon to be precise and truthful about which features are and aren’t available.

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    My ClariMate has mostly stayed in its case. I am fortunate to have a space where I can practice out loud, and if that were to change I don’t think the ClariMate’s silent practice functionality would suit my purposes. And the MIDI compatibility pales in comparison to the capabilities and reliability of my Akai wind controller. If you are a professional or semi-professional musician and finding good uses for the ClariMate, I would be curious to hear about them.

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    A couple of new books of duets for woodwind doublers hit my inbox recently. (I received complimentary copies without any promise of a review.) Gene Kaplan has published a second volume of his Duos for Doublers, following up the volume I reviewed previously. And Paul Saunders, whose other doubling publications I’ve reviewed, has written Six Duets for Woodwind Doublers.

    As I noted in previous reviews, (solo) etudes for woodwind doublers have an issue: it’s too easy to take extra time during instrument changes, a luxury that doesn’t exist in musical theater or many other doubling scenarios. Kaplan’s two volumes solve this by pairing the player with another doubler. Saunders’s previous works provided piano accompaniment (including downloadable backing tracks). Either solution keeps the woodwind doubler accountable to another musician (at least a virtual one) to execute the quick changes without disrupting the tempo.

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    Kaplan’s solution of course requires a duet partner with skills on three instruments, but also provides some flexibility in rehearsal with tempos or repeating problem sections. With two volumes available, each with a dozen 2-3 page duets, this would be a great resource for a sight reading session with a friend or student. (This new volume has well-placed page turns.)

    Saunders’s approach lends itself well to solo practice, and since you can play either part with Saunders covering the other, the six duets amount to twelve parts to work on. The included piano score also raises some possibilities for a polished public performance. (The introduction also indicates that the duets are composed to work without the accompaniment.)

    The books are similar in instrumentation, for flute/clarinet/saxophone doublers, with the first part using alto saxophone and the second using tenor. Saunders’s book has one duet with optional piccolos. I’ve been clear that I think the flute/clarinet/saxophone doubling paradigm is outdated in the 21st century, and while the market for such things is admittedly probably small, I’d like to see more resources available that incorporate double reeds.

    Both books publish the duets as separate parts, which is probably a closer match to the musical theater doubling experience, but I do prefer seeing both lines on the same page. With Saunders’s book, the additional piano score does show both parts, which could be helpful for perusal or rehearsal.

    I’ve updated my Music for woodwind doublers page to include these new publications. Keep me posted if you are aware of additional ones.

  • Review: D’Addario Select Jazz alto saxophone mouthpieces

    ByBret Pimentel

    I like mouthpieces that are easy to play, especially in terms of response and tuning. But I also really like something easy to replace; I don’t like the idea of a mouthpiece that is so expensive, variable, or rare that if I drop it I can’t just order a new one, have it in a few days, and expect it to play like the old one.

    A few years back I did a fairly detailed review of the Rico Reserve clarinet mouthpieces (in two parts), and have been happily using the Reserves as my main clarinet mouthpieces ever since. The Reserves are, in particular, astonishingly consistent from specimen to specimen, presumably due to the very precise tooling that obviates the need for hand-finishing (which sounds cool but ultimately means a relatively high degree of variability).

    The pro-line products formerly released under the Rico name are now D’Addario Woodwinds products, and they now include some alto saxophone mouthpieces, the Select Jazz series. I was pleased to hear from a contact at D’Addario Woodwinds who sent me some samples to try out.

    My point of reference is the various Meyer-ish alto mouthpieces I have played for about the last 20 years, most recently the V16 series from Vandoren. I used the A6/medium chamber for a number of years, but more recently switched to the A6/small chamber, which gave me a little more bite in my sound that works well for me in louder situations (like big band lead playing, or blues gigs here in the Mississippi Delta) without having to strain as much.

    The new D’Addario Select Jazz alto mouthpieces are currently available in three flavors, the D5M, the D6M, and the D7M. Larger numbers in the middle correspond to larger tip openings (details at D’Addario’s website). I got a couple of each to try. Each one says “medium chamber” on the box, so maybe D’Addario is considering other chamber sizes. At the moment street price seems to be a little higher than the V16s, but still basically in the same class.

    If you read the second part of my Reserve mouthpiece review, then you won’t be surprised to see that the Select Jazz mouthpieces are extremely consistent. Check out the very even and symmetrical rails and tips.

    L-R: two each of the D5M, D6M, and D7M. Click for higher resolution.
    L-R: two each of the D5M, D6M, and D7M. Click for higher resolution.

    As mentioned in a couple of other reviews, the Select Jazz mouthpieces have an unusually tight fit on the neck cork, and they chewed up my aging cork a bit. Cork grease!

    The mouthpieces have individual serial numbers, like the Reserve clarinet mouthpieces. When I asked about this during my clarinet mouthpiece review, the Rico/D’Addario rep told me there might in the future be some way of registering your mouthpiece online, maybe to access some kind of members-only content. I haven’t seen anything happen along these lines, so maybe there’s a more logical explanation, like that the numbers are just for quality control.

    Here is a sound clip of each of the six mouthpieces I received, plus my two V16 mouthpieces for comparison. For all the sound clips I used the same inexpensive fake-leather-type ligature, but different reeds, a D’Addario Select Jazz filed 3S and a filed 3M, depending on which worked best with each individual mouthpiece. The V16s and the Jazz Select D5Ms worked better with the 3M reed, and the Jazz Select D6Ms and D7Ms seemed to prefer the 3S reed.

    D’Addario Select Jazz D5M, specimen #1

    D’Addario Select Jazz D5M, specimen #2

    D’Addario Select Jazz D6M, specimen #1

    D’Addario Select Jazz D6M, specimen #2

    D’Addario Select Jazz D7M, specimen #1

    D’Addario Select Jazz D7M, specimen #2

    My old Vandoren V16 A6M

    My old Vandoren V16 A6S

     

    The differences are minor at best, and really in a pinch I could make any of these eight mouthpieces work, but here are a few observations:

    • The Select Jazz mouthpieces have noticeably more stable intonation than the V16s, especially the D5M. This is a bigger deal than tone, which is more malleable and more subjective.
    • The Select Jazz mouthpieces are, again, very consistent. This is the killer feature of D’Addario’s mouthpieces. I found the two D5Ms to be virtually interchangeable in terms of tone, response, and tuning, and the two D7Ms too. One of the D6Ms (#2) has, to my ear, just a tiny bit of an edge that I find unpleasant. I suspect that this one is slightly “off,” but the difference between the two is still quite minor compared to the differential in hand-finished production mouthpieces.
    • I do still want something with some edge to it, and the V16 small chamber still feels like is has more of that than any of the seven others, but not by much. The Select Jazz mouthpieces seem to have a bigger core and body to the sound, plus a bit higher volume, so I’m thinking it may be an acceptable tradeoff as far as making my presence known among the electric guitars.
    • Overall, I find the Select Jazz to respond better both down low in the staff and up above it than the V16s do. I didn’t play any altissimo in the sound clips, but I find the Select Jazz to have a slight advantage in that register as well.
    • The D5M and, to a lesser extent, the D6M, seem to be the best fit for my style and needs. The D7M doesn’t work as well for me—it has the louder but more spread tone and less-stable intonation you might expect from a larger tip opening—but it’s still one of the best mouthpieces I’ve played in that category, and it’s really only slightly large, not nearly as extreme as the tip openings offered by some other makers.

    I think the Select Jazz D5M is going to be my new mouthpiece. (I’m keeping a D6M in my case for now too until I can try them both on a loud blues gig, but so far the D5M has worked well for small-group jazz.) The combination of solid intonation, pretty-but-gutsy tone, budget-friendly price, and amazing consistency make this a solid, versatile, and practical option for a working saxophonist. They are great for educators, too—they are easy to recommend to students because they are so easy to play and because they are so reliable in quality (much less need to order a half-dozen on approval and hope there’s a “good” one in the bunch). A great all-around, no-nonsense alto jazz mouthpiece.

    I look forward to more offerings from D’Addario Woodwinds, perhaps alto mouthpieces in other chamber sizes, or mouthpieces for other saxophones.

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