University/conservatory degree programs in woodwind doubling

ByBret Pimentel

I’ve updated my list of schools with woodwind doubling programs. The current count as of this writing is 5 schools with some kind of bachelor’s degree program, 15 with a master’s program, and 5 with a doctoral program. (6 if you count Oregon’s multiple woodwinds “supporting area” to a major in a single instrument.) I have trouble keeping that page updated, as universities apparently love to redo their websites frequently, and many make it very difficult to find the desired information. But I digress.

It’s my understanding that some major schools of music in past decades didn’t offer doctoral degrees in single woodwind instruments; doctoral students in woodwinds were expected to study all of them. Now it’s very rare, as I have discovered over the past several years in my searches for a master’s program and then a doctoral program. Even schools that currently offer the degrees seem rarely to have enrolled students. When I was making inquiries about doctoral programs, one school told me that they were “actively discouraging” enrollment in multiple woodwinds, pushing students instead to focus on a single instrument.

I think there’s a dissertation to be written on the history of woodwind doubling in academia. (No thanks, I’m working on a few other ideas, myself.)

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    • Embrace my teachers’ approaches. As readers of this blog know, I tend to be a bit opinionated about woodwind playing, and as a student I was sometimes too quick to dismiss what I was being taught. A better approach would have been to learn enthusiastically and immersively my teachers’ playing styles, thought processes, equipment choices, and philosophies, mine them for every bit of value and wisdom, and wait until later to make better-educated decisions about what to keep and what to discard.
    • Invest more time and effort into fundamentals. Like many students (and professionals?) I spent a fair amount of practice time focused on learning an étude or repertoire piece, as opposed to learning to play the instrument and to make music. The recitals and concerts I was so fixated on at the time seem much less important now, but the time I could have spent working on basics of tone production, finger technique, and interpretation would have paid nice dividends in the years since.
    • Listen to more music. Mostly I did pretty well at attending concerts on campus. And I went to a few things in the community. And I checked out a few recordings. But why let such a large percentage of my musical intake be performances by other students, or by the professors whose playing I already knew well? What if I had made a point of listening to something new every day, even for a few minutes? What kind of musical depth could I have developed by listening to 365 great woodwind players per year?

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    • It is common for applied music professors to attend their professional organizations’ conferences annually, and to seek out officer positions in those organizations as a way to enhance their tenure portfolios. I would love to attend the annual conferences of the International Double Reed Society, the International Clarinet Association, and the North American Saxophone Alliance each year, but my limited travel funding and the potential time away from my teaching make this unrealistic. And since I don’t attend any one conference every year, it’s difficult to get taken seriously as an officer candidate.
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  • Do I need a college degree for my instrumental music career plans?

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    • Classical or jazz solo artist, chamber/orchestral/theater musician, jazz big band or small group musician, studio musician. None of these “require” a college degree, just very fine playing. But these are lofty goals for making your primary living—very few people, even among the most talented and hardworking, are able to achieve them. But college study can help you develop the skills, the discipline, and the professional network that might get you there. And a college degree that you can fall back on for other employment might be a smart move.
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