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

ByBret Pimentel

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.

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.”

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

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  • |

    Sample woodwind methods syllabus

    ByBret Pimentel

    If you are teaching a woodwind methods course, you might be interested in my book.

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

    Shortly before the beginning of fall and spring semesters, I usually get a few emails from new university professors and adjuncts looking for advice and resources on teaching woodwind methods courses. I’m happy to hear from folks, but thought it might be helpful to make available a generic syllabus based on how I teach my class.

    My class is 2 credits, and meets 50 minutes 3 times per week during an approximately 15-week semester. A few points of interest:

    • I cover all five major/modern woodwind families (flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, saxophone) within the single semester.
    • I do four units, with students playing a different instrument during each unit. Students who major in a woodwind instrument will play the four besides their major; everybody else plays just one of the double reeds. (In a perfect world I wouldn’t slight the double reeds this way, but there are some practical/logistical reasons.)
    • I teach my class with students playing a heterogeneous group of instruments, but since I use a concept-oriented approach this sequence should also work if you have everybody playing flute at the same time, etc.
    • I of course use my own book. Since I have students all playing different instruments, I pair it with a band method. If I were using a homogeneous group of instruments, I would swap out the band method for a series of individual methods.

    Download the syllabus in your preferred format:

  • |

    Frequently-asked questions about woodwind doubling, and their unpopular answers

    ByBret Pimentel

    Q. Should I be a woodwind doubler?

    A. In most cases, no. If you already feel driven to do it, and have the time and resources to devote to it, then maybe.

    Q. What’s the trick to getting in enough practice time on all these instruments?

    A. Figure out what to de-prioritize in your life to devote more hours to practicing.

    Q. What’s the trick to affording all these instruments?

    A. Figure out what to de-prioritize in your life to devote more money to instrument purchases.

    Q. What instrument/mouthpiece/etc. should I buy?

    A. The one that you have carefully, methodically selected from among dozens or more high-quality specimens, without blindly following internet recommendations.

    Q. What’s a good mouthpiece, instrument, etc. for a doubler?

    A. Only buy things “for doublers” if you want to sound like a doubler. If you want to sound like, say, a good clarinetist, use what good clarinetists use.

    Q. Which instrument should I learn next?

    A. Whichever motivates you enough to devote the necessary time and money.

    Q. Playing one instrument already means it will be easy to learn another, right?

    A. If your goal is to develop only a superficial command of the instrument, then yes. 

    Q. How do I know when I am “good enough” at an instrument to count it as one of my doubles?

    A. You stop getting fired for how you sound.

    Q. How do I get gigs?

    A. Sound great, behave professionally, and be liked by the right people.

  • Making sense of third-octave flute fingerings

    ByBret Pimentel

    I recall as a beginning flutist (coming from background in saxophone) finding the third-octave fingerings to be a confusing, illogical jumble, but they do actually make some sense. There is an incorrect explanation for these fingerings that I hear every so often, and have seen published on a couple of flute-related blogs recently. It goes something like this: the flute’s third-octave fingerings are some kind of combination of two different first/second-octave fingerings. For example:

    ta4 + te5 = te6 ?
    1424179983 1424179997 1424180007

    Or…

    tbf4 + tf5 = tf6 ?
    1424180013 1424180018 1424180777

    If I squint my eyes just right I can sort of see how this almost makes sense fingerings-wise and overtones-wise, but ultimately this system is unnecessarily confusing and also doesn’t reflect acoustical realities.

    Here’s a better way to look at third-octave flute fingerings: they are the same as the first/second octave fingerings, with a vent opened. This is very similar to how upper registers are achieved on the reed instruments: by adding an octave or register key or releasing a whisper key to open a vent. Since the flute doesn’t have dedicated vent holes, toneholes are used.

    For some of the third octave notes, additional keys must be added or subtracted to improve pitch, tone, or response; again this is analogous to the systems used for the reed instruments. But here are the simplest examples of opening single vents for the third octave:

    te5 →  open vent → te6
    1424179997 1424183194 1424180007
    tf5 → open vent → tf6
    1424180018 1424183208 1424180777
    tfs5 → open vent → tfs6
    1424184167 1424183218 1424184173
    tg5 → open vent → tg6
    1424184151 1424183227 1424184158

    It is probably worth pointing out that having any “system” for remembering fingerings is just a crutch; for a performing musician, the only practical “system” is to thoroughly habituate them to the point that no conscious thought is required. Practice carefully and be on the alert for dubious pedagogy.

    Make your own handsome woodwind fingering diagrams with the Fingering Diagram Builder

  • Experiments with electric woodwinds

    ByBret Pimentel

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

    I’ve been having fun with woodwinds enhanced with pickups or microphones. (If you’re interested in natively-electronic instruments like wind controllers, I’ve written about those elsewhere.)

    I still have a lot to learn about working with electronics. But here are a few observations in case anyone finds them helpful.

    Which instrument(s) to use? I find lower-pitched instruments to be more fun, since they can provide convincing bass lines. Electronics can pitch a high instrument down, of course, but I haven’t had the success I would like making this sound good. So far I’ve installed pickups into a bassoon bocal, a bass clarinet neck, and an English horn bocal. I’ve used microphones for other instruments.

    Which gadgets to use? I’m personally using the Little-Jake pickups, a looper, and a multi-effects unit. When I started getting into effects pedals, I found it alarmingly easy to accumulate quite a few. This was a good and inexpensive way to get started. But I quickly discovered that it was becoming unwieldy to try use use more than a few in performance (I literally had to walk back and forth across the stage to get to them all). A multi-effects unit turned out to be much more practical, with a few foot switches I can configure to operate a large number of effects. (I’m currently using one by Boss.) It takes a little more advance setup than individual pedals, but greatly simplifies the onstage footwork. And I was pretty easily able to sell off the individual pedals to fund the purchase.

    Which effects to use? I think the best-known guitar-type effects are distortion, delay/echo, and reverb. Those are fun to play with, but I’ve become more interested in ones I can use to give my instruments new capabilities, rather than just give their sounds a little grittiness or echo. For example, smart harmonizers (which add harmony lines based on a selected key) and pitch shifters (which add harmony lines based on selected intervals) make my instruments polyphonic, a significant upgrade for a woodwind player. And a looper, or even a cleverly-used delay, can create counterpoint.

    Here are a few examples of my experiments:

    There are eight audio tracks here, but each one is performed “live.” I’m trying to somewhat replicate sounds from the original song: two vocal parts, two guitars, piano, electric piano, and electric bass, plus various synthesizer lines that I’ve consolidated into one. I’m using harmonizers and pitch shifters on the “guitars” and “keyboards” to perform chords in real time. I’m also pitch shifting the “bass” to let the English horn play much lower than its natural range.

    I’m using a harmonizer here similarly to how I used it in the English horn video, but you can get a better view of what that involves footwork-wise. I’m using several carefully-programmed footswitches to change the harmonizer’s parameters as I go, in order to get the chromatic harmony that I want. On the A sections of the tune, I’m also using a pitch shifter to double the melody up an octave. The separate bass part that starts at about 0:28 uses pitch shift to drop the sound down an octave.

    This is an example of using a looper (the red unit) to layer multiple lines, while using the multi-effects unit (black) to do real-time harmony and some other things. The “bass” part, shifted down two octaves, isn’t as convincing as I would like (you may have to use earphones to hear it).

    Here’s a live-performance example using looper plus multi-effects unit.

    Here I’m using the multi-effects unit to perform the melody “call” and harmonized “response” (unfortunately distorted and too soft), and using the looper to provide backing for an improvised solo.

    Here’s an attempt to replicate one of Paul Hanson’s incredible electric bassoon “hocket” performances (I fell a bit short). The technique uses a delay to create a single well-timed echo, with the result being that I’m only playing every other note you hear; the in-between notes are echoes of previously-played ones. To get the full effect, check out Paul’s video.

    This one you can actually buy sheet music for; the arranger, Melissa Keeling, provides parameters for using a harmonizer and a delay (which could be separate pedals or functions of a multi-effects unit).

  • Woodwind Doubler Census 2021 results, part 5 (final): self-identification

    ByBret Pimentel

    Thanks to all who participated in my 2021 woodwind doubling survey, and to those who helped spread the word. I’ve released the results in installments, so be sure to check out the rest.

    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.

    In the final section of the survey, I gave respondents the option to identify and tell me a little about themselves, including their names, locations, affiliations, websites, and other comments. I’m not sharing personally-identifiable information here, but I’ll respond in a general way to each question.

    What is your name?

    Almost 180 of you identified yourselves by name. It was lots of fun to scroll through see musicians I know and have worked with, who I have connected with online, and even some of my heroes and role models. And it was also very cool to see lots of names I didn’t know (yet). If you’re out there and would like to connect, I hope you will feel free to reach out.

    Where do you live?

    I’m sharing these sorted alphabetically and lightly edited.

    19047
    Ada, OK
    Ada, Oklahoma
    Archer City, Texas
    Arizona
    around Boston
    Around Raleigh, North Carolina
    Asheville, NC
    Ashland, KY
    Atlanta
    Auburn, ME
    Austin TX
    Austin, TX
    Australia
    Baltimore, MD area
    Bangkok, Thailand
    Berlin, CT
    Birmingham, England (studying)
    Bolivar, MO
    Boston
    Boston
    Boston-area
    California
    Cambridge, UK
    Canada
    Centra Michigan
    Charlotte, NC
    Chatham, Ontario, Canada
    Chicago
    Chicago Suburbs
    Chicago suburbs
    cincinnati
    Cleveland OH
    Coburg, OR (but still gig in San Jose, CA, my previous residence)
    Colorado
    Comerío, Puerto Rico.
    Connecticut
    Conroe, TX (40 miles north of downtown Houston)
    Coopersburg, PA
    Corvallis
    Covington, LA
    Currently in Tampere, Finland; usually SoCal/ SF Bay Area
    Dallas – Fort Worth Area
    Dallas, Texas
    Dallas, TX
    Dallas/Fort Worth region
    Darien, IL
    DC area
    Durant, Oklahoma / Las Vegas, Nevada
    East Bay of SF Bay Area
    East Lansing, MI
    Eastern Mass
    Eastern North Carolina
    Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
    Eugene, Oregon
    Fargo ND
    Fargo, ND
    Finger Lakes region of New York
    Florida
    Fort Worth, Texas
    Fresno, Ca.
    Germany
    Germany
    Grand Rapids, Michigan
    Greater Vancouver, BC, Canada
    Greensboro, NC
    Greensboro, NC
    Greensboro, North Carolina
    Hamels, Braughing, Hertfordshire, England
    Hampton Roas, VA
    Harrisburg, PA
    Hong Kong
    Honolulu, Hawaii
    Houston
    Houston TX
    Houston, TX
    Ihio
    Indiana
    Indianapolis
    Indianapolis
    iowa
    Iowa USA
    Jersey City
    Kanagawa, Japan* (originally from Maine)
    Kansas
    Kansas
    Kansas City metro area
    Lancaster area PA
    Lancaster, CA
    Las Vegas
    Las Vegas
    Little Rock, Arkansas
    Liverpool, NY
    London
    London
    London and Cape Town
    Long Beach, CA USA
    Los Angeles
    Los Angeles
    Los Angeles/Orange County, CA
    Madeira Beach, FL
    Manhattan and Connecticut
    Melbourne, Australia
    Melbourne, Australia
    Melbourne, Australia
    Memphis
    Memphis
    Memphis, TN
    Memphis,TN USA
    Metro Atlanta
    Miami, FL
    Miami, Florida
    Michigan
    Middleton Massachusetts
    Midwest U.S.
    Milwaukee
    Milwaukee
    Milwaukee
    Milwaukee WI
    Minneapolis
    Minneapolis, MN
    Minnesota
    Mississippi
    Mississippi
    Montgomery, AL
    Murfreesboro
    Myrtle Beach, SC
    Nashville, TN
    Nashville, TN
    Nashville, TN
    Near Eugene Oregon
    Nebraska
    Nevada
    New England, USA
    New England, USA
    New Jersey
    New Jersey
    New Jersey, US
    New Orleans
    New York
    New York City
    New York City
    New York City
    New York City Metro area
    New York, Montreal, and Florida
    New York, NY
    North Kingstown, RI
    North Texas
    Northeast Ohio/Western PA
    Northeast Tennessee
    Northeast U.S.
    Northeastern and Central Pennsylvania
    Northern California
    Norway
    NY
    NY area
    NYC
    NYC
    NYC
    Ocean Reef, Perth, Western Australia
    Ohio
    Ohio
    Oklahoma City
    Oregon
    Oregon
    Orlando, Florida
    Oxford, UK
    Pennsylvania
    Perth
    Perth, Western Australia
    Pickering, ON Canada
    Piedmont Triad Area of North Carolina
    Pittsburgh
    Pittsburgh, Pa.
    Preston, UK
    Queensland, Australia
    Reno, NV
    San Antonio
    San Antonio TX
    San Antonio, TX
    San Francisco
    San Fransisco Bay Area
    San Jose
    San Jose, CA
    San Jose, CA
    San Jose, CA
    San Jose, CA
    San Jose, CA
    San W
    Saskatchewan, Canada
    Scenic Martin, TN
    Scotland
    Scotland
    Seattle, WA
    SF Bay Area
    SF Bay Area
    SF Bay Area
    SF Bay Area
    SF South Bay Area
    SF South Bay Area
    Singapore
    SLC Utah
    South Eastern Wisconsin, USA
    southern Virginia
    Springfield, MO
    St Andrews
    St Paul/Minneapolis
    St. Louis area
    St. Louis, MO
    State College PA
    Sussex, Wi
    Tampa Florida
    Teaneck, NJ
    Tennessee
    Toronto
    Toronto
    Toronto CA -> Greensboro,NC
    Toronto, Canada
    Troy, AL
    Trumansburg, NY
    UK
    Urbana, IL (& Springfield, IL)
    Va Bch, VA.
    Washington, DC
    Washington, DC
    Washington, DC metropolitan area
    Wellington, New Zealand
    Will be moving to Denton, Texas
    Yorkton, Saskatchewan, Canada

    What is your main gig, performing group, teaching institution, etc.?

    I have edited a number of these (the asterisks are mine) in cases where, based on my best judgment, I felt strangers might be able to identify you through web searches.

    *** Big Band
    *** College/*** Community College/*** College/private studio/*** Festival Orchestra/*** Philharmonic
    *** County Schools, Freelance musician
    *** Ensemble, Broadway shows, recordings, *** College of Performing Arts
    *** Episcopal School
    *** High School (band director)
    *** Jazz Band
    *** London West End
    *** Middle School (Teacher)
    *** Musician
    *** Quartet, Goodspeed Musicals, Playhouse on Park, etc.
    *** Symphony Orchestra (Assistant Principal Bassoon/ Contrabassoon and much of the Saxophone work), teach at the University of ***, lots of studio recording sessions.
    *** Symphony Orchestra, Bassoon
    *** University graduate teaching assistant
    *** Videogame Symphony
    *** Winds, Ballet *** Orchestra
    ***Winds, ***, ***
    2nd Alto Sax, US Navy Band *** Jazz Ensemble
    6-12 band director
    A school big band
    ABRSM
    Air Force, formerly with a regional band, but now assigned a non-music job
    Alabama State University
    Band Director – High School
    Band instrument repair
    Bar gigs w/ a combo
    Before the pandemic I was regularly doing musical theatre work 3/4s of the year and also was doing a fair bit of big band playing as well. The big band and various offshoots of it play pre 1940s swing music and some smaller “Dixie” stuff so there’s a lot for me to do on clarinet. I also teach privately at a school system and a music store and was leading an after school ensemble and doing sectional work with the other bands at the school system. Those ended up being fairly evenly split, and then I would pick up various odd work at studio sessions or local bar gigs
    Big band jazz
    Broadway
    Broadway and Lincoln Center
    Broadway pits
    Certified bad*** (jk, picking up jobs when I can/doing musicals)
    Church and Various community bands
    Church Music Director
    Church of ***, Music Director and keyboardist
    Coastal Carolina University
    Community band/ musicals
    Community bands
    Community Bands – 4 of them.
    community orchestra
    Community theater
    Community wind ensemble
    Cruise ship musician (saxes, flute, piccolo, clarinet)
    Currently all virtual – mostly with the Royal Canadian Naval Reserves at ***.
    Currently RSO/VVGO/various guest player roles at Chinese orchestras in Singapore
    Currently teaching orchestra.
    DMA student at the University of ***
    Elementary Music Teacher
    Everywhere 😂
    Fargo Moorhead Community Theatre
    Free-lance musician
    Freelance
    Freelance
    Freelance musician around the west end and London
    Freelance teaching and performing
    Freelance woodwind specialist, director of local volunteer big band (Ensemble Swing Time), Singer
    Freelancer / university adjunct
    Going to the *** College of Music and Drama for Oboe Performance (with a touch of Woodwind doubling) this september
    High School
    High School Teacher
    Home based teacher
    I am a high school student at *** High School
    I attend Brandon University
    I play the flute family for the *** Symphony Orchestra
    I primarily teach private students.
    I work at *** full-time during the days, and sub regularly on Broadway on nights and weekends (under normal circumstances)
    I’m in high school so this doesn’t apply
    Instrument repair
    Instrument Repair at ***
    Jazz Big Band
    Just freelance
    Local high school and regional theater
    Local theatre groups
    Mainly in undergrad jazz band and concert band
    Mars Hill University
    Mid-*** Symphony, *** Jazz Band
    Middle school music teacher, play in local symphony and a collegiate wind orchestra
    Military Band
    Military musician and private teacher
    Missouri State University
    Music bachelors student
    Music education undergrad
    Music teacher/Teaching artist
    Musical instrument repair/orchestral oboe.
    Musical theater, church
    My band, The ***
    My online business as a content creator and educator
    National or international tours.
    No main gig during The pandemic.
    No main gig.
    None, teach at *** College, produce concerts at ***, run the *** Saxophone Quartet,
    North Carolina State University
    Nowadays it’s mostly University ensembles in Cambridge
    Performing
    Performing
    pit orchestra
    playing in musical orchestras/ bands
    Playing in musical theater pits
    Playing on Broadway
    Playing: Civic Theater and the *** Jazz Orchestra. Clarinet teacher for local school district.
    Private instructor, various big bands, west coast style combo and various pits when they come up
    private lessons at *** Music
    Private lessons teaching
    Private Studio
    Private Studio
    Private teacher & reed maker out of my home
    Private teaching studio
    Private woodwind teacher & freelance musician
    Prof. of Music, The University of ***
    Professional and community theatre pits. Too many to list.
    Professional orchestra librarian
    Professor at *** University
    Professor at NDSU
    Put work
    Recent college graduate, premed, member of *** (funk group), and jazz musician/woodwind instrumentalist
    Regional big band & GB
    Regional Broadway caliber theater productions and local hire for national tours.
    Regional theater, private lessons
    Retired
    Rockland County Concert Band
    Royal Birmingham Conservatoire (studying)
    Sam Houston state
    Saxophone with ***
    School band
    Schriener University
    Self-employed
    senior in college, about to student teach
    simpson college
    Six Flags
    Small School Band Director
    Software Engineer
    solo jazz performer
    Southwest *** Community College
    Stockton CA
    Student
    Student
    Student right now
    Substitute teacher specializing in music
    Teach at ***. Play gigs w/my jazz combo.
    Teacher (Elementary)
    Teaching and free lancing.
    Teaching and instrument repair
    Teaching at a school(still a uni student)
    Teaching Bassoon Lessons
    Teaching middle school band
    teaching private lessons
    Teaching the reed studio at *** University.
    Teaching: *** Music (lesson studio and music store) | Playing: *** (amusement park) Dixieland Band
    The *** Quartet (baritone chair), freelancer/soloist, Orchestra of ***
    Theater
    Theater Musician
    Theatre
    There are several
    Touring Musician (Broadway shows)
    UNC Charlotte
    Univ. of ***, *** Technical College
    University adjunct professor, Broadway touring shows (local hire) and local theater company.
    University as a student
    University New Music Ensemble
    University of *** *** Society (the musical theatre society)
    University of Nevada, Reno
    University of North Carolina School of the Arts
    University of Oregon
    University of Texas at San Antonio/private lessons (self employed)
    University Professor an conductor
    University student with some private teaching and freelancing
    US Army Musician
    US Navy Pacific Fleet Band
    Varies
    VVGO, RSO, UFB – virtual ensembles.
    WAAPA – Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts
    Weddings
    Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts
    Will be attending UNT
    Youngstown State University

    What is your website address?

    Lots of you shared websites. In cases where I could locate a relevant and reasonably-fresh RSS feed, I’ve added them to my feed reader, which also puts them on my public blogroll.

    Any other comments you would like to share?

    Some of you took this opportunity to share some general thoughts about woodwind doubling, to expand upon your biographical details or musical experiences, or to offer critique/commentary on the survey itself. Many of you were also kind enough to express appreciation for the survey, my blog, and other resources on my website. It was deeply gratifying and also super weird to hear from a few of you that you drew inspiration from my website as kids and are now working musicians, graduate students, etc. Anyway, thanks for taking the time to say hello or share a few thoughts.

    In conclusion, thanks once again to all for your participation, readership, and friendship. It was great to hear from so many of you, and I hope to do it again in 2031.

  • Playing modern vs. “vintage”

    ByBret Pimentel

    Most of the time, an average car shopper should consider buying a recent model. Newer cars (ostensibly) have better safety features, better fuel efficiency, and the latest conveniences. Service and parts are likely available and inexpensive.

    Someone in the market for a “classic” car should know what they are getting into. Some older models might be cheaper than newer ones, but a good appraisal requires expertise. Or, some might have prices inflated by cachet, rarity, or “cool” factor. (Those are better suited for collectors or hobbyists than everyday drivers.) Older cars often lack desirable modern features, or need expensive parts.

    6079549609_cf01007244_z_mini
    photo, DonJinTX

    Musicians face similar choices when buying instruments. For most players, there are significant advantages to modern instruments. They have (again: ostensibly) improved ergonomics, intonation, and evenness of tone.

    There are “vintage” instruments with outstanding qualities. But often there are tradeoffs with features, condition, and “collector” pricing. That’s not to say that a vintage instrument is necessarily a bad choice, but (like a classic car buyer) you shouldn’t make that choice uninformed. “Cool factor” wears off quickly when you have to stop every few miles to add oil—or when you are wearing yourself out trying to match pitch in the saxophone section.

    If you aren’t sure what you’re doing, a recent-model instrument is usually a smarter bet.

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