Woodwind doubling and the “main” instrument

ByBret Pimentel

I identify very much as a woodwind player: as far as I’m concerned, if it’s a woodwind, it’s part of what I do. But when I introduce myself to someone that way, I am frequently asked, “But which one is your main instrument?”

I am hesitant to give a straightforward response to this. To identify a “main” instrument feels like an admission of failure. I work hard to play all of my instruments at a high enough level to be qualified for whatever gig you were thinking of hiring me for—if I pick just one, are you going to write me off as a possibility for the others?

photo, Neil Moralee
photo, Neil Moralee

Do I genuinely play all of my instruments at the very same ability level? Of course not. It would take some strange kind of balancing act to keep them perfectly equal all the time. I do have a woodwind that I played for a decade before getting serious about any of the others, the one I earned a bachelor’s degree in performance with (my graduate degrees are “multiple woodwinds” degrees). To some extent, that one still is my comfort zone, though that gap is very slowly closing.

Not all woodwind doublers feel the same way about it, nor should they, necessarily. There are lots of ways to be successful and fulfilled as a woodwind player. But my own goal is to play them all well enough that I could convincingly claim any of them as a “main” instrument. My favorite compliment is when, after hearing me play several instruments, someone still asks which is my main one. Sometimes I receive that compliment, and sometimes I don’t.

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    Visit a music store or an instrument maker’s website and you will frequently see band instruments sorted into categories like “student,” “intermediate/step-up,” and “professional.” It’s important to understand that these distinctions are not bound to any specific criteria, and not policed by any governing body. The labels have a lot to do with target market, and not much to do with the instruments’ actual playing characteristics.

    For example, I often have prospective college music majors proudly show me their “professional” clarinets, a specific model that a local retailer labels as such even though very few professional players would find the instrument to their liking. These students will, in most cases, have to purchase another, more expensive instrument to meet the demands of college-level playing.

    On the other hand, some of my college students have instruments that are positioned by the maker as lesser than the maker’s more premium line, but which are popular and well-regarded among professional musicians.

    “Student” instruments are rarely better for students, mostly just less expensive—made more cheaply or with fewer features. In most cases, if money were no object, I think it would be an advantage for a beginner to start on a high-quality (“professional”) instrument. Sometimes “student” instruments are designed to be more comfortable for smaller players, which of course doesn’t necessarily correspond to quality requirements.

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    If you are a student (including a college student) or are purchasing an instrument for one, you should ideally do so with significant input from your teacher. And if you are a professional, you should prioritize carefully which features and qualities are most important, regardless of labels.

  • Things you don’t need to cover in woodwind methods class

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

    orchestral flutist
    Photo, KSMF Webmaster

    I’ve taught college-level woodwind methods courses for a few years now. This is a course primarily for instrumental music majors, who will go on to become school band or orchestra directors, and who need a crash course in the playing and pedagogy of each instrument that will be in their future ensembles. At the places I’ve taught, it means taking students from zero to playing a little bit of flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and saxophone, all in one semester. It’s a semester-long sprint.

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  • A minimal Little-Jake electric bassoon setup

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

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      Brass adapter visible just above whisper key pip

      Adapter with plug
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  • Voicing for multiphonics

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

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  • Thoughts on plastic reeds

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    Forestone, Légère, and a bad-news cheapie

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  • Preparing for a multiple woodwinds recital

    ByBret Pimentel

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

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    multiple-woodwinds-recital_mini

    • Practice the physical changes. I opened my program with an oboe piece, and followed that with a flute piece with a delicate entrance. As the recital approached, I made sure to follow each oboe practice session by practicing that flute entrance, to be sure I could do it under those conditions. Something that didn’t work very well: after the oboe, flute, and bassoon pieces, my hands and jaw tended to be a little tense for clarinet playing. If I were preparing this recital again, I would bump the clarinet to the end of my practice sessions to work on playing relaxed even when fatigued.
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    • Use good stands. Good ones are sturdy and make it easy to set down or pick up an instrument without fuss. Since I played flute, oboe, clarinet, and bassoon on the first half without leaving the stage, having some good stands kept things moving smoothly and let me stay focused.
    • Do thorough warmups. As the performance approaches, it’s tempting to practice in panic mode, and skip over things like warmups. I always play much better if I do my warmups faithfully all the way up to the day of the performance. I find that if I warm up slowly and thoroughly on each instrument before the performance (this might take a few hours with multiple instruments! I usually do it in the morning), then I’m able to switch between them more easily.

    Break a leg!

2 Comments

  1. So where were you on your musical journey when you first described yourself as a woodwind player?

    I unintentionally reached a happy milestone a few weeks ago. I was talking with someone in a nonmusical setting when we each learned the other is a musician. He asked what I played and without thinking I replied “reeds”.

    It was probably a bit of an overstatement. I used to think of myself as a clarinetist, then started adding members of the sax family. At first when I played sax it sounded kind of painful. It’s getting better. I’ve played so much sax and so little clarinet the past six months identifying myself as a clarinetist doesn’t describe what I’ve been doing.

    Maybe if I played more instruments. Perhaps if I played a double reed or could get satisfactory sounds out of the flute stashed in the corner …

    Reply

  2. I’ve been playing members of the saxophone, clarinet, and flute families for over forty years. At first I was primarily a clarinetist, then played more saxophone and flute. After I retired several years ago from my day gig, I decided to take up the oboe (and English horn), expecting to play it occasionally as a double in a musical pit and maybe in a community orchestra.

    Well, playing oboe and English horn went beyond the community orchestra and occasional pit gig and now it seems that this year I’m playing oboe more than anything else. I was playing alto sax, including sometimes as a soloist, in a community band. When they needed a new oboist recently, I was asked to switch, and did. I have now been using the woodwind player tag and have no idea what my “main” instrument is anymore.

    Reply

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