Woodwind doubling

Announcements and news

The Doublers Collective: progressive jazz saxophone quintet
ByBret Pimentel October 6, 2011March 15, 2017
The Doublers Collective is a new quintet of accomplished jazz saxophonists with strong doubling abilities, based in Phoenix, Arizona. The group is the brainchild of Monica Shriver, who I had the pleasure of meeting at the NASA conference last year.

Check them out in this video:

For more about the Doublers Collective:
- visit their website
- follow them on Twitter
- “like” them on Facebook
- hear Monica talk about the group in a TWiP podcast interview
- donate to their commissioning/recording/performing project on IndieGoGo
Dibs on first review of their forthcoming CD!
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Announcements and news

New sound clips: Faculty woodwinds recital, Aug. 30, 2011
ByBret Pimentel September 20, 2011July 6, 2012
I’m pleased to share some audio from my Delta State University faculty recital a few weeks ago.The big event of the evening was the premiere of Sy Brandon’s Divertissement for multiple woodwinds and piano, which seemed to be well received. It’s gratifying to be involved in the creation of a piece that fills a gap in the small multiple woodwinds repertoire—something than can be played by a woodwind doubler, without having to bring in a concert band, a truckload of electronics, or obscure instruments. The audience seemed to enjoy the derring-do of the final movement, which involves six instruments.

Brandon: Divertissement (flute, alto saxophone, bassoon, clarinet, oboe, piccolo)

I’ve studied the Bonneau Caprice en forme de valse in the past and have had students perform it, but this was the first time I played it in public myself. Since I’m trying to balance a half-dozen or more instruments, I tend to shy away from pieces that seem too technical, and, in that respect, this was the riskiest piece on the program. I was mostly pleased with how it turned out.

Bonneau: Caprice en forme de valse (alto saxophone)

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Announcements and news

Divertissement for multiple woodwinds now available
ByBret Pimentel September 19, 2011July 23, 2022
Sy Brandon’s Divertissement for multiple woodwinds and piano is now available for purchase. If you’re a regular reader, you know that I commissioned this piece with funding from a Co-op Press Commission Assistance grant, and you have already read my series of blog posts about the genesis of Divertissement.

The piece is now available for purchase from the Co-op press website [update: now available from JW Pepper, with each movement sold separately]. It’s priced at an extraordinarily reasonable $6.95 for a PDF download (at the time of this writing), and U.S. customers can opt for a print copy for a still-affordable $16.95. The individual movements, any of which would make a charming short piece for a recital, are also available at just under two bucks apiece (PDF).

Among the few pieces in existence for multiple woodwinds soloist, this one has, in my opinion, the fewest logistical barriers to performance: it doesn’t require a large or unusual ensemble (just soloist and pianist), and it doesn’t require any unusual instruments, electronics, or other gear. There is also some flexibility in which instruments are used—movements may be selected from:
1. Intrada (flute)
2. Nocturne (alto saxophone)
3. Valse (bassoon)
4. Marche (clarinet)
5. Romanza (oboe)
6. Galop (piccolo/flute/oboe/clarinet/bassoon/alto saxophone, OR just piccolo)
For flute/clarinet/saxophone doublers, the Intrada, Nocturne, Marche, and Galop (piccolo version) would make quite a nice combination. Read More “Divertissement for multiple woodwinds now available”
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Career

Interview: Gene Scholtens, Broadway woodwind doubler
ByBret Pimentel September 15, 2011January 2, 2018
Gene Scholtens

One of the awesome things that has happened since I started my list of reed books in musicals is that great people from all over the world have contacted me to contribute to the list. These contacts are always a pleasure for me personally, and they serve to make the list more accurate, complete, and useful for others.

I have a number of regular contributors who contact me periodically with updates, and until recently the record was nearly twenty individual contributions from one much-appreciated person.

That record was shattered when, a few months ago, I started getting emails from Gene Scholtens. The first email was a small correction for one show, but then the floodgates opened. Gene revealed that he has been playing woodwinds in Broadway orchestras for over thirty years, and has been keeping his own very comprehensive log of who plays which doubles on which shows. Gene’s contributions to my list at the time of this writing number a staggering 72.

As it turns out, Gene is not only a talented musician and a prolific record keeper, but also a very nice, humble, and generous guy, and graciously agreed to talk to me on the phone about his career. Here’s what he had to say. [Note: edited for length.]

BP: How many shows have you played?

GS: I’ve been playing on Broadway since roughly 1980. The last count was somewhere in the neighborhood of 90-95 shows.

Wow. Read More “Interview: Gene Scholtens, Broadway woodwind doubler”
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Announcements and news

Faculty woodwinds recital, Aug. 30, 2011
ByBret Pimentel August 23, 2011January 1, 2018
Bret Pimentel, woodwinds
Kumiko Shimizu, piano

Faculty Recital
Delta State University Department of Music
Recital Hall, Bologna Performing Arts Center
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
7:30 PM

Program

Divertissement for multiple woodwinds and piano
Sy Brandon (b. 1945)
World premiere
1. Intrada
2. Nocturne
3. Valse
4. Marche
5. Romanza
6. Galop
Caprice en forme de valse for alto saxophone
Paul Bonneau (1918 – 1995)

Sonata for oboe and piano
Francis Poulenc (1899 – 1963)
1. Elégie
2. Scherzo
3. Déploration
Sonata for clarinet and piano
Francis Poulenc
1. Allegro tristamente
2. Romanza
3. Allegro con fuoco
Ode to a Toad
Ray Pizzi (b. 1943)
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Announcements and news | Woodwind playing and pedagogy

NFA 2011: Woodwind doublers roundtable discussion
ByBret Pimentel August 17, 2011July 23, 2022
Here I am at the far left saying something brilliant and witty. Tereasa Payne, Shelley Collins, David Weiss, and Jim Walker look on in wonder and delight.

At this year’s NFA conference, I had the very cool opportunity to be part of a discussion panel about woodwind doubling. The panel was organized by Florida flutist and doubler Tereasa Payne, and moderated by my Delta State colleague Shelley Collins. The panel consisted of me, Tereasa, Hollywood studio great Jim Walker, and David Weiss, who is the ethnic flutes soloist for Broadway’s The Lion King. It was an honor to be included in a group of such stature!

We spoke to a surprisingly large and enthusiastic crowd. At one point Shelley asked for a show of hands by the doublers in the audience, and we were blown away by all the hands that shot up. The audience asked great questions, and many stayed afterward to talk some more. I was delighted to meet several of you personally who read this blog or who have communicated with me by email or on Twitter.

In advance of the panel, Tereasa had prepared some questions for the panelists to think over. I took some notes to organize my thoughts, and I’m providing them here in an edited version. This isn’t a transcript of the live panel, but it should give you an idea of what was talked about, and of my thoughts about some of those topics. Read More “NFA 2011: Woodwind doublers roundtable discussion”
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Woodwind playing and pedagogy

Sam Newsome on not doubling
ByBret Pimentel July 30, 2011March 15, 2017
Sam Newsome asks the question, “Can You Double And Still Be A Great Soprano Saxophonist?”

As I see it, if you play the soprano using a set-up that’s comparable to a much larger horn, you’re not dealing with the soprano on it’s own terms. It’s being treated as an extension of a much larger horn, and not as a separate entity.

Go check it out.
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Web reviews

Historical woodwind recordings on the National Jukebox
ByBret Pimentel July 7, 2011January 3, 2018
Photo, alexruthmann

The United States Library of Congress’s National Jukebox project makes American recordings from the days before microphones available for streaming online. This is a fantastic resource for recordings—classical, jazz, and more—from the turn of the 20th century until the mid-1920’s.

These recordings are not in the public domain, like you might think; Sony, the owner of the recordings, has given the Library of Congress special permission to stream them.

Naturally, I’ve been searching the National Jukebox for woodwind players, and here are a few of my favorite discoveries. Some of the gems include oddities like the Heckelphone and bass saxophone, and there are a few woodwind doublers in there, too. Take note of how woodwind playing, like recording technology, has changed over the past century!

To kick things off, here’s a nice tour of the woodwind section of the Victor Orchestra in 1912:
- Instruments of the orchestra
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Woodwind playing and pedagogy

Eddie Daniels is not a doubler
ByBret Pimentel July 1, 2011March 15, 2017
Great video of Eddie Daniels talking about doubling—er, not doubling.
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Announcements and news

Follow the woodwind doublers list on Twitter
ByBret Pimentel June 29, 2011January 1, 2018
For a while now I’ve maintained lists of woodwind doublers’ websites and blogs, but, as it turns out, a number of fine woodwind doublers also have entertaining and/or informative Twitter feeds. Starting today, you can check them out on this site, or head on over to Twitter to “follow.”

If you’re a woodwind doubler (of any skill level) and would like to be included, send me an email or a Tweet.

If you’re looking for a good list to follow that focuses on a specific instrument, you might try one of these:
- @lhbflute/flute
- @DTclarinet/clarinetists
- @jkmbassoon/bassoon
- @doronorenstein/saxerati
- or @MazzaClarinet/woodwind for a variety of woodwind players who aren’t necessarily doublers
I haven’t been able to find a great oboe list. Let me know if you start one (looking at you, @pattyoboe).

Twitter lists, if you’re unfamiliar, are put together by individual Twitter users, and are a good way to keep track of a group without cluttering up your personal Twitter timeline.

Woodwind doublers on Twitter
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Program