Woodwinds: Woodwind doubling

Vadala doubling book review

by

Improve Your DoublingI spotted this new review of Chris Vadala’s Improve Your Doubling: Advanced Studies for Doublers on jazzreview.com:

Featured Book: Improve Your Doubling: Advanced Studies for Doublers [update: link dead]

I reviewed the book myself a couple of years back.

The jazzreview.com review is by Peter Westbrook. He gives some nice perspective on woodwind doubling:

The practice grew out of the need for players to cover parts on more than one instrument in the big bands of the 1920’s and 30s, and spread to the pits of Broadway shows and the TV staff orchestras at NBC and CBS. Saxophonists were initially expected to double on the clarinet until it was largely replaced by the flute in the 50’s, as it saw more acceptance in jazz. The 60’s brought new colors, adding oboe and bassoon parts for doublers—or triplers—to deal with, until players such as the legendary Romeo Penque appeared on the New York studio scene prepared to play every woodwind instrument known to man, often in quick succession, a situation further complicated by the re-emergence of the clarinet on the 1980’s. I counted over 20 instruments stacked up in front of the five-piece reed section of the Maria Schneider Orchestra at a recent concert.

Read more

Vinny Golia review

by

Clarinetist David Thomas quoted from the article below on his excellent blog The Buzzing Reed earlier today, and I thought it was worth passing along. There is some fun description of amazing woodwind doubler Vinny Golia doing his thing. Spring Reverb: Golia/Turetzy; Dana Reason Trio by Christian Hertzog, sandiego.com The first set was devoted to … Read more

New sound clips: Faculty woodwinds recital, Feb. 15, 2010

by

Below are a few audio clips from my recent faculty woodwinds recital at Delta State University.

At this point it’s gotten hard for me to imagine doing a full recital on a single instrument. I enjoy getting to play several, and audiences seem to enjoy the variety. And since this was my first faculty recital at my new gig, I wanted each of my students to hear me perform something from the core repertoire of their instrument.

I would like, ultimately, to be able to put together a full recital of woodwind pieces without making any special concessions for the fact that I am playing multiple instruments. In this case I did play it a little on the safe side: I chose a program that was not overwhelmingly technical, and I programmed something short of an hour’s worth of music so that I could take a few extra minutes between pieces.

One note-to-self for next time: I experienced a few onstage symptoms of not being thoroughly warmed up on each instrument (water in oboe toneholes, low note response issues on bassoon). I purposefully avoided playing too much on the day of the recital, but I think I can find a better balance the next time around.

Read more

Handouts from NASA 2010 woodwind doubling lecture

by

Here are handouts from the lecture I gave at the 2010 Biennial Conference of the North American Saxophone Alliance. The lecture was entitled, “Woodwind Doubling for the 21st-century Saxophonist: Increasing Versatility without Sacrificing Virtuosity.” Woodwind Doubling for the 21st-century Saxophonist: Increasing Versatility without Sacrificing Virtuosity Problems Saxophonist-Doublers Have (Try Not to Sound Like a Saxophone … Read more

From The Savvy Musician: military gigs and the saxophonist

by

Dr. David Cutler’s The Savvy Musician blog is worth checking out for high-quality career tips. In a recent post, he discusses careers as a military musician. A couple of highlights for the woodwind-inclined: With the possible exception of saxophonists and euphoniumists, few musicians dream of a military career. Yet this path can provide a dependable … Read more

Faculty woodwinds recital, Feb. 15, 2010

by

Bret Pimentel, woodwinds
Kumiko Shimizu, piano

Department of Music
Delta State University College of Arts and Sciences
Recital Hall, Bologna Performing Arts Center
Monday, February 15, 2010
7:30 PM

PROGRAM

Sonate for oboe and piano
Paul Hindemith (1895-1963)

  1. Munter
  2. Sehr langsam – Lebhaft

Sonata for clarinet and piano
Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990)

  1. Grazioso
  2. Andantino – Vivace e leggerio

Rhapsody for bassoon
Willson Osborne (1906-1979)

Concerto for alto saxophone
Pierre Max Dubois (1930-1995)

  1. Lento espressivo – Allegro
  2. Sarabande
  3. Rondo

Read more

Doubling-specific skills vs. instrument-specific skills

by

I don’t think a woodwind player really learns the skill of “doubling” so much as he or she learns the skill of flute playing, plus the skill of saxophone playing, and so forth. 99% of being a good doubler is being a good flutist and a good saxophonist and whatever. There are only a few … Read more

Dear 2000

by

I’ve been reading the “Dear 1999” blogging project started by the guys over at MusicianWages.com. The project, which launched last month, was to have musician-bloggers answer this question:

If you could go back to 1999 and give yourself one piece of advice, what would it be?

I enjoyed the responses, including one from clarinetist Marion Harrington.

Although I was (*ahem*) not invited to participate, I’ve been thinking about the last ten years of my life and what brought me to where I am now. Over the last few weeks I’ve gotten a number of emails from musicians who are about the age I was ten years ago, who are interested in pursuing graduate school in multiple woodwinds, and so I’ve been in advice-giving mode already.

Since I missed posting at the end of 2009 anyway, I figure I can go ahead and change the format a little, as I think I’ve got more than one piece of advice for 2000 me.

Most of the “Dear 1999” bloggers are pursuing careers as performers, which I consider to be an important part of what I do, but my newly-begun main gig is as a university music professor. I am fortunate to be doing pretty much exactly what I love and what I’ve been aiming for for the past ten years, although sometimes it was hard to tell if I was headed in the right direction.

So here’s my advice, 2000 Bret:

Read more

Quick quote: woodwind doubling in the 17th and 18th centuries

by

From Bruce Haynes’s The Eloquent Oboe: A History of the Hautboy, Oxford University Press, 2001: In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, a wind player was an hautboist who might by circumstance be led into a concentration on some other type of instrument. The modern idea of a musician who would limit himself to one instrument, … Read more

Joseph Phillips and Ben Kono on woodwind doubling

by

In a blog post from last week, New York City composer Joseph Phillips discusses his ensemble Numinous and his decision to use woodwind doublers instead of a conventional orchestral woodwind section.

Joseph Phillips
Joseph Phillips. Photos stolen from Joseph’s post.

When I started Numinous back in the fall of 2000, I knew I wanted flexibility of colors in the woodwind section. Even though I’m a saxophone/woodwind player, I didn’t want a saxophone dominant sound to the section. I also didn’t want to have 10 woodwind players to cover saxophones, oboe, English Horn, flutes, clarinets, and whatever woodwinds I happen to write for. So the most natural solution was to have woodwind doublers who would be able to play multiple instruments. Of course with the demands of my music, I didn’t want or need a typical jazz saxophone doubler: someone that plays maybe passable flute or clarinet but not well enough to match their saxophone abilities. In addition to being able to improvise well on all of the instruments, I really need musicians whose abilities on the other woodwind instruments are all fairly equal and could move easily between jazz, classical, and popular genres.

One of Numinous’s woodwind players is Ben Kono, who currently plays the reed 1 book for Jersey Boys on Broadway. In Joseph’s blog post, he interviews Ben about his woodwind abilities:

Read more