The Reeding Room
May 14, 2024
Danny King
A Woodwind Doubler's Beginner Practice Guide
For musicians, one of the most discussed topic is how to manage your time in the practice room. Over the past year, I have found this true not only because I take too many coffee breaks, but also because I play multiple woodwind instruments. Lately, I have not only been practicing auxillary clarinets, but also flute and saxophone. Having stacks of music to practice on the back of your shoulder is stressful enough, but making sure you sound like you know what you’re doing on each auxillary instrument is a challenge of itself. In this blog, I will share my practicing suggestions for any woodwind doubler. Thank you to @lalo___c on Instagram for providing this topic suggestion.
Familiar Fundamentals
I’m sure you’re told time after time to practice your fundamentals on your primary instrument, though I’m sure you’ve also wondered what fundamental exercises you could use for other instruments. There are hundreds of books that you could purchase, but if you’re on a budget (like me!), I suggest using what you already know for your auxiliary instruments. In simplest form, practice breathing exercises, long tones, and scales.
Breathing Exercises
-
Use Breathing Gym to warm up your lungs especially if you are playing on an instrument that is more resistant like the oboe or difficult to sustain a phrase for a long period of time like the flute.
-
Practice breathing with the embauchure you use for each instrument. For example, clarinet and saxophone requires a high tongue and similar(ish) embouchure. Breathe in while saying “Aye” and then exhale as if you were hissing like a cat “Heeee!”
-
Hold your hand out and blow cool air to ensure you are directing your air correctly for each instrument. On clarinet and saxophone, your air should aim lower on your hand, while on flute the air is more centered with your hand.
Long Tones
-
Practice producing a steady full tone on just the headjoint or mouthpiece. On the flute headjoint covering the end with your palm, first play the low note and then try to play the upper partial by thinking "ooo" with the lips and using faster air and a smaller aperture. Then try lightly tongue on a “Du” or “Tu” on only the mouthpiece/headjoint.
-
Use a long tone exercise for your auxiliary instrument you already play on your primary instrument. This could include Remmington Exercises, drone exercises to tune intervals, or playing a chromatic scale in whole notes with a metronome set to 60 bpm.
-
With a tuner that displays how many cents flat or shart you are, use this Pitch Tendancy Worksheet to keep track of your pitch tendencies for each instrument. Examples; -2 for 2 cents flat, +8 for 8 cents sharp, and 0 for perfectly in tune.
Scales
-
With a metronome, practice ALL major and minor scales in the order of the Circle of Fifths both slurred and articulated. Take your time on more difficult key signatures, there is no rush! Major and Minor Scales
-
Recognize what note connections are less connected. Practice those difficult connections super slow by going back and forth between those two notes and then crank the speed up until it's smooth at a faster tempo.
-
Use different articulation patterns (ei. slur 2, tongue 2) while playing scales
-
Practice scales in 3rds, 4ths, 5ths, and 6ths to gain greater finger flexibility and practice wider intervals
Practice the Challenging Passages
Former principal bassoon of the New York Philharmonic, Kim Laskowski, once noted in a masterclass at Manhattan School of Music that she would only practice the music that did not sounded good yet. Obviously, it's nice to practice what we are already good at because understandably it boosts our confidence. However, after personally trying Laskowski's advice, I found myself more confident and proud after practicing the hard things slowly. By the end of my practice session, I was able to play something I was scared of before and would have not thought I'd be able to play.
When I was playing flute in the musical Nine this past semester, there were a couple tricky exposed parts that I practiced more often in the practice room. Prior to entering the practice room, I made a list on my notes app prior to my practice session of all the more challenging spots. In multiple songs, there were a couple of scales that reached a high A that needed to be played at a piano dynamic and slurred for two measures. What I found after practicing only those two measures for 15 minutes each day, almost everything else in the book got easier. What improved overall was my air control in the high register of the flute and dynamic flexibility.
Sight Reading
When you practice sightreading on your auxiliary instruments in the practice room, there is zero pressure if you make mistakes. Therefore, sight reading in the practice room is a fantastic opportunity to get better at applying the notes to new fingerings quicker, identify musical patterns, and test your rhythm and note accuracy. Reading new music freshly presented infront of you will teach you new concept about what you need to practice. Perhaps there are new rhythms you’ve never seen before, an articulation pattern you have never practiced, an obscure scale that is not yet comfortable on the fingers, extreme dynamics not easy in a particular register of your instrument, and an opportunity to decide quickly what alternate fingering you need to use. One online tool I use is Sight Reading Factory.
Additional Practice Time Maximizing Tips
Below are additional general practicing tips for flute, clarinet, and saxophone to get started. Eventually, I would like to learn oboe and bassoon and provide more practicing strategies. However, I did have to take a teacher education class during COVID at 8 am... but I did learn a couple things! Watch the playlist below to a beginner's guide to oboe and bassoon playing.
Flute & Piccolo
-
Begin to get comfortable playing high register sooner than later. More often you will be asked to play flute in the upper registers and you will want to be comfortable with the upper fingerings.
-
Practice smooth register connections by first playing the lower note with a really full sound that you want, and then without overblowing, play the octave above by simply changing how you direct your air and embouchure. Practice playing back and forth and then sustaining the upper octave for however long you can sustain.
-
When you are starting to learn flute for the first time, you might feel dizzy because the flute requires more air because most of the air does not go into the instrument. Be careful and take short breaks when needed.
-
Practice while standing up opens up the lungs for better breath support. If you want or need to sit, stick your legs out to engage the diaphragm muscles.
Eb Clarinet
-
Use a reliable tuner and your ears. Once you have warmed up and tuned to a concert A and Bb, set the tuner aside for scales and listen to the intervals. Make guesses on whether one note is sharp or flat in relation to in tune notes. Then, use the tuner to see if you were correct.
-
A large misconception is that you need to bite hard to play Eb clarinet. Biting will result in jaw pain and overall upper body tension. It’s important to keep the inside of your mouth open, pulling the instrument into your top teeth, and keeping the chin flat.
-
This is a loud and high pitched instrument, therefore I suggest using ear protection and taking breaks every twenty-thirty minutes to stretch and give your ears a break. Practice in a less boomy room to also block out some of the reverb.
-
Use harder reeds than your regular Bb reeds. More than often, a soft reed will be the reason you’re having a difficult time producing a full sound in the upper register. I actually use harder Bb reeds for Eb clarinet by cutting a short amount off the bottom of the reed so it fits on the mouthpiece.
Bass Clarinet & Saxophones
-
Prioritize controlling the sound with a larger dynamic range. Playing the saxophone at a piano dynamic with a pure tone is more impressive that blasting with an uncontrolled sound. For both saxophone and bass clarinet, a half strength lower reed will assist in those more resistant registers.
-
As the instrument gets bigger, using more mouthpiece will allow for a rounder tone rather than a pinched sound. The reed needs to vibrate more and if you have pressure closer to the tip of the reed, the sound will diminish.
Whether you are a beginner or professional woodwind doubler, I hope you learned something new today or were reminded of some practicing suggestions.
See you next time in The Reeding Room!
