Good Technique Book for Doublers?

[Ken]

I was wondering whether there is a good technique book that would cover sax, clarinet and flute, or would you have to get a separate book for each instrument?

For technique I currently do various scales and appeggios so I think that part of it is covered reasonably well. What I'm looking for is a book that would perhaps supplement what I'm doing already, and would cover sax, clarinet and flute. Is there any such beast?

All I could find so far is "Complete Method for Clarinet - 3rd Division" by Baermann that I notice David Hite also recommends for sax, and another poster on this site has recommended "17 Daily Exercises for the Flute" by Taffanel as being good for sax. But I haven't found anything that would cover all 3 instruments.

[bpimentel]

Usually etude books and such are written to address the problems of a specific instrument. If you want to get the most out of your practice time, get some tried-and-true materials specific to each instrument.

Or, pick one or more that you like and adapt them. A saxophone book, for example, won't give you any material to work with the lowest notes of the clarinet, or (probably not) the highest notes of the flute. Excercises with repeating patterns, like some of the Klose clarinet stuff or the Trevor Wye flute stuff, are easily adapted to fit another instrument's range and particular technical issues. So are scale and arpeggio exercises that you can create on your own.

Chris Vadala, who writes (or used to write?) the "Woodwind Doubling" column in Saxophone Journal, has a book called Improve Your Doubling:
http://www.dornpub.com/dornbook.html#Vadala

I haven't used it myself, but it apparently has etudes for saxophone, flute, and clarinet. Personally I am a little suspicious of anything that is "for doublers"--much better to learn the flute like flutists do, I think. Has anybody used the Vadala book?

Good luck,
Bret

[gary]

I do not have the Vadala book but I have read an interview and I believe this is not a one-stop method book as much as it is a book with various challenges a doubler may have in the course of one piece, a show for example.

For me, personally, my doubling means more that I play various instruments, often singly. But if I were doing shows where you're switching back and forth, Chris' book being a one-of-a-kind, I would pick it up and use it.

[saxfreak]

The Vadala book is very good, and I recommend it. It should be used as a supplemental resource, and separate individual study should be done on sax, flute & clarinet. I bought the book, but I haven't looked at it recently. I remember it is very helpful in regards to being able to switch from one horn to the next. Like Gary said, it addresses typical doubling situations that arise. The exercises are quite challenging for all the 3 instruments.

[Ken]

For me too doubling is a case of playing various intruments, one per song, not switching.

I notice another doubler's (http://www.jayeaston.com/Saxophonist_resources/resources_doublers.html) website recommending Oliver Nelson's "Patterns for Improvisation" as being great for technique on clarinet and flute. I guess this could be a way of killing two birds with one stone, in that you could use it as a technical exercise and also get some improv ideas.

Plus being a jazz book you are more likely to play what you practise, whereas with classical books I sometimes wonder whether I will ever use some of it. For example they have octave leaps where successive notes jump up and down an octave while playing a scale. That may be in classical repertoire but how often would you use that in your jazz playing?