doubling on an orchestral brass instrument!!!!!

[sris27]

I am going to be a senior in high school this year and was really wanting to join an orchestra once I got into college. Strings of course is the obvious option but I really don't enjoy them by themselves although I realy enjoy them in groups. The brass instrument of my choice is Euphonium but I am not really sure how it will affect my saxophone embouchure. Also I have seen euphonium used in orchestra and I have seen it not used so what role does it play in the orchestra because I dont want to learn how to play it if there are no parts for it. After euphonium I'm looking at french horn which is hard to master. What affect does the F horn embouchure have on your saxophone embouchure? I know that was a lot but I would be very happy if someone would answer it for me. Thanks.

[BlackTitanium]

Trombone is my primary instrument, Euphonium and soprano sax are my secondary instruments.

I haven't experienced any negative effects from playing both brass and woodwind instruments. It's been my experience that different muscles are utilized in the embouchure between a reed and brass instruments.
When my embouchre tires from practicing brass, I switch to my sax for an hour or more. Then when my hands are tired from playing sax, I can switch back to brass with a rejuvinated brass embouchure.

I haven't played euphonium in an orchestra, only in a concert band where some great parts are scored for the euphonium. Often there are ques written for covering the bassoon parts, in a concert band.

[mostly alto guy]

I've recently decided to take up noodling on trombone for the express purpose of building my sax chops. It's fun, and useful as a double. Exercise experts tell us that no matter how much you do one kind of motion, the involved muscles eventually plateau and fail to further improve unless you vary the activity. That's the theory I'm applying.

[Brendan Muse]

Well, if you're going to double on an orchestral instrument, I would recommend the clarinet or the bassoon. But as this is a topic about brasswinds, I think the trombone or tuba would be better than the euphonium.

[SaxdUp]

The euphonium is used every once in a while in an orchestra, but it is similar to the saxophone's role: there isn't enough music written for it to warrant having a full time euphonium player in an orchestra. There are some large pieces written in the past century that utilizes the euphonium, including Holst's "The Planets". Horn is a great instrument, but it requires a lot of control because of the small mouthpiece.

[Brian The Hornman]

I took up the tuba about 2 years ago and it doesn't seem to really have any effect on my sax chops (nor the other way around). Like others have said, euphs aren't used much in orchestras. I would suggest horn if you're looking to go brass, otherwise many orchestras end up being short on bassoons and violas.

[saxymanzach]

Trombone=massive amounts of well-paying jazz gigs!

[HC]

I picked up the tuba about 15 months ago and felt that rather than hurting my saxophone ability, it helped it. I don't really know why, but I swore learning the tuba improved my tone on saxophone.

[Randall]

Tuba definitely helped me out on sax....funny but last night I was asked to start plaing tuba in a local wind ensemble....:shock:

[jaysne]

Don't worry about playing a brass instrument's negative effects on your sax embouchure--it's an old wive's tale.

I would also stay away from French horn--you're right, by the time you really learn it, you will have graduated college.

It really depends on what kind of orchestra your college will have. If it's going to made up of music majors, forget it--every member of that group will have played their instrument--with private lessons--all their life and you won't stand a chance. Even a non-music major group will have pretty good brass players in every seat, and they will have been playing their horns throughout grade and high school.

Why not bass clarinet? Excellent bass clarinetists are rare, as the ones in school groups are usually the worst of the regular clarinet players. I was a sax major in grad school, but the wind ensemble director always asked me to play bass clarinet in his group each year. It's actually quite common for a very good sax player to double on bass clarinet in orchestra, precisely for the reason here--good sax players need something to do in orchestra. You won't be able to play in every piece, but when you do and the director hears that sweet low sonority coming from your direction, he will always smile.

[Dr G]

Trombone=massive amounts of well-paying jazz gigs!

Jazz gigs: How 'bout being a better saxophone player?

Orchestral double: I opt for bassoon or bass clarinet. Bassoon was my other voice.