Doubler's practice schedule

[frankm]

I was wondering what the practice routine is for you folks who double at the professional ( or "semi-professional" level)...what I mean is, how do you allot your time....to what instrument? I have found that by spending time on the clarinet each day, my sax chops stay in working shape....the opposite is not true , however....time on the sax does not do much for the clarinet chops. Flute, for me anyway, requires time of it's own. I need to spend time on it at least a few times a week, and more intense time as a gig requiring flute approaches. ( unfortunately, I don't play double reeds...not in public, anyway). For what it's worth, I started on clarinet.

[Benny]

I will try to be concise...please bear with me.
I recently discussed this with one of my teachers from college, but it started off as a talk about how to get your doubles going in the first place, but ended up as a talk about how to keep them going. This worked for me, but may not work for everyone.

When adding a new instrument (for example, the flute) make that horn your main instrument, use rehearsals, gigs, shows, teaching etc to keep your main one and already learnt doubles (say, alto sax and clarinet ) going. Although it may seem that your saxophone sounds horrible, its just that you're used to it sounding better. Don't worry, other people will be more than happy to listen to you (as long as you weren't crap to being with) as your "fall-back level" on sax should be quite high. Spend a long time on the new instrument, play in local orchestra/band etc, take regular lessons, buy a good instrument, learn studies,repertoire and excerpts and eventually your "fall-back level" for the flute will be good.
Then......add another horn, and another and another - as many as you want, need or can handle :roll:
You'll also find that you'll learn skills on your doubles that are applicable to your main instrument that you wouldn't have otherwise learnt on that instrument ie: flute teaches you some great breath control for the saxophone as well as other things.

Say after a few years you're quite proficient on all the saxes, clar/bass clar and flute/picc. If you're a busy player you won't have time to play them all everyday, so if you're doing a show that doesn't have flute in it, don't worry, because when you get time to practise the flute again, it will be quite salvagable because of the work you've put in in the past - your "fall-back" level is very good.

As far as the practise is concerned, if you've got lots of spare time (ie: you're not doing a show) at least play one instrument from each family each day
or.........
get all your horns out, put them on stands in a row in your practise room and do 20 minutes on each one. Try to get through the 'row' numerous times. This will teach you about the art of doubling, because playing each instrument sperately is a lot differant from having a two bar rest after a lead alto dance break then nailing a pianissimo high E on the flute.
The sort of routine you'd do depends on your strengths/weaknesses/needs. Email me if you need ideas saxomaphone30@hotmail.com
Hope this helps.

[Merlin]

For most commercial playing (shows, dance gigs, etc.) I have no set pattern for keeping my sax and clarinet chops up.

It's a different matter entirely for flute and bassoon work. I have to play flute ALL the time to keep it in shape. With bassoon, it's more about technique hurdles than anything else, so I tend to shed it for specific gigs.

[AMASAX]

i know a man who was(still is, too) unbelievable on woodwinds, here's a bit of how he got it going way back when:

* was flute player, started playing sax when in high school in big bands, so was familiar with sax somewhat.

* he actually did what constituted a 'woodwind' degree way back before there ever was such a thing(ended up playing a
recital of Mozart clarinet, Creston sonata on sax, etc, etc).
Quite an accomplished player.

* he told me he used to practice 4 woodwinds/day, 1.5 hrs each, total 6 hours.

* would then rotate one woodwind in/out per day, so he spent several consecutive days on each woodwind.

Important to note that if you did NOT start out on flute, it
will require special handling, as you WILL have to start from
the BEGINNING and MUST be practice EVERY day...i'm currently going through that endevour and have finally
gotten over the hump to where i sound decent. After you
become accomplished on flute you can skip once and a while,
but you have to hit it hard every day.
Also heard 2nd hand that Gary Foster(studio whiz in LA)
supposedly practiced/still practices flute 2 hrs/day no
matter what.

Other thing to bear in mind is if you're sufficiently advanced
on one instrument, you will sound extra bad to your ear on
other horns, because your ear is way ahead of your playing.
Stick with it, i'll work itself out.

[bpimentel]

I agree heartily with AMASAX on these points:

-If you can, set up a rotation so that each instrument gets practiced at least every few days, or better, several days in a row.

-Flute is a special problem. It begins to suffer from neglect sooner than the others.

A few of my own thoughts:

-Establish a good flute warmup routine (maybe some slurred octaves, some whistle tones, etc). If you can only practice flute for 20 minutes today, spend all of it on the warmup. On days you have rehearsals or gigs on flute, allow plenty of time to warm up beforehand.

-Keep a practice log. I track my progress on each instrument, especially fundamental technique stuff like scales and arpeggios. Then if two weeks pass and I haven't practiced bassoon, I can look back and see (for example) what tempo my harmonic minor scales were up to.

There's no perfect solution. Good luck!

Bret Pimentel

[LB]

Wow, what great replies! I'm glad to see some folks here that know their doubles and how to work with them.

I start every day with flute. First of all, I get much more out of it when my chops are fresh and I can really concentrate on the minute details of flute playing. I also believe that you should start the day with whatever instrument you are focusing on. For me, that has been flute for the past year and a half or so. While I agree that you have to spend a little time working on switching instruments (playing flute after killing your chops on sax or clarinet, etc.), particularly when preparing a particular book for a show, I found that my "show" flute playing improved the most as my overall flute playing improved. What I mean is that as I began to feel more comfortable and confident on flute it didn't really matter when I played it (picking it up cold halfway through the first act of a show for a delicate solo, etc.). It is also important to really focus on breath control and keeping your embouchure as relaxed as possible so that you can control the sound even if you feel that your chops are blown. I also agree that you should have a 30 minute or so "emergency" routine if time is really tight. Mine consists of a Moyse-like half step low register exercise, overtones, an articulation exercise with double-tounging, and scale work.

As for the rest of the woodwinds, on an ideal day I would then divide my remaining time between a saxophone and clarinet (I don't do double reeds either). Since most of my days are not "ideal" time-wise, I base the rest of my time on what I have later in the day or night. If I have a saxophone gig or session later, I'll practise clarinet and do a short sax warm-up. If I have a day with several clarinet students (especially if they are advanced), I'll practise saxophone and do a quick clarinet warm-up/maintence routine before my first students. And yes, I do find that saxophone (being my first instrument) always seems to take a back seat. I am always surprised, though, at how it seems to stay at a high level or even improve in some ways even when focusing on other instruments.

One last thing: I can't recomend enough for doublers to prepare a recital on whatever instrument they are focusing on and try to find a place to perform it. This is particularly beneficial to players (like myself) who began as primarily jazz saxophonists and have not experienced puting together a classical recital. It's amazing how easy most show books seem after dilligently preparing some heavy literature on a particular instrument. It can also really change the way you learn tunes and other jazz oriented material.

I hope this wasn't too long and vague,

LB