By Robert Bloom

Reprinted from Woodwind World, Jan/Feb 1959

Minor Editing by Ed Joffe

“No, my dears, I am conscious of a flute and a bassoon. That’s not what I want. I want to hear a third instrument, the result of a happy marriage between the two.” The speaker is Arturo Toscanini and the phrase occurs in Debussy’s Iberia at the beginning of the third movement. Those few words of a great maestro contain the key to one of the secrets of fine solo and ensemble woodwind playing: the ability to vary the tonal color of one’s instrument at will for the purpose of blending with other instruments or voices. Many players think they are fulfilling their duty to music when they play with a pleasing tone, good intonation, finger dexterity, a good range of piano-forte, and a good feeling for rhythm. The foregoing is very necessary, but there are other important factors that distinguish the artist from the merely competent performer. Unfortunately, these other qualities are less tangible. They are difficult to teach and learn. Being closely allied with one’s personal talent and imagination, they belong in the category of aesthetics rather than mechanics.

By Daniel Bonade

Reprinted from The Clarinet, No. 6 (Summer, 1951)
Minor Editing by Ed Joffe

Slurring on the clarinet has always been, in my estimation, the greatest problem for the artist wishing to phrase and sing beautifully on his/her instrument. The root of this problem [for clarinetists and saxophonists] is the “single” reed vibrating against the hard surface of the lay of the mouthpiece. Anyone can notice that players of the oboe or bassoon have more facilities for sustaining the tone while playing a phrase, without distorting the real sound of their respective instruments. When an oboe plays forte it sounds like an oboe. When the clarinetist plays very loud, it takes a lot of skill and flexibility of embouchure to keep the quality of tone true as in a mezzo forte. The single reed is a great help in fast passages. The pressure of the teeth on the upper part of the mouthpiece gives a solid grip and consequently steadies the embouchure when the fast motion of the fingers would otherwise unbalance the instrument in the mouth. But when it comes to slow phrasing passages, the upper non-vibrating part is a handicap that a good clarinetist has to overcome with his/her own skill.

Shown below are the 20 albums that I owned during my first 20 years that influenced and inspired me to become a professional musician. They are shown in the categories that I was most drawn to during that period—jazz, classical instrumental, orchestral, and pop. There were many other artists that influenced me during this period that I heard on radio & tv or listened to on cassette tapes including Phil Woods, Buddy DeFranco, Jackie McClean, Dexter Gordon, Gene Ammons, Cannonball Adderley, The NY Philharmonic with Leonard Bernstein, The Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra, and The Beatles.

Having taught privately for over 50 years, been involved in institutional music education for roughly 30 years, and a student of music for close to 60 years, I feel that I have a decent understanding of how to gain the most from a private music lesson. In this article, I will attempt to articulate an approach to taking a one-on-one music lesson that I have found most beneficial, both for the student and the instructor. While the intended student groups for this article are college music majors and young professionals, many of the suggestions presented here can be used at any level of study.

In music, there remains a rule of thumb to tread very carefully before bringing up any pitch discrepancies within an ensemble performance. This would be the musical equivalent of asking a stranger on which side of the political spectrum they tend to vote. One’s pitch-playing ability is among the most sensitive issues for any musician. My experience as a professional musician has given me a perspective on this topic that I wish I’d had as a younger player. To fully explore the nature of this subject, it is crucial to understand the evolution of harmony and scales in Western European classical music. Continue reading →

In the late 1970s the great saxophonist and woodwind artist, Ray Beckenstein, took me into the pit of the hit Broadway musical, Sugar Babies. There I encountered another wonderful woodwind legend, Dave Tofani, and I proceeded to ask both of them how they could continue to play the same music every night without going crazy. (I had not done a Broadway show at that point.) One of Dave’s responses proved extremely helpful throughout my years of playing in the musical theater. He told me that in order not to get bored, he would try to mentally transcribe what the other musicians were playing and thereby re-imagine the orchestration. That little bit of advice led me to think about and uncover other ways to improve one’s musicianship when doing a steady Broadway musical. Continue reading →

Excerpted from Woodwind Doubling for Saxophone, Clarinet & Flute

Day 1: Remove the reeds from their container(s) and let them sit belly up (the flat side facing the ceiling) on a flat surface for an hour. Do not play them or wet them. This allows the reeds to become acclimated to the temperature and humidity in which you will play them. Then, store them in a reed pouch with a 49% Boveda Reed Vitalizer pack.

Day 2: When you’re ready to begin the process of preparing the reeds to play, lightly rub the flat side (back end) of each reed in small circular motions on 3M polishing paper of 3000 grit until totally smooth. Be careful to apply light pressure with the 2nd/3rd/4th fingers of your hand above the stock (or bark) of the reed in order to move the reed over the polishing paper. This will help seal the flat side of the reed as well as correct any unevenness so that the reed can vibrate evenly on the mouthpiece table and side rails. The residue of the paper’s fibers fills in the spaces between the fibers of the reed. Put them back in the reed pouch with the 49% humidity pack. Do not play them yet!
Continue reading →

The opening verses to two compositions that were both #1 hits, seventy-five years apart, are shown below. While both sets of lyrics describe unsettled relationships, I believe the difference in the sophistication of the lyrics mirrors the “dumbing down” of America’s musical culture over that span of time. It has been reported that the United States is forty-ninth in the world in literacy. This comes as no surprise to anyone who has been involved in education for any length of time. Yet, the plain truth is that we have slid equally far down the music cultural ladder.

Continue reading →

Excerpted from Woodwind Doubling for Saxophone, Clarinet & Flute

1. Play each instrument because you love that particular instrument!
2. Aspire to play each instrument as if it were the only one that you play.
3. Set up a disciplined daily practice routine.
4. Have a consistent set of warmups including tone, articulation and scale studies for each instrument.
5. Listen to recordings of an assortment of great artists for each instrument on a daily basis. Focus intensively on one artist each year. Choose their greatest attributes to emphasize—tone, vibrato, articulation, phrasing, technique, etc.
6. Study each instrument privately with teachers who have a similar philosophy with regard to breathing, phrasing, tone, etc. and are sensitive to a multi-instrumentalist’s role in the music industry.
7. Study with only one teacher at a time on each instrument.
8. Try to play in as many varied musical contexts as possible (especially helpful are saxophone quartets, woodwind quintets and jazz combo settings).
9. Buy the best instruments possible (and all the major ones of each family of instruments).
10. Buy instrument cases available that provide the best protection for each instrument and are ergonomically sound.
11. Find an excellent repair technician for each instrument and cultivate that relationship. Make sure that you always have someone to go to in an emergency.
12. Subscribe to all relevant professional journals and organizations.
13. Attend concerts, masterclasses, and instrumental conventions as often as possible.
14. Perform, rehearse and practice great music as often as possible.
15. Become an excellent sight-reader on all of your instruments in all styles of music.
16. *Developing an excellent sense of rhythm, pitch, stylistic knowledge and collegiality are essential for success in the music industry!

The following is a brief listing of notable soloists, recordings, and study materials with which a high school clarinetist should become familiar. This information will be particularly useful for those wishing to audition as music majors in college. In all cases, the young clarinetist should be encouraged to study with a professional clarinetist who also has formidable teaching experience. In addition, all clarinetists should become members of the International Clarinet Association.

Continue reading →

Set Up

While the traditional big band setup is desirable for most rehearsals, it is very useful to occasionally establish alternate seating formations, including a box formation and triangle formation. This allows the players hear the music in a different way and proves beneficial when they are reseated in their usual fashion.

Instrumentation

The standard big band alignment calls for 5 saxophones (2 alto saxes, 2 tenor saxes and a baritone sax), 4 trumpets, 4 trombones (3 tenor trombones and a bass trombone), and a rhythm section (piano, bass, drums, and guitar). An additional trumpet can be added as well as Latin percussion instruments and a vocalist(s) and still maintain the traditional sound. There are also “flexible” arrangements published by Kendor (convertibles) and Smart Music that allow for reduced instrumentations that sound full. A typical reduced big band arrangement might include 4 saxophones, 3 trumpets, 2 trombones and 3 rhythm. Try to avoid doubling parts within the traditional alignment of instruments—i.e. having 2 alto saxophones play the lead part; having 2 bass players playing a bass part together; etc. There are numerous arrangements available from a variety of publishers for quartets—nonets if there are not enough instrumentalists for a full band program.

Continue reading →

The following offers a list of historical big band arrangements that emphasize the saxophone section that can be used by high school jazz bands as well as college jazz ensembles. These charts will enhance the students understanding of different styles of big band orchestration as well as saxophone section performance. Also listed are a variety of materials that relate to saxophone ensemble playing, saxophone study and notable artists on the various saxophones.