Introduce Flute and Clarinet Early
Many music programs in North America begin potential saxophonists on flute and clarinet in Middle and Junior High School. I believe this tradition holds true, since between the three instrument families there are some similarities between tone production (saxophone and clarinet) and fingerings (saxophone, flute and the clarion register of clarinet). These similarities provide a foundation of knowledge that makes switching rapidly between the instrument families less intimidating.
Ensure Instruments are in Good Condition
One of the main difficulties beginning multi-instrumentalists have is with the instruments they use. Playing many instruments is difficult, but can be much more challenging when a flute or clarinet seals poorly or has timing leaks. To prevent accidental bending of the keys, ensure your students assemble the flute by holding the headjoint receiver on the body instead of the keys. On the clarinet, they should hold the upper joint, depressing the rings when they attach the lower joint to prevent the bridge mechanism from bending.
Focus on Tone Production
Easily the most important aspect to focus on with your students is tone production. In High School Jazz Band, for example, your saxophonists likely know some basic music theory. This changes the approach to new instruments since much of the beginning band literature focuses on developing musical basics. Tone production should be the number one focus, as the basic finger technique is similar, and ironing out the differences between the instruments can be tackled with simple exercises.
On the flute, developing an effective embouchure is the absolute priority. Guide students to produce a basic flute tone with all of the facial muscles relaxed, to the point where their cheeks may be puffed out slightly. Initially the sound will be airy and unfocused, but it is very important to keep the facial muscles relaxed. The larger facial muscles involved with producing a saxophone tone will cause too coarse of adjustment and lead to frustration and issues later as the student becomes more advanced. Ensure that the headjoint is inline with the keys of the flute – often the markers on the headjoint and body aren’t quite correct. As the young flutist progresses, they may begin to experiment with the headjoint rolled in or out, depending on what is more comfortable, but it is important to start from the most neutral position possible.
Clarinet can use some of these same principles discussed with flute. The main priority is similar: use as few muscles as possible. An common issue for young clarinetists is the confusion around holding a “firm” embouchure. This is generally interpreted incorrectly as lots of jaw pressure and biting down on the reed. There couldn’t be a more incorrect interpretation, biting down actually decreases the amplitude of the reed vibration, limiting the volume of the clarinet significantly and dampening the brilliance of the clarinet tone. To understand how little pressure is required to play clarinet, a double lip embouchure is recommended: one where both the upper and bottom lips cover the teeth. Also, with double lip, it is clear which angle the clarinet should be held at, for the upper clarion and altissimo will respond poorly if the clarinet is held too close or too far from the body. The double lip embouchure can be used exclusively, but is mostly recommended as a tool to understanding the lip pressure necessary, for biting too hard will be painful. Essential to developing a feel for this approach is using an appropriate reed strength. For beginning clarinetists, 2.5 or 3 strength reeds should be adequate. The goal is for the student to draw a tone from niente with minimal air volume. A way to demonstrate this is to have the student hold their their hand about 6 inches away from their mouth, palm facing in, and experiment with the minimal airspeed needed to feel air on their palm, with all muscles around the mouth relaxed.
For your saxophonists, this can be an overwhelming amount of information to remember at a moment’s notice, so I recommend students place post-it notes in their music with fundamental points of tone production before a switch occurs.
Develop Technique Slowly, With an Emphasis on Memorization
Memorization is the foundation for learning to play an instrument. Effectively reading music is a result of memorization, and in jazz, improvisation is developed primarily by memorization. I feel it is very important to emphasize memorization, because while difficult and not very fun, it actually can achieve better results in shorter periods. As the skill of retaining music is developed, new musical phrases are committed to memory more rapidly. Performing music is different than any of your students’ academic subjects, in that it calls for absolute accuracy in the moment. The student cannot scribble out answers on a multiple choice test later to get a better score, and this means focused thought and attention must be put forth before the performance in the practice room.
For the flute, much of the range of the instrument has a similar fingering to saxophone, but special care must be taken highlighting the differences. A good example of this is focusing on the G harmonic minor scale. This scale contains many of the different fingerings between saxophone and flute: F#, Bb, C, D2 and Eb2. Have your students work on this scale, including the diatonic triads and intervals, and pay close attention that they are using proper fingerings.
Clarinet provides a distinct challenge in that the tone holes must be fully covered by the fingers, else the instrument will squeak. To communicate this difference to a student, show the “neutral” hand position as having all fingers depressed, with the exception of the pinkies. This keeps the fingers close to the tone holes when not in use, and eases the introduction of “covered” or “resonance” fingerings for the throat tones in the upper chalumeau. Also of importance, is the preparation of the hands for the next note. Without a smooth motion of the hands, there’s a tendency for the fingers to “pop” notes as they rapidly slam down on the tone holes or keys. Smooth motions can be carried to flute and saxophone to great effect.
For the transition to the clarinet, the biggest issues will be near the break. I recommend the exercises in the Baermen complete method for clarinet that isolate the throat tones and pinkies. Scales that contain clarion B, C#, and D# are going to be an issue, so it is important to isolate and exercise these slowly. It is best to let the student discover on their own the minimal motion necessary to move between each note in that region of the instrument. Soon, an A#-B trill over the break will be possible without using a trill fingering, and technique on clarinet will rapidly develop.
Address Intonation and Dynamics
Using the exercise mentioned earlier of holding the palm of the hand in front of the face, you can teach one of the fundamental concepts of woodwind performance: the distinction between flow rate of air and airspeed. While barely blowing air into their palm, you can ask the student to raise and widen the back of their tongue or make their aperture smaller. What will happen is a dramatic change in the sensation on the hand, as the airspeed has increased significantly. The important point to address here is that while the sensation of exhaling has not changed, the speed of the air has. This is a critical concept for flute performance, but also has benefits for saxophone and clarinet.
Understanding that flow rate is related to how hard you blow and airspeed is related to the size of the aperture, much like placing a finger over a garden hose, allows for very fine control of the dynamic and intonation of the flute. Generally, a slower flow rate will make the tone quieter and a higher flow rate will make the tone louder. Also to be considered, a slower airspeed will tend to make a note go flat, and vice versa for a higher airspeed. The lips must work in concert with the breath to ensure that airspeed does not drop with dynamic. Isolating each of these concepts, and then recombining them can demonstrate to the student the results of changing each of these variables. All of these can be demonstrated on B in the middle of the treble clef – slowing flow rate and opening the aperture will result in a quieter, but also lower pitch. Decrescendos should slow the flow rate, but also close the aperture to ensure airspeed is maintained, else pitch will fall.
On the clarinet and saxophone, we learn that in a similar manner our lip pressure can affect pitch and volume. Too tight of an embouchure limits the amplitude of the reed and thus the upper dynamics as well in addition to playing sharp. Conversely, a very loose embouchure will allow for more volume but can tend flat. Traditionally, single-reeds are taught to lip up and down to adjust for pitch, but much like flute, we can control this with finer muscles than those of our jaw. On single-reed instruments, our tongue can control the airspeed that activates the reed. In saxophone and clarinet pedagogy, this action is called voicing. A faster airspeed (higher tongue) will make the pitch rise, and a slower airspeed (lower tongue) will make the pitch fall. Using the tongue to adjust pitch is much more precise than the jaw, and has the added benefit of maintaining tone quality.
For saxophone, flute and clarinet it is also important to understand the position of the mouthpiece or the headjoint on the instrument. The adjustment of the mouthpiece or headjoint has a greater effect on shorter wavelengths than longer wavelengths, since the distance moved is a larger percentage of a shorter wavelength than a longer wavelength. This translates to our instruments as left-hand fingered notes will going out of tune faster when we adjust our mouthpiece or headjoint than right-hand fingered notes. It is important to compare a left-hand fingered note to a right-hand fingered note to determine if our instrument is “in tune”. A common issue with Alto Saxophonists is that their palms keys are very sharp compared to their tuning note (F#) and their bell tones are flat. This comes from the mouthpiece being too far out, and more importantly, the student biting on the reed with significant pressure. Pushing in the mouthpiece and reducing the bite pressure will fix this symptom and improve tone quality. Please note that a softer reed may be required for this result.
Additionally, the use of a drone track is invaluable in demonstrating to students the sound of “in tune”. Practicing scales and arpeggios slowly on their instruments with a drone will dramatically affect their intonation in ensembles.
Other Thoughts
Typically, saxophones tend to be overpower the concert band. If your saxophones also play in Jazz Band, encourage them to participate on a different instrument in concert band, with flute and clarinet being the obvious choices. You may notice a difference in the quality of your Concert Band sound, as well as give the students an opportunity to develop on their secondary and tertiary instruments.
Memorization, as stated earlier, is key for learning music effectively. Requiring students to memorize by ear passages they cannot effectively read on sight is something I do in masterclasses often. While the student later may not recall the passage in question, seeing it on the page is enough to jog the memory. While a painful process, memorizing music will consistently achieve better result faster that the traditional method of the student repeatedly reading the passage.
Lastly, inspiration is easily the most powerful tool a Band Director has at their disposal. Examples of excellent performers on multiple woodwind instruments can demonstrate to students that what is difficult is possible. My go-to examples are Eddie Daniels, Ken Peplowski, Sidney Bechet, Moe Kauffman, Frank Wess and many others. Without inspiration, music can seem meaningless to a student, so I believe it is very important to provide examples from which emulation can begin.
Brett McDonald is an award winning composer (ASCAP 2012, JEN 2012) on the Maxwell Tree Music Roster based in NYC. He has specialized in multiple woodwind performance since completing his Masters Degree in Jazz Studies at Rutgers University (2012) and Undergraduate Degree in Jazz Studies at The University of North Texas (2010). He has performed on three national tours (Dreamgirls, 2012-2013, A Christmas Story: The Musical 2014, 2015) and two international tours (Dreamgirls 2013, My Fair Lady 2016) on flutes, clarinets and saxophones. This fall (2016), Brett will be joining the national tour of How The Grinch Stole Christmas: The Musical, and shortly thereafter, 42nd Street. He has presented masterclasses on jazz and woodwind performance at the Shanghai Conservatory, Leman International School Chengdu, and the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire. Visit his website for more information: www.brettmcdonaldmusic.com