Be A Doubler

  (Junior warbles out a muffled edition of Silent Night)

In the 1920's, through the 1940's-ish, it was assumed that if you played clarinet, you also played flute and saxophone.  This was so common, that instrument cases came set up STANDARD for these three 'horns' (all three in one case).

Nowadays, most musicians play (only) one.  And finding a case for the aforementioned three, is nearly impossible.  Sad.  So sad.

With the fingering for flute, clarinet, and sax being very, very similar AND all three reading the treble clef, it is really not that difficult to ADD one, or both, to your primary horn of choice.

HOWEVER... and this is a big HOWEVER... to achieve maximum success in becoming a doubler, it is strongly advised that one becomes VERY competent on the primary horn FIRST.  For instance: start with clarinet (which I think is the most difficult of the three).  Learn the embouchure requirements (hard), make the thing sound like a 'Licorice Stick' and not a dying animal (really hard), and THEN think about adding flute or sax (more fun).

So, we're talking several years into mastery, here.

Above, we have a recent photo of Junior.  Junior couldn't wait to learn clarinet first and then add Everybody Else, so he took out his little mallet, some tossed-out instrument parts, buckets of  Serious Musical Glue, and fashioned himself the very first Saxoclariumpet  (SAX-oh-claire-ee-UMP-et) known to man.

Stunning, no?

Although I'm impressed with his mechanical skills (and the overall weird sound he gets from this thing), I'm afraid his imaginative solution falls into the category of A-Doubling-Method-That-I-Would-Highly-Discourage.  Better to do it the hard way.

Then, you'll be one of those rare musicians: a Real Doubler.

Mildred

Trumpet Care

Mildred and I were out for a walk last evening, when a neighbor hailed us.  We crossed the road to see Frank holding up a magnifying glass as he examined something on his truck tire.

Mildred looked through the glass.  "Metal, of some kind," she said.
Frank grunted.
"Look again, Mildred," I said, blowing my nose into my brandy new hankie.
Mildred flew in for a closer view.

Suddenly, we heard a teeny, weeny wail.
Frank moved the magnifying glass closer to the metal thing.

It was Mildred.

"It used to be a trumpet, " she cried.  "And now it's dead." 
She was inconsolable.
"But Honey, why are you so sad?" I asked.
Mildred flew back to the house and returned holding a tiny case.  She placed the case on the ground and opened it.

It was empty.

Frank and I looked at Mildred, confused.  She burst into tears afresh.  "It's my trumpet," she sobbed.  "It fell out of my case when I got off the school bus."

Moral of the story?  Always make sure your case is latched AND is facing your leg.  If the latches fail, the case will open against your leg and save your instrument.

Saves on Kleenex, too.

Brooke

Worm Hole

Brooke likes to repair stuff (and, yes, she often wears two pair of glasses.  Really.)  She especially loves to dismantle instruments and clean them up and make them all shiny like when they were newbies.

Well, one fine day, she got a used Bb clarinet to 'rescue'.  She looked it over, smelled it (yes, smelled), and placed all the parts on her desk.  Looked like a simple Clean & Polish job.  Fun.

Well, almost.

As she was cleaning the lower joint, (with aforementioned Nose Touch-ification), she saw movement out of the corner of her eye.  Movement?  She picked up the piece and what to her wondering eyes should appear, but a WORM.  (I'd only heard about such things before).

OH, but wait, there's more!

As she inspected the entire horn, Brooke found that there were three worms.  Just happily crawling along the joint, out for an afternoon stroll.   Needless to say, it was their last outing.  But, I share this (amazing) story so that you will remember to have your clarinet serviced - by an instrument repairman - at least once a year.

Keeps the bugs away.

Mildred

Don't Use a Hammer

Last Tuesday, I was helping Brooke organize her Instrument Maintenance Room.  She casually asked if I'd bring her the mallet.  Mallet.  Hmmm.  Isn't 'mallet' just a fancy word for hammer?  So, I picked up her smallest metal claw hammer.  Wow, heavy.

Ah, I learned VERY quickly that, NO, 'mallet' is not just a pretty name.  It is a very specific kind of tool.  And the hammer I picked up (in the photograph above), is definitely NOT the kind of hammer you EVER use on your instrument.

Just thought you'd like to know.

Mildred