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