Meet the Woodwind Doublers

Make Mine a Double

Ever heard of a “Woodwind Doubler”? Does it sound like a person who can play two flutes at once? Or maybe a “doubler” is a kind of juggler? Or perhaps it’s a fancy beverage concoction?

Quite simply, a Woodwind Doubler is a musician who can skillfully play a variety of woodwind instruments, such as the flute, oboe, clarinet, saxophone, bassoon, or other folk or ethnic woodwind instruments (such as the Shakuhachi.)

Even though Andy and I are Woodwind Doublers today, we got our start with our primary instruments that we chose all the way back in the 5th grade.

Since I first saw one in kindergarten, I had been longing to learn to play the flute. Andy chose the saxophone because he’d seen a saxophone quartet at his cousin’s band concert performing a jazzy tune. He just knew that was the sound for him.

Neither of us would have ever imagined playing and performing on all the woodwinds. Yet, I stumbled into it in my late-20s, while Andy’s college jazz band director asked him if he also played flute? When Andy told him “No” his instructor responded, “Well, you’d better learn.”

Switching Things Up

Professional Woodwind Doublers are pretty darn cool in our opinion. Our favorites are the musicians who play pit orchestras for professional musicals. These specialized orchestras are usually not as large as big symphony orchestras that you picture when you think of the word “orchestra.” Their size and even their instruments are unique to the musical’s score. Instead of multiple people on one part, you have one person playing many parts. The woodwinds are merely flavors of feelings, and the Woodwind Doubler is the barista of the pit serving up melancholy, mischief, and many, many moods to support the whole production.

There are other kinds of groups that also rely on Woodwind Doublers. Jazz bands usually don’t have parts for a dedicated team of clarinets or flutes. If these instruments appear in the score one or more saxophones will swap their curvy whistle for a “licorice stick” (aka, a clarinet) or a… a… a flute. (Yeah, flutes don’t get cool nicknames.) Even the brass player might get in on the action and double on the flute. There are some things embouchure-wise that make flute a wonderful doubling instrument for the trumpet, or better yet… any low brass!

For younger band students there are gateways to becoming a Woodwind Doubler. For flautists, it is to take up the piccolo. For clarinet players, they are asked to play the bass clarinet in a band. And for saxophone players they most often start on an alto, or occasionally tenor. By the time they get to high school there might be opportunities for them to play a baritone saxophone or even a soprano! A very advanced clarinet player might be asked to give the oboe a try. Advanced saxophonists are sometimes asked to try the bassoon, while those oboe and bassoon players are usually asked to take on something else for Marching or Pep bands since their instruments are not included in those ensembles.

The bottom line is once you get bitten by the bug to play more instruments, you just can’t stop! After all, the more instruments you can cover the more interesting the opportunities you can find.

Leading a Double Life

When we get students who want to go down the rabbit hole of Woodwind Doubling it sometimes surprises them that we start them on a beginning method book with their new instrument. Despite the fact that the fingerings are often similar (and students could potentially play intermediate level music right away) starting with the beginning method does give the student the material and space to home in on specific notes in small, short passages to reinforce what is unique to that instrument.

Other things that take time to adjust are the embouchure and breath control. Flute-oboe doubling is a great example of this. Flutes lack back pressure, so they spend years developing large lung capacities to enable them to play long phrases. Oboes, on the other hand, have a tremendous amount of back pressure. A little air goes a LONG way with the oboe. So right out of the gate a doubling flute player can play forever on an oboe. That is until they need to breathe air in order to stay conscious. As such, they have to learn when to let go and exhale so they can take in more air and get some O2 moving through their blood stream again to keep the brain awake.

Famous Doublers

While their names may not be as familiar as other musicians you know, there have been some incredibly talented Woodwind Doublers whose music you will likely enjoy, including:

• Yusef Lateef (1920–2013) American instrumentalist, Yusef Lateef was well known for his sax and flute doubling skills, along with his musical talents on the bamboo flute, bassoon, oboe, piano, Egyptian flute, and the Shehnai.
•  James Moody (1925–2010) American jazz musician, James Moody was renowned for his bebop and hard bop sound on the alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, and flute.
• Rashaan Roland Kirk (1935–1977) Roland Kirk was also an American jazz musician proficient on the flute, tenor sax, manzello, clarinet, whistle, siren, and the “Stritch” (a straight alto saxophone).
• Frank Wess (1922–2013) Frank Wess was best known for his performances in Count Basie’s woodwind section and as a talented musician on both the saxophone and the flute.

Interested in Doubling Up?

As current intermediate band students look ahead to the end of this school year, now is the perfect time to start to explore the idea of a doubling instrument that may open up opportunities in bands or other extra-curricular groups. Contact us if you have any questions or would like to discuss becoming a Woodwind Doubler.