Question:
Doubler's practice routine
If you double sax/sax, sax/clarinet, sax/flute, sax/flute/clarinet, or any other woodwind combination please post your practice routine. I double clarinet/tenor/bass clarinet and am interested to find out doubler's routines.
Cheers,
CR

Answer:
I play the four standard saxes, flute, and clarinet. My practice routine basically consists of
Flute and clarinet in the morning (about 2 hours total if I can get it)
Alto at night
Bari every couple of days, or every day after alto if I am playing on it regularly in an ensemble/preparing for a performance
I don't practice tenor or soprano because I don't have these instruments to practice! But I have had enough experience on these horns that I can borrow a tenor from my high school if I need it for a gig and get my sound back in a matter of minutes. I haven't been called upon to play soprano but I do have a few places I could get my hands on one if and when that happens. It's my next purchase seeing as I'd like to play lead alto in a big band, and the soprano will be necessary at some point.
The breakdown for each instrument is like this:
Flute: long tones, octaves, relative intensity exercises, overtones; major and harmonic minor scales, articulation; etudes; messing about
Clarinet: long tones, relative intensity exercises; arpeggios, major and melodic minor scales; etudes, some reading out of the Klose huge method book; messing about
Alto: long tones, fundamentals, overtones; scales (a whole truckload, I try to mix it up but I have a routine that goes through major, harmonic minor, chromatic, diminished, augmented, modes of the harmonic minor), varied and broken 7th arpeggios; etudes, classical pieces; jazz.
I detailed the "jazz" section of my practice in Von Braig's thread. It's very similar to his own. I work a lot on transcription and try to do one every couple of weeks, take it through a few keys, extract licks and plug them into progressions, etc.
Then I'll basically do some long tones and reading on the bari and whatever other saxes I have available to me. For me it's important to leave some "messing about" time at the end of the session so that you don't leave the instrument "stale", you know? Eventually I also hope to add piccolo and bass clarinet, whenever I can purchase these instruments, probably by the end of next summer. I just dropped a fortune on some mouthpieces and a new alto, so I continue to practice, save up, and be patient.
At some point I'll toss something in where I practice actually switching between the instruments, but not until I feel comfortable on flute and clarinet by themselves. I'm getting to that point but it's not quite there yet, I'll give it another year and see where I'm at. In the Spring I did some shows where I had to constantly switch between bari, clarinet, and flute; that was practice in its own right!

Answer:
Thanks for posting Razzy. Anyone else? Please post. :) :) :)
Cheers,
CR

Answer:
I play the 4 saxes, clarinet, and flute.
I basically rotate through each instrument each day e.g. bari sax on day 1, clarinet on day 2, flute on day 3, tenor sax on day 4, clarinet on day 5, e.t.c
The downside of this I guess is that I only play any given sax e.g. tenor sax once every 2 weeks.
Another reason I do this is that I only have limited practice time, less than 1 hour per day.
Once a week I won't play any horn but will work on other stuff e.g. transcribing, playing chords/voicings on the piano, creating patterns etc.
My actual practice routine is long notes, scales and appegios, and then any other stuff I feel like working on e.g. patterns, transcriptions, play-along with Aebesold, memorizing the Real Book, or doing some classical stuff like etudes or memorizing a classical piece.
I'd also like to hear what others do for doubling practice, especially if they have limited time.

Answer:
My doubling practice routine is somewhat random and haphazard, so it might not be appropriate for someone getting started. I have limited regular practice time due to the 9-5 day gig and living in an apartment. Most of my doubling work is pit orchestras. If I have a doubling gig coming up I concentrate on the horns that I'll be playing in that show. I try to get the part ahead of time. I focus first on flute/piccolo (if that's needed) because that's still my weakest double, then clarinet and sax. After a few days of individual instrument shedding I practice making the instrument switches (going to flute from anything else tends to be challenging). Once I'm in the run, the actual performing keeps me sharp, and it takes away any available practice time on show days.
When I do have practice time I spend time on long tones (especially on flute) and work with a tuner, then work out of etude books or solo pieces.
Occasionally, I fool around with jazz improv, but my improv skills are not very strong, and I haven't made the commitment to learn that skill. I love to play out of jazz exercise books and transcriptions, however.
If I have dead times (like right now!!), I sort of go by impulse as to what to practice on. I tend to concentrate on flute, but lately I like to play classical sax etudes and solos. Most recently I've been developing my bass clarinet playing because I just bought a new low-C Buffet, and I'm taking private lessons on it and looking for opportunities to play it in symphony orchestras.
Someone getting started in the doubling world should probably have a more structured practice system that I have, but that's what I tend to do.

Answer:
Thank you two for "reviving" this thread. Keep posting, doublers!!! :D
Cheers,
CR

Answer:
My routine is like saxfreak's, pretty random. Unless you're a pro or going to music school full time it's difficult to find enough time in the week let alone the day to get a consistent routine going.
It also depends upon your motivation and what you are trying to accomplish. If you were lucky enough to start doubling in high school or college and have a good foundation on 2 or 3 horns you may just need to get a few hours practice a week on each to keep your chops up. If you just played a single instrument for years and now want to start another - in order to make any progress you need to play the new double almost every day.
I'm 40 now. I started on sax at 10 or 11. Picked up clarinet at the request of a private lessons teacher at 29 or 30, then flute about 3 or 4 years later. Unfortunately I quit practicing clarinet much because I enjoy sax and flute a lot more and it has been a real bear lately to get my clarinet playing back up to speed.
I play sax regularly with a jazz quintet and in big bands from time to time but my main motivation for doubles is to supplement my income by teaching foundational lessons on sax, flute, and clarinet when I retire.
As far as my routine goes I play at least 1 insturment every day and try to play more if I have time. I like to play alto flute in the morning since it has sort of a quiet relaxing tone (and it's unlikely to bother my neighbors). Sax or clarinet late morning through mid afternoon because I have the right energy for those at that time of the day and regular "C" flute at night.
If I only have time for 1 it's almost always flute since I find it goes away the quickest and takes the longest to get back if I don't play it at least every other day or so. An hour every other day will keep me from loosing ground but if I want to make any progress I feel I need to play it every day. My actual practice time is spent much like Eternal Woodshedder's above on all instruments.
Good luck finding out what works best for you.

Answer:
What I usually do now is:
Clarinet in the morning, tenor in the afternoon, alto in between, tenor at night. Seems to work fine for me, I just got my tenor back after being in the shop for three weeks and I'm trying to get my chops back so it's getting a lot of attention.
Cheers,
CR

Answer:
Having finished music school, and now working 8 hour days 6 days a week, I had to severely cut down my practice time. I'm playing tenor/soprano/clarinet/flute at the moment, and find my time best used if I practice in the morning before work 15 min on flute and 45 min on clarinet or one of the saxes, and then in the evening whatever time I can find on tenor, my main instrument.
Right now I'm giving it a full overhaul/customization though, so I have even less time to practice, and when I do the soprano is getting a lot more 'face' time!

Answer:
Thought I'd bring this thread back. Right now my routine is-
Tenor: classical etudes, patterns from Coker's book, long tones, scales, sometimes overtones/exercises from "Top Tones", working on chord changes (my HUGE weakness)
Clarinet: scales (tons of them), basic classical etudes, long tones, patterns, sight reading Snidero's and Neihaus' sax jazz conception books
Bass Clarinet- don't have it back yet; but my routine will probably consist mostly of trying to get sound out of it. (probably will be the same as Bb clarinet)
I also like to sight read clarinet/flute duets with my brother who is a (rock) guitar player. Helps SO MUCH.
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Outside of practice- using Aebersold vol. 21 for ear training, listening constantly, thinking about Coker's patterns that won't leave my head.

Answer:
well, i used to double more then i do now. i used to play trumpet a couple days a week, but i dont like to play it cause it puts an annoying wobble in my alto tone when i play it too much. I play clarinet at school when i can, which is almost never :o, and flute every once and a while. so i dont really have a set schedule for the others but
alto - arpeggios/long tones, work out of top tones, lots o' scales (working on harmonic minors right now), classical scale etudes, etudes,articulation excersezes and all those annoying trilley things (rubank), jazz.

Answer:
I play most of the saxes, clarinets, and flutes. Flute is the harshest task mistress. If I miss a day of flute practice, I pay for about a week.
In general, I try to practice what needs to be practiced knowing what is coming up. If it is a job with my clarinet quartet, I'll do a lot of bass clarinet work, or contra-alto. I also have to add in what I'm fixing/buying/selling. I have a job coming up playing the alto clarinet in F part to Stravinsky's Symohony for Winds, and borrowing a basset horn to do it. So I know where I'll be in terms of practice time in the near future. I like to do flute last as often as I can, because that is the hardest to make work for me in a doubling situation. It can take several minutes before my flute tone pops in nicely, and you never ever have that.....

Answer:
Originally Posted by Razzy I play the four standard saxes, flute, and clarinet.
I don't practice tenor or soprano because I don't have these instruments to practice! But I have had enough experience on these horns that I can borrow a tenor from my high school if I need it for a gig and get my sound back in a matter of minutes.
That makes me feel sooooooooooooo inadequate. It takes me hours each day to develop and keep my tenor sound and you just get it in minutes after not playing for weeks or months. I am humbled.
I don't consider myself a real doubler on flute or clarinet. One can easily tell where the lion's share of my practice goes. I consider musicians to be true doublers when the listener cannot tell which is a primary instrument and which is the "other". Yes, I play the flute or clarinet parts as they come and I spend about half of my practice time on sop but tenor is my voice.
I don't even like to play alto or bari so I finally sold them off to avoid the temptation of taking calls to sub on either.
Listen to a real musician like Tim Price and you, too, may be compelled to rethink "doubling".
Back on topic: For those of you looking to stay active doublers, I'll share a recommendation from a colleague that actually does have full facility on alto, tenor, and clarinet. He suggested that I join the community band on clarinet or flute. He performs clarinet in a dixieland jazz band every weekend and plays first clarinet with the community band as well as the local symphony.

Answer:
Dr. G, it's just a matter of remembering how each horn blows, where your embouchure needs to be, etc. I used to practice tenor for about 4 hours a day for a year... that has long-carrying effects. Actually since that post I've acquired a tenor and completely changed my setup... I'm playing an Ackerman 8* so I do need to put in some time if I have a tenor gig coming up. More difficult than getting a good sound now is learning tunes in the tenor key. I often slip back into the alto key without realizing it!! And being able to hear things and to sight-transpose on tenor, as opposed to hearing a concert Bb and "G! G!" popping up in my mind, sometimes I have to fight that and think "No it's C you dolt!" For me this is the toughest thing about saxophone doubling, not blowing the instruments or getting a good sound.
It's a good idea to put yourself in as many playing situations on the different horns as possible, as your friend suggests. I play bari in a ten-tet, alto/sop in a big band, alto in a sax quartet, tenor on some club dates and jazz hits, right now I'm doing flute and piccolo for Porgy and Bess (the orchestra version- it's a bear!!) and recently I finished a run of the show "Grand Hotel" on reed 1, alto, sop, flute and clarinet, about 80% clarinet playing. It's not easy but if you keep yourself in continued demand to play ALL of your horns, it's definitely time well spent and you'll find that your doubling improves a lot faster than from practicing alone.

Answer:
Yes, Razzy, it's all good. Sorry that I failed to include the appropriate smiley icon. Been there, done that. I used to "double" in pit orchestras too - SATB, picc, flute, clarinet(s), bassoon, guitars, and percussion. I've decided to lay back these days (I passed the half century mark last year)and "limit" myself to the instruments I actually enjoy the most.

Answer:
During Spring Break (Now) and SUmmer:
Morning- Clarinet (1 hour)
Afternoon- Tenor or Alto (1-2 hours)
Before Dinner- FLute (30 min. and despise every second)
After Dinner- Tenor (Play with the Aebersolds till the cows come home or the neihbors break a window, which ever comes first).
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During School Year- Not enough time to practice and do homework, so playing in band is enough playing for the day unless there is an audition or big gig coming up.

Answer:
When I was using the Meyer on tenor it was easy to come back to it and still have the concept. But now I'm playing an Ackerman .115 resin and it's a great mouthpiece, but I have to be playing it a LOT to have my sound at all. Very different animal than the Meyer, kind of a ballsier Link. Probably more the tip opening than anything. Gotta pay yer dues, pay yer dues all the live long day...

Answer:
Practice Routines
I play alto, tenor, oboe, clarinet, English horn and violin. Sometimes I wish I had more time to play them all, especially the violin, but here's how I break it down:
Morning: alto sax for about 2 hours usually. I start with scales, blues scales, overtones, altissimo, etudes, solos, jazz band music, improv stuff, and then just messing around.
After about a 1/2 hour to hour break I practice my oboe, which is supposed to be my main instrument, for about an hour. I practice in this order: long tones, all scales, solo, etudes, other solo, and if time jazz oboe! (no I'm not kidding, it's pretty fun actually)
Then I eat lunch and after that I get out the tenor and play for another 2 hours or until I have to go to work. I practice the same stuff on tenor as I do on alto so I can be decent on both saxes, even though I only have the tenor sax temporarily:(
And when I get home from work I pull out the clarinet for only about 45ish minutes.(scales, arpeggios, etudes, jazz stuff). Lately, though, it's been really tempting to play that tenor again though instead of the clarinet. And even though I've already practiced, I will play that until my family members get mad and make me stop so they can sleep.
As far as the English horn, I don't really practice it unless I'm playing it for something such as pit stuff or concerts, and I rarely play violin (I've played that since I was 6 so it's second nature to me now) about once every week or if I have a gig coming up.

Answer:
If you need to double at a gig, it is worth while practicing swapping between instruments. I was playing on a show recently (Guys and Dolls) where I was swapping between alto and flute. My first couple of notes on the flute were often pretty poor.
- Michael

Answer:
Yes! Of course it is. Eventually it becomes second nature but not without some amount of practice. I tend to do a warmup in the morning involving all or most of my instruments. This makes it a little easier.