School teachers and secondary instruments

[Stan Haskins]

As a public school orchestra director/string teacher, I've worked pretty hard at becoming an *OK* violin player.

Thinking ahead career-wise, I want to work on some secondary brass-wind instruments.

My band director colleague recommends working on clarinet and baritone (!)

Thoughts? Anyone gone through anything similar?

[Kjetil Laukholm]

Clarinet is a good choice.
I may choose trumpet though, as it is smaller and cheaper. It will give you a good starting point, and from there you can learn the other brass instruments later.

[Stan Haskins]

Originally Posted by Kjetil Laukholm

trumpet . . . smaller and cheaper.

Good point. Maybe I can keep my eye out for a pocket trumpet.

[Heifetzbass]

My two secondary instruments for my music ed degree were clarinet and trumpet, and we had to take a whirl on all the percussion instruments.

BG

[Stan Haskins]

Brian: I did F horn and trombone in grad school, but didn't keep up with them. I think I'll get started right away with clarinet, and keep myeyes and ears open for a trumpet (unless a nice euph or baritone come along)

[rprowse]

Trumpet is a good instrument for a music teacher to be able to play. There's always one under my desk at work. It's the instrument that I mostly finish up playing at school events.

[Rick Auvil]

I've been a junior-senior high school music teacher for 33 years. My major instruments in college were trumpet and guitar (classical & jazz). Now I suppose I'm more of a bassist than anything else (jazz & orchestral).

As soon as I got my teaching job, I focused on trombone in order to "naturalize" my bass clef reading skills. Following that, I worked hard at percussion, clarinet, and saxophone. I never became an expert at playing all of these instruments, but I can keep up with most of my students! Diversity is an important key to doing a great job as an instructor/conductor.

One piece of advice I will pass on is that you should become good enough on a few instruments to be able to walk through the rehearsal room, look over the shoulders of your students, and transpose their parts on sight. The value of a good model is essential for them and your musical ability elevates the students' respect for you! Not to mention that the use proximity in the rehearsal hall is an excellent disciplinary tool!

Best of luck to you!

By the way - they still haven't worn me down (carborundum)- and most of them are great kids!

[David Potts]

If you know a good brass teacher and a good wind teacher ask them what your mouth, lips and hands might point you towards. Saxaphone may be the easiest w/w and tenor horn or euphonium the easiest brass?

The way school music is heading in Australia the emphasis is more towards brass bands, concert bands, jazz ensembles or pop groups (contemporary music?). Interest in classical music and strings has mostly never been as strong. One exception is a large private boys school where I teach that has about 900 boys across three campuses learning an instrument! There is no stigma attached to learning strings.

Best Wishes

David Potts

[bankruptselling]

Clarinet is really well-rounded and will help for a lot of other woodwinds, to some extent. Baritone seems, to me, like a better choice than trumpet if you've never played a brass instrument before.

[mje]

Clarinet has a very different fingering than flutes and the saxophones- the fingering is different in every octave.

[bassics1975]

I teach secondary school music (instrumental) and have had to do the same. I suggest learning a little trombone if you could. This is one of the most problematic instruments because of the slide (I am a bass trombonist myself). For the brasses, I would focus on trombone and one other valved instrument (if you play trumpet, then the fingerings for baritone and tuba are much the same).

The flute is another to have a bit of knowledge on just because it is so different than any other woodwind. Again, if you play clarinet or sax, you could pick-up on most of the other reeds quite easily. I doubt you'll ever master all of them but you could certainly develop good profiency to be able to effectively teach them. Good luck.

[Harmonyfy]

Originally Posted by mje

Clarinet has a very different fingering than flutes and the saxophones- the fingering is different in every octave.

It's true that clarinet has a different fingering set up than flute/sax, but the clarion fingerings of clarinet are the same as flute. (But the clarion notes are a 5th down from their corresponding flute fingerings.)

I think that flute could be a good instrument to teach from the podium except that you have to explain to students that you are going to be facing the opposite of them, but doing the same thing. Clarinet is almost easier to mirror from the front of the room.

Flute also allows you to explain the woodwind relationship between a long "tube" being lower (flute) than a short tube (piccolo).




On a more broad note, my university has orchestral ed students learn beginnings on all other strings, at least one brass (I did trumpet) at least one woodwind (I did clarinet and flute) and beginnings on all percussion instruments.)

Originally Posted by Rick Auvil

One piece of advice I will pass on is that you should become good enough on a few instruments to be able to walk through the rehearsal room, look over the shoulders of your students, and transpose their parts on sight.

<--- Well said. The purpose of learning other instruments isn't necessarily to be able to teach other kids, but to help them in the beginning and later to correct their basic use (IMO).

[catty]

I started on sax at age eight. For some reason, I picked up clarinet some 40 years later--and it felt totally intuitive. I've blown on clarinets before many times and never was compelled by them in any way. But for reason, years later, it feels like "the instrument" for me. It may be that I love to blow up in clarion and altissimo on a soprano instrument, these days.

Clarinet is generally harder (than sax) for most people because you have open holes to cover, and it overblows at the 12th instead of the octave. For most woodwind players, it's easier to go from clarinet to sax than from sax to clarinet.

Still, despite the greater challenge over saxes, I'm finding great affinity, suddenly. Blues. Jazz. Even folk music--the clarinet is very versatile and very expressive. Bass clarinet has been the most difficult instrument I've taken on--it's notoriously fussy.

If I were to be a band leader, I'd want trumpet.