I enjoy playing music at home for my own enjoyment. Right now I am learning to play the alto saxophone and am liking it very much. I have been considering the possibility of learning the clarinet, but I would like to know first off if working with both the alto sax and clarinet would be confusing. I know these are both reed instruments, but I don't know just how different they are from each other in the way you play them. I am getting a pretty good sound out of my saxophone. Would it be ok to work with a clarinet too or is this not a good thing to do? I will appreciate any advice or opinions.

I would advise not starting the clarinet until you've been playing the sax to about grade 5 standard, as the fingering differences will cause extreme confusion. If you're already at about that standard, then go ahead and start, but just remember that the first month or two will be slightly confusing if you regularly switch from one instrument to the other

The clarinet is generally seen as much harder than the sax and most people start off on clarinet. But plenty of people play both and don't get confused. I would wait till you're at least grade 3 or 4 on alto though as you don't want too many new things at once!

Cat

ckee - I play both saxophone and clarinet. I started on the clarinet and after about 4 years went on to the sax. The only thing that could confuse you at first, and being that your clarinet skills are not yet confirmed, is the difference in fingering. Even now I forget which instrument I'm playing sometimes and make mistakes occasionnaly !! I would wait a little while until you feel completely happy with the sax fingering until you take on the clarinet - however, if you're just playing for fun and don't want to take up either very seriously, go for it !

I play both clarinet and sax and I know a lot of people that do also. However nearly everyone I know that does both has been an established clarinettist and then moved onto the sax. It's due to the embouchure you need to play the clarinet - it's a lot firmer than the sax and for some reason people find it very hard to find this embouchure, once they're used to the more relaxed sax one. People do mange though, but I'd decide soon before you become too used to the sax embouchure. Good luck!

I always have a rule with children that I help out with their music is that you shouldn't take on another instrument from the same family (e.g woodwind, brass) until you have done and passed grade 5. Otherwise you get very confused. Even now, my teacher who has done grade 8 in both oboe, clarinet and flute gets confused about some fingerings. Luckily as I only play the clarinet (and piano) I can get her going in the right direction again!

i play both clarinet and alto sax and im not a very good clarinettist and still manage so go for it!

But Natalie you hav now done grade 5 and going on for grade 8!