Just a quick question on doubling - I've come across people doubling on eg: cornet & euphonium or flute and sax, but never seen anyone double brass and woodwind.

Are certain instruments incompatible in terms of embouchure, or just difficult?

Has anyone ever played trombone and clarinet, or bassoon and trumpet, or any other brass/woodwind double?


Thanks,

late bloomer

I've known people play both single reeds and small bore brass, but that's the main one that can cause embouchure problems. I've done it myself (with clarinet and cornet) and it /is/ doable, but I think I'd have struggled to get much further with cornet while still keeping my clarinet playing up to scratch.
A lot will depend on the standards you want to play to on each instrument. Being good at one and OKish at the other, or reasonable at both, is more achievable than being really good at both.

The more relaxed the embouchure is for a particular instrument, the less of a problem it will be to double it with something with a contrasting embouchure. Large bore brass is easier than small bore to mix with single reeds.
I would guess that tenor sax might be easier than soprano sax to mix with brass. No idea about double reed instruments as I don't play them.

T.

My main instrument is the oboe and a few months ago i started the cornet.
People warned me that this could totally wreck my oboe enbouchure but it really hasnt. If i really want to i can play about 30 mins on the cornet and then play about 30 mins on my oboe and it doesn't affect me.
which is good!