Flute, clarinet, oboe?

Sally-Anne · Post by **Sally-Anne** » Sat Dec 06, 2008 8:52 pm

Personally I just love the mellow sound of the clarinet, having learned it myself for a few years.

The great thing about having learned the clarinet is that now, when I get the chance to do so, I can pick up the saxophone and play it too.

Two for the price of one!

yoyo123 · Post by **yoyo123** » Sat Dec 06, 2008 9:51 pm

I have ALWAYS wanted to play the sax.

Mind you I did play teh tenor recorder (the tarantella in fact) in Cheltenham music festival when I was 10....

I love the tone of the clarinet too

Sally-Anne · Post by **Sally-Anne** » Sat Dec 06, 2008 11:00 pm

I always wanted to play the Sax too, Yoyo! And I can, when I lay my hands upon one, which is not as often as I would like.

Thank you so much for the links Flamenco - I have now had time to listen to them. Acker Bilk is unquestionably the greatest "popular" clarinettist of our age. Mind you, we are talking "a certain age" here.

Off to hunt for "Stranger on the Shore" on You-Know-Tube!

That is my party piece when I get my hands on a Sax!

capers123 · Post by **capers123** » Sun Dec 07, 2008 1:49 pm

KenR wrote:Footnote: the flute has proved to be great helping her save for her world challenge overseas trip next summer. She has been busking in Stratford -on-Avon with a violinist friend and they seem manage to collect about Â£95 each for about 3 hours effort - mainly thanks to Japanese and US tourists!

Yep, I concur - busking / street entertainment in Stratford is easy money, especially near Shakespears house. We do it two or three times a year.

Flute is an easy progression from recorder. Even I can play tunes on one using recorder skills, although lung capacity is a problem for me as it's not one of my regular instruments.

Oboe can sound like a cat being strangled at (unlike its relative, the Bombarde, which sounds like a loud cat being strangled), but that soon goes, and it sounds so sweet. It has easily transported skills to cor anglais and bassoon, and all are fairly rare and needed instruments. When of a reasonable standard, it's easy to get 'pit' work playing for local opera & G&S groups and depping for orchestras, which normally pays a little as well.

The problem with flute is that they're two-a-penny. Orchestras tend to be top-heavy with flutes (wind bands have the same problem, but possibly equal numbers of saxaphones).

Whatever you do, don't take up the harp. Transport is as bad for haprists as for percussionists & timpanists (although at least the harpist only has one instrument to pack away at the end of the gig. However, reasonable harpists are in great demand for receptions, weddings and the like and can make a lot of money playing quite simple stuff. We have a small 24 string 'folk' harp (with semitone levers, but not pedals) and DD2 has picked up playing it very quickly - using skills she learnt on piano. That said, she's also learning perc & timps.

mrshappy · Post by **mrshappy** » Sun Dec 07, 2008 5:12 pm

We were advised by the music teacher at our daughter's school to go for the oboe as so many try the flute that it is difficult to get into the orchestra. My daughter has been learning the oboe for a year and has passed grade 2. It is hard to keep a straight face sometimes when she practices as the sounds are so funny, but she is getting better! We keep listening to Mozart's oboe concerto to remind us what she could sound like one day! She is now in the school orchestra which seems to involve a lot of giggling.... the reeds are very expensive though, and she has got through a fare few already, but it is very portable which after years of lugging a french horn around is definitely important.

Guest55 · Post by **Guest55** » Sun Dec 07, 2008 6:33 pm

The reeds are a real pain in my opinion - and cause a lot of problems.

There is no problem accessing groups to play the flute in - wind bands, flute choirs etc being in an orchestra isn't everyone's cup of tea!

Music is available for many popular pieces e.g. LOTR, POTC not just classical.

Flamenco · Post by **Flamenco** » Sun Dec 07, 2008 7:00 pm

Sally-Anne wrote:I always wanted to play the Sax too, Yoyo! And I can, when I lay my hands upon one, which is not as often as I would like.

Can you not hire one from your local music shop, Sally-Anne? We would all love to see you (and hear you) playing that brass!

Sally-Anne wrote: Thank you so much for the links Flamenco - I have now had time to listen to them. Acker Bilk is unquestionably the greatest "popular" clarinettist of our age.

Off to hunt for "Stranger on the Shore" on You-Know-Tube!

That is my party piece when I get my hands on a Sax!

Anything for you, Sally-Anne!

And just in case you can't find 'Stranger on the Shore' anywhere else, here it is specially for you:

http://www.4shared.com/file/74893171/65 ... Bilk_.html

And should you find all that sax playing a little bit tough going, perhaps you should revert to your beautiful vocal chord that we know you have, just like old Slim Whitman here. I'm sure your friends and family don't want to miss out on you performing at that Christmas party.

http://www.4shared.com/file/74892929/a0 ... tman_.html

Stranger On The Shore
Here I stand, watching the tide go out
So all alone and blue
Just dreaming dreams of you

I watched your ship as it sailed out to sea
Taking all my dreams
And taking all of me

The sighing of the waves
The wailing of the wind
The tears in my eyes burn
Pleading, "My love, return"

Why, oh why, must I go on like this?
Shall I just be a lonely stranger on the shore?

Sally-Anne · Post by **Sally-Anne** » Sun Dec 07, 2008 7:46 pm

Flamenco wrote:Anything for you, Sally-Anne!

Thank you so much Flamenco - far nicer than the version on You-Know-Tube.

noisyboysy · Post by **noisyboysy** » Sun Dec 07, 2008 9:30 pm

Thanks for all your help. We have had a great time listening to all of the links. She sang her solo in the church for the carol service today. She is taken with the idea of a clarinet as it can become a sax. Jazz is very popular in this house.

Guest55 · Post by **Guest55** » Sun Dec 07, 2008 9:42 pm

You can do jazz flute and take grade 5 as an alternative to taking theory grade 5.