Allegro

An inside look at woodwind doubling

Volume 125, No. 7July, 2025

Martha Hyde
mhyde@local802afm.org






Woodwind doubling is a specialized skill that has been around a long time. According to Ed Joffe (writing in the December 2016 issue of Allegro), musicians who played double reed instruments during the Baroque era in Europe were often required to play flutes and clarinets as well. This practice extended into the late 18th and early 19th centuries with Haydn and Mozart both writing for woodwind doublers.

Modern woodwind doubling stems from the invention of the saxophone in the mid 19th century. The saxophone is a louder cousin of the clarinet and thus became an important part of military bands where large sections of saxophonists would carry the melody lines. The saxophone was never adopted as a regular part of European-style symphony orchestras and from the beginning of the instrument’s presence, most saxophone players were expected to double on clarinet if not flute, oboe or bassoon.

American musicals evolved from a variety of sources: frothy European operettas; vaudeville, with its tradition of skits, stunts and acrobatics; and Yiddish theatre from Eastern European immigrants. Combined, these developed into what is considered the “Broadway sound,” which also grew from a mixture of the traditional orchestras of the operettas and the saxophone and brass led military bands.

As Tin Pan Alley composers like Cole Porter, George Gershwin and Jerome Kern began to write shows, the popular big band jazz sound of the time with saxophones and brass began to influence musicals. Many of the show songs written by these composers became jazz standards, so the influence went both ways.

There is also a tradition of jazz soloists doubling on multiple woodwinds and sometimes on unrelated instruments. Eric Dolphy had a unique jazz soloist voice on each of his instruments: bass clarinet, alto saxophone and flute. Among the many others is Frank Wess, who was as well known as a flute soloist as he was a saxophone soloist.

Benny Carter not only played alto saxophone and clarinet but also the flute, the bassoon, the piano, the cornet, the trombone and the violin. Ornette Coleman played alto saxophone and trumpet and also the violin. The practice of doubling on violin and saxophone began as saxophone-based dance bands began to replace string dance bands and the saxophone took over the melody duties from the violin. Andy Statman, who is very active today, plays two unrelated instruments in two styles: klezmer on the clarinet and bluegrass on the mandolin.

Big bands like Paul Whiteman, Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller and the Dorsey brothers featured saxophonists who doubled on flutes, clarinets and occasionally oboes and English horns. Broadway pit orchestras often had similar lineups of doubling saxophonists.

As the “Broadway sound” evolved, many woodwind sections comprised five players with the lead alto player often doubling on flute, piccolo and clarinet, a second alto player doubling on flute and clarinet, a tenor player doubling on oboe and English horn, a second tenor player doubling on clarinet and a baritone player doubling on bass clarinet and bassoon. There were many variations on that setup.

As is often the case, academia was decades behind the practices of the workplace. Degree programs for doublers were just beginning around 1970 and in the 70s some well-known schools like the Oberlin Conservatory did not offer degrees in either the saxophone or guitar. Others actively discouraged their woodwind students from doubling, claiming their embouchures would be ruined by it. Many of the schools offering doubling degrees began doing so just as the pit orchestras and woodwind sections were shrinking.

As Broadway pit orchestras have gotten smaller and the tastes and styles have expanded beyond traditional “show” music, woodwind doublers have had to extend their skills to perform on Irish whistles, uillean pipes, Chinese flutes, pan pipes, harmonicas and wind controllers or wind synthesizers.

Both Steve Kenyon and Mark Thrasher have been asked to play harmonicas — and Amy Griffiths has had to play whistles and uilleann pipes. Recorders often show up in Broadway woodwind books: I had to play tenor recorder on a Les Miserables revival and soprano recorder on a Kiss Me Kate revival.

David Weiss plays a bevy of 13 flutes at the Lion King, including 6 wooden flutes, 4 sets of pan flutes and a very tall bass pan flute. He also played 4 wooden flutes on Broadway’s Miss Saigon.

Some situations have required woodwind players to double on unrelated instruments. I played suspended cymbals and woodblock for an Off Broadway show — as did Chris MacDonnnell and Justin Vance who subbed for me. Alden Banta, Amy Griffiths and Jeff Nichols have also played percussion like shakers and tambourines, Julie Pacheco, Steve Kenyon, Amy Griffiths and Justin Vance have been known to play keyboard. Ansy François used to double on trumpet.

WHAT THE DOUBLERS TOLD ME

I’m a woodwind doubler myself, and for this article, I interviewed a sample of 25 NYC based woodwind doublers. You can see their names and photos at the top of this article. (I picked 25 people who I know, but obviously there are a lot more than 25 doublers working as professional musicians.) I asked which woodwind was their first. Not surprisingly, likely because of the tradition of saxophonists being expected to double on other woodwinds, the saxophone was the first for 12, the highest number. Katy Faracy, Mark Thrasher, Dave Noland, Jeff Nichols, Jackie Henderson, Alden Banta, Julie Pacheco, Amy Griffiths, Erika Friedman, Anthony Rodriguez, Justin Vance and Emma Reinhart all began on saxophone.

The clarinet ran second with Ansy François, Steve Kenyon, Chris MacDonnell, Jessie Englander, Tessa Dolce, John Skinner, Steve Lyon and I claiming it as our first. Emily Pecoraro started saxophone and clarinet at the same time. Eddie Salkin and David Weiss started on flute and Nicole DeMaio and Aveion Walker started on bass clarinet.

Almost all of these 25 doublers began branching out to other woodwinds while in high school with some starting earlier. Some (Steve K, Chris, Nicole,Tessa) started playing saxophone to be in their schools’ jazz bands or so they could play their school musicals (Erika), but most either just wanted to branch out or had teachers who encouraged them (Ansy, Katy, Mark, Eddie, Jackie, Alden, Aveion, Julie, Amy, David, John, Steve L, Anthony, Justin, Emma and Emily).

Woodwind doubling in musical theatre can lead to unexpected adventures. There’s always the risk of defaulting to the fingerings of an instrument other than the one you’re playing. There are also stories of lugging two sets of woodwinds into town for two different shows. There are hilarious stories of emergency calls to sub on multiple woodwinds. Emily got an emergency call to play the circus while in the middle of a pedicure, Nicole underwent a Covid test while frantically setting up her tenor sax at the last minute. There are the missing instruments on the road or the suddenly broken instruments. Anthony had to finish his oboe part on the clarinet, Erika had to play tenor sax parts on the clarinet, Aveion grabbed an English horn reed and tried to put it on his oboe in the seconds he had to prepare to play, Chris barely made it to the special station to play the sax solo on a touring production of Miss Saigon because of a stuck door and Katy found herself catching a prop that fell off the stage, reflexively preventing it from falling on her.

Woodwind doubling in shows can also lead to happy interactions with audience members who are sometimes impressed by the number of instruments being played by one person (Jessie), and questioning from people who can’t quite believe one musician is playing all those woodwinds (Emma).

I didn’t ask anyone what their “main” instrument is. That can mean many things. Is it your first? Or is it what you’re spending the most time practicing? Or the one you’re taking most often to the gig? I asked everyone for their first because that doesn’t change. The rest of it is constantly changing.

I am sometimes asked which is my favorite. For me that is unanswerable. Each one expresses a different part of my personality and I would not want to part with any of them. I suppose my favorite is the one I am currently playing — and that is also constantly changing.

So the next time you see and hear a woodwind doubler, think about how much practice has gone into a lifetime of learning more than one instrument — and what each of those instruments means to the musician you’re watching and listening to.

Martha Hyde is a longtime Local 802 member and Broadway woodwind doubler. She’s a member of Local 802’s Executive Board and serves on the Local 802 musicians’ health fund, the AFM Pension Fund, and the DECIBAL steering committee. 

SOURCES FOR THIS ARTICLE