Adjustment when doubling

[sirisobhakya]

In the upcoming Friday, I will have to double on bass trombone and German tenorhorn (baritone), the latter in a quintet (i.e. no cracked note allowed). I normally switch back and forth between those instruments for fun. And although the difference in mouthpiece size is noticeable, my adjustment time is not that long; a few long notes and lip slurs across the range and I am good to go. However, the adjustment time is still there, and it is quite certain I cannot have it in the concert.

How do you doublers minimize adjustment time? Or how do you create the adjustment time on stage?

[Matt K]

Practice switching between them. This is aided immeasurably by me by having only two rim sizes that I regularly practice on - XT104N and LB114. If you'lll be switching back and forth throughout the gig... practice it that way. If you won't be, figure out the order tha tyou'll be playing them in and practice in that order. E.g. if the set is 30 minutes on bass and then 30 minutes on baritone... do 60 minute practice sessions; 30 on the bass and 30 on the baritone after the bass. If you're used to using more rims... hard to say. I consolidate so I don't have to spend as much time switching between a bunch of them. In a pinch... if I"ve been mostly practicing one and then I get called for something else and haven't been playing it much, I even have two crossover pieces that I can use. So I did that a few months ago... had a euph gig after I had beene xclusively doing bass for about 2 weeks. No problem, LB114 rim on my normal Euph depth piece. It was a little darker than normal but I had the endurance for it no probme.

[PaulTdot]

Yeah, recreate the challenge you're going to have on stage in your practice room, until it's familiar.

[Russjones92]

For me when I doubled/tripled consistently I would make sure my mouthpieces were at least a similar rim shape (sharp or
Flat, fat or thin etc) that helped a lot although switching from bass to tuba to small tenor to large tenor there’s only so much you can do lol

[brtnats]

I want to add to this thread, even though the OP’s deadline has passed.

If you want to double, you have to practice switching the double as a basic part of your routine. I play small tenor and bass every single day, and my a habit to warm up on both whenever possible. I also cross-train on them (low register on tenor, high register on bass) to help with focus and airflow on both instruments. I practice switching as part of my daily routine, to the point where I can go from one to the other with minimal interruption.

I also have a large-bore tenor and a trumpet that occasionally come into the mix. Same thing with those: I add them into the rotation, and make sure I’m practicing the switch as consistently as possible.

[jph]

Re: On Mouthpiece Selection. There's the 1) use as similar a rim inner diameter as practicable between the two horns (which generally translates into using smaller bass pieces) school, and then there's the 2) use what slots well regardless of size school. I, sample size of one, use the second school approach. The smaller 4g-size slots well for me on tenor, while the 1.25g slots the best on bass. The cup depth does not seem to alter my choices. I think Tim Smith, Buffalo Phil, did a blog piece several years ago that listed what a few of the classical doublers use. As suspected, the listing included folks from both schools.

[imsevimse]

As others have said practice the horns and the mouthpieces regularly to become fluent on any horn/mouthpiece. This is definitely something you get better at with practice. I started to work at this in the late 80-ies and I remember it did not work right away. The first horns I doubled was a King 3B with a Bach 12C and a Conn 88H with a Denis Wick 6BL. It did not really work that well, and I had to spend a lot of time on a horn to get used to it before any gig. I thought the Denis Wick was hard to play but managed better to play the 12C. The next horn I added was my Bach 39 alto with a Bach 12E mouthpiece. The 12C and 12E has the same rim so that worked better. In the beginning of the 90-ies I added a bass trombone with a Yamaha 58 (I think). I made play-along-tape with 15 minutes of easy music that I had transposed to three different keys. The tape was 45 minutes and started with 15 minutes of alto followed with 15 minutes of tenor and 15 minutes of bass. I played that tape every day for about a year. After a while I did not need the sheet music. After this year it began to work. Somewhere I lost the tape and just replaced the tunes with other studies. I always have the different horns ready on stands. Now after 30 years of doubling I have no problem at all to change. I can go from alto to bass and back it doesn't matter.

I never think of adjustments as they now come natural to me.

/Tom

[sirisobhakya]

Thank you very much for all the recommendations!

I forgot to post the update. The concert was successful. In the end I didn't get to use the tenor horn but my bass trombone with large shank 48. No cracked note, fortunately!