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My other, other passion...

I started playing instruments when I was just a little kid. We had a small Hammond organ in the apartment that I would mess around with and when I was old enough, my folks got me an Artley Bb Clarinet -- which I still have and it still plays great! That was about 1975. In high school, I decided I wanted to switch to bass clarinet for the marching band but they said you couldn't hear bass clarinets from the field so it was either stick with clarinet or shift to saxophone. Saxophone has become my second love. I consider myself, primarily, a bari player but I have all four voices and even a C-Melody tenor in my collection. I often joke that if it has blowholes on it, I'll figure it out.

In a Sentimental Mood
00:00 / 02:16

Baritone Sax and Piano

Weeping Willow
00:00 / 03:48

Sax Quartet (SATB)

Buddy Bolden
00:00 / 03:04

Roland Aerophone (AE-10) - Trumpet & Tuba

Prelude in Em
00:00 / 02:14

Sax Octet (SSAATTBB)

Deep River
00:00 / 02:59

Sax Quartet (AATB)

Holst F Suite
00:00 / 05:28

Roland Aerophone (AE-10) for all winds

Roland FP-7 for percussion

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I have known, and performed, with Bill for over 30 years. He is a phenomenal musician who plays a wide variety of instruments. Besides his excellent reading skills, I feel his strongest musical assets are his stylistic interpretation and understanding of the nuances of whatever he is performing. This is especially true in his improvisational approach in Jazz and Rock. 

Frank Jansen

Professional Musician, Composer, and Educator

Just how many instruments do you play?

I get asked this question a lot -- so, here's the definitive list of instruments I have played in public -- and that does not include classroom performances as part of my studies in Music Education.

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Yes, really, I played all of these in some kind of performance somewhere with a band, orchestra, something... Really.

So -- the current count is 46 if you count each individual voice, which I do because the embouchure is very different for each wind instrument and the feel can be quite different from one kind of string to another or the action different from one kind of keyboard to another or the key in which an instrument is fingered (recorders or pennywhistles, for example). 48 if you count the tuba and trombone moments in marching band.

  • Clarinet

    • Eb Sopranino Clarinet​​

    • Bb Soprano Clarinet

    • Eb Alto Clarinet

    • Bb Bass Clarinet

    • Eb Contrabass Clarinet

    • BBb Contrabass Clarinet

  • Saxophone​

    • Bb Soprano Saxophone

    • Eb Alto Saxophone

    • C Melody Tenor Saxophone

    • Bb Tenor Saxophone

    • Eb Baritone Saxophone​

    • Bb Bass Saxophone

  • Flute​

    • C Concert Flute​

    • G Alto Flute​​

  • Recorder​

    • F Sopranino Recorder​

    • C Soprano Recorder

    • F Alto Recorder

    • ​C Tenor Recorder​

    • F Bass Recorder

  • Bassoon​

  • Roland Aerophone

  • Pennywhistle

    • C Whistle​

    • ​D Whistle​

    • ​Eb Whistle​

  • Keyboards

    • Piano​

    • ​Organ​

    • Synthesizers​​

  • Guitar​
    • Classical / jazz nylon​
    • Steel-string acoustic
    • Electric guitar
  • Bass​
    • Electric bass guitar​
    • Upright bass
    • Ukulele Bass
  • Ukulele​

  • Percussion​

    • Snare Drum​

    • Timpani

    • Tri-Toms

    • Marching Bass Drum

    • Tar

    • Bódhran

    • Bongos

    • Djembe

    • Congas

    • Auxiliary Percussion

      • Shakers​

      • Maracas

      • Tambourine

 

Brass -- Not really -- I "marched" tuba and trombone in a couple of parades when my bari was in the shop in high school. I couldn't just pretend, so I had someone show me just enough to get by with a little bass line help. I do NOT consider myself a brass player by any stretch -- but that was "in public."

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As part of my Music Ed degree, we covered all of the orchestral strings (violin, viola, and cello) but I never took those out in public anywhere. I also learned more about trombone and tuba along with French horn and trumpet during my brass studies -- but never did a public performance on them. I played oboe for the woodwinds method class but the world has been spared any record of that incident. We own a piccolo, but I've never needed to perform on it. I've also had the joy of messing around with a bass flute at trade shows and in music stores, but never performed on one.

 

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