If you’re learning an instrument with the intention of joining a band, it’s likely that at some point you’ll need to do some sight-reading. I find sight-reading harder on some instruments than others and wanted to look into whether that was personal preference or whether some were actually thought to be more difficult than others.
There isn’t really one woodwind instrument that can be singled out as the easiest to sight-read on, as different people are better at different instruments. However, the type of music played on the different instruments can affect this, for example, flute will often have very difficult quick passages, whereas saxophone music is often a bit easier.
The instrument each person finds the easiest to sight-read on is usually the one they learnt first. This is the one they’re most comfortable with, so it makes sense that they would find it the easiest to play music they’re not familiar with. However, there are certain things about certain instruments that can make them easier or harder in terms of sight-reading. I’ll talk through the different instruments and what things make them easier or harder in terms of sight-reading.
How hard is sight-reading on the flute?
The flute is widely accepted to be one of the easier instruments to start learning. At the beginning, once you have learnt the correct technique for getting a sound out of the instrument, progress is usually quite quick for a while. The fingering for the notes is mostly repeated over different octaves, until you get to the highest octave. The size of the instrument means that the keys fall under the fingers very easily and fast playing can be achieved with less work than on a lot of instruments.
The difficulty with flute sight-reading is often in the music you’ll be given. As a flautist, if you play in an ensemble, you’re likely to get a lot of quick passages with lots of notes. Although these can fall under the fingers quite nicely, it can be difficult for your brain to process the notes and transfer to your fingers quick enough. It can also be tricky reading the high notes quickly, particularly when there are several leger lines.
How hard is sight-reading on the clarinet?
The clarinet is also usually seen as one of the easier instruments for a beginner to learn. The single reed is quite easy to get a decent tone from and it’s not too big so the keys fall under the fingers quite easily. As a smaller instrument, it does has some fast passages, but they’re not usually quite a quick or as high as the flute line, although the clarinet can also have a lot of leger lines below the stave. There’s also the difficult of deciding which of the alternative fingerings you need to use over the break.
Probably the most difficult thing about sight-reading on the clarinet for me is the difference in fingering between octaves. Because the clarinet overblows a twelfth, the fingering of a low A, for example, is different to a middle A, and to a high A. This means that there is a lot more to think about when going between octaves – you can’t just change your embouchure, you also have to change the fingering of the note, and this can make it a bit more difficult.
How hard is sight-reading on the sax?
Sight-reading on the sax, is in my opinion, the easiest. Not everyone will agree with this, because not everyone will find the sax as easy as another woodwind instrument, most likely one that they started playing first. However, I have a few reasons why, for me, this is the one that sticks out as the easiest to play at sight, particularly when playing in any kind of large ensemble.
Firstly, the sax was designed for ease of playing. The position of the keys is exactly so that the notes fall under the fingers easily. The sax overblows at the octave, so until you get right up to the top notes, you only have one fingering to think about for a certain pitch at any octave. It’s also a single reed instrument, so is pretty responsive. The sax isn’t generally one of the instruments given lots of fast passages in ensembles either, and it doesn’t often play notes with a lot of leger lines
Something that makes some saxes a bit more difficult however, is the key signature. An alto sax is in Eb, which means that three sharps are added to whatever the key signature is in C. While this can remove flats instead, it can be the case in a lot of music that the sax players will end up playing in a key signature with an enormous number of sharps! The other thing is that the bigger the sax, the harder it is to get the notes to sound in time and it’s also harder to get them to fall under the fingers, so it can get a bit clumsy.
How hard is sight-reading on double reed instruments?
Sight-reading on double reed instrument can be tricky in different ways to the others. A really important thing that has to be considered is breathing. Playing double reeds requires a huge amount of air pressure, and you’ll often find yourself really out of breath. Planning on the spot exactly where you’re going to breath in a new piece can be difficult and if it’s not done properly, you might not be able to get to the end of a phrase at all.
On the other hand, double reeds aren’t often given passages that are particularly quick, so time needed to process the notes is often a bit less. It will often be long lyrical passages, particularly for the oboe. Like the clarinet, there are some alternative fingerings on double reed instruments, which means you need to have looked through and planned the best option for this in advance. If that’s not done, you might have some awkward little finger sliding to do which makes things much more difficult.
Summary
To sum up this article, it’s not a clear answer which woodwind instrument is the easiest to sight-read on. They all have things that make them difficult and they all have things which make them easier. I have always found sax to be the easiest because it has a single reed, it overblows on the octave and doesn’t have a lot of leger lines to deal with. Often, in ensembles, the sax won’t have too difficult a part to play either, which can be really helpful, especially when compared to the quick passages a flautist might be given.