Articles in category: Found on the web (48 found)

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Farewell: Himie Voxman

Himie Voxman (1912-2011)

Influential music educator and longtime University of Iowa faculty member Himie Voxman has passed away at the age of 99. If you are a woodwind player, you have almost certainly used, at some point in your musical studies, something written or edited by Professor Voxman.

Check out the Iowa City Press-Citizen’s tribute for a nice overview of his life and career.

Still more woodwind blogs you should be reading

In what is turning out to be an approximately biannual roundup, I present the third installment of woodwind-related blogs that I’m enjoying, and you will too. If you’re late to the party, check out episodes 1 and 2. (In each case I picked at least one excellent blog that shortly thereafter stopped publishing new content, so take a look at today’s picks and see if you can guess which is getting the “Bret Pimentel, woodwinds” curse. Bwahahahaha.)

Tammy Evans Yonce

Tammy is a former classmate of mine (go ‘Dawgs), and a flutist and educator to keep an eye on. Her blog, just a few months old, is outstandingly good: important topics, carefully thought out, and clearly and elegantly written. Tammy writes about flute performance and pedagogy, with a special interest in making practice time really effective. A must-read.

Also check out Tammy on Twitter, and at her other new blog, the collaborative Music Collective. Read more →

Sam Newsome on not doubling

Sam Newsome asks the question, “Can You Double And Still Be A Great Soprano Saxophonist?”

As I see it, if you play the soprano using a set-up that’s comparable to a much larger horn, you’re not dealing with the soprano on it’s own terms. It’s being treated as an extension of a much larger horn, and not as a separate entity.

Go check it out.

Historical woodwind recordings on the National Jukebox

Photo, alexruthmann

The United States Library of Congress’s National Jukebox project makes American recordings from the days before microphones available for streaming online. This is a fantastic resource for recordings—classical, jazz, and more—from the turn of the 20th century until the mid-1920′s.

These recordings are not in the public domain, like you might think; Sony, the owner of the recordings, has given the Library of Congress special permission to stream them.

Naturally, I’ve been searching the National Jukebox for woodwind players, and here are a few of my favorite discoveries. Some of the gems include oddities like the Heckelphone and bass saxophone, and there are a few woodwind doublers in there, too. Take note of how woodwind playing, like recording technology, has changed over the past century!

To kick things off, here’s a nice tour of the woodwind section of the Victor Orchestra in 1912:

Read more →

Follow the woodwind doublers list on Twitter

For a while now I’ve maintained lists of woodwind doublers’ websites and blogs, but, as it turns out, a number of fine woodwind doublers also have entertaining and/or informative Twitter feeds. Starting today, you can check them out on this site, or head on over to Twitter to “follow.”

If you’re a woodwind doubler (of any skill level) and would like to be included, send me an email or a Tweet.

If you’re looking for a good list to follow that focuses on a specific instrument, you might try one of these:

I haven’t been able to find a great oboe list. Let me know if you start one (looking at you, @pattyoboe).

Twitter lists, if you’re unfamiliar, are put together by individual Twitter users, and are a good way to keep track of a group without cluttering up your personal Twitter timeline.

Woodwind doublers on Twitter