- Oboist Jennifer Stucki offers some suggestions and resources for keeping a reed log.
- Clarinetist Diana Haskell shares ideas on helping students avoid injury.
- Flutist Roderick Seed explains a comprehensive method for memorizing music.
- Anne Norman reports on the 2018 World Shakuhachi Festival.
- Oboist Nuria Cabezas demonstrates hand and finger stretches.
Bassoon jaw movement: survey of published opinions
I was under the impression that there were advocates of jaw movement in bassoon articulation. A skimming of some pedagogical materials at hand seems to debunk this.
Hi, come on in, you’re right on time for your lesson.
I have lots on things on my list for you today: we should double-check your rhythms on that etude, review those melodic minor scales that were giving you trouble last week, and discuss some finer points of vibrato. But something about your sunken eyes when I met you at the door, the way you slouched … Read more
Clarifying woodwind doubling goals
Should you be a woodwind doubler? I think it’s worth considering exactly what you mean.
Favorite blog posts, September 2018
Hand-picked high-quality woodwind-related blog posts from around the web, September 2018 edition.
Recital videos, August 2018
Here are some videos from my recent Delta State University faculty recital. I enjoyed tackling Brett Wery’s challenging Sonata for multiple woodwinds (flute, clarinet, alto saxophone) and piano, plus some little oboe pieces and the André Previn bassoon sonata. As always, the goal was to challenge myself, so, as always, the performance had some hiccups. But … Read more
Recording: Claude T. Smith Suite with Delta State Wind Ensemble
A few months ago I got to perform Claude T. Smith’s Suite for Solo Flute, Clarinet, and Alto Saxophone with the Delta State University Wind Ensemble, conducted by Dr. Erik Richards. It’s a fun showpiece for a woodwind doubler with band, which I’ve had a few opportunities to perform over the last 10 years. The … Read more
Music practice and technical debt
In a perfect world I would always tackle an issue head-on. In reality sometimes a looming performance means plastering over the problem and promising myself I’ll fix it later, at a greater price.
Favorite blog posts, August 2018
Hand-picked high-quality woodwind-related blog posts from around the web, August 2018 edition.
The bassoon’s special(?) staccato
I have a vague memory from childhood, well before my bassoon-playing days, of learning that the bassoon had some special quality to its staccato notes. (From an educational tv show? a children’s book on musical instruments? I can’t recall.) My impression was that this sound was different in some way than staccato produced on other … Read more