Articles on topic: video (18 found), page 2
Lawrie Bloom, solo bass clarinetist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, starts this video talking about his reed break-in process, but spends some time toward the end (start at about 2:45 to cut to the chase) talking about his strategy for doubling clarinet and bass clarinet in a symphonic setting.
Mr. Bloom recommends using slightly softer reeds than usual to compensate for the fact that the reeds will be somewhat drier than optimal, and using a mouthpiece cap whenever possible. Read more
It’s hard to argue with free lessons from some of the finest players around. Here’s some of my favorite woodwind YouTubeage:
Tom Ridenour is, if you ask me, an honest-to-goodness genius: a master teacher, a clarinet maker and mouthpiece maker, an author, and an inventor. His videos are entertaining and very enlightening. Some deal with playing technique, and some deal with mouthpieces, reeds, or instruments. Here’s one to get you started, but check out the whole collection here.
I’ve been really enjoying these videos of John Miller. Mr. Miller (not to be confused with the eminent bassoonist) does much of the contracting of the musicians who play in Broadway shows. In these videos, he is addressing a group of his fellow bass players, but everything he has to say is highly applicable to woodwind players and anyone else who wants to make money playing their instrument(s).
John Miller, bassist and NYC contractor
He talks about what kind of musicians he likes to hire, what is expected of a professional musician on the New York City scene, and lots more. Read more
Jennifer Cluff posted this video on her excellent blog today:
I think Ms. Cluff’s commentary is right on the mark.
But I’ll admit the thing that jumped out to me was the brief conversation between Jean-Pierre Rampal and Dick Cavett, at about 5:10. Rampal takes a stand on the flutist/flautist thing, which is a big pet peeve of mine.
I like to use shoe tying in my teaching, as an example of what regular practicing—even just a few minutes every day—can and should accomplish.
Playing a woodwind instrument involves a number of complex physical actions: coordinated finger movements, a delicately balanced embouchure, well-timed breathing, and more. And musicians mostly need to execute these physical elements without a lot of thought, so that they can mentally focus on things like expression and communication. The way to do this is to practice the physical stuff regularly and consistently, so that it happens automatically.
Like most people, I think, as a small child I found shoe tying to be a complicated proposition. It’s a sophisticated task for little fingers. But once I got the technique worked out, I just did it every day, day in and day out, until I didn’t need to think about it anymore.
Or so I thought.
Imagine my dismay when I discovered, just this morning, that I have been doing it wrong all my life. Read more
If you’re interested in ethnic woodwinds, you ought to check out virtuoso flutist Pedro Eustache. I like that on his website he refers to himself as a “multidirectional flute soloist.”
Los Angeles woodwind doubler Sal Lozano makes some basic points about flute-clarinet-saxophone doubling. This YouTube freebie appears to be a teaser for the video lessons you can purchase at Stars Teach Music, which has a surprisingly impressive roster of video woodwind teachers (mostly saxophonists).
I enjoyed this little clip by the esteemed Mr. Lozano, but I don’t think I would have paid the $4.97 for it at the commercial website.
I’ve been practicing the Telemann recorder suite this summer, and I had been meaning to write a recorder-related post. I thought I might mention this video of Masato Honda, a Japanese woodwind doubler and fusion/smooth jazz artist, but Gandalfe at The Bis Key Chronicles beat me to the punch today with this post featuring another video, of Mr. Honda’s really nice saxophone playing. Read more