Favorite blog posts, September 2014

Saxophone hand position

There are a number of advantages to careful hand positioning, and on a well-designed instrument it’s also really easy: just put the tips of the three middle fingers of each hand on the corresponding key touchpieces.

Internet forum field guide: the all-too-frequently asked questions

Welcome to the third installment of the Internet Forum Field Guide, a look at the wildlife that inhabits woodwind-related online message boards and forums. (Be sure to check out the first and second episodes as well.) Today we look at common questions that are asked on the message boards. The diverse and varied answers as … Read more

Basic tuplet math

A young music student with some basic competencies might be comfortable with these kinds of rhythms: But these are a little trickier to pull off well: Divisions of the pulse into twos and threes is simple enough conceptually, but in most cases we really learn those kinds of rhythms better by ear—we just learn what … Read more