- Patty Mitchell shares insights on oboe finger placement.
- Betsy Sturdevant gives a behind-the-scenes look at playing principal bassoon on Tchaikovsky’s 5th symphony and Brahms’s 1st piano concerto.
- Sam Sadigursky explains why saxophonists should play the flute. (I would add to his list of reasons that the flute is a lovely instrument and playing it is a rewarding pursuit on its own merits.)
- Jennifer Cluff gives good down-to-earth advice for beginning flutists.
- The new The Clarinet: Online blog, the digital companion to the International Clarinet Association’s print journal, did some coverage of this year’s ClarinetFest® in Madrid, Spain. Here is day one.
- Christopher Jones shares detailed information about clarinet left hand position.
- The Adventures in Woodwindland blog examines the old question about “how many” instruments doublers play [update: link dead]. (Here’s my take from the early days of this blog.)
Month: July 2015
Woodwind doubling and flute problems
Many doublers start out as clarinetists or saxophonists, and many doublers would say that the flute is particularly challenging as a double. These phenomena are related. Let’s look at some of the issues woodwind doublers have with the flute. I’ll offer a sort of glib, inadequate tip or two for each situation, but the real … Read more
Pushing in and pulling out
A simplistic view of “tuning” is that “pulling out” makes the instrument play a little flatter and “pushing in” makes it play a little sharper. One of the problems is that not all notes are affected equally.
Five things to do before starting a new school year as a college music major
Most colleges and universities will be starting classes again within the next month or two. If you are a music student, now might be a good time to make some preparations that will set you up for success in the new school year. Get your instrument ready. After a year of hard playing in ensembles, … Read more