- Jolene Harju lists some favorite flute recordings.
- Woodwind player Larry Weintraub shares information on careers in military bands.
- Bassoonist Anna Norris is writing a series of posts on playing John Williams’s Five Sacred Trees.
- Flutist Roderick Seed explores issues surrounding cheek puffing and chin pressure.
- Clarinetist James Zimmermann discusses the relationship between the clarinet and bassoon cadenzas in Scheherezade.
Month: March 2018
Grading student practicing
When I was a first-year undergraduate music major and not yet fully convinced of the importance of practicing several hours per day, a nudge/threat scared me into changing my ways. But the sudden “motivation” to apply myself a little better soon started paying off. It’s exciting to see my students making that same transition.
Avoiding clarinet undertones: published techniques
Clarinet “undertones” or “grunts” are the unpleasant low sounds that happen usually at the beginning of tongued upper-clarion-register notes (about written G to C, above the staff). My sense is that there isn’t a lot of consensus or clarity among clarinetists about how exactly to prevent this.
A minimal Little-Jake electric bassoon setup
Be sure to check out my recent interview with Trent Jacobs, the inventor of the Little-Jake bassoon/woodwind pickup. During the past year I got myself a Little-Jake to experiment with some electrified bassoon playing. I didn’t know much about using electronics in this way, and it took some research and trial-and-error to figure out exactly … Read more