Web reviews

A few woodwind blogs you should be reading

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Photo, alcomm

If you’re a woodwind player and avid blog reader, you’re likely already following some prominent and popular bloggers like oboist Patty Mitchell (oboeinsight), flutist Jennifer Cluff, and clarinetists David Thomas (The Buzzing Reed) and Marion Harrington.

I read and enjoy all of these, but I would also like to suggest a few others that are particular favorites of mine. These are ones that I think have a somewhat smaller readership, although there’s not a good way to know that without asking nosy questions. So I could be wrong, but I’m guessing that some of these may be new to you. Check them out, and let us know in the comments what else you’re reading.

Also, read to the bottom for a couple of tips on reading blogs like you know what you’re doing.

In no particular order…

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Pedro Eustache: Suite Concertante for World Woodwinds and Orchestra

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Ethnic woodwind guru and composer Pedro Eustache (“ayoo-STAH-chay”) has posted videos on YouTube of most of his recent work Suite Concertante for World Woodwinds and Orchestra, featuring himself as soloist playing a staggering 21 instruments over the course of 12 movements (45 minutes). The instruments are mostly ethnic flutes and reeds, though a few modern … Read more

Vinny Golia review

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Clarinetist David Thomas quoted from the article below on his excellent blog The Buzzing Reed earlier today, and I thought it was worth passing along. There is some fun description of amazing woodwind doubler Vinny Golia doing his thing. Spring Reverb: Golia/Turetzy; Dana Reason Trio by Christian Hertzog, sandiego.com The first set was devoted to … Read more

David Summer: Flute/trumpet doubling

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I enjoyed reading some interesting thoughts from multi-instrumentalist and music educator David Summer, who doubles quite effectively on flute and trumpet (and a few other instruments). I’m quoting a few highlights below, but definitely read the whole thing here. I have seen no ill effects on either the trumpet embouchure or flute embouchure from playing both the … Read more

The Usual Suspects – Los Angeles studio musicians

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If you’re not familiar with Dr. Gio Washington-Wright’s web site, The Usual Suspects, you really ought to cancel all your plans for the next two or three days and thoroughly check it out. Dr. Washington-Wright, a reed player himself, profiles many/most/all? of the top studio musicians on the L. A. scene, with tons of bios, … Read more

Free woodwind sheet music on the IMSLP

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IMSLP logoThe Internet Music Score Library Project is an online library of public-domain sheet music. Most of the available music is in PDF format and can be freely downloaded. The files are uploaded by users, mostly scanned from published sheet music that falls into the public domain. This means mostly compositions that are old enough to be public domain, in published editions that are also old enough to be public domain.

This is a fantastic resource for finding older editions of woodwind solo pieces, chamber music, and orchestral parts.

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Videos: John Miller, Broadway music contractor

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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
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.

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More woodwind blogs

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I’ve added a number of new woodwind-related blogs to my blogroll (to your right). All are blogs that I read regularly.

If you don’t already use a feed reader, I suggest you check out Google Reader for keeping track of all your favorite blogs in one place.

The new ones as of this update are:

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Pedro Eustache: ethnic woodwinds

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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.”

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Recommended: Jennifer Cluff’s flute blog

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If you aren’t reading Jennifer Cluff’s blog, I highly recommend surfing on over and spending a few hours: www.jennifercluff.com/blog/

Ms. Cluff’s blog gets my vote for being the most useful woodwind-related blog currently on the web, with long and in-depth posts about flute playing, including, sometimes, answers to readers’ questions. There is really excellent stuff here for beginners and very advanced flutists alike. I just finished reading her latest post, on excess movement in flute playing. Ms. Cluff’s posts are sporadic but always worthwhile, so subscribe to the RSS feed if you’re cool like that.

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