Doublers in the news: Hunter Diamond

I always think that the worst blog posts are the ones where people blog about their blogs. So brace yourself. Sorry. I try not to indulge in this kind of thing too often.

Anyway, today is the fifth anniversary of my first, rather inauspicious blog post. (You might notice that I do have posts dated older than that; those are older writings, many from college courses, that I retroactively turned into blog posts.) Five years isn’t that long by most measures, but it seems that, in the sea of abandoned blogs out there, five years and still active isn’t something to take for granted.

I was working on a graduate degree in multiple woodwinds performance at the time this blog was born, and had read and reread everything I could find online about woodwind doubling, plus as many print sources as I could get my hands on. I will admit that the conceit did cross my mind that one day my website might be a primary web destination for woodwind doublers, and I flatter myself that that is now the case. Woodwind doublers form a fairly small club, but still the growth has been gratifying:

What excites me even more than the traffic is the engagement. I’ve been pleased and flattered to hear from many, many of you—everyone from young, aspiring doublers to old friends to colleagues in academia to musicians who are some of my real heroes. Thanks for your emails, blog comments, content contributions, donations, and other shows of support.

A few other things I’m really proud of: Read More “Fifth anniversary”

I am pleased to announce that this fall I will be joining the faculty of the Delta State University Department of Music. DSU is located in Cleveland, Mississippi, in the beautiful and historic Mississippi Delta region.

I had the privilege of visiting the DSU campus last month, and fell in love with the charming campus, the outstanding music faculty, the state-of-the-art performance and recording facilities, and, of course, the bright and friendly students, for whom I got to present a performance and masterclass.

I’m looking forward to getting started at Delta State, where I will teach all of the reed instruments (oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and saxophone), woodwind methods, and other music courses. Classes start August 17th! Read More “Go Fightin’ Okra”

Here are some of the things that went on here at your favorite woodwind blog during the past year, and some things to look for in 2017.

• My biggest “hits” in terms of site visits and social media response were Please stop telling you clarinet students to tighten their embouchures, A few thoughts on the new Roland Aerophone AE-10, Stuff bad music teachers say, Solo/chamber stage etiquette for first-year music majors, and Practicing and the two-minute rule.
• Some oldies that were popular during 2016: my posts about college music education majors and applied instrument study, jazz chord symbols, and automatic sharps, flats, and naturals for Microsoft Word.
• As always, some of the posts that felt most important to me didn’t get as much attention. Some that I wish would have sparked more discussion or been shared more widely were the articulation-related posts “Starting” notes with the tongue and Tonguing and language sounds, the tone-related posts The role of tone exercises and Achieving an ideal tone, and Things you need to cover in woodwind methods class.
• The Fingering Diagram Builder didn’t get any new features or improvements this year, but I have a new version in progress with some improvements I hope you will like. No promises at this point about release date. These days I’m seeing FDB diagrams pop up in virtually every issue of some of the major woodwind organization journals, plus I’m hearing at least a few times a month from people working on books, articles, dissertations, and other things. I love to hear from anybody who is finding the FDB useful (and of course I expect people working on for-profit projects to touch base). I did write a blog post about using created diagrams: Creating fingering charts with diagrams from the Fingering Diagram Builder.
• The big list of woodwind doubling in musicals continues to be a cool way for me to connect with woodwind players from all over the world. The list grows larger and more accurate on nearly a weekly basis. Thanks to all contributors, and I hope to hear from you some more in 2017.
• I shared a few professional achievements and activities, like some multiple-woodwinds recital videos, a woodwind doubling presentation, a visit to the IDRS conference and a presentation there, and my interview on the Clarineat podcast.
• I did another 12 months’ worth of my favorite posts from other blogs. I welcome tips on other woodwind-related blogs I should be following, including yours.
• It has long been an ambition of mine for the things I write on this blog to crystalize into a book on woodwind playing. I’m pleased to report that I’m seeing the light at the end of the tunnel on that project, and am 85% on track to release it in the first half of 2017. It’s something that I am hoping will be useful for college woodwind methods classes, for school band directors and private teachers, and for woodwind players (especially doublers). If you’re interested, consider joining this mailing list so I can let you know when it’s available. Or make sure you’re following my blog posts on Twitter and/or Facebook for that eventual announcement, plus of course all my latest blog posts.

Thanks for reading, commenting, sharing, and otherwise connecting in 2016. See you next year!