Favorite blog posts, April 2021
- Hodge Products, Inc.: Latest News (Rebecca Watson): BASSOON WIRE GAUGE: DOES IT MAKE A DIFFERENCE?
- Jenny Maclay (clarinet): The Science of Squeaking – What Your Squeaks are Trying to Tell You
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Favorite blog posts, February 2018
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- Flutist Nicole Riner assigns her students repertoire that reinforces skill development (a re-“print” from the 2012 A Flutist’s Handbook: Pedagogy Anthology Vol. 2).
- Oboist Stephen Caplan reconsiders concentration in performance.
- Bassoonist Barry Stees shares a simple but revealing way to test reeds.
- Flutist Jessica Dunnavant discusses her complicated relationship with university teaching.
- David Pierce considers a pedagogical order for the Vivaldi bassoon concertos (a re-“print” from a 1987 article in the Journal of the International Double Reed Society) [update: link dead].
- Oboist Jennet Ingle figures out how to give a good tuning A every time.
- Saxophonist Helen Kahlke avoids germs on the gig.
Favorite blog posts, May 2013
Here are some high-quality woodwind-related blog posts from May, in no particular order.
- Mark Catoe and Tim Gordon discuss music education, careers, and, of course, woodwind doubling: Interview with Tim Gordon
- Flutist Meerenai Shim opens up about success, failure, pursuing your dream, and dealing with the practicalities: To Each Her Own
- Jennet Ingle is always one of my favorites. I already responded to her post on sound quality and individuality, but I also liked this one about the realities of freelancing: A Freelance Week
- David Erato learns a difficult lesson about swabs, and offers to let others learn from his experience: Don’t do this. Ever.
- Helen Kahlke patrols the internet for weird saxophone stuff, and discovers this interesting approach to the octave vent problem: Frankensax’s Offspring Gets Its Patent
- Saxophonist Shannon Kennedy deals with a hazard of being a musician in the internet age: There’s Honest and Then There’s Hurtful
- Christa Garvey suggests listening to more music, and provides a nice jumping-off point for developing your oboe ears: Living a life WITH music—a guide to listening for the aspiring oboist
- Flutist Jolene Harju has an epiphany about making her best sound in a natural, easy way: Open Sound: Why I Love Middle C!
- John Bogenschutz of Tone Deaf Comics apparently buys his bassoons from Ikea: “Bundlövstx”
Enjoy! If you have some favorites that I missed, please share them in the comments section below.
Favorite blog posts, November 2014
Here’s good stuff from the woodwind blogs in November. The flutists and bassoonists were especially busy this month.
- Barry Stees offers some suggestions on cleaning up bassoon articulation.
- Tammy Evans Yonce gives a brief review/introduction of the cool “Glissando Headjoint.”
- Meerenai Shim offers some do-it-yourself ergonomic flute customizations.
- Betsy Sturdevant learns something about bassoon reeds from Elvis. (Sort of.)
- Cate Hummel makes a suggestion on what to do with flute embouchure “corners.”
- The Flute Journal blog is rerunning some of Chris Vadala’s woodwind doubling columns from Saxophone Journal. This one’s title says “extended” flute techniques, but it’s really more of a basic flute articulation lesson for doublers.
- Trent Jacobs shares a proposal for amplifying the bassoon while maintaining its natural tone.
- Clarinetist Sherman Friedland shares some thoughts on testing instruments.
- Oboist Jennet Ingle finds a silver lining in a bad gig.
- The Powell Flutes Flute Builder blog gives us a peek at the engraving process.
Favorite blog posts, February 2026
- oboealli (Alli Gessner): How to get rid of extra air
- Jenny Maclay (clarinet): How to sing while playing clarinet
- earspasm – read. (Michael Lowenstern, bass clarinet): Famous Jazz Clarinet Greats…and Their Clarinets
Favorite blog posts, February 2015
I’m running a little behind, but here are some of my favorite woodwind blog posts from last month:
- Jean-Francois Charles provides a roundup of some interesting music using saxophone with electronics in various ways.
- Bassoonist William Short (of the Metropolitan Opera) focuses on fundamentals, but just for a few minutes.
- Saxophonist Sam Newsome discusses mouthpiece obsession.
- Cate Hummel shares a few thoughts on the flute’s low register.
- Patty Mitchell deals with oboe reeds and attitudes.
- Lynne Krayer-Luke of Flying Flutistas discusses inclusive attention in practicing and performance [update: link dead].
Favorite blog posts, November 2020
Just one favorite to share this month:
- Hodge Products, Inc. (Rebecca Watson): Bassoon Wire Gauge: Does It Make a Difference?