Favorite blog posts, August 2026

Required reading:

• Christa Garvey reports on this year’s John Mack Oboe camp, and shares some masterclass notes. Her post about the fallacy of “doing more with dynamics” is really excellent, too. Christa wrote several other top-quality posts this month, but I’m going to just mention those two to avoid embarrassing everybody with my gushing.
• In other conference reports, David Davani covers ClarinetFest in a five-part series, and Robin Tropper tries out oboes at the IDRS conference in a series of extremely detailed posts.
• Saxophone repair genius Matt Stohrer takes a refreshingly rational look at the effect that a saxophone’s finish does or doesn’t have on its tone. (Obligatory: my own post on this topic.)
• In a perhaps-related vein, The Life of the Flute Player reviews a flute and a piccolo constructed of non-traditional materials. I’m including this post not because I have opinions on these specific products, but because more and more plastic woodwinds are popping up, and I think it’s a trend worth watching.
• The always-insightful Bill Plake, saxophonist and certified Alexander Technique teacher, looks at practicing in terms of adding new ideas and subtracting old habits.
• Saxophonist Sam Newsome recommends a thoughtful approach to using or not using a metronome when practicing.
• Saxophonist Bob Hartig conquers less-familiar keys so that they become natural and intuitive.
• Bassoonist Barry Stees recommends continuing your musical education after graduation.
• Jennet Ingle doesn’t mind playing second oboe.
• Doubler Steve Moffett has an epiphany about flute articulation and the “ta” syllable.
• Adam at A Classical Journey explores career options for musicians, and discovers that sometimes plan “A” isn’t the one you wanted after all [update: link dead].
• Clarinetist Sherman Friedland wrote an incisive post on the basics of crossing the break, which has since disappeared from his site. So instead of linking, I’ll just recommend that you subscribe to his RSS feed so you can read his posts before he deletes them.