Favorite blog posts, February 2014

Here are some of my picks for some excellent woodwind-related blog posts from last month.

• Bass clarinetist Michael Lowenstern gives excellent advice on some topics (such as “biting”) that I think are not often taught well.
• Mark Catoe gives a workshop on teaching beginning clarinetists to cross the break. (Those are some mighty handsome fingering diagrams.)
• Chris Dunning takes us on a historical video tour of the saxophone in jazz [update: link dead].
• Clarinetist Adam Berkowitz manages the logistical details of a performance. Also: two habits worth having.
• Jennet Ingle bemoans the oboe’s caprices. “It’s not that playing the oboe is physically more difficult than any other instrument, it’s that the oboe doesn’t want you to get it.”
• Bassoonist Betsy Sturdevant chases the elusive high F.
• Oboist Patty Mitchell explains what it means to “know” a piece of music.
• Trent Jacobs gives a primer on amplifiers for woodwind players interested in going electric.
• Over at Music Collective, flutist Jessica Dunnavant discovers life beyond the university-teaching-job search.
• Timothy Owen offers some observations and advice on playing multiple sizes of saxophone.
• Clarinetist Heather Roche gives composers some insights on glissandi and air sounds, with extensive audio clips.
• Vanessa Breault Mulvey of the “Flying Flutistas” avoids “muscling up” on the flute. Also on the trapeze. Really [update: link dead].
• Cooper Wright gives his oboe a good cleaning.
• Woodwind player Ted Nash tells the story of how he nearly got adopted by Quincy Jones. “Part II to follow,” he promises.
• Meri Dolevski-Lewis gives some good common-sense tips to those working with a pianist for the first time.

Enjoy!