Favorite blog posts, January 2025
- At the Woodwindfixer’s Bench (Jeff Dening): Why do pads stick?
- Jenny Maclay (clarinet): 25 Clarinet repertoire hidden gems to perform in 2025
Similar Posts
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!
Favorite blog posts, July 2021
- Magic Reed (Kathy Sheinhouse): 10 Strategies To Make A Serviceable Oboe Reed In 20-30 Minutes. [update: dead link]
- The Flute View: On Vibrato by Laura Jellicoe
- Hodge Products, Inc.: Latest News (Ann Hodge): Student to Professional Oboe Reeds: “Which oboe reed should I buy?” [Inclusion here doesn’t constitute an endorsement of any of the products listed or this particular retailer, but I thought the methodology was interesting.]
- Jenny Maclay (clarinet): Quick Fix Friday: Breathe from the corners
Favorite blog posts, March 2015
Fine woodwind bloggery from the past month:
- Mark Catoe shares a nicely-organized sequence for teaching beginning saxophonists the major scales.
- Cate Hummel provides a checklist for improving third-octave playing on the flute.
- Oboist Jennet Ingle ponders upon the process of changing playing habits, and works in some important reed concepts, too.
- Bassoonist Christin Schillinger gives some down-to-earth advice on dealing with performance anxiety.
- Trent Jacobs shares some bassoon “extended low register” (multiphonic) fingerings.
That wraps up the first quarter of 2015 with no clarinet posts featured yet. Clarinet bloggers, let me know you’re out there. Also, all of this month’s featured bloggers are repeats, some several times over. If you have a woodwind blog that you think I may not be following yet, send me a link!
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, April 2015
Enjoy:
- Oboist Patty Mitchell wrote so many good posts this month that I just couldn’t decide, so here’s one about getting over reed stress, one about not making excuses, and one about half-hole technique.
- Saxophonist Bill Plake discusses a problem with teaching and learning music.
- Clarinetist Sandy Herrera dares to set the metronome aside, sometimes.
- Barry Stees suggests a do-it-yourself fix for the problematic low D on bassoon.
- Clarinetist Rachel Yoder describes a system for quantifying practicing progress.
- William Short shares some lesser-known bassoon high note fingerings (with very attractive diagrams).
- “Vintage Clarinet Doctor” Jeremy Soule explains the difference between a re-pad and an overhaul.
Favorite blog posts, May 2017
- Flutist Terri Sánchez blogged like crazy this month, with many downloadable exercises and practice ideas. A few I liked included this one-minute warmup, these harmonics exercises, these 100 ideas for getting “unstuck,” and this advice on creating your own warmups.
- Heather Roche shares some clarinet works by female composers. (Check the comments section for more.)
- Flutist Jolene Harju does an interesting video experiment with expressive body movements.
- Clarinetist Jenny Maclay suggests practicing recovery from mistakes.
- Ed Joffe shares his experience with developing a multiple woodwinds graduate degree program.
- Flutist Andrée Martin discusses priority scheduling for practicing and for life.
- Barry Stees offers some tips and tricks for playing low, soft orchestral bassoon parts.
- Flutist Vanessa Breault Mulvey shares ideas on being observant of your own playing [update: link dead].
- Saxophonist Sam Newsome recommends slow progress. He also shares some interesting experiments in “prepared” soprano saxophone.
- Cate Hummel warns against some small but problematic flute habits.
One Comment
Leave a Reply Cancel reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Just looked at that list of woodwind blogs you follow. Wow that is a huge list. I have been in wordpress for awhile but did not know all of these were out there.I will definitely come back through here again for a closer look.Dont go away and thanx for having that there for me to explore and by the way i like the four reeds diagram at the top of your page. I have referred your web site to a freind