Favorite blog posts, January 2025

I am pleased once again to share some excellent woodwind-related blog posts from the past month, and especially to point you toward some bloggers appearing here for the first time. Enjoy!

• Jenny Maclay’s 12 Days of Clarinet Christmas is a nice (non-denominational) list of potential practice material.
• Betsy Sturdevant shares some ideas on practicing double-tonguing on the bassoon, particularly as applied to Beethoven 4.
• David Pope shares some realities of being a university saxophone professor.
• Saxophonist Donna Schwartz explains her process for learning a large number of tunes in a short time for a rock gig.
• Saxophone technician Matt Stohrer is doing incredibly valuable work with his “Open Source Saxophone Project.”
• Bassoonist Christina Feigel explains the concept of “tilt” in musical performance, and gives some ideas for overcoming it. (Also, congratulations to Christina on completing her DMA degree!)
• Flutist Rachel Taylor Geier wrote a couple of excellent posts, about 3rd-octave “trick” (overtone) fingerings, and about tendinitis. (Be sure to consult a medical professional for any concerns about injuries.)
• Mostly-flutist Hannah Haefele explains why she is dropping a secondary instrument to focus on the flute.
• Eric from Midwest Musical Imports demonstrates oboe crack repair in a brief interesting video.
• Bassoonist Jessi Vandagriff gives advice on business practices for private teachers.