Favorite blog posts, July 2024

Here’s what’s worth reading from the woodwind blogs in January:

• Woodwind doubler Steve Moffett suggests taking a break now and then.
• Oboist Patty Mitchell reminds us that playing with a pianist means needing to know your own part and his or hers.
• Helen Bledsoe weighs in on the debate about how register changes are made on the flute. I don’t entirely agree with her, but she makes some interesting points, as do the flutists in the videos she shares. (For more on this, see my previous post and accompanying PDF cataloging some of the, er, hot air surrounding this topic.)
• Clarinetist Adam Berkowitz takes practicing to the next level.
• Bassoonist Christin Schillinger shares some ideas about ongoing development as a musician, plus some metronome games.
• Woodwind doubler Josh Johnson does a review of the Ridenour Lyrique bass clarinet. I’m sharing this one because I think it’s a well-written and thoughtful review, and because I think high-quality instruments made from alternative materials are a welcome next wave in woodwind manufacture. As a side note, I recently purchased one of these basses for my university clarinet studio and have spent some time playing it, and my experience with the instrument basically matches Josh’s.
• Oboist Cooper Wright seeks to raise standards in his teaching studio.
• Woodwind doubler Michael Grant concludes(?) a 12-part marathon of long posts describing his experience playing in the pit orchestra for a local musical theater production [update: link dead].

Just when I think I’ve got every single woodwind-related blog in my feed reader, I stumble onto a dozen more. If you’re writing good stuff and think you might have escaped my notice, let me know!