Favorite blog posts, November 2024
- oboealli (Alli Gessner): Top 3 tips for doubling English horn
- International Clarinet Association (Julianne Kirk Doyle): Pedagogy Corner: Fostering New Traditions in Programming
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Favorite blog posts, October 2025
- oboealli (Alli Gessner): Oboe 101: How to play a good tuning A
- earspasm – read. (Michael Lowenstern, bass clarinet): Do Gold Posts Make Any Difference?
- Clarinets by Copeland (Jonathan Copeland): What are the best clarinet pads?
- The Flute Examiner (Therese Wacker): Embouchure and it’s Placement on the Piccolo
See the woodwind blogs I’m following, and suggest others!
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Favorite blog posts, August 2021
- EG-REEDS (Éric González, oboe): The importance of previous postural and respiratory work at the beginning of the study of woodwind instruments.
- Rachel Taylor Geier (flute): The Myth of the Magic Formula
- Bill Plake Music (saxophone): For This “Career Ending Condition”, There Is Hope
- The Flute Examiner (Kelly Wilson): Do You See What I See?
- Jenny Maclay (clarinet): 10 Ways to Create More Musical Phrases
See the woodwind blogs I’m following, and suggest others!
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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!
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Favorite blog posts, June 2015
Interesting things from the woodwind blogosphere in June:
- Saxophonist Sam Newsome discusses slow practice and using clarinet reeds on the soprano saxophone.
- Oboist Jennet Ingle shares some ideas about how mindset affects aspects of performance, specifically intonation and phrase shaping.
- Saxophonist Bob Reynolds gives advice on professionalism.
- Patty Mitchell examines the mythology of the oboe and college scholarships.
- Kristopher King looks at some members of the bassoon family and why you might want them in your arsenal.
All of my favorite blog authors from June are ones I’ve featured previously, some many times. That’s fine by me but I’m always anxious to check out ones I haven’t been reading already. If you think I might be overlooking some, please get in touch! I’m in the process of updating my blogroll, and happy to add new woodwind-related blogs.
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Favorite blog posts, December 2014
Some highlights from the woodwind blogosphere in December:
- Cate Hummel discusses the qualities of a good beginner-level flute. Good advice for those willing to do their homework; not a glib list of models to buy (which would just go out of date quickly anyway).
- Bassoonist Cayla Bellamy finds inspiration to attempt the impossible.
- Saxophonist Bill Plake prefers a good teacher (or good self-teaching) over a rigid “method.”
- Doubler “ericdano” shares a list of favorite blogs (sort of jazz-saxophone-oriented) from the past year. Thanks for the mention!
- The always-insightful Barry Stees shares a tip for diagnosing and fixing (cheaply and easily!) a common bassoon defect.
- Sherman Friedland discusses the first three notes of the Debussy clarinet rhapsody (and more).
- “Komuso Lady” from A Shakuhachi Journey muses on intonation.
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Favorite blog posts, July 2015
- Patty Mitchell shares insights on oboe finger placement.
- Betsy Sturdevant gives a behind-the-scenes look at playing principal bassoon on Tchaikovsky’s 5th symphony and Brahms’s 1st piano concerto.
- Sam Sadigursky explains why saxophonists should play the flute. (I would add to his list of reasons that the flute is a lovely instrument and playing it is a rewarding pursuit on its own merits.)
- Jennifer Cluff gives good down-to-earth advice for beginning flutists.
- The new The Clarinet: Online blog, the digital companion to the International Clarinet Association’s print journal, did some coverage of this year’s ClarinetFest® in Madrid, Spain. Here is day one.
- Christopher Jones shares detailed information about clarinet left hand position.
- The Adventures in Woodwindland blog examines the old question about “how many” instruments doublers play [update: link dead]. (Here’s my take from the early days of this blog.)
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