Favorite blog posts, September 2021
- The Flute Examiner (Kelly Wilson): A New Practice Strategy to Try
- Jennet Ingle | Oboist: Glorified Long Tones
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Favorite blog posts, April 2017
- Bassoonist Anna Norris suggests showing up for auditions.
- Michael Shults switches between jazz and classical saxophone.
- David Freeman transcribes recorder parts for Stairway to Heaven (but plays them on an electric keyboard…).
- Michael Lowenstern addresses a bass clarinet reed question.
- Flutist Vanessa Breault Mulvey discusses squeezing’s detrimental effect on flute playing [update: link dead].
- Saxophonist Bill Plake discusses tone imagination.
- Flutist Jolene Harju shares ideas for getting the most out of your lessons. I also liked her “Fundamentals Workout Planner.”
- Jennet Ingle learns something about disappointing performances.
- Saxophonist Jay Brandford shares an Eric Dolphy anecdote about dedication to detail in practicing.
- Matt Stohrer shares his procedure for “setting up” a new saxophone. This is sort of a commercial post, but instructive about what a new instrument might need to play to its best potential.
- Flutist Jennifer Cluff explains anchor tonguing.
Favorite blog posts, September 2015
- Bassoonist William Short explains his method for evaluating reeds honestly.
- Cleonide, an interesting new blog on musical acoustics, offers some insight on response issues in the saxophone’s low register. (Somewhat technical/mathematical.)
- Ed Joffe pays tribute to Al Block, a distinguished woodwind doubler who passed away recently.
- Cate Hummel discusses a timeline for teaching flute dynamics. (I agree wholeheartedly about waiting to teach dynamics, for all woodwinds, but respectfully disagree about how dynamic changes are produced.) In another post, she discusses teaching students how to practice.
- Flutist Rena Urso-Trapani shares her experience with a recent orchestral audition, and offers some tips.
- Clarinetist Jenny Maclay offers some ways to improve your playing from outside the practice room.
- Jennet Ingle teaches a young oboist a new fingering. (Great minds think alike.)
Favorite blog posts, October 2019
- Everything Saxophone (Ben Britton): Kenny Garrett & Jazz Articulation
- The Flute View (Rena Urso): Understanding the Connection Between Your Arms and Tongue Can Improve Your Articulation
- Clarinet Divas (Diana Haskell): Female Clarinetists In U.S. Part Two – College Professors/Teachers
- ProneOboe (Jennet Ingle): Discouraging Words
- Practice Room Revelations – Jolene Madewell (flute): How I Practice Vibrato: 6 Self-Awareness Questions [Video]
- Jess Voigt Page (saxophone): Making money as a private music lesson teacher on public holidays!
- Jennifer Cluff (flute): Presto Young Person’s fingerings
- MATTHEW EMANUELSON – Blog (bassoon): 10 Tips for Audition Day
- The Flute Examiner (Keith Hanlon): Modern Piccolo Mechanisms
- Recorder Jen (Jennifer Mackerras): Choosing a new recorder – wood or plastic?
Favorite blog posts, May 2024
- International Clarinet Association (Chris Mothersole): EFX Clarinet: Performing with Guitar Effect Pedals
- Joan Martí-Frasquier (saxophone): Natural or Synthetic Reeds?
- Rachel Taylor Geier (flute): Practice Makes Practical – Top 10 Tips to Encourage Student Practice
Favorite blog posts, May 2026
Just one to share this month:
- International Clarinet Association (Shawn Copeland and Jackie McIlwain): Pedagogy Corner — A Clarinetist on Her Head: Redefining Support
Favorite blog posts, March 2023
- International Clarinet Association (Elsa Ludewig-Verdehr and Jean Raines): Reprints from the Early Years: Music for Clarinet by Women
- HeaneyMusings – Joshua Heaney (saxophone): More than a Rough Draft: Debussy’s Rapsodie Pour Orchestre et Saxophone
- The Babel Flute (Lea Pearson): Myth-Conceptions about Breathing
- Nadina Mackie (bassoon): Talent Drills for Orchestral Excerpts
- Julie A. Linder (clarinet): Clarinet basics: pinkies
- The Flute View (Lindsey McChord): Making a Headjoint – A Fusion of Science and Art
- oboealli (Alli Gessner): Do you know the 3 elements of fast articulation?