Today is fifteen years since I started the blog. Thanks for all the comments, social media shares, emails, donations, and other connections. I hope you will continue to read and engage.
A few weeks ago I put out a request for questions from my readers. Here are a couple of posts with some answers:
Half-holes on the Fingering Diagram Builder aren’t a new feature, but I get lots of questions about how to do them, so here are some instructions I can refer people to.
If you’re making diagrams for flute, (French) clarinet, (German) bassoon, or recorder, and you don’t need anything especially complicated, you can open the “Keywork details” menu and click the option to turn “Half-holes” to “Upper,” “Lower,” or “Off.” For flute the options are a little different, to allow for half-holing in four directions.
Once your desired half-holes are enabled, you can hover your mouse over the keys (or look for the grey outlines on a touchscreen device) to see them. Click/tap on the desired half of the hole to “close” it, or again to re-open it. The “open” ones will not appear in your downloaded image.
| clarinet | bassoon | recorder | |
| upper |  |
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| lower |  |
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| flute | |
| Lengthwise upper |  |
| Lengthwise lower |  |
| Widthwise proximal |  |
| Widthwise distal |  |
If you need to turn on only certain half-holes, or mix upper with lower, etc., you will have to roll up your sleeves a bit more. Open the “Keywork details” menu and look for the top-level “Half-holes” heading. Organized beneath this you will see all the available half-holes, organized into groups like “Lower half holes.” I suggest adjusting the settings as follows:
That will make the desired half-holes visible when you “close” them, and invisible otherwise.
In the following example, I have set the clarinet’s left hand first finger upper hole and the left hand third finger lower hole as described.
If you anticipate using a certain half-hole configuration frequently, you can save it for future use. Set the half-holes (and other keywork) up how you want it, open the “Keywork details” menu, and look near the bottom of it for the “Custom key sets” submenu. Open that, type a name for your current set of keys, and click/tap “Add.”
Enjoy!
Here are some of the things that went on here at your favorite woodwind blog during the past year, and some things to look for in 2017.
Thanks for reading, commenting, sharing, and otherwise connecting in 2016. See you next year!
I just got back from a fantastic week at the International Double Reed Society annual conference at Brigham Young University. The IDRS folks really know how to put on a great event, better than any of the various other instrumental organizations whose conferences I’ve attended. They seem to draw lots of high-caliber talent to perform and lecture, and everything is always impeccably organized. And being both an oboist and a bassoonist, IDRS is a nice two-for-one deal for me. Read More “IDRS 2008 Conference report”
I just finished updating my list of woodwind doublers on the web, which as of right now lists just over 200 valid websites (201, to be precise).
I am happy to include on the list woodwind doublers of any skill level, as long as their website gives some indication of their inclination toward multiple woodwind instruments.
Check out the list, and click the email link if you want your site included or know of one I’ve missed.
Here are videos from my recent faculty recital at Delta State University. I performed the Saint-Saëns oboe, bassoon, and clarinet sonatas, plus the flute Romance and “The Swan” from The Carnival of the Animals as a baritone saxophone transcription.
“The Swan” is originally for cello, so I assumed it might work well as a baritone saxophone transcription. It turns out it really fits quite comfortably in the alto saxophone’s range, but I decided to take it on as a baritone piece anyway as a personal challenge.
Bret Pimentel, woodwinds
Kumiko Shimizu, piano
Department of Music
Delta State University College of Arts and Sciences
Recital Hall, Bologna Performing Arts Center
Monday, February 15, 2010
7:30 PM
Sonate for oboe and piano
Paul Hindemith (1895-1963)
Sonata for clarinet and piano
Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990)
Rhapsody for bassoon
Willson Osborne (1906-1979)
Concerto for alto saxophone
Pierre Max Dubois (1930-1995)
