Check it out: Dutch classical saxophone virtuoso Arno Bornkamp has made five of his albums available for free download from his website. There’s a real wealth of repertoire here, and beautifully played. Did I mention free?
I perform my final doctoral recital on Monday. It is my third recital on my “major” instruments (flute, oboe, and saxophone); I also performed one “minor” recital (clarinet and bassoon). The major/minor instruments are somewhat arbitrary, since I’m trying to play them all equally well. Read More “Recital 11/3/2008”
Attention: woodwind doublers!
The time has come to stand up and be counted. The linked survey is for anyone who considers themselves to be a woodwind doubler of any ability level at all.
All the questions are optional, so you can skip anything you don’t feel like answering, but thorough responses are much appreciated. The survey will remain open for an as-yet-undetermined amount of time. When there are enough responses to be interesting, I’ll post some analysis here.
The more responses, the better, so please share this with your woodwind doubling buddies. You can use the “Share” buttons (to the left, if you’re reading on a large screen) to pass this along to people via email, Facebook, Twitter, and others, or use this short link as you see fit: http://wp.me/pfZdF-TZ
Update: The survey is now closed. Thanks for your participation!
Hi folks,
Thanks for checking out the new blog. Stay tuned for woodwind-doubling-related stuff!
Best,
Bret Pimentel
Rico seems to be continuing their push to get their reeds into players’ cases for an audition. I wrote a couple of years ago about their “Make the Switch” promotion, in which I scored some free Rico Jazz Select tenor reeds.
With their current promotion, through the Woodwind and the Brasswind, you order a box of your favorite non-Rico clarinet or alto saxophone reeds, and get a free box of the comparable Rico offering. The deal is good through March 7 or while supplies last, so I suggest putting in your monthly (weekly?) reed order today and scoring a free box.
I’m more than happy to try out some new reeds for free, and won’t hesitate to switch if I find them better than what I’m currently using. (*wink*)
Below are a few audio clips from my recent faculty woodwinds recital at Delta State University.
At this point it’s gotten hard for me to imagine doing a full recital on a single instrument. I enjoy getting to play several, and audiences seem to enjoy the variety. And since this was my first faculty recital at my new gig, I wanted each of my students to hear me perform something from the core repertoire of their instrument.
I would like, ultimately, to be able to put together a full recital of woodwind pieces without making any special concessions for the fact that I am playing multiple instruments. In this case I did play it a little on the safe side: I chose a program that was not overwhelmingly technical, and I programmed something short of an hour’s worth of music so that I could take a few extra minutes between pieces.
One note-to-self for next time: I experienced a few onstage symptoms of not being thoroughly warmed up on each instrument (water in oboe toneholes, low note response issues on bassoon). I purposefully avoided playing too much on the day of the recital, but I think I can find a better balance the next time around. Read More “New sound clips: Faculty woodwinds recital, Feb. 15, 2010”
Bret Pimentel, woodwinds
Kumiko Shimizu, piano
Faculty Recital
Delta State University Department of Music
Recital Hall, Bologna Performing Arts Center
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
7:30 PM
Syrinx (La flûte de Pan)
Claude Debussy (1862 – 1918)
Rapsodie
Claude Debussy
ed. Rousseau
Petite Pièce
Claude Debussy
Two pieces
Claude Debussy
arr. Jolles/Lucarelli
from Children’s Corner
Claude Debussy
arr. Prorvich
Première Rapsodie
Claude Debussy Read More “Faculty woodwinds recital, Aug. 31, 2010”
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Wow, excellent stuff. But some of the links don’t work…….:-(
Sorry to hear they aren’t working for you—all worked fine for me.
Seeing as I own some of these CD’s and have seen Arno and Ivo perform several of these pieces live I wholeheartedly agree: excellent stuff. I only miss their CD “Devil’s Rag” among the offerings. ;-)
Yeah, I had problems with Periple (off of Reed my Mind) and the one I really wanted to hear, 09 Prélude, Cadence et Finale for saxophone & piano, which I did for a recital back in the day……
Oh well.