- 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?
Experiments with electric woodwinds
I’ve been having fun with woodwinds enhanced with pickups or microphones. (If you’re interested in natively-electronic instruments like wind controllers, I’ve written about those elsewhere.) I still have a lot to learn about working with electronics. But here are a few observations in case anyone finds them helpful. Which instrument(s) to use? I find lower-pitched … Read more
Switching between clarinets: tone production
Switching between any two instruments, even two closely-related ones, is a challenging prospect. You must practice for many hours to do it well. But often people switching between clarinets (such as between B-flat clarinet and bass clarinet) are making larger changes than necessary. The fundamental concepts in clarinet tone production are breath support, voicing, and … Read more
Favorite blog posts, February 2023
Hand-picked high-quality woodwind-related blog posts from around the web, February 2023 edition.
Clarinet glissando
There are few more coveted clarinet techniques than the smooth glissando, as heard in the famous opening to Rhapsody in Blue. But the technique isn’t intuitive, and lots of questions persist about how to do it. (Incidentally: the Rhapsody in Blue score doesn’t call for a smooth portamento-type effect, but a scale with discrete notes. … Read more
Favorite blog posts, January 2023
Hand-picked high-quality woodwind-related blog posts from around the web, January 2023 edition.
Out-of-tune accents
Young woodwind players often have trouble playing elegant, well-controlled accents. Accented notes are too often thumpy and out of tune. The most common manifestations are accented notes that are too flat, or that scoop up to pitch. This is usually a side effect of the mistaken idea that accented notes should be tongued “harder.” The … Read more
How to fix your clarinet section
Teaching a beginning or intermediate clarinet section? Here are some things to consider:
Favorite blog posts, December 2022
Hand-picked high-quality woodwind-related blog posts from around the web, December 2022 edition.
Review: ClariMate digital clarinet mute by Buffet-Crampon
Bottom line: the ClariMate is an interesting gadget with potential for various uses, but it’s a little rough around the edges. Consider buying one now as a tech toy if you’re an early-adopter type, or wait for a new-and-improved iteration if you need something that just works. I recently got my hands on the “ClariMate,” … Read more