I’m pleased to announce that I have accepted a new faculty position, teaching clarinet and saxophone at Mississippi State University. It has been a pleasure to work with the clarinet and saxophone studios there on a part-time basis during the past year, and I’m looking forward to hitting the ground running, full-time, in August.
The timing is good, as I’ve just finished my final year at Delta State University due to the closure of its music department (and others) as a cost-saving measure. My heart goes out to those who are still looking for a soft landing.
And if you are looking for a great place to study music, please do reach out! Hail State!
A more poignant aspect of this year’s conference was the conspicuous absence of Dr. Kenneth Fischer, my former saxophone teacher and the intended conference host. After Dr. Fischer’s very untimely passing a few months ago, many among the NASA leadership made extra efforts to ensure that the conference went on as planned. Surely not the least among these was Dr. Stephen Fischer, Kenneth Fischer’s son, my old classmate, and a brilliant saxophonist in his own right. I noted that the conference program read:
Hosts
Dr. Kenneth Fischer
Dr. Stephen Fischer
I was in attendance Thursday through Saturday (the conference began on Wednesday). It’s such a big conference that lots of things are going on at once, and there’s no way to get to everything. But here are a few events that I caught that were highlights for me: Read More “NASA 2010 Biennial Conference report”
I have released version 0.7 of the Fingering Diagram Builder. Mostly it supports some new instruments. Let me know if you run into bugs or have suggestions or feature requests.
Here’s what’s new:
I fixed a bug that was preventing saving custom presets. Not sure if anybody noticed.
Viennese oboe diagrams.
German clarinet diagrams, in Oehler and Albert variants.
French bassoon diagrams, in Jancourt and modern Buffet variants.
The (Conservatory) oboe diagram now (optionally) has a thumb low B key.
The (German/Heckel) bassoon diagram now (optionally) has an offset C-sharp trill (hat tip to Trent Jacobs).
European woodwindy goodness. L-R: Viennese oboe, Oehler clarinet, Buffet bassoon
Note that I do not play or own a Viennese oboe, an Oehler- or Albert-system clarinet, or a French bassoon, nor am I suitably fluent in European languages to 100% understand the related pedagogical literature, so I could really use some assistance on making sure these new diagrams look right and things are named properly. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have suggestions/improvements.
As always, I’m glad to hear from folks who are using the FDB, and to see the cool things you are making (websites, blog posts, books, posters, handouts…). The FDB generates thousands of images every month, which I think is pretty cool.
More results from the Great Woodwind Doubler Census of 2011. Enjoy!
Education and training
Q: Which of these have been part of your education on woodwind instruments?
Out of 187 total respondents, every one answered this question. The complete wording of the possible responses was as follows:
school band/orchestra program (high school or younger)
private lessons outside of school
summer camps, workshops, or other formal programs outside of school
university band/orchestra program
university/conservatory bachelors degree with concentration(s) in multiple woodwinds
university/conservatory bachelors degree with single-instrument or other music concentration
university/conservatory masters degree with concentration(s) in multiple woodwinds
university/conservatory masters degree with single-instrument or other music concentration
university/conservatory doctoral degree with concentration(s) in multiple woodwinds
university/conservatory doctoral degree with single-instrument or other music concentration
other university/conservatory music degree or certification
self-taught on one or more instruments
The biggest surprise to me was the number claiming bachelors degrees in multiple woodwinds. I assume that many of these must be double majors or other oddities, since there are very few true bachelors degree programs in multiple woodwinds available.
This year was my first time attending the National Flute Association‘s annual convention, held this year in Charlotte, North Carolina.
I’ve been to conferences of all the other major woodwind organizations in the US (IDRS, ICA, NASA), and here are some things that I think the NFA did exceptionally well:
Organization and planning. From what I could tell, nearly everything ran smoothly and according to plan.
Engaging younger players. There were a number of competitions and masterclasses for high school and college students, and a Saturday “Youth Day” for flutists aged 8-13.
Engaging non-professional flutists. My sense is that the NFA has a stronger amateur contingent than the other organizations, and that they are working to ensure its future.
Appealing to broad musical interests. In my opinion, the NFA is doing a better job than anyone, including NASA, of integrating jazz into their convention in a serious way, and is integrating historical instruments at least as well as the IDRS. Ethnic flutes also got some good representation. Thursday night’s big feature concert was Baroque flute, and Friday’s was world music. Saturday’s concert was more standard concerto fare, but with a strong jazz representation. Kudos to the NFA for acknowledging that there is life beyond conservatory repertoire lists, and to its members for seeming to genuinely embrace and enjoy the varied offerings.
Like the other major woodwind conferences, the NFA’s is packed with so many events that it’s impossible to get to everything you want to attend. Here are a few personal favorites among the things I saw and heard (in no particular order): Read More “Report: National Flute Association Convention 2011”
Here I am at the far left saying something brilliant and witty. Tereasa Payne, Shelley Collins, David Weiss, and Jim Walker look on in wonder and delight.
At this year’s NFA conference, I had the very cool opportunity to be part of a discussion panel about woodwind doubling. The panel was organized by Florida flutist and doubler Tereasa Payne, and moderated by my Delta State colleague Shelley Collins. The panel consisted of me, Tereasa, Hollywood studio great Jim Walker, and David Weiss, who is the ethnic flutes soloist for Broadway’s The Lion King. It was an honor to be included in a group of such stature!
We spoke to a surprisingly large and enthusiastic crowd. At one point Shelley asked for a show of hands by the doublers in the audience, and we were blown away by all the hands that shot up. The audience asked great questions, and many stayed afterward to talk some more. I was delighted to meet several of you personally who read this blog or who have communicated with me by email or on Twitter.
In advance of the panel, Tereasa had prepared some questions for the panelists to think over. I took some notes to organize my thoughts, and I’m providing them here in an edited version. This isn’t a transcript of the live panel, but it should give you an idea of what was talked about, and of my thoughts about some of those topics. Read More “NFA 2011: Woodwind doublers roundtable discussion”
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I had a blast at the 2016 International Double Reed Society conference, hosted by Columbus State University in Columbus, Georgia. As I have said before, the IDRS puts on an outstanding conference, maybe my favorite of the various woodwind conferences I attend. Very well organized, with lots of outstanding talent, varied events, and presences from all the top makers and dealers of double reed instruments and gear.
A few personal highlights:
Excellent evening concerts, some with chamber music and some with orchestra. Too many great performances to do justice to them all, but a couple that stood out in my mind were the premiere of Alan Elkins’s double oboe concerto with Elizabeth Koch Tiscione and Kathryn Greenbank, and Cary Ebli‘s performance of his own edition of the Donizetti Concertino for English horn.
Paul Hanson sound check, with appropriate reaction from conference volunteer
Some very interesting lectures and presentations. A few favorites were Mark Eubanks‘s on bassoon reed tuning, Jamie Sampson‘s on her methodical research into bassoon multiphonics, and Janet Grice‘s on adapting Brazilian choros to double reed instruments.
I gave a presentation on teaching multiple instruments. You can check out my handout/lecture notes if you like.
I got to meet or reconnect with lots of cool people, including some who, to my delight and surprise, introduced themselves as “fans” of this blog or of my other online stuff. I’m always happy to connect with nice people who find my stuff useful or interesting in some way.
MSU’s music department offers several degrees but has a focus on undergraduate music education degrees. No multiple woodwinds track is currently offered, which I think is the right choice for the department’s current direction. In my opinion, most students interested in multiple woodwinds should study them in a performance-oriented graduate program. But I hope to be part of significant growth in MSU’s music student population and degree offerings, so perhaps a multiple woodwinds degree could be in the future!
Congratulations!
Congrats, Bret! Glad you’ll still be in the Magnolia State:)
Congratulations Bret!
Congratulations!
Do you have also woodwind doubling stundents or ist this programm for single reeds only?
MSU’s music department offers several degrees but has a focus on undergraduate music education degrees. No multiple woodwinds track is currently offered, which I think is the right choice for the department’s current direction. In my opinion, most students interested in multiple woodwinds should study them in a performance-oriented graduate program. But I hope to be part of significant growth in MSU’s music student population and degree offerings, so perhaps a multiple woodwinds degree could be in the future!
I am so happy you have landed at a major school of the South. And narrowing your focus to the single reeds is not a bad thing.