Saxophone, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and world and electronic woodwinds
Just a few to share this month:
In the practice room, I’m smart, organized, and focused. But sometimes the smart guy from the practice room fails to show up, and instead a much dumber version of me ends up on the stage.
Here are some phrases that have been useful to me when somebody calls about a gig. When dealing with other professionals (or working through the musicians’ union) mostly these aren’t necessary—the caller should give the needed info unprompted. But many of the gigs in my rural area are one-offs for weddings or school or business events, … Read more
A few months ago I wrote a review of So You Want to Play in Shows…?, a book of woodwind doubling etudes by Paul Saunders. Recently Paul sent me Double Troubles, a new collection of etudes. Like So You Want, the new volume includes a piano part plus access to downloadable backing tracks. As I said in the previous review: This is … Read more
Here are some highlights from the blog in 2017. The top new posts in terms of traffic and social sharing were: Review: D’Addario Select Jazz tenor saxophone mouthpieces Please lose the music binder Quick flute switches and embouchure problems for woodwind doublers Advice on graduate performance study and university teaching careers Buy intonation, not tone … Read more
Hand-picked high-quality woodwind-related blog posts from around the web, December 2017 edition.
It’s scholarship audition season again, which means I get to meet and listen to some very nervous high school seniors (and community college sophomores).
My university is a small regional one, so our audition process probably isn’t as intense as some of the big name-brand music schools. If you’re preparing for an audition, you should definitely check in with that school to see what they expect, but here’s what I usually hear auditionees play, and what I’m thinking while I listen.
Flutist Tammy Evans Yonce is an active recitalist, writer, clinician, speaker, contributor to various conferences and professional organizations, and professor at South Dakota State University (plus: she is my former classmate). Her thoughtful blog is a favorite of mine and my regular readers will recall that I have featured her posts on a number of occasions. … Read more
Hand-picked high-quality woodwind-related blog posts from around the web, November 2017 edition.
I made a small modification to my Hercules instrument stands so I could clip them onto my instrument cases for easier carrying. The stands all have this same yellow sort of teddy-bear-head piece on the bottom: Remove the nut from the center of the bear’s forehead: I bought a handful of these. They are almost … Read more