Saxophone, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and world and electronic woodwinds
The Random Note Picker web app got a facelift and a few new features. I use this mostly for quizzing my students on their scales.
Two features added by popular request: a timer function, so you can generate new groups of random notes every few seconds hands-free, and (optional) double-flats/double-sharps.
Check it out, and send me your bug reports, feature requests, or other thoughts and comments.
Mid- to late-20th-century music written for woodwind doublers, such as musical theater “books,” largely solidified around three main types of doubling specialists. The most common of these is the clarinet/saxophone/flute player. Less common but still widely used are the oboist with passable single reed skills, and the “low reeds” bassoon/bass clarinet/baritone saxophone player. In the … Read more
Practicing without a plan rarely produces the desired results.
Hand-picked high-quality woodwind-related blog posts from around the web, May 2017 edition.
I’m pleased to announce the release of my book, Woodwind Basics: Core concepts for playing and teaching flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and saxophone. I wrote it with woodwind methods/techniques classes in mind, but I think it also works well as a reference for private teachers at any level, or for woodwind players, especially woodwind doublers.
Lots of woodwind doubler horror stories have to do with quick switches to flute or piccolo. (“Twenty minutes of hard-driving R&B tenor saxophone, then two bars to switch to flute and enter pianissimo in the third octave…”) Doublers in this situation often beat themselves up about perceived deficiencies in their flute embouchures, and commit to even … Read more
Jonathan Tunick is a show business legend: a composer/arranger/orchestrator/musical director for stage and screen; a collaborator with Stephen Sondheim, Placido Domingo, Barbra Streisand, and too many more to mention; and a winner of many awards. Needless to say, I was thrilled to hear from Mr. Tunick a few years ago, when he contributed some information … Read more
Hand-picked high-quality woodwind-related blog posts from around the web, April 2017 edition.
It’s deceptively difficult to make a correct entrance after a rest. Here’s what I recommend for maximum confidence and security: