Introducing ReedCast™: scientific woodwind reed quality forecasting

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I’m pleased to announce a new tool available on this site. Woodwind players know that the way a reed plays is subject to factors like elevation, temperature, humidity, and atmospheric pressure. There’s never a guarantee that a reed will play the same way today as it did yesterday. While break-in methods or storage systems may help mitigate some of this, being forearmed with as much information as possible is key to consistent reed performance.

I have spent the past few months compiling and studying as much research as I could gather about environmental factors’ effects on woodwind reeds, and developing an algorithm to process this information into reed quality “forecasts.” It’s not perfect, of course, but so far I have found it to do a surprisingly satisfactory job.

So, I built a web application, ReedCast™, around it. It is rough around the edges but pretty simple to use: you select your instrument (oboe/EH, clarinet, bassoon, saxophone) and your location. ReedCast™ uses your location to retrieve elevation and current weather conditions. Then you press the “Go!” button, and ReedCast™ does its thing.

Go try it out! If you are interested, you can also check out the science behind the forecasting algorithm (warning: technical, with math).

Favorite blog posts, March 2015

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Hand-picked high-quality woodwind-related blog posts from around the web, March 2015 edition.

Handout: woodwind voicing

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I have written about voicing here before. I find it to be one of the most neglected topics in woodwind teaching, and when it is taught, is is often taught without a lot of clarity. This is a shame because voicing is crucial to good tone production, affecting response, tone, and intonation.

Three stages of practicing

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As my musical standards, maturity, and commitment to practice time improved, it became clear that beginning-to-end practicing was not the best use of my time.

Favorite blog posts, February 2015

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Hand-picked high-quality woodwind-related blog posts from around the web, February 2015 edition.

Fingering Diagram Builder, version 0.6

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I have just released version 0.6 of the Fingering Diagram Builder. It’s almost a maintenance release, that mostly just attempts to fix a few problems and add a little polish. Your suggestions and bug reports are, as always, welcome (as are your donations, social media pings, links, etc.). Go play around with it or read … Read more

Making sense of third-octave flute fingerings

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I recall as a beginning flutist (coming from background in saxophone) finding the third-octave fingerings to be a confusing, illogical jumble, but they do actually make some sense. There is an incorrect explanation for these fingerings that I hear every so often, and have seen published on a couple of flute-related blogs recently. It goes … Read more

Voicing: stable vs. flexible

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There seems to be some debate about voicing: is it something static, or something that changes from note to note? I find that the answer is, sort of, both.

Favorite blog posts, January 2015

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Hand-picked high-quality woodwind-related blog posts from around the web, January 2015 edition.

Counting rhythms with a non-quarter-note pulse

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Sometimes my students are stymied by rhythms like this: These rhythms are really not at all difficult to play—to actually execute—for an intermediate-level student. The problem is just one of unfamiliar notation. It is usually related to the all-too-common misconception that the rhythmic pulse is always equal to a quarter note. If you approach this … Read more