Favorite blog posts, November 2014

Here’s good stuff from the woodwind blogs in November. The flutists and bassoonists were especially busy this month.

Practicing, boredom, and guilt

I find that my students who struggle with practicing are sometimes afraid to talk to me about it, and want to brush aside talk of their declining practice hours with thin excuses about having a “busy week.” But if we can address the problem honestly and openly, I can offer some suggestions to help them enjoy their practice time more and get more out of it.

Jazz swing notation

The issue with each of these bad notational approaches is that they try to approximate characteristic jazz rhythms with symbols that are rooted in the rather different rhythms of classical music. But real jazz swing rhythms aren’t dotted or 12/8 or triplets, or least they aren’t necessarily any of those. This leads to problems both for composers and performers.

Videos: Piazzolla Tango Etudes for multiple woodwinds

Here are some videos from a guest recital I did at the University of Tennessee at Martin a few weeks ago. Among other things, I played Ástor Piazzolla’s Tango Etudes, originally for solo flute, in my own arrangement for multiple woodwinds soloist.

Favorite blog posts, October 2014

Hand-picked high-quality woodwind-related blog posts from around the web, October 2014 edition.

Isolating problem spots

Earlier this month I posted about a fundamental practicing concept that sometimes escapes my less-experienced students. Here is another: Me: Play your D melodic minor scale. Student: [Begins D minor scale, plays a wrong note in the second octave.] Me: Whoops, remember to play B-natural. Student: Okay. [Starts over, makes same mistake.] Me: Please start … Read more

Slowing down

I can’t tell you how often I have had this happen in lessons, especially with my younger students: Me: Play your E-flat major scale. Student: [Begins scale at breakneck speed, plays 3-4 notes, makes a mistake, stops. Begins again at the same speed, makes a different mistake, stops.] Me: Wait— Student: [Begins again at breakneck … Read more

Review: ReedGeek “Universal” reed tool

I’m a little late to the party on this, as the ReedGeek has been around for a number of years now and has been widely reviewed, but I finally picked one up (at ClarinetFest) after a long conversation/demonstration with inventor Mauro Di Gioia.  I have been using mine for a few months now and wanted … Read more

Favorite blog posts, September 2014

Hand-picked high-quality woodwind-related blog posts from around the web, September 2014 edition.

Saxophone hand position

There are a number of advantages to careful hand positioning, and on a well-designed instrument it’s also really easy: just put the tips of the three middle fingers of each hand on the corresponding key touchpieces.