For several years, I’ve maintained what I believe to be a fairly comprehensive list of woodwind doublers’ homepages. I’ve been scouring the web lately for the homepages of woodwind players of all kinds, and have put together several new lists from what I’ve found. Now you can browse lists of:
More thoughts on multiple woodwinds degrees
I often get email from people who are considering pursuing a college or conservatory degree in multiple woodwinds. Now that I’ve completed two of them myself, here are a few thoughts.
If you want to enter a multiple woodwinds degree program, you should already have at least a basic technical command of each instrument to be included on the degree. This really should include a background of good private instruction on each instrument. In my experience, self-taught players on any instrument are rarely very well prepared for the rigors of college-level study.
Bachelor’s-level programs are rare, and I think that’s with good reason. For most woodwind players, I think, diving right into college-level study of three or more instruments is ill-advised. You will do much better to spend those years focusing on your strongest instrument, developing your musicianship, learning good practicing techniques, and hopefully racking up some achievements like contest awards or high placement in top university ensembles. All of those things benefited me very much (my bachelor’s degree is in saxophone performance), and it’s likely I wouldn’t have been able to achieve as much if I had been dividing my practice hours between multiple instruments (plus completing music coursework AND general education coursework).
New old blog posts
In order to try to keep things tidy around here, I’ve reorganized the site a bit (again). One thing that happened was that the old “articles” section disappeared and some of the old articles have turned retroactively into blog posts. The official start of the blog was May of 2008, but some of my old … Read more
Common doubling combinations from the Broadway doubling list
The most popular thing on my website is the Woodwind doubling in Broadway musicals page, which brings in visitors from around the world. I’ve even been lucky enough to hear occasionally from major woodwind doublers who are working on Broadway.
I thought it might be interesting to take a look at the most common combinations of instruments called for. I’m including a table at the end of this post that shows every combination that occurs 10 or more times on the current version of the list. The first column numbers the rows for convenience in referring to specific data; the second column indicates how many times that particular combination occur.
Trade in your old reeds for new Ricos, part II
In March I blogged about this promotion from Rico reeds. I’m pleased to report that, after sending this motley crew of rejects off to Rico…
…I got these in the mail, at absolutely no charge.
Doctor of Musical Arts
Dr. Bret Pimentel, D. M. A. The University of Georgia May 9, 2009
Review: The Woodwind Anthology
I recently got my own copy of The Woodwind Anthology, a massive two-volume collection of articles from The Instrumentalist and Flute Talk magazines. I’ve used this anthology from various university libraries throughout my long college education, and found it to be a go-to source for pedagogy classes and comprehensive exam preparation.
Inexplicably, Instrumentalist is selling these right now for $37 for the set. Check it out here. The shockingly low price makes me wonder if this has gone out of print. If you’re interested, I suggest ordering soon.
More on brass doubling
Prior post: Brass doubling?
Boston Symphony Orchestra bass trombonist Douglas Yeo has a page on his website with doubling tips. In addition to bass trombone, he plays bass trumpet and serpent. Not tenor trombone.
I don’t knock anyone for finding their niche. And Mr. Yeo is clearly a very accomplished musician—listen to some of his sound clips if there is any doubt. But I have to admit a few items from his doubling tips amused me as a woodwind doubler.
10 ways to improve your musicianship with a computer
It seems like there’s very little I do these days without a computer. Here are some ways I have used a laptop to boost my practice sessions.
200+ woodwind doublers’ websites
I just finished updating my list of woodwind doublers on the web, which as of right now lists just over 200 valid websites (201, to be precise). I am happy to include on the list woodwind doublers of any skill level, as long as their website gives some indication of their inclination toward multiple woodwind … Read more