Random Note Picker, version 0.3

I always think that the worst blog posts are the ones where people blog about their blogs. So brace yourself. Sorry. I try not to indulge in this kind of thing too often.

Anyway, today is the fifth anniversary of my first, rather inauspicious blog post. (You might notice that I do have posts dated older than that; those are older writings, many from college courses, that I retroactively turned into blog posts.) Five years isn’t that long by most measures, but it seems that, in the sea of abandoned blogs out there, five years and still active isn’t something to take for granted.

I was working on a graduate degree in multiple woodwinds performance at the time this blog was born, and had read and reread everything I could find online about woodwind doubling, plus as many print sources as I could get my hands on. I will admit that the conceit did cross my mind that one day my website might be a primary web destination for woodwind doublers, and I flatter myself that that is now the case. Woodwind doublers form a fairly small club, but still the growth has been gratifying:

What excites me even more than the traffic is the engagement. I’ve been pleased and flattered to hear from many, many of you—everyone from young, aspiring doublers to old friends to colleagues in academia to musicians who are some of my real heroes. Thanks for your emails, blog comments, content contributions, donations, and other shows of support.

A few other things I’m really proud of: Read More “Fifth anniversary”

Here are some of the things that went on here at your favorite woodwind blog during the past year.

• My biggest 2015 “hits” in terms of traffic and social media sharing were Clarinet and saxophone embouchures and the “chin”, Five things to do before starting a new school year as a college music major, and my review of the  D’Addario Select Jazz alto saxophone mouthpieces. Why college music education majors need applied study, from back in 2012, was also widely shared during 2015, as were some perennial favorites: Does material affect tone quality in woodwind instruments?, MS Word music hack: Automatic sharps, flats, and naturals, and Why tune to the oboe?
• My popular posts aren’t always the ones that I think are the most interesting or valuable. Some from 2015 that I am especially proud of but flew somewhat under the radar include Woodwind dynamics and the embouchure, Playing in tune: five factors, this PDF summarizing voicing, and The double reeds and “uneven” embouchures.
• I made some very small tweaks to the increasingly-massive Woodwind Doubling in Musicals list, and tried to clarify a bit my current approach to updating the information and how you can help keep it current and accurate. Also, a huge thank you to those of you who sent in information this year or any year.
• I released version 0.6 and then version 0.7 of the Fingering Diagram Builder. Most of the improvements were either minor fixes or additional instruments, such as the Viennese oboe, the Albert/Oehler clarinets, and the French bassoon.
• I shared interviews with woodwind players Sal Lozano and Sarah Cosano. (Nominations welcomed for future interviews.)
• I shared some items from my professional activities, including videos from my faculty recital and a handout from a presentation I did on blogging as a musician.
• I did another 12 monthly installments of my favorite blog posts. Last year I reported that I was tracking about 500 woodwind-related blogs. Now it’s at about 600. Drop me a line if you have one (such as yours) to recommend.
• Most years I complain a bit about how nobody liked my April Fool’s Day joke post, but this year’s entry attracted enough attention to be embarrassingly gratifying. (The weather info seems to be temporarily[?] broken due to a thing beyond my control. Sorry.)

If you have read anything interesting or useful here during the past year, I hope you will consider leaving a comment, getting in touch via email or social media, buying a shirt or sending a donation, contacting me aboutadvertising opportunities for your relevant business, and/or pointing your all your woodwind friends toward bretpimentel.com.

Thanks for reading in 2015, and best wishes for the new year!