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Recital videos, August–September 2024
I’m pleased to share videos from my recent recital mini-tour, performed at Delta State University, Mississippi State University, and East Mississippi Community College. The program was five works for five different woodwind instruments, all using live electronics.
My electronic setup was a Shure SM58 microphone (for flute and oboe), a PiezoBarrel clarinet pickup, a Little-Jake bassoon pickup, and a NUX B-6 saxophone microphone, all connected to a Yamaha MG10XU mixer. From there the signal was routed through a Boss GT-1000CORE multieffects unit and a Boss RC-600 looper.
Here’s the program and video playlist:
Introducing the Fingering diagram builder
I’m pleased to present something I’ve been working on, on and off, for a while now. I’m pretty excited about it, and I hope you will check it out and let me know what you think.This project developed from my own need to quickly and easily create fingering diagrams for the woodwind instruments that I play and teach. Frequently I find myself scribbling saxophone altissimo fingerings onto a scrap of paper during a private lesson, cutting-and-pasting at the photocopier to put together simplified charts for a woodwind methods class, or penciling cryptic markings into musical scores to remind myself which pinky finger to use.
And so, I’m pleased to introduce the Fingering diagram builder. I hope you’ll take it for a spin. Read More “Introducing the Fingering diagram builder”
Woodwind Doubler Census results, part 6: benefits
In this installment, we look at why woodwind doublers do what they do.
Q. What is the greatest benefit of being a woodwind doubler?
Here’s my own breakdown of the most common types of answers. Many answers fit into more than one category.
- More gigs: Unsurprisingly, this was a factor for over half of the respondents. However, many if not most indicated some non-monetary motivation:
- Variety
- Fun/satisfaction
- Artistic expression: A number of respondents mentioned the ability to access a variety of tone colors as a motivating factor.
- Cross-training: Several respondents indicated that playing one instrument improves their skills at another.
- Challenge
Here is the complete list of responses, with only very minor editing, in random order.
Read More “Woodwind Doubler Census results, part 6: benefits”
