Favorite blog posts, May 2019

May 31, 2019May 31, 2019 ~ Bret Pimentel ~ Leave a comment

Sax Spy – Blog: 3 Low-Note Exercises From the Masters
Trent Jacobs, bassoonist: On forming blanks and cracking cane
ProneOboe (Jennet Ingle): Psychology of the Oboist and Transitions
Jenny Maclay: The Complete Guide to Developing Great Technique
Sam Newsome’s Blogspot: Soprano Sax Talk: Websites: Relevant or Relic?

And, as always, this is an excellent way to get your blog post selected as a favorite:

Joffe Woodwinds: Bret Pimentel

See the woodwind blogs I’m following, and suggest others!

Favorite blog posts, January 2019

January 31, 2019January 31, 2019 ~ Bret Pimentel ~ Leave a comment

Joffe Woodwinds: Practicing on the Gig
JQ Flute: Rough times happening? Oh look, there you are making gold out of it. Here’s 3 heartfelt observations about your playing to get you through the storm
Oboemotions: Promising Research
Kristopher King (bassoon): Low A
The Flute View: Creating and Refining Better Habits in Your Practice Room by Rena Urso
Wayne Leechford: Auditioning for All-District
Jenny Maclay (clarinet): My Winter Warm-Up Routine For Cold Days

See the woodwind blogs I’m following, and suggest others!

Favorite blog posts, June 2018

June 30, 2018 ~ Bret Pimentel ~ Leave a comment

Saxophonist Ben Britton explores the connection between tone and intonation. He also gives a nice introduction to the desperately under-taught art of swing articulation.
Woodwind doubler Ed Joffe compares “part” players and true musical artists.
John Reeks examines the history surrounding the use of clarinets in the Beatles song “When I’m Sixty-Four.”
Oboist Stephen Caplan discusses staying comfortable and healthy while sitting for extended periods of playing music.
Tammy Evans Yonce and Misty Theisen provide suggestions on planning a small flute festival or “flute day.”
Jenny Maclay gives thorough advice on the clarinet’s altissimo register.

Favorite blog posts, December 2017

December 31, 2017January 1, 2018 ~ Bret Pimentel ~ Leave a comment

Betsy Sturdevant brainstorms some (tongue-in-cheek) reasons not to sharpen her bassoon reed profiler blade.
Woodwind doubler Ed Joffe shares some practical advice about subbing on gigs.
Flutist Nicole Riner explores some lessons about focus learned during an artist retreat.
Joan Martí-Frasquier lists some repertoire for baritone saxophone.
Oboist Jennet Ingle considers some ideas about motivation and doing difficult things.
Clarinetist Michael Dean offers some small but useful performing tips.
Flutist Jessica Quiñones shares some ways to build a private studio.
Saxophonist Larry Weintraub recalls a day spent with Michael Brecker.
Khara Wolf suggests solutions for oboe reeds with too-wide tip openings.

Favorite blog posts, July 2017

July 31, 2017January 1, 2018 ~ Bret Pimentel ~ Leave a comment

Check out posts by a small army of bloggers documenting ClarinetFest® 2017.
David Wells is working on collecting the Paris Conservatoire bassoon contest pieces.
Woodwind doubler Ed Joffe encourages continuing your musical studies beyond school
Saxophonist Roxy Coss discusses women as an under-represented group in jazz music.
David Mankin shares a fascinating story about oboists Robert Bloom and Engelbert Brenner in a remarkable recording session.
Clarinetist Jeremy Wohletz explains the importance of aural training.
Saxophonist Sam Newsome identifies some issues that lead to rhythm problems (particularly in improvised music).
Flutist Tammy Evans Yonce explains how she approaches a new repertoire piece.
Saxophonist Ben Britton catalogs some methods of dealing with sticky G-sharp keys.
Eryn Oft outlines the history of Heckel bassoons.
Nicole Riner offers suggestions on making first contact with a potential college flute teacher. (Applicable to other instruments, too.)
Jenny Maclay dives deep on clarinet resonance fingerings.

Favorite blog posts, May 2017

May 31, 2017January 1, 2018 ~ Bret Pimentel ~ Leave a comment

Flutist Terri Sánchez blogged like crazy this month, with many downloadable exercises and practice ideas. A few I liked included this one-minute warmup, these harmonics exercises, these 100 ideas for getting “unstuck,” and this advice on creating your own warmups.
Heather Roche shares some clarinet works by female composers. (Check the comments section for more.)
Flutist Jolene Harju does an interesting video experiment with expressive body movements.
Clarinetist Jenny Maclay suggests practicing recovery from mistakes.
Ed Joffe shares his experience with developing a multiple woodwinds graduate degree program.
Flutist Andrée Martin discusses priority scheduling for practicing and for life.
Barry Stees offers some tips and tricks for playing low, soft orchestral bassoon parts.
Flutist Vanessa Breault Mulvey shares ideas on being observant of your own playing.
Saxophonist Sam Newsome recommends slow progress. He also shares some interesting experiments in “prepared” soprano saxophone.
Cate Hummel warns against some small but problematic flute habits.

Favorite blog posts, September 2016

September 30, 2016January 1, 2018 ~ Bret Pimentel ~ Leave a comment

So many great woodwind blog posts in September. The flute bloggers are on fire!

Deanna Mathews Kilbourne offers some fingering tips for the flute’s notoriously sharp C-sharp.
Oboist Jennet Ingle explores quarter tones. Also, an open letter to her students about making their own reeds.
Flutist Nicole Riner shares some creative practice tips.
Ed Joffe discusses the history of woodwind doubling.
Flutist Angela McCuiston gets into some nuts and bolts of teaching lessons remotely via internet.
Bassoonist Jolene Mason experiences burnout.
Flutist Andrée Martin warns against mindless, repetitive practicing.
Joan Martí-Frasquier provides an annotated list of amateur/student-appropriate baritone saxophone repertoire.
Flutist Rachel Taylor Geier offers some suggestions on lesson scheduling.
Viviana Guzman reports on the National Flute Association conference.

Favorite blog posts, September 2015

September 30, 2015January 1, 2018 ~ Bret Pimentel ~ 2 Comments

Bassoonist William Short explains his method for evaluating reeds honestly.
Cleonide, an interesting new blog on musical acoustics, offers some insight on response issues in the saxophone’s low register. (Somewhat technical/mathematical.)
Ed Joffe pays tribute to Al Block, a distinguished woodwind doubler who passed away recently.
Cate Hummel discusses a timeline for teaching flute dynamics. (I agree wholeheartedly about waiting to teach dynamics, for all woodwinds, but respectfully disagree about how dynamic changes are produced.) In another post, she discusses teaching students how to practice.
Flutist Rena Urso-Trapani shares her experience with a recent orchestral audition, and offers some tips.
Clarinetist Jenny Maclay offers some ways to improve your playing from outside the practice room.
Jennet Ingle teaches a young oboist a new fingering. (Great minds think alike.)

Favorite blog posts, July 2014

July 31, 2014January 1, 2018 ~ Bret Pimentel ~ 1 Comment

I am closing out July in Baton Rouge, Louisiana at ClarinetFest. Report forthcoming. For now, enjoy my best-of-the-woodwind-blogs for the past month.

David Wells shares a useful, sortable table of Vivaldi’s 39 bassoon concerti, and discusses their complicated cataloguing.
Heather Roche continues her project of documenting the clarinet’s extended technique possibilities with a chart of close-dyad multiphonics.
Ed Joffe shares a 2006 interview with jazz saxophonist and flutist Lew Tabackin.
John Witt explores some of the acoustical concepts related to oboe reeds.
Jennifer Cluff addresses some questions about neck tension and the flute. (If you have pain, please consider blog posts to be supplementary information to that provided by qualified medical professionals.)
Jennet Ingle exercises patience when returning to the oboe after a short hiatus.
Saxophonist Bill Plake works on “microskill” projects.
Trent Jacobs invents an improved bassoon A-flat/B-flat trill mechanism in the shower, and has one made for his own instrument. (As it turns out, someone else beat him to the idea, but it’s still cool.)
Sam Newsome discusses the ongoing influence of soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy, and shares a who’s-who of current jazz soprano players.
Matt Stohrer comments on the potential viability of a 3D-printed saxophone.