- Jess Voigt Page: Selecting repertoire while you’re in school
- Bill Plake Music: Remember to Pay Attention to This Important (Yet Too Often Overlooked) Component of Your Practice Routine
- Dr. Cate’s Flute Tips (Cate Hummel): The Secret of Tuning Up Db (C#)
- Jenny Maclay: 30 Day Self Care Challenge for Musicians
- LearnSaxophoneOnline.com (Jeffrey Cunningham): Crystal Clear Articulation
- Observing Focal Dystonia (Andrée Martin): Lose your GPS
- Trent Jacobs, bassoonist: Addressing Stress VPI
- oboeinsight (Patty Mitchell): The Internet Is Not Always Your Friend
- International Clarinet Association (Nicola Buckenmaier): Caroline Schleicher-Krähmer: The First Female Clarinet Soloist
Jeff Cunningham
Favorite blog posts, August 2019
- Bill Plake Music: Clarifying A Common Misconception About Your Lungs To Help You Breathe More Optimally
- ClarinetMike Blog (Michael Dean): ClarinetMike’s Top 10 Tips for Successful Private Lessons!
- Nicole Riner, flutist: Developing your Home Music Studio: A Worksheet
- LearnSaxophoneOnline.com (Jeffrey Cunningham): 6 Steps for Learning Music by Ear
Favorite blog posts, March 2017
- Saxophonist Kristen McKeon auspiciously launches her blog with a post on mindfulness in rehearsal [update: link dead].
- Flutist Jolene Harju uses a custom warmup sheet.
- Gentry Ragsdale-Szeto shares her journey as a woodwind doubler.
- Matt Stohrer offers some tips on navigating the modern saxophone market.
- Flutist Cynthia Ellis has an epiphany about the much-fretted-over “teardrop” lip.
- Jeff Cunningham gives advice to beginners about the “spitty” saxophone sound.
- Flutist Deanna Mathews Kilbourne suggests what to practice first.
- Joan Marti-Frasquier shares a quarter-tone fingering chart for baritone saxophone.
Favorite blog posts, March 2016
- David Wells discusses composing cadenzas for the Mozart bassoon concerto (and shares his finished product).
- Jill Cathey shares some techniques she is using to improve her oboe reedmaking, including giving her reeds names.
- Saxophonist Eddie Rich legislates three laws of practicing [update: link dead].
- Cindy Ellis explains the function of each lip in the flute embouchure.
- Jennet Ingle explains (and demonstrates in a video) a technique for cleaning out oboe reeds.
- Manny Martinez suggests 10 classical saxophone recordings to check out.
- Trent Jacobs uses a power tool to make bassoon reeds.
- Cate Hummel continues her crusade against questionable “kiss-and-roll” flute embouchure pedagogy, and has an insight into that technique’s popularity.
- Jeff Cunningham explores some of the “ups & downs” for beginning saxophonists. It’s good context and advice for woodwind doublers, too, who may be at beginner stage on a secondary instrument.
- Bassoonist Andrew Burn shares some unconventional ideas about recital preparation.
- David Freeman logs a gig experience covering Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon album, and shares saxophone solo transcriptions.
- Khara Wolf discusses aspects of high-altitude oboe reedmaking.
- Helen Kahlke shares a review of an inexpensive bass saxophone. Don’t reach for your wallets yet, but the takeaway here is that playable, affordable, modern saxophones lower than baritone could be on the horizon.
- Also, I am now a co-author, with Kellie Lignitz-Hahn, of the “Clarinet Cache” column in The Clarinet (journal of the International Clarinet Association), and the related blog. Check it out online or in your latest print issue.
Favorite blog posts, January 2015
Interesting and useful woodwindy blog posts from January:
- Saxophonist Connie Frigo discusses fearless performance, and also teaching outside the studio [update: link dead]. (This one is technically from the very end of December.)
- Flutist Rachel Taylor Geier shares a thorough, holistic approach to New Year’s resolutions for musicians (it’s not too late).
- Jennet Ingle bravely shares an experience with forgetting her oboe reeds, and because of this experience questions her usual pre-performance rituals.
- Saxophonist Bill Plake discusses how we sit and stand when we play, and how we could do it better.
- Cate Hummel shares some nice fingering tips for the third octave.
- Woodwind doubler David Erato reminds us to keep our instruments well maintained.
- Flutist Naomi Seidman discusses ways to improve breathing (on the Powell Teach Flute blog).
- Jeff Cunningham gives advice to beginning saxophonists (or other musicians) who are struggling with motivation to practice.
Favorite blog posts, August 2014
From the woodwind blogs in August:
- Reports on the International Clarinet Society’s 2014 “ClarinetFest” (held in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA) by Josh Johnson and, of course, on the ClarinetFest blog. (My own brief general report is here, plus a report on my own presentation on woodwind doubling.)
- Reports on the International Double Reed Society conferences (New York City) by Jennet Ingle, Patty Mitchell, and Robin Tropper (parts one and two).
- A sort-of-report (sort-of-advertisement) on the National Flute Association conference on the Powell Flutes blog.
- “TFox” examines the issue of ivory bassoon bell rings.
- Oboist Jennet Ingle comments on the maturity that comes with experience. In, I think, a sort of related vein, she also discusses perfectionism and “mistakes.”
- Clarinetist Heather Roche gives some tips on double tonguing.
- Saxophonist Jeff Cunningham suggests some guidelines for determining the right reed strength for you. His site is geared toward less-experienced players, but in my opinion a number of “advanced” players could use a refresher on this.
- Saxophonist Sam Sadigursky explains an approach to help with mastering scales.
- Adam Berkowitz shares and comments on a very cool video of some bleeding-edge electronic bass clarinet playing and technology (most of the playing is by Matthias Müller).
- Saxophonist Jody Espina shares his “squeak-be-gone” exercise.
- Saxophonist Bill Plake compares routine and process in practicing.
Favorite blog posts, December 2013
Here are the woodwind-related blog posts that made my “nice” list for December. (One from late November seems to have slipped in here, too.)
- On his new blog, Timothy Owen explains how he tunes his saxophone like an M-16 assault rifle.
- Bassoonist Betsy Sturdevant (of the Columbus Symphony) reveals her basic reedmaking method.
- Cooper Wright doesn’t just play the oboe, he plays the concert hall.
- Theresa Koenig domesticates a wild recorder.
- David Freeman experiences a gig frustration common to woodwind doublers.
- Jennet Ingle plays the oboe while sick, and learns some things about her playing.
- Trent Jacobs shares a good contrabassoon fingering chart.
- Saxophonist Bill Plake discusses advanced metronome usage.
- Steve Moffett uses a vibrato exercise to develop his flute tone.
- Jeff Cunningham has a literary adventure in the saxophone’s upper register.
- Matt London asks some important questions about the “classical” tenor saxophone.
- Bassoonist Christin Schillinger clears up some misconceptions about practicing.
Enjoy!
Favorite blog posts, September 2013
Here’s what I liked on the woodwind-related blogs this month:
- From Casa Valdez, some utterly fascinating recordings (with scores!) of Joe Viola playing overdubbed woodwinds. A must-see for doublers.
- I have been seeing this incredible video of Samuel Barber with the classic Philadelphia Orchestra Wind Quintet all over blogs and social media lately, but Donax Music was the first to bring it to my attention. Worth the half-hour.
- Saxophonist Jody Espina shares the concept he calls “Coltrones”—a sort of combination of long tones and transcription that can help you sound like Coltrane (and others).
- Oboist Jennet Ingle explains how your brain may be sabotaging your playing in a confused attempt to keep you alive, and offers tips for solving this problem.
- David Wells makes freely available his edition of Vivaldi G-minor bassoon concerto RV 495—solo part, score, and orchestral parts.
- Saxophonist Jeff Cunningham shares some tips on maintaining motivation to practice. Geared toward beginners, but solid concepts for experienced musicians as well.
- Trent Jacobs of Midwest Musical Imports does a brief video interview with bassoon maker Peter Wolf. It’s a little bit of an ad for Wolf/Midwest, but I’m a sucker for new technologies/materials in instrument manufacture, and Wolf is full of interesting ideas.
- Soprano saxophone specialist Sam Newsome walks us through a solo by Wayne Shorter (with video).
- Oboist Christa Garvey connects articulation to breathing.
- Saxophonist Bill Plake shares some ideas about attitude and progress toward musical goals.
- Maarten Vonk of Bassoon.com starts a kind of census of the world’s bassoonists.
- Clarinet Cache points out some resources for finding and reading clarinet dissertations.
- Bassoonist Jolene Mason wrestles with the competitive aspects of music and academia.
Enjoy, and keep writing good stuff!