Favorite blog posts, August 2024
- Stohrer Music (Matt Stohrer; saxophone): Paul Coats: Runyon Mouthpiece Memories
- JazzBariSax.com (Andrew Hadro): Let’s create a Baritone Saxophone Rental Network
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Favorite blog posts, April 2017
- Bassoonist Anna Norris suggests showing up for auditions.
- Michael Shults switches between jazz and classical saxophone.
- David Freeman transcribes recorder parts for Stairway to Heaven (but plays them on an electric keyboard…).
- Michael Lowenstern addresses a bass clarinet reed question.
- Flutist Vanessa Breault Mulvey discusses squeezing’s detrimental effect on flute playing [update: link dead].
- Saxophonist Bill Plake discusses tone imagination.
- Flutist Jolene Harju shares ideas for getting the most out of your lessons. I also liked her “Fundamentals Workout Planner.”
- Jennet Ingle learns something about disappointing performances.
- Saxophonist Jay Brandford shares an Eric Dolphy anecdote about dedication to detail in practicing.
- Matt Stohrer shares his procedure for “setting up” a new saxophone. This is sort of a commercial post, but instructive about what a new instrument might need to play to its best potential.
- Flutist Jennifer Cluff explains anchor tonguing.
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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.
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Favorite blog posts, January 2016
Some nice work from woodwind bloggers in January:
- Some good advice on Matt Stohrer’s Open Source Saxophone Project on inspecting a used saxophone.
- Bassoonist Barry Stees suggests using multiple senses to improve technique.
- Joan Martí-Frasquier shares a thorough altissimo fingering chart for baritone saxophone, including quarter tones.
- Some good stuff from the D’Addario Reserve Method Program blog, including one from clarinetist Nick Councilor on some basics of ensemble etiquette and one from clarinetist Bradley Grasl on being your own teacher.
Don’t see your favorite blog here? (Your own, perhaps?) Make sure I know about it.
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Favorite blog posts, December 2015
I am pleased once again to share some excellent woodwind-related blog posts from the past month, and especially to point you toward some bloggers appearing here for the first time. Enjoy!
- Jenny Maclay’s 12 Days of Clarinet Christmas is a nice (non-denominational) list of potential practice material.
- Betsy Sturdevant shares some ideas on practicing double-tonguing on the bassoon, particularly as applied to Beethoven 4.
- David Pope shares some realities of being a university saxophone professor.
- Saxophonist Donna Schwartz explains her process for learning a large number of tunes in a short time for a rock gig.
- Saxophone technician Matt Stohrer is doing incredibly valuable work with his “Open Source Saxophone Project.”
- Bassoonist Christina Feigel explains the concept of “tilt” in musical performance, and gives some ideas for overcoming it. (Also, congratulations to Christina on completing her DMA degree!)
- Flutist Rachel Taylor Geier wrote a couple of excellent posts, about 3rd-octave “trick” (overtone) fingerings, and about tendinitis. (Be sure to consult a medical professional for any concerns about injuries.)
- Mostly-flutist Hannah Haefele explains why she is dropping a secondary instrument to focus on the flute.
- Eric from Midwest Musical Imports demonstrates oboe crack repair in a brief interesting video.
- Bassoonist Jessi Vandagriff gives advice on business practices for private teachers.
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Favorite blog posts, July 2014
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.
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Favorite blog posts, August 2013
Read these excellent mostly-woodwind-related blog posts from the past month, and thank me later:
- Bassoonist David Wells shares and comments on early 20th-century recordings of the Weber Andante e Rondo Ongarese by William Gruner and Fernand Oubradous.
- Multi-instrumentalist Mark Catoe shares some clear thinking about teaching the concept of time signature. This will benefit even some of my college students, who are still trying to shed the “quarter-note-is-always-one-beat-no-matter-what” misinformation they were fed years ago.
- Viviana Guzman at The Flute View declares the first Canadian Flute Convention a success.
- Sherman Friedland offers some comments about purchasing clarinets. He mentions a couple of specific makes and pulls no punches about his opinions, but regardless of your personal taste in instruments there are some general points worth drawing out: just because “everybody” uses one model doesn’t mean it’s the “best;” a good teacher is crucial to the process of obtaining a fine instrument and making it sing; and it doesn’t hurt anybody to at least consider the advantages of instruments made from non-traditional materials.
- Matt Stohrer explains why getting your saxophone overhauled is good for your playing and for your bottom line. Good advice for any woodwind player, really, though of course some of the instrument-specific details will differ.
- Oboist Christa Garvey gives college music majors some sage advice for the new academic year.
- Saxophonist Craig Buhler suggests that a joyful performance requires joyful practice.
- Clarinetist Meri Dolevski-Lewis gives some tips on reading (and, by extension, on writing) advertisements for private teaching. Also: tips on diversifying your musical income streams (including a strong case for woodwind doubling).
- Patty Mitchell shares a compelling argument, in video form, for learning the play the oboe the right way rather than looking for shortcuts. (Spoiler alert: It’s a demonstration of a single-reed mouthpiece for the oboe.)
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Favorite blog posts, July 2013
Required reading:
- Christa Garvey reports on this year’s John Mack Oboe camp, and shares some masterclass notes. Her post about the fallacy of “doing more with dynamics” is really excellent, too. Christa wrote several other top-quality posts this month, but I’m going to just mention those two to avoid embarrassing everybody with my gushing.
- In other conference reports, David Davani covers ClarinetFest in a five-part series, and Robin Tropper tries out oboes at the IDRS conference in a series of extremely detailed posts.
- Saxophone repair genius Matt Stohrer takes a refreshingly rational look at the effect that a saxophone’s finish does or doesn’t have on its tone. (Obligatory: my own post on this topic.)
- In a perhaps-related vein, The Life of the Flute Player reviews a flute and a piccolo constructed of non-traditional materials. I’m including this post not because I have opinions on these specific products, but because more and more plastic woodwinds are popping up, and I think it’s a trend worth watching.
- The always-insightful Bill Plake, saxophonist and certified Alexander Technique teacher, looks at practicing in terms of adding new ideas and subtracting old habits.
- Saxophonist Sam Newsome recommends a thoughtful approach to using or not using a metronome when practicing.
- Saxophonist Bob Hartig conquers less-familiar keys so that they become natural and intuitive.
- Bassoonist Barry Stees recommends continuing your musical education after graduation.
- Jennet Ingle doesn’t mind playing second oboe.
- Doubler Steve Moffett has an epiphany about flute articulation and the “ta” syllable.
- Adam at A Classical Journey explores career options for musicians, and discovers that sometimes plan “A” isn’t the one you wanted after all [update: link dead].
- Clarinetist Sherman Friedland wrote an incisive post on the basics of crossing the break, which has since disappeared from his site. So instead of linking, I’ll just recommend that you subscribe to his RSS feed so you can read his posts before he deletes them.