Enjoy:

• Oboist Patty Mitchell wrote so many good posts this month that I just couldn’t decide, so here’s one about getting over reed stress, one about not making excuses, and one about half-hole technique.
• Saxophonist Bill Plake discusses a problem with teaching and learning music.
• Clarinetist Sandy Herrera dares to set the metronome aside, sometimes.
• Barry Stees suggests a do-it-yourself fix for the problematic low D on bassoon.
• Clarinetist Rachel Yoder describes a system for quantifying practicing progress.
• William Short shares some lesser-known bassoon high note fingerings (with very attractive diagrams).
• “Vintage Clarinet Doctor” Jeremy Soule explains the difference between a re-pad and an overhaul.