- 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.)
William Short
Favorite blog posts, May 2015
Good stuff from the woodwind blogs in May:
- Cate Hummel offers tips on diagnosing flute tone issues.
- Felix from The Saxophone Corner takes a closer look at the mythology of the Selmer Mark VI.
- Oboist Jennet Ingle uses powerful breath support.
- Saxophonist Bill Plake suggests four questions to ask yourself while practicing.
- Bassoonist William Short shares an infographic on practicing.
- Saxophonist Sam Newsome discusses confident performance in a couple of posts.
Favorite blog posts, April 2015
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.
Favorite blog posts, February 2015
I’m running a little behind, but here are some of my favorite woodwind blog posts from last month:
- Jean-Francois Charles provides a roundup of some interesting music using saxophone with electronics in various ways.
- Bassoonist William Short (of the Metropolitan Opera) focuses on fundamentals, but just for a few minutes.
- Saxophonist Sam Newsome discusses mouthpiece obsession.
- Cate Hummel shares a few thoughts on the flute’s low register.
- Patty Mitchell deals with oboe reeds and attitudes.
- Lynne Krayer-Luke of Flying Flutistas discusses inclusive attention in practicing and performance [update: link dead].