Bret Pimentel, woodwinds

Hand-picked high-quality woodwind-related blog posts from around the web, June 2018 edition.

A few months ago I shared a list of published opinions on how to avoid undertones on the clarinet. Many of the ideas shared by the distinguished authors seemed like just descriptions of good basic clarinet technique (“ensure correct, stable embouchure formation,” “establish breath support/air pressure before releasing tongue”). I agree that the most important ...

Answers to questions submitted for the blog's 10th anniversary.

I was hoping to announce this a week ago, on the anniversary of the ReedCast™’s debut, April 1, 2015,but things got a little delayed. Anyway, you can now get your guaranteed-accurate, highly scientific ReedCast™ on your Alexa device. Check it out! You can, of course, still get your classic ReedCast™ on the web.

Hand-picked high-quality woodwind-related blog posts from around the web, March 2018 edition.

Clarinet "undertones" or "grunts" are the unpleasant low sounds that happen usually at the beginning of tongued upper-clarion-register notes (about written G to C, above the staff). My sense is that there isn't a lot of consensus or clarity among clarinetists about how exactly to prevent this.

A few months ago I wrote a review of So You Want to Play in Shows…?, a book of woodwind doubling etudes by Paul Saunders. Recently Paul sent me Double Troubles, a new collection of etudes. Like So You Want, the new volume includes a piano part plus access to downloadable backing tracks. As I said in the previous review: This is ...

Hand-picked high-quality woodwind-related blog posts from around the web, December 2017 edition.

Hand-picked high-quality woodwind-related blog posts from around the web, November 2017 edition.

Hand-picked high-quality woodwind-related blog posts from around the web, September 2017 edition.