- Jolene Harju lists some favorite flute recordings.
- Woodwind player Larry Weintraub shares information on careers in military bands.
- Bassoonist Anna Norris is writing a series of posts on playing John Williams’s Five Sacred Trees.
- Flutist Roderick Seed explores issues surrounding cheek puffing and chin pressure.
- Clarinetist James Zimmermann discusses the relationship between the clarinet and bassoon cadenzas in Scheherezade.
Woodwinds: Clarinet
Avoiding clarinet undertones: published techniques
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.
Review: “Double Troubles” by Paul Saunders
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 … Read more
Favorite blog posts, December 2017
Hand-picked high-quality woodwind-related blog posts from around the web, December 2017 edition.
Favorite blog posts, November 2017
Hand-picked high-quality woodwind-related blog posts from around the web, November 2017 edition.
Favorite blog posts, September 2017
Hand-picked high-quality woodwind-related blog posts from around the web, September 2017 edition.
Jazz recital videos, August 2017
This year I played all jazz at my Delta State University faculty recital. Program and some selected videos are below. I’m very much a part-time jazz player, so it was fun to spend the summer trying to get my chops in shape to play tunes in a variety of styles on a variety of instruments. … Read more
Naming the low E-flat (contrabass? contra-alto?) clarinet
Every so often I hear from people about what I call the E-flat contrabass clarinet (or “contrabass clarinet in E-flat”), such as in my woodwind doubling in musicals list or in my woodwind methods book. Some prefer the term “contra-alto” or even “contralto,” but I find “contrabass” to be the most accurate and useful description … Read more
Favorite blog posts, August 2017
Hand-picked high-quality woodwind-related blog posts from around the web, August 2017 edition.
Favorite blog posts, July 2017
Hand-picked high-quality woodwind-related blog posts from around the web, July 2017 edition.