- Patty Mitchell shares insights on oboe finger placement.
- Betsy Sturdevant gives a behind-the-scenes look at playing principal bassoon on Tchaikovsky’s 5th symphony and Brahms’s 1st piano concerto.
- Sam Sadigursky explains why saxophonists should play the flute. (I would add to his list of reasons that the flute is a lovely instrument and playing it is a rewarding pursuit on its own merits.)
- Jennifer Cluff gives good down-to-earth advice for beginning flutists.
- The new The Clarinet: Online blog, the digital companion to the International Clarinet Association’s print journal, did some coverage of this year’s ClarinetFest® in Madrid, Spain. Here is day one.
- Christopher Jones shares detailed information about clarinet left hand position.
- The Adventures in Woodwindland blog examines the old question about “how many” instruments doublers play [update: link dead]. (Here’s my take from the early days of this blog.)
Woodwinds: Flute
Woodwind doubling and flute problems
Many doublers start out as clarinetists or saxophonists, and many doublers would say that the flute is particularly challenging as a double. These phenomena are related. Let’s look at some of the issues woodwind doublers have with the flute. I’ll offer a sort of glib, inadequate tip or two for each situation, but the real … Read more
Favorite blog posts, May 2015
Hand-picked high-quality woodwind-related blog posts from around the web, May 2015 edition.
Favorite blog posts, March 2015
Hand-picked high-quality woodwind-related blog posts from around the web, March 2015 edition.
Favorite blog posts, February 2015
Hand-picked high-quality woodwind-related blog posts from around the web, February 2015 edition.
Making sense of third-octave flute fingerings
I recall as a beginning flutist (coming from background in saxophone) finding the third-octave fingerings to be a confusing, illogical jumble, but they do actually make some sense. There is an incorrect explanation for these fingerings that I hear every so often, and have seen published on a couple of flute-related blogs recently. It goes … Read more
Favorite blog posts, January 2015
Hand-picked high-quality woodwind-related blog posts from around the web, January 2015 edition.
Interview: Sal Lozano, saxophone and woodwind artist
Lately I have been enjoying Sal Lozano‘s recent CD, Everything’s Gonna Be Great (available from CD Baby and iTunes). The album is 13 charts by Tom Kubis for 5-piece saxophone section with rhythm section, and Sal plays all five of the saxophone parts. It’s a lot of fun, Sal sounds great, and there’s an all-star … Read more
Favorite blog posts, December 2014
Hand-picked high-quality woodwind-related blog posts from around the web, December 2014 edition.
Woodwind t-shirts now available
I won’t make a habit of posting advertisements here, but I wanted to make you all aware of a new way you can support what I do here at bretpimentel.com while also increasing your own cool factor. Behold the woodwind doubler t-shirt: It’s a nice quality American Apparel tee available in a variety of attractive … Read more