- Steve Neff Music Blog (saxophone): Do Mouthpiece Patches and Beak Height Make a Difference to the Sound of a Saxophone?
- LearnTinWhistle.com: Best Tin Whistle Books
- The Flute Examiner (Jessica Dunnavant): Career Day
- Jenny Maclay (clarinet): Repertoire Research Checklist for Students
- Rachel Taylor Geier (flute): Fixing a Faulty Trill – Dr. G’s Top Five Trill Etude Recommendations
Woodwinds: Saxophone
Favorite blog posts, October 2021
- Jennifer Cluff (flute): Top Ten Secrets of Great Flute Playing pdf
- Aaron Lakota (oboe): Reed Knife Sharpening, A Guide For Reed Makers
- The Flute Examiner (Jessica Dunnavant): Lights, Camera, Flute, Action!
- Everything Saxophone (Ben Britton): Learning Altissimo: From Low B♭ to Over Four Octaves Up
- Northwoods Oboe: Avoid My Reedmaking Mistakes: Not Adjusting With the Seasons
- The Flute View (Alan Medak): The ABCs of Music Stand Lighting
Recital videos, August 2021
I’m pleased to share videos from my recent Delta State University faculty recital. I performed for a reduced in-person audience due to COVID-19 precautions.
All the repertoire involves electronics of some kind: prerecorded tracks, a looper, an actual electronic instrument (the Akai EWI), and/or live signal processing. This was my first time doing something so electronics-intensive, and I was learning to use some new equipment, so I’m including here some videos from the live recital and some from a dress rehearsal depending on audio quality, etc. (You will still notice some distortion and other issues, which I’m learning from and hoping to improve in future performances.)
Favorite blog posts, August 2021
- EG-REEDS (Éric González, oboe): The importance of previous postural and respiratory work at the beginning of the study of woodwind instruments.
- Rachel Taylor Geier (flute): The Myth of the Magic Formula
- Bill Plake Music (saxophone): For This “Career Ending Condition”, There Is Hope
- The Flute Examiner (Kelly Wilson): Do You See What I See?
- Jenny Maclay (clarinet): 10 Ways to Create More Musical Phrases
Favorite blog posts, June 2021
- How To Make Oboe Reeds (Tim Feil): Reed Making Technique
- International Clarinet Association (Rebecca Rischin): The Clarinetist’s Enemy: Tendinitis: Part 2
- The Flute Examiner (Kelly Wilson): Recovering…Again
- Bill Plake Music (saxophone): The Way I Wish I Had Learned To Play Music (Lessons From My Daughter)
- Josh On That Sax (Joshua Mlodzianowski): 5 Things to Consider When Building Your Saxophone Warm-up
Favorite blog posts, May 2021
- The Vintage Clarinet Doctor – Blog (Jeremy Soule): Clarinet Re-pad vs. Overhaul
- Jennet Ingle | Oboist: Five Thoughts on Returning to the Stage
- Joffe Woodwinds: The Dynamics of Breathing with Arnold Jacobs and David Cugell, M.D.
- Magic Reed (Kathy Sheinhouse): Geographical Considerations When Choosing An Oboe Reed Maker
- Best. Saxophone. Website. Ever. (): 10 Important Flute Tips For Saxophone Players
Favorite blog posts, March 2021
- Just Flutes Blog (Chris Hankin): International Women’s Day – Fabulous Works by Female Composers
- Jenny Maclay (clarinet): 101 Clarinet Compositions Written by Women Composers
- joanmf.com (Joan Martí-Frasquier, saxophone): Women Composers
- Jennet Ingle | Oboist: The Magic of a PLAN
- The Theisen Journal – Alan Theisen, musician (saxophone): Issue No. 22: Kill Your Teacher
- Practice Monster (David Pope, saxophone): The Greatest Saxophonists in the World – and how the very idea is harming us
- Just Flutes Blog (Roderick Seed): “Can you play it in one breath?”
- International Clarinet Association (Barbara Heilmair): Collaboration with Boehm and Oehler Clarinets
Favorite blog posts, February 2021
- Steve Neff Music Blog (saxophone): An Inside Look into the Joe Allard Approach of Saxophone Playing: Memories of the First Three Lessons
- The Flute View (Paul Edmund-Davies): Why I Left the London Symphony Orchestra
- Joffe Woodwinds: Pedagogical “Doubling”
- The Flute Examiner (Jessica Dunnavant): Silver Linings and a Daily Routine
- Bill Plake Music (saxophone): An Important Thing To Notice The Instant You Prepare To Play
- Jennet Ingle | Oboist: Why Do We Practice?
- oboeinsight (Patty Mitchell): Teaching
Transcription: Stan Getz, tenor saxophone on Huey Lewis and the News “Small World (Part Two)”
Huey Lewis tells the story in Kansas City Magazine (strong language edited):
Well, my dad was a jazzer and Zoot Sims died. And when Zoot Sims died, they had a benefit in San Francisco at Kimball’s or somewhere. …
So I take him and sit down … and then I get a tap on my shoulder. I turn around, and it’s Getz. It’s really amazing … he’s wearing his horn and taps me on the shoulder, and my dad turns around and Phil Elwood turns around. And my old man goes, “Holy s***!”
Getz says, “Why don’t you let me play on some of your s***? I can play that s*** too.” And I said, “Oh, why, yes sir, I’m sure you can.” And then he took a card and he wrote on it: “Stan Getz. Have sax, will travel.”
He played beautifully, and on the way home, my old man says, “If you don’t take him up on that offer, I will never, ever forgive you!”
Favorite blog posts, December 2020
- Joffe Woodwinds (article by Ron Odrich): Science in the Art of the Clarinet Sound
- Hodge Products, Inc. Double Reed Supplies Blog (Rebecca Watson): Bassoon Wire Gauge: Does It Make a Difference?
- How To Make Oboe Reeds (Tim Feil): Reed Response
- Jennet Ingle | Oboist: Harder Isn’t Better
- International Clarinet Association (Marcus Eley): Clarinet Works by Black Composers
- International Clarinet Association (Katherine Breeden): An Overview of Making Clarinet Reeds by Hand
- Bill Plake Music (saxophone): Awareness In Playing Music: “Looking For” In Contrast To “Noticing”
- Indy Flute Shop (Erin Nichols): Open-holed flutes
- Best. Saxophone. Website. Ever. (Zhenya Strigalev): The Secret to Reaching Below the Saxophone’s Low Bb