Where to start when taking a look at a piece for the first time? Obviously there are as many approaches as there are musicians, and different pieces call for different attention. For an example, let’s take a look at the Duos for Flute and Clarinet by Robert Muczynski. (I’ll be performing this with my clarinetist …
St. Simons Island, 5 July 2017, 11:00pm
In the World Music class I teach at South Dakota State University, my students are required to write a research paper. The topic they have to explore is the country of Indonesia, and they have to look beyond the musical traditions. It’s a good opportunity for them to learn about a country they usually have …
As an undergrad, we used Rhythmic Training by Robert Starer in our theory classes. Honestly, I’m a little fuzzy on which theory classes used it (edited to add: after consulting the label on the back of my book, it was used in MUSI 1111, which corresponds to Aural Skills I at Kennesaw State University). I kept …
I teach woodwind pedagogy at South Dakota State University each fall, and it is always a juggling act. I like the text I use (Teaching Woodwinds, Mountain Peak Music) and I’m confident that my students will be able to employ it later as a helpful resource when they are in the trenches. However, it is …
I decided to revive the etude project, which I first began in the summer of 2014. At that time, it was my goal to play through as many etudes as possible in the hopes that it would provide me a wider variety of options when assigning exercises to my students. I obviously had a good …
The flute trials are over. Recently, I bit the bullet and bought a silver handmade Powell flute, and I paired it with a Ruby Aurumite soloist cut headjoint. Once I decided that I wanted a silver inline handmade Powell, I spent a lot of time trying out different headjoints. I found this to be a …
I continue to look for a new flute. A colleague in the area has a very nice Burkart that she is not playing as much as she would like, so I tried it out for a while. It’s a beautiful instrument and has a gold headjoint. I don’t have the specifications available for this one, …
I find myself in the market for a new flute. I’m not in a hurry to purchase, and I plan to try out many different instruments before deciding what I want to go with. This week, I’ve been playing a wooden (grenadilla) flute made by Powell. The mechanism is sterling silver and it has a …
