Year One: Blog Roundup

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According to my squarespace billing history, my website has just turned 1 year old!  Time for someone to smear cake on its face.  But seriously, I thought I would take a moment to update you on the state of the blog, as well as link to some of my favorite and most popular posts.

First off, you may notice a few changes around the blog.  Probably some things that should have been there since the start, however my excuse is the squarespace sidebar widgets tend not to give a full explanation on what they do. 

 

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How to clean a woodwind mouthpiece

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Let's face the facts.  You probably need to clean your mouthpiece.  I've known for a while that my mouthpieces needed a good cleaning.  It's one of those things we know we as woodwind players know we should do more often but don't.  After reading this article on NPR about wind players getting sick from the filth in their instruments, I finally decided to do something about the declining state of my mouthpieces.  (one could argue that while some instrumentalists are suffering from hypersensitivity pneumonitis, there are still millions of professionals, amateurs, and students who do not)    

What you will need:  

  • Liquid dish soap
  • Warm water
  • Woodwind mouthpiece brush OR a soft bristled toothbrush

 

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Dave Liebman interview on The Jazz Session

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On a recent episode of the podcast The Jazz Session, Jason Crane interviewed saxophonist and composer Dave Liebman.  It is a great conversation on a variety of topics including the state of jazz education, playing original music as well as the music of jazz giants, his current large group and small group ensembles, and receiving several highly recognized music awards.  It is worth your time to listen to all 40 minutes of this episode.  

The Jazz Session #200:  Dave Liebman

Direct download

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