Hey Reader, The school year is really hurtling to an end for me this year, which is why I’m a week late with this newsletter. Amidst the frantic pace of end-of-year wrap ups with students, last reed orders to finish before the summer, and onboarding to a new lesson scheduling platform, I just didn’t have it in me to come up with anything interesting to write about. (The burnout is strong!) I’ve also been struggling to find the willpower to sit down and practice. I’m not sharing this as a way...
15 days ago • 4 min read
Hey Reader, This past weekend was my spring semester Studio Recital. About a third of my students were able to play, which is lower than typical. It turned out that there was a middle school adjudication event at the same time and a handful of students were participating in that. The result was that the recital was largely full of quite advanced students (mostly high school age), so the playing level was high. One of the themes that emerged in the two weeks leading to the recital was the...
about 1 month ago • 5 min read
Hey Reader, It’s the end of Youth Orchestra audition season here in San Jose. One of the most important parts of preparation for an audition is reed strategy. I personally prefer to make a boatload of reeds in the month leading up to an audition, break them in one at a time, and keep making reeds until I have 10-15 good reeds in my case; but I realize that most of my students don’t have the (seeming) luxury of acquiring new reeds in response to reeds that don’t turn out the way they want....
2 months ago • 3 min read
Hey Reader, I’m finally getting back to my normal routine, and thus your inboxes! It feels like a lifetime since I last emailed about teaching vibrato, so today’s newsletter will be a bit of an update on what’s happening in my studio and also an update about the Legere American scrape reeds, and some use-cases for these reeds. Quick Update: Since the start of the year I played 2 concerts with completely new-to-me repertoire (Verdi’s Requiem, and Wind Ensemble arrangements of Borodin Symphony...
4 months ago • 3 min read
Hey Reader, Back in June when I attended the IDRS Conference, I got to learn about a new innovation in reed knife sharpening which my friend Graham Mackenzie designed. Graham designed a jig to help us sharpen our reed knives more consistently. He's not in production yet, but I understand that he's working towards being able to produce and sell his jig. Today's newsletter is a guest article written by Graham! Getting your reed knife really, really sharp is one of the most important, and most...
8 months ago • 5 min read
Hey Reader, You're invited to my free one-hour solo recital next week! Called Images for Oboe and Piano, each of the six pieces evokes a strong sense of place or character, from the mountains to the great plains to the seashore. This all-ages presentation includes music by traditionally under-represented composers William Grant Still, Ruth Gipps, Jenni Brandon, Daniel Baldwin, Chen Yi, and Jean Coulthard. There are two dates, and I hope you'll attend as well as spread the word: Friday,...
9 months ago • 1 min read
Hey Reader, It’s been a whirlwind few weeks. Earlier this week I played my second audition in two weeks (no, the repertoire did not overlap very much). And in 8 days I’m debuting my first solo recital program since 2012. I’m hoping to set up a livestream, info tbd, but if you’re in the San Jose area - you’re invited to join me in person for the upcoming dates: Friday, September 26, 1:30pm at West Valley College (Cilker building lobby) Saturday, September 27, 2:30pm at St. Lawrence Catholic...
9 months ago • 3 min read
Hey Reader, Happy Labor Day week! I’m a proud member of the American Federation of Musicians - they help me make (closer to) a living wage for my performance work with orchestras, and even once helped me get an orchestra to cover the repair costs for my English horn cracking! (tl/dr: someone had left the stage door open and it was 56 degrees on stage during rehearsal). My favorite union factoid is that labor unions’ advocacy for workers was responsible for making the 40-hour work week a...
9 months ago • 2 min read
Hey Reader, It’s my first week back to school and man it has been busy, and delightful! This year most of my continuing students came for at least one lesson during the summer, but many of those happened way back in June, so it’s been fun to catch up with them and talk about their summer adventures! One of my own summer adventures included trying the new Legere Signature American Scrape oboe and English horn reeds and even getting one for myself. Legere has been pushing out their marketing...
10 months ago • 4 min read
