photo credit: J. Ronald LeeThe metronome was invented by Dietrich Nikolaus Winkel in Amsterdam in 1814. It was patented in England a few years later by Johann Maelzel, and the first composer to ever use metronome markings at the beginning of pieces was Beethoven, who started doing so in 1817.

How to Practice With Your Metronome: Basic
 
The first time you turn on your new metronome, you should see if you can tap your foot or clap your hands to the beat of the metronome. This may sound silly, but it is more difficult than you think if you are new to playing a musical instrument.
It is important to be able to externalize rhythm and pulse in order to internalize it. With a metronome, you can be sure that the tempo that is being set is absolutely perfect.

Continue reading @ Alice's blog.....

Being the time of year when students are busily preparing pieces for WSMA District Solo and Ensemble, everyone should be using a metronome.  This blog post from Alice Gallagher does a fine job of not only teaching basic and advanced techniques for using a metronome, she also gives us a history lesson, and reasons against using a metronome.  A fine post indeed.

I ordered Sammy's new CD at the tail end of the year.  I knew it was coming via USPS this week, so every day I anxiously ran to the mail, only to be disappointed.  

Well it finally came in Saturday.  When I first opened it, I noticed it wasn't shrink wrapped.  I opened it up and to my surprise it was autographed!

Looking forward to digging into Sammy's music and this great all-star LA big band!

Sammy Nestico, arranger & conductor. Saxophones & Woodwinds: Dan Higgins, Sal Lozano, Pete Christlieb, Tom Scott, Gene Cipriano. Trumpets: Gary Grant, Rick Baptist, Wayne Bergeron, Warren Luening. Trombones: Charlie Loper, Andy Martin, Dick Nash, Phil Teele (bass). Rhythm: Tom Ranier (piano), Vinnie Colaiuta (drums), Trey Henry (bass), Dean Parks (guitar), Emil Richards (vibes & percussion), Alex Acuna (percussion). 

Sammy's site

woodshed [v.] -

To lock oneself away with a musical instrument and practice, either a particular piece or in general, until the player has improved greatly or can perfectly play the piece he has been practicing.

I've had my hands full on a couple of very difficult parts on some great arrangements of some holiday classics.  These tunes may or may not end up being publicly performed this season, but I have a feeling I'm going to need to take out these parts every year before Thanksgiving, so they don't get colder than the turkey.

Yes, that's a flute you hear with the trumpet in harmon mute, I'm guessing Sal Lozano on the flute part.  It's high, it's fast, it's arpeggiated.  Plenty of super Ab's and Bb's, and there's no warm up prep beforehand to get you into your flute chops.  

Jeff Driskill wrote this absolutely killer, and extremely difficult jazzy arrangement of Sleigh Ride for clarinet quartet.  He also plays all the parts in this recording, and sounds amazing.  You've got modern jazz harmony in a fast swing style and a constant rush of eighth-notes.  I'm hoping to rehearse this with a some of the area's elder statesmen of clarinet.  I'm working on the 3rd clarinet part, which in my humble opinion, is the most difficult part.  As it bounces around the throat tones and is mostly harmony so it doesn't lay as easily on the horn as the melody part (much like a 2nd tenor part in a big band chart).

Rhythm Changes in Ab (concert), I've got the first 2 choruses transcribed for an upcoming skype lesson with Jay Mason.  This transcription has been great because I've gotten a lot of play time on my bari and have really gotten to warm back up to an old, but great hard rubber custom mouthpiece, by Ernie Northway.  It's also forced me to practice some altissimo on the baritone, and there are some great ii-V patterns in here as well.

What's in your shed?

Being a newer product, I haven't seen many local stores keep these in stock.  And why should they?  Yet another ligature product from Vandoren, which comes in various colors and sizes, to take up shelf space.  The thing is, it is a good product, at a good price, and both the student/amateur and professional musician can benefit from.  I picked up the new M|O ligature back in June for the clarinet.  Prior to that, I was lucky enough to have an old Harrison ligature that was given to me, but had unfortunately gone the route of so many Harrison ligatures and snapped at a pressure point.

I do feel the ligature plays an important role in a player's overall sound.  While the ligature won't completely change your sound (they don't make jazz ligs or rock ligs), it certainly can open up the potential of the mouthpiece, and the player.  Ligatures come in various different shapes and sizes.  I generally think of them in 3 different classes.  Your basic, cheap models, usually metal and 2 screws or leather, inverted with 1 screw.  The $20-$40 class that have a bit more design and engineering to them.  And then the $40 and up class, which often look radically different from one another.  Beginners should be fine on what came with the instrument.  They haven't developed an embouchure yet that would be sensitive and can take advantage of what a good ligature has to offer.  Once you've got some years of playing under the belt is when you may demand more than your current set up can give you.  An upgraded ligature can free up vibrations of the reed, offering a better response, and can give the player more control over his or her sound.

Back to my review of this specific ligature.  One thing I like about it is how lightweight it is.  There really isn't much material to it at all, which means any pressure points have less weight behind them.  Compare this to a Windslow ligature (which I have many) or Vandoren's own Leather and Optimum lines, which can easily be described as bulky.

Another positive about the M|O lig is it's simplicity (almost).  Two contact points, one screw, that's it.  Easy on, easy off.  Some people like two screw ligatures because you can adjust the pressure on the top or bottom, and while that may be true for them, personally I've never noticed a huge difference.  There aren't any extra plates to test (Vandoren's Leather and Optimum ligs) or various cushions arrangement possibilities (Windslow).  I'll address why I say simplicity (almost) in the negatives.

Another positive of these ligatures is the price.  I was almost shocked to find out they start as low as $40, and they come with a nice plastic cap.  There are some options that can kick the price to $50 and above, mainly for the larger mouthpieces as well as gold plating.  To compare, the Optimum line has many skews with different cap offerings, which can easily drive the price upwards of $100.

Of course the main reason why I do like this ligature is that it works well.  It gets out of the way, allowing me more control of the sound.  A quick response means I don't have to blow as hard to achieve the sound I want, giving me a wider dynamic range.

There are some negatives, though mostly having nothing to do with the piece technically.  First off, the name.  Should we say "Em Oh" or "Moe"?  Or is it "Em-line-Oh"?  You can easily loose google juice by using a special character like that.  I get the idea, it is a combination of what they've learned from their Masters line and their Optimum line, but unless you follow closely Vandoren's product line, the average consumer is unlikely to, and shouldn't care.  I hope the poor branding doesn't hurt sales.

Another negative is the number of options, and lack of clear definition of said options.  The simple design should have been accompanied with similar, fewer options.  The clarinet version comes in Pewter, Black ($40 ea), Silver-plated ($50), and Gold-plated ($80).  Unfortunately, there isn't any explanation I could find in their literature which explains the difference.  Perhaps the gold-plated one is indeed twice as good as the pewter one, but odds are I'll never know.  On the saxophone side, there is gold-finish (a.k.a. gilded, $45), gold-plated ($80), and aged-gold finish coming soon (eyes roll).  An email to Dansr (Vandoren's US distributer) proved to only barely sort the issue out.  Though I only asked about the 2 variants for saxophone, the response I got was the gold-plated is slightly more focused and resistant, making the gilded slightly more spread.  Given the amount of choices we have to make on equipment, make-model, plating/lacquer, mouthpieces (tip opening, facing, chamber), and reed cuts, fewer options for ligatures would be much appreciated.  Especially if there isn't much difference between the platings.  If there is a large difference, and it's worth the extra SKU and the extra bucks, make sure the customers are well informed of the differences in all of your literature.

My last beef with Vandoren has to do with sizing.  While they do make good mouthpiece, reed, and ligature products, they really really want you to be engrossed in their universe.  Most clarinet and alto saxophone hard rubber mouthpieces are all generally the same size around and most ligatures will fit universally, though Vandoren wouldn't ever want to tell you that.  And if you ask if it will fit a Meyer or Selmer mouthpiece, they will say yes hesitantly, but immediately then recommend  you try their line of mouthpieces.  Now I don't have anything against their mouthpieces, I've played several and recommend them to my students.  They are a great and affordable solution for the advancing student.  However, Vandoren should acknowledge other mouthpieces exist, and not everybody who asks about reeds or a ligature is interested in switching mouthpieces.  It's great they love their products, but perhaps if they embrace players of other mouthpieces (and let you know what other popular brands their ligs fit), perhaps there might be a halo effect and those players may be interested in the Vandoren mouthpieces as well. 

All of that being said, I do really like this ligature and can easily recommend it to anybody looking to get more from their ligature.  The price point is good (at least for non gold-plated models) and they aren't complicated with extra plates.  It is well worth spending a little more than you might want to spend on something that holds the reed on the mouthpiece, because it really does make a difference. 

Below are links to press and information from Vandoren's website, as well as a demonstration on YouTube by Vandoren artist Antonio Hart.

Vandoren M|O interactive site

Vandoren M|O information PDF

click image for printable PDF

This little gem has been making its way around my facebook musician circles.  It was first created by the web comic Odd Quartet, posted on March 22nd, 2011.  The original post can be found here.  I've instantly added them to my RSS feed, as should you.  

My students may find this taped to the studio door, as well I will probably put it up at various locations throughout my house.  I should make it wallpaper on my iPad.

Keep practicing.

Steve Schoene is a genius, and he charges far too little for his amazing work.  
~ Jeani Foster, Principal flute MSO

I have to take a moment to say a few words about woodwind technician Steve Schoene, owner of Schmitt Music in Racine, Wisconsin.  For two reasons, one because he's really really good and deserves all the praise, and two because his store has virtually no web presence so I am hoping when people google "Schmitt Music Racine" or "Steve Schoene" they find this glowing review.

I've known Steve for quite some time now, probably a good 7 years at least.  I was in college, fighting a sticky pad problem on my Keilwerth SX-90R black nickel alto.  Sticky pads are a common problem on Keilwerths, most likely due to the large surface area of the rolled tone holes, but I exasperated the problem further using various substances including powder paper and non-stick cooking spray to solve the problem (my teacher's idea).  Spoiler alert, that's bad for the pads so don't do it.  I was also using a pad saver at the time, and Steve explained why those are a complete waste.  Moisture isn't allowed to escape the instrument and therefore the horn isn't allowed to dry properly.  

Steve patiently explained to me what the problem was with all of my pads, and that unfortunately there was no easy fix.  The horn had to be completely repadded.  At the time I was a poor college student (as opposed to a poor lesson teacher), and couldn't quite afford a complete overhaul, but Steve was able to repad my alto for what I could afford.  It's been 7 years since, I've stopped using the pad savers, and haven't had any sticky pads.

Since then I've found myself at Schmitt Music every 6-9 months getting some instrument repaired.  It's at least an hour each way from my home in Waukesha.  My tenor has been adjusted several times.  He fixed by baritone sax when it fell over on a gig in my first Hercules stand.  He's done work on my flute and bassoon as well.  Usually the work is small stuff that he can do while I wait and watch.  Since I've known him, he's doubled the size of his store and turned an entire half of the store into a repair shop, just to give you an idea how business has been.

Recently, after giving my clarinet a good thrashing over the past year, I've decided to have Steve have his way with it.  He may have made small adjustments when I first purchased the horn, but that's about it.  

So I gave him the clarinet and said, "Do whatever you need, keep it a week or two, I'm giving you a blank check, have your way with it."  To my surprise, Steve called 24 hours later to let me know the clarinet was ready to be picked up.  Unfortunately, I couldn't drop everything that second, so driving down to Racine to pick up the clarinet had to wait until Friday.  "That horn had problems up and down, from top to bottom there were issues, but it's all sealed up now," he told me.  And another thing he told me that should make any instrumentalist stop in their tracks, "I've permanently modified a couple of your keys."

Steve added teflon to two keys, in lieu of cork.  Two spots that would be metal on metal (thumb F and left pinky F/C), now have a very small, but permanent teflon rod.  It never has to be replaced, and it will never wear down.  The action is quick and quiet.  

Can you see where cork should be?

A few pads were replaced, key hights were adjusted along with spring tension.  A few keys were missing corks, and the barrel was adjusted slightly to fit the swelling of the upper joint tenon.  Some keys were also adjusted so there is no "play."  Play between keys is when there is slight extra motion as you push down one key, before it engages another key or part.  I can't say enough how extremely satisfied I am with my clarinet now.  It plays like an absolute DREAM. 

lower joint, pads for low E and F

A few days later the SUPERband played an outdoor gig in Franklin, WI.  I ended up sliding over to play lead and Gary ended up calling Sing, Sang, Sung.  And while I can't hold a candle to Eddie Daniels' playing, reading the part felt much more manageable on the newly fixed clarinet than it had in the past.  

notice how thin those pads are

So if you are looking for a high end woodwind tech who stands by his work, look no further than Steve Schoene, owner of Schmitt Music (262-634-5510) in Racine.  Steve takes work from all over the country, including from jazz saxophonist Joel Frahm.  Joel was kind enough to give his thoughts on Steve's work as well.  

I have been a professional saxophonist in New York City for over 20 years, and I trust Steve Schoene's repair work as much as any top repairman working in the world today. He is patient, meticulous and thorough and I have always been completely satisfied with my horn after he has adjusted it. I would not hesitate to send any of my students or peers to him for their horn maintenance. In conclusion, his craftsmanship is only equaled by his easy-going personality, and it has always been a pleasure to work with him over the course of my career. ~ Joel Frahm

www.joelfrahm.com
Joel on iTunes
Joel on Spotify

Frank Foster, a saxophonist and composer/arranger best known for his longtime association with the Count Basie Orchestra, has died. He passed away in his sleep early Tuesday morning at his home in Chesapeake, Va., according to his widow and manager, Cecilia Foster. He was 82.

Foster was a key member of the "New Testament" Basie band — the large ensemble Basie led in the 1950s and beyond. In addition to his playing on tenor saxophone and other woodwinds, he contributed many melodies and arrangements. At least one of those tunes, "Shiny Stockings," became a jazz standard.

Frank was in the news about a year ago too:  Jazzman Frank Foster Finally Gains Copyright Of His Most Famous Song (from A Blog Supreme)

Photo credit: dierck shaefer | Flickr.com / Creative Commons License

More scientific proof of the advantages of taking music lessons. 

Source:  Sciencedaily.com

Childhood Music Lessons May Provide Lifelong Boost in Brain Functioning

The study recruited 70 healthy adults age 60 to 83 who were divided into groups based on their levels of musical experience. The musicians performed better on several cognitive tests than individuals who had never studied an instrument or learned how to read music.

 

Musical activity throughout life may serve as a challenging cognitive exercise, making your brain fitter and more capable of accommodating the challenges of aging.  ~  Brenda Hanna-Pladdy, PhD.

Now of course, who doesn't love watching an old episode of Scrubs, or an under-appreciated Coen brothers film, or a classic 80's film from their childhood?  I even caught up on five seasons of Lost before the final season.  But would you believe there is literally TONS of great musical content available on Netflix as well?  Not just 'musical' genre movies, but documentaries and live concerts as well.  Covering all sorts of musical genres; classical, jazz, rock, funk, pop, musical theater, world, contemporary, and those are just the ones I enjoy.  Isn't it amazing that we live in a world where we can go back and watch a concert filled with legendary musicians from the 70s, delivered right to your television through the interwebs?  

There's a lot to learn from watching some of the interviews in the documentaries.  I recently watched one about Charles Mingus, in which his drummer Dannie Richmond explains their first encounter and Mingus teaches him how music is a conversation between band members, and it's difficult to hold a conversation if everybody is screaming at each other.  

Another one of my favorite quotes is from a Philip Glass documentary, when the filmmaker asked Philip of his secrets.  To which Philip replied, "You get up early in the morning and you work all day. That's the only secret."

The streaming catalogue of Netflix does change from time to time, nor am I going to limit the list to streaming only movies.  Parents be advised that many of these documentaries are "not rated" and may contain objectional language.  The following list is just a sampling of some of the great musical content available on Netflix.

Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts

Jaco Pastorius: Live and Outrageous

Charles Mingus: Triumph of the Underdog

Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers 

Herbie Hancock: Possibilities

Jazz Giants of the 20th Century 

Jazz

Sarah Vaughan & Other Jazz Divas

The Rat Pack: Live from Las Vegas 

Chicago

Ray Charles with the Voices of Jubilation Choir 

Amadeus 

De-Lovely 

The Wiz 

West Side Story 

Michael Jackson's This Is It

Soul Power

Béla Fleck: Throw Down Your Heart 

Again, this is just a mere sampling of what is available.  Got a recommendation?  Leave it in the comments below.  

If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything.  ~ Marty McFly

Today was indeed a red letter date for me.  I completed a practice goal that I had set for myself over a year ago.  That goal was to complete an intensive study in clarinet technique.  It began I believe 2/19/2010, and ended today 4/8/2011.  Over 140 hours of practice, on a very regimented schedule.  I had completed a very similar process on the saxophone during my college years.  So similar in fact, both the saxophone and clarinet technique books have Jack Snavely in common.  

The Idea

When you are out of college and are no longer taking lessons, practicing changes.  It all has to be self driven.  There is no jury or recital on the horizon.  No teacher to impress.  Very often, space can be an issue as well.  I'm sure many college grads find themselves hopping from apartment complex to apartment complex.  While I don't like making excuses, practicing woodwind instruments in a complex isn't the ideal environment as you may be surrounded by people in the living quarters.  Much different than the iso-booth practice rooms in college.  So while I did continue to practice after college, I always wanted to go back to the way things were.  Moving to a duplex with a basement helped.  I did some transcriptions, purchased a bassoon, played flute etudes.  As a woodwind artist, it can be hard to find balance and direction with so many things to practice and so many routes to go.  

The idea as a "doubler" is to make whatever instrument is in your hand not feel like a foreign object.  One should really study the instrument as if it is the only instrument you play.  Practice the same method books, etudes, solos, as a clarinetist in a symphony once did.  Jump through the same hoops and walk the same path traditional clarinetists do.  

In college under Curt Hanrahan, we study saxophone technique out of Jack Snavely's book Basic Technique for All Saxophones.  It is literally 82 pages of sixteenth notes of almost every conceivable pattern and interval in all 12 major and minor keys (enharmonics inclusive, F#, Gb, Cb, etc. are all represented).  And it was apart of the lessons that Curt gave; he would listen (and sometimes play along) to you play each pattern with a metronome at selected tempos, quarter note =120 was the max, 4 times each with various articulations (slurred, tongued, a slur/tongue variation, and jazz articulation).  It took four years of hard work, but I played through the whole book.  Curt said I was one of only a dozen or more of his students to complete the book, and I was pretty proud of myself that day.  I had made it a priority in my regular practice, and while four years might seem like a long time I was working on many other musical projects as well.  

At some point in my life I heard that Jack Snavely did an arrangement of Carl Baermann's  Complete Method for Clarinet: Third Division.  While I did study out of the Baermann book, it never really sunk in.  Mostly likely because of how it is organized.  Instead of organizing all patterns by key (like the Snavely sax book), it is organized by patterns with all keys represented.  So the first page or two is every scale, the next might be thirds in all keys, then chords in all keys and so on.   What Snavely's arrangement does is organize Baermann's content into keys.  I knew this kind of organization would be good for the fingers, and so on February 19th, 2010, I received Carl Baermann's Celebrated Method for Clarinet Part 3, arranged by Snavely.  Armed with a metronome and four reeds, I went to town.

The Plan

I knew that studying out of the organized technique book would play to my strengths.  I find it easy to sit with a technique book and metronome and play nothing but patterns for an hour.  Having the goal of making clarinet technique my main focus, I was able to craft a program around that and still practice other instruments.  Often I am asked what my practice routine is, so here is what my ideal week would look like.  I say ideal, because honestly the only part I really stuck to was clarinet.

Mondays - flute/clarinet mornings, sax in the afternoon
Tuesdays - clarinet/bassoon mornings, sax in the afternoon
Wednesdays - flute/bassoon mornings, sax in the afternoon 
Thursdays - clarinet/bassoon mornings, sax in the afternoon
Fridays - flute/clarinet mornings, sax in the afternoon 

So while it looks like the sax receieved priority, very often I didn't stick to this schedule, but I made certain to practice clarinet Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays.  Looking at the how the Baermann/Snavely book is layed out, I decided the best way to practice was to think of each key as a chapter, so each week I tackled about half a chapter.  So it took two weeks for a major key, and another two weeks for it's relative minor, so four weeks for a key signature.  For sanity's sake, I took a week off every four weeks.  

Some weeks were easier than others.  Though I split the keys up where it made logical sense, the difficulty wasn't evenly split.  Some weeks I would have to spend an hour or more each day on clarinet, but other weeks only 30-40 minutes was necessary.  Here is a breakdown of how I tackled each session.

Mondays - play each exercise 5x, double the value (so sixteenth notes are played as eighths) at 80, 100, 120, 140, and 160 BPM, slurred only.
Tuesdays - play each exercise 4x, as written, at 80, 90, 100 BPM (so 12x total), slurred, tongued, a slur/tongue variation, and jazz articulation
Thursdays - same as Tuesdays  except at 100, 110, and 120 BPM
Fridays - repeat Thursday

I can say after all of that, I really do feel like I've taken my technique game up several notches on clarinet.  It may be hard to believe, but about half way through the book I felt more connected to the instrument.  Even though I was in more difficult keys, larger interval jumps became easier than when I started.  By the end of it, I didn't have to think much about playing 4ths in the key of D# harmonic minor.  

Up Next

For starters, my clarinet is in dire need of a repair, given the beating I've applied to it over the past year.  Some corks are missing, others almost shred, the regulation for 1+1 Eb/Bb has been off for sometime.  Plus I may look into getting a Ton Kooiman thumb rest added on.  I'm not done with the clarinet by any means.  The end of this book is really the beginning to larger projects.  First and foremost, I want to get fine tune my setup (mouthpieces, ligatures, reeds) and really focus on the sound I'm trying to achieve, both classically and in jazz.  I'd like to work on both classical repertoire and jazz transcriptions, as well as practice the jazz material I practice on sax on clarinet.  

I'm hoping I can apply what I've learned playing strict technique to practicing jazz saxophone.  I've never found a strict regimine to follow when practicing improvisiation, which is part of my playing I'd certainly like to improve.  It's so much easier when the notes are in front of you.

Bassoon will probably take the place of my main double I practice, because well, it's difficult.  And I lost a couple of years between college and when I purchased my own bassoon.  I'm hoping there's a scale pattern book out there much like the Baermann/Snavely books.  Flute will always be there too, of course.

So that's my tale.  While I may have completed the goal I set for myself, it doesn't feel like the end of a journey.  The journey has just begun.