Pitch bending is a technique where the player changes the pitch of a note by changing their embouchure, rather than the fingering of the note. It possible to change the pitch of a note by multiple tones if you have enough control over your embouchure and diaphragm. It’s a difficult technique, but I’ve been looking into how to do it well and how different it is between different instruments and pitches.
Continue reading “How Do You Pitch Bend on a Single Reed Instrument?”What percentage of people play a musical instrument?
Playing an instrument doesn’t seem like a particularly common skill as an adult. As children, a lot of us will have played an instrument at some point at school, but many of those give this up as they get older. So what percentage of people in the UK actually play an instrument and which of them are the most commonly played?
Continue reading “What percentage of people play a musical instrument?”How Can I Get Better at Playing in Tune?
One of the most important aspects of playing an instrument is the tuning. If you can’t play in tune, no matter how good you get technically, you’ll never produce a really nice sound, particularly if you’re playing with other people. Playing in tune can be difficult, particularly on certain notes or over big intervals. So how can you improve your tuning? I’ve put together some tips that you can work on here.
Continue reading “How Can I Get Better at Playing in Tune?”How do you Play Different Notes with the Same Fingering?
All woodwind instruments have a finite set of fingerings. Within a given note range, the fingering for each note will be different. However, when you get to the point where you’re learning to play a second octave, you’ll find that a lot of the notes have the same fingering. So what’s actually going on physically when you change the pitch of the note without changing your fingering?
Continue reading “How do you Play Different Notes with the Same Fingering?”Should I buy a woodwind instrument online?
There are lots of places to buy musical instruments online, but is it a good idea? There are lots of things to consider when choosing which instrument to buy, and where to buy it is definitely one. Instruments are expensive, so you don’t want to be buying one without being sure what you’re doing. I’ve written down some things to think about when you’re deciding on the best way to buy a new instrument.
Continue reading “Should I buy a woodwind instrument online?”Can I play a woodwind instrument with a cold?
When you have a cold, probably the last thing you will want to do is get your instrument out and start playing. However, sometimes you don’t have much choice. If you’ve got a concert to play in and you end up being ill on the day, you might have to play whether you like it or not. But how is playing through a cold likely to affect your playing?
Continue reading “Can I play a woodwind instrument with a cold?”Why do woodwind players have to double in orchestra pits?
If you go to see a musical with a live orchestra, you’ll notice that the woodwind players always seen to be playing loads of different instruments, while the other instrumentalists usually just play one. It’s not immediately obvious why this would be, so I thought I’d do some research into it and find out the reason.
Continue reading “Why do woodwind players have to double in orchestra pits?”
Do reeds have an expiry date?
We talk a lot about reeds needing to be changed regularly when they’re being played. What we don’t usually think about, however, if whether you can keep a reed indefinitely if you’re not using it. Do reeds go out of date or not and does it depend on the conditions they’re kept in? I was curious so had a look into it and I’ve written up what I found here.
Continue reading “Do reeds have an expiry date?”Where does the notation for accidentals come from?
Any music reader will be able to identify the symbols for accidentals – sharps, flats and naturals. What they probably don’t know, however, is where the notation itself comes from. Why, for example, does the symbol for a flat look like the letter b? I’d been wondering this for a while, so decided I’d find out.
Continue reading “Where does the notation for accidentals come from?”Can you pair any head joint with any flute?
If you’re in a position where you need a new flute, but don’t have a big budget, you might consider buying a new head joint instead. This is considerably cheaper than buying the whole flute, but you do need to think about the pairing of the flute with the head joint. I was wondering whether all head joints are compatible with all flute bodies, so I had a look into it and I’ll talk about what I found out here.
Continue reading “Can you pair any head joint with any flute?”