There are lots of different types of woodwind instrument, they are not all made of wood and some have reeds and some don’t. So what was the first woodwind instrument, how do all the later ones follow on from it and are they actually all related?
Continue reading “What is the Earliest Woodwind Instrument?”
Plenty of people are looking for careers as woodwind players, all on different instruments. So, assuming they’re all a high standard, which instrument gives them the best chance of getting a job? Some instruments are much more popular than others, so it makes sense to get one of the less common ones. But how uncommon is too uncommon – at what point is the instrument so rare that there is barely any music written for it?
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Buying reeds for a single reed instrument can be really confusing – there are so many different makes of reed, and even within one make there can be a huge amount of choice! It’s especially difficult when the reeds all have different names that don’t necessarily describe the style of playing they’re designed for. I did some investigating on this topic and put together a list of which reeds are intended for which styles of playing (classical, jazz etc.).
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Everyone talks about the different types of reed – classical reeds, jazz reeds etc. and how their sounds vary, but not about the differences in how they are made. It can seem like the different variations are just there to make you spend more money trying all the options a particular supplier provides. I decided to look into this in more detail and discovered a lot about reed-making and how the construction of a reed can influence its sound.
Continue reading “How Are Classical and Jazz Reeds Different?”