• The Complete Guide to Becoming a Musicpreneur: Using Networking, Social Media, and Digital Marketing to Enhance Your Career

    This blog post was originally presented as a live lecture on February 29, 2020 at Brandon University (Manitoba, Canada) during the 10th annual Brandon University Clarinet Festival hosted by Catherine Wood. What is a musicpreneur? A musicpreneur (musical entrepreneur) is a musician who can turn their skills, expertise, and opportunities into successful business ventures which can enhance their careers and from which others can benefit. What key qualities should a musicpreneur have? Ability to think outside the box. There are countless negative headlines claiming that there is no future for classical music. This isn’t true – there are more opportunities for musicians than ever, but careers are changing and look…

  • 2020 March Madness Clarinet Concerti Tournament

    Back by popular demand – March Madness, Jenny Clarinet style! Last year was the battle of the orchestral excerpts, and this year it’s time to see which one of our beloved clarinet concerti is the champion! The Jenny Clarinet March Madness tournament is a fun and interactive way to discover new clarinet concerti and revisit timeless favorites. Here’s how it works: I’ve modeled this March Madness bracket after the famous basketball brackets (for all you sports fans). I’ve created a bracket with 32 of the most famous concerti for clarinet, and I used a random online generator to randomly pair each clarinet concerto for the first round. Before the tournament…

  • How to store your reeds to optimize performance and longevity

    Over the last few weeks, I’ve been hearing reed complaints from several of my clarinet students and friends from around the world. Specific problems have run the gamut – warpage, inconsistency, fluctuations in resistance – you name it, and someone has complained about it. Despite the wide variety of reed problems it seems everyone has been experiencing, there is crucial step all reed players must take to protect their reeds – proper storage. Think of it like this – reeds are essentially plants. Like most other plants, reed cane (Arundo donax if you want to be more scientific) does not like being exposed to drastic changes in environment. Just like…

  • Practicing Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them

    By now, you’ve undoubtedly learned that there’s no substitute for consistent and focused practice. But what if no matter how much you’re practicing, the results never seem to last? Here are some common practicing pitfalls and why these might be sabotaging your practicing efforts: Not using a metronome. For the love of Mozart (feel free to insert your favorite composer here), use a metronome! If you’re not using a metronome, you have no barometer to measure your progress. Using a metronome will vastly improve your rhythmic accuracy and help you keep track of your improvement over time. Playing things too fast too soon. Technique is built slowly and steadily (emphasis…

  • The Last Time You Ever Play a Piece of Music

    When I was going through my music library to decide which pieces to take with me to Iowa, I came across Robert Muczynski’s Time Pieces for clarinet and piano. I had performed this piece countless times around ten years ago, and I started flipping through the pages and remembering this piece’s significant role in my repertoire. It went with me to several competitions, including Astral Artists and Concert Artists Guild, where I performed it from memory, and I played it dozens of other times in recitals and other venues. As I read through my cues and margin notes, I realized that at some point in our musical journey, we put…