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Wanderlust-Inspired Compositions
One of the unexpected effects of moving to Paris has been my increasing sense of wanderlust, or the desire to travel and explore new places. A quick search on Pinterest or Instagram will reveal that I’m not alone – it’s human nature to dream of faraway places. Visiting other cities, countries, and continents expands our cultural appreciation and knowledge of…
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A Clarinetist’s Guide to Paris
When most people think of Paris, images of the Eiffel Tower, Louvre, and other famous monuments come to mind. These are all must-sees for any tourist, but I’ve collected a few places clarinetists shouldn’t miss. So, if you’re a clarinetist and planning on visiting Paris in the future, here are my recommendations of places to see and things to do: …
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7 Deadly Clarinet Sins
Gluttony: Thou shalt not partake in too much of one composer, instead exploring the vast landscape which clarinet repertoire has to offer. Pride: If thou believes that he or she is without fault, let them be reminded of the Nielsen, Francaix, Tomasi, and Corigliano concerti. Let them also be reminded that even the greatest clarinetist can be humbled by a…
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My First Year in Paris in 10 Photos
Here’s the part where I tell everyone how quickly the time has flown during my first year in Paris – an overused cliché, but true nonetheless. After a whirlwind year, things are finally slowing down enough for me to breathe and get caught up on some much-needed blog posts and updates. Instead of a long-winded account of my year, I thought it…
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Musical Advice in 140 Characters or Less
With the rise of Twitter, there is a new-found expectation of delivering information in a short and concise method – a tweet. 140 characters or less, to be specific. Twitter is a great platform to edit your thoughts and present them as succinctly as possible to the public. Although not ideal for music education, there are certain doctrines which can be…
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Lies My Band Director Told Me
In honor of Teacher Appreciation Week, this article is for some of the hardest-working teachers out there – music teachers! Thank you for enduring all the squeaks, scratchy bowings, loud trumpets, and forgotten mutes! “One more time!” “You would make a great bassoonist/alto clarinetist/other auxiliary instrumentalist nobody else wants to play!” “Rehearsal will only be two hours!” “Just because you’re…
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Musical Advice I’d Give My Younger Self
Let’s pretend for a moment that time travel exists. Besides disrupting the space/time continuum to visit the dinosaurs, joust with knights, or see Mozart perform (all high on my list!), I assume you’d also want to visit your former self to give them advice about the future (or maybe just leads on popular stocks). I was practicing the Francaix Clarinet Concerto…
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Mental Health Tips for Artists
Mental health is not often discussed in the arts. Musicians, dancers, artists, photographers, and other creative fields have incredibly high-stress careers. Our livelihood is based on public approval, perception, and criticism. We spend countless hours practicing, perfecting, analyzing, improving, and examining our art. Our art is an extension of ourselves, and we expose our most vulnerable thoughts and emotions with family, friends,…
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Spring Cleaning: Clarinet Edition
It’s that time of year again, when you trade in your peppermint mochas for iced coffee, bid adieu to your winter jacket, shamelessly post pictures of blooming flowers on social media…..and reluctantly realize you should really start your spring cleaning. If the idea of spring cleaning is foreign to you, I’m here to help. I’m a lifelong professional neat-freak and…
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13 Things That Annoy Every Clarinetist
Playing the clarinet is usually pretty awesome. We can play any genre of music – classical, jazz, Klezmer, pop. We blend well with most instruments. Heck, even Mozart loved us (his favorite instrument was the basset clarinet!). Clarinetists are known for being down-to-earth, but there are some things that will always irritate us: 1. When your ligature slides while changing clarinets…