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Your Clarinet Summer Glow Up Guide
Happy summer! (If we’re being pedantic, it doesn’t officially start until next week, but these high temperatures could have fooled me!) If you want to use your summer break for a major musical glow up, you’ve come to the right place! If you’re unfamiliar, a glow up is a positive transformation, whether it’s physical, mental, spiritual, and now…musical! There are tons of ways you can improve this summer to complete your clarinet glow up, and here are a few of my recommendations: Set goals. A glow up is all about feeling more confident with yourself, so in order to do that, you should make a list of goals or skills…
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The Musician’s Guide to Artist Residencies
Hello from Austria! If you’re subscribed to my newsletter, you know all about my Austrian adventures, including my recent and upcoming projects and performances. I’m currently in Krems an der Donau as an Artist-in-Residence Niederösterreich, where I am researching and performing the clarinet compositions of Ernst Krenek in collaboration with the Ernst Krenek Institut. I’m very thankful to have done artist residencies around the world, and I wanted to share my advice to help other musicians learn more about artist residencies. What is an artist residency? Simply put, an artist residency is an opportunity for artists (from a multitude of disciplines) to live, work, and collaborate in a designated space.…
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How to make an awesome audition recording
It’s getting close to the end of the year, which means it’s time for… Audition recordings! Whether you’re auditioning for university, orchestras, or other opportunities, you want to create a polished and professional product to stand out from the crowd. Here’s some advice to help you make an awesome audition recording: Plan way in advance. The number one mistake I see students making is waiting until the last minute. I get second-hand anxiety when I know people record the week before a deadline (I’ve even had students tell me after the fact that they recorded hours before the deadline!). As soon as you find out the details and deadline, start…
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How to rock your virtual audition
Another audition season is upon us, and this one will probably look a lot different than many of the previous auditions you’ve taken! Even if you know your way around Zoom, Skype, FaceTime, and the multitude of other essential platforms this past year, a virtual audition is a lot more pressure than your average class or meeting, which is why I’m here to help! I’ve performed and adjudicated several virtual auditions and interviews, and here are my top tips so you can focus on the music and rock your audition: Make sure you have the tech info. There are few things worse than frantically digging through your inbox before an…
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Common Clarinet Tuning Mistakes
How do you tune a clarinet? No, this isn’t the start of a band joke (although I’d love to hear your punchlines if it were). Learning how to properly tune any instrument takes time – time to train your ears, time to learn how equipment responds to adjustments, time to listen and adjust to others, and many other variables. If you’re new to clarinet tuning, you should start by reading my complete guide on clarinet tuning to learn more about how the instrument works and factors which can affect tuning. Once you’ve got the basics, make sure you aren’t making any of these common clarinet tuning mistakes: Tuning before you…
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Searching for universal clarinet truths
Since I’ve committed to writing and publishing a daily blog this month, I thought this would also be a nice opportunity to explore some different topics and formats than I’ve done in the past. Instead of a pedagogical post, I thought I’d get a bit philosophical today. A few months ago, I was giving a lecture on musicpreneurship in Manitoba, Canada. (Little did I know that this would be one of my last live performances and lectures for the foreseeable future!). During this lecture, I made an innocuous remark about how there is no universal clarinet truth. I used this as a quick example to show how there are many…
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How and why musicians should leave their comfort zones
Musicians’ lives are built around repetition. Repetition of scales, passages, auditions, performances, and years of constant hard work and dedication to their craft. It’s understandable that musicians can become comfortable and complacent after a while. However, it is important for musicians to regularly explore beyond the boundaries of their comfort zones so they can continue growing as people and as artists. Leaving your comfort zone can be simple, like working on a new style, or more pronounced, like moving to another country. (I’ve lived in three different countries, and this has definitely influenced me as a musician!) Leaving our comfort zones is actually good for us because it causes the…
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The Importance of Musical Prompts
One of the challenges in performance or audition situations is transitioning smoothly from one piece to another. It can be difficult to instantly switch from one style or musical character to another, so how you can practice these changes before you perform? By using musical prompts. If you’ve ever given a presentation, you’ve probably used cue cards. Instead of printing your entire speech on each card and robotically reading from them, you choose succinct prompts to help you streamline your thoughts. Or, if you’re an actor, you think of prompts or other cues to help you quickly get into character. Creating musical prompts is the same kind of idea. For…
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Quick Fix Friday: Play scales musically
It’s been a while since I’ve written a Quick Fix Friday! Here’s a quick fix to start your weekend on the right note: Do you practice your scales (or other technical exercises) with the same musical intention as you do when you’re working on études or repertoire? Chances are, probably not. Scales are music too, but a large number of musicians focus just on the technical aspects, ignoring phrasing, tension, and overall musicality or expression. The quick fix? Add some musicality to your scales the next time you practice. Incorporate dynamics, rubato, pacing, and anything else to make your scales more interesting to play and to practice. Not only will…
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How often should you clean or replace your clarinet swab?
If I ask you a question, do you promise you’ll give an honest answer? When was the last time you cleaned or replaced your clarinet swab? If you’re like many clarinetists (especially younger students who are learning the ins and outs of the instrument), chances are it’s been a while. Before I share my advice, I would like to offer a huge disclaimer that I am a classically trained clarinetist – not a medical or scientific professional. If you have specific questions about germs and the clarinet, especially concerning the clarinet during the current pandemic, you should look for scientific, peer-reviewed studies for this information. Back to cleaning your swab.…