So Many Instruments, So Little Time!

[This post's primary audience will be people who do the bulk of their work in less than ideal environmental conditions, namely theater pits and on tours. However, anybody who finds themselves having to play outdoor pops series or patriotic concerts might also find this useful!] This is an article I've been wanting to write for a while, but something happened recently that made it clear that now is the time. One of my very nearest and dearest friends (who also happens to be my roommate) was very recently playing the reed chair in a fantastic high-profile off-Broadway show, and in this show, among the 8 instruments in his book, he played oboe and English horn. In the frigid air-conditioning of the theater, during a performance (as he began to play a highly exposed solo), his English horn cracked. No, it didn't crack, it EXPLODED. His precious, dark and smooth-voiced English horn, which was the instrument that his beloved mentor and teacher used for her entire care...

I have no idea why it never happened until last weekend...I mean, I really, really love flutes. A lot. I've been to tons of regional flute fairs, and conventions for nearly every other instrument I play that HAS a convention. (Ask me about the year that I thought I could pull off Schnittke at the American Viola Society Festival...I still have nightmares.) Last summer, I went to both the International Clarinet Association convention AND the International Double Reed Society convention in the same week!  Yet... I have never been to the National Flute Association convention...until now.  In a hilariously ironic twist of fate, two years ago, the convention was held in New Orleans. Where I, you know, LIVED at the time. I literally could have *walked* from my living room to the hotel in 10 minutes. I didn't go.  Why?  I was performing in Tokyo.  #facepalm (Not that that's exactly a terrible reason...) So when my dear, lovely friend Betsy Winslo...

In my last series of blog posts, we discussed the wide, wonderful world of wood flutes, and how much I adore them. I had planned my next post to be about wooden headjoints, which have become very popular lately as an addition to the sonic arsenal of flutists who want to find a way to extend the color palette of their metal flute bodies beyond various high-purity silver alloys, golds, and platinum. I was planning out the layout of that next post when I received a series of wonderful messages from Jean-Paul Wright, the Marketing Director of Worldwind Music, the parent company of Trevor James Flutes; and Cathy Miller, Vice President of Miyazawa  and Sankyo  flutes, who also oversees US distribution of Trevor James, asking me if I would like to give their newest product a whirl, and of course who could refuse?! Back in January, TJ unveiled a new wooden headjoint at NAMM in Anaheim. A wooden lipplate and riser has been an option on their silver headjoints for a few years now, w...

In the event that there are those of you who WOULD prefer to have it all in one go instead of 3 separate entries, here you are! :-)  If you've read any of my past posts, watched many of my Youtube videos, or know me in real life, then you know that one of my greatest obsessions is the wooden Boehm flute. I love everything about wood flutes; the sound, the way they feel in the hands, the way they look, the gorgeous variety of woods that are used in their manufacture.  The topic of wood flutes has randomly popped up in conversation with several different people over the last week or two, and it has come clear to me that a great many people, even within the flute playing community, are laboring under the same general set of misconceptions about wooden flutes; primarily, that they are unsuitable for modern-day orchestral use and that nobody plays them. Many are unaware that they are even currently being produced! This...well, this makes me sad. The modern Boehm flute crafted f...