(Part 3) Best books about woodwind instruments according to redditors

I'm pretty sure they come from the French book of rose studies. Artistic Studies Book 1–From the French School.

tl;dr - see bolded sections.

Welcome! It sounds like you match the profile of a lot of amateur/hobbyist bassoonists. You should absolutely keep playing if you want to. (One of us! One of us!)

If you're going to college for something else, it would be totally normal for a non-music-major to still hang out around the bassoon studio, audit some studio classes, take lessons, play in the lower-ranked ensembles, and so on. The universities I attended had 1-credit lessons for non-majors and loaner instruments as well. It's less money than a lot of college students spend on other hobbies, and it's an arts elective credit. If your school has loaners, that puts off the purchase decision another 4 years or so. (At which point, well, everybody has their own pick for best "value" bassoon. I'd say Renard 41 on eBay if you're on the tightest of budgets. Other folks disagree.)

A plastic Yamaha isn't terrible, but Jones reeds often are. You should probably find a teacher sooner (not later) and take a couple lessons - they might even be a student at the university you plan to attend. Any halfway competent teacher will help you find a reliable source of cheaper-but-hopefully-not-crappy reeds, which will make your Senior year... better. They'll also provide a "sanity check" to make sure you don't have any bad habits that are making it harder for you unnecessarily.

If money is a concern, intermittent lessons are enough, if you actually do what the teacher tells you to do. Get this book, bring it to your first lesson, and have the teacher help you develop a practice schedule. (Not unlike a training schedule for weight-lifting. Your trainer will help teach your proper form, but most of the work is on your own and consistency is key.)

Since you sound pretty self-motivated, I'd say get a copy of the Weissenborn method book too, to work through on your own, and learn those scale etudes. :-)

Good luck.

Contact the all state organization and let them know about this. If they can't help, contact the publisher directly.

Edit: here it is: http://www.amazon.com/Concert-Contest-Collection-Clarinet-Accompaniment/dp/B000KY2N4C

Hi there!
The dizi is awesome! Welcome to the club! First off, I'm going to assume the green liquid is something to help the membrane stick. When I bought my kit ages ago, I got a small little glue rock thing that works. But anyway, in order for it to make the desired sound, you need to cover the hole after the tone hole with a piece of bamboo membrane. Cover the hole with the membrane stretched tight across, it should look almost like you've scotch taped over the hole. After that you can play away!

Things to keep in mind - the dizi is actually reversible, you can play it on the right OR left side! Which is kind of neat, but if you started on the Western flute (like me), that doesn't matter much since you'll always hold it to the right. Fingering charts for the dizi is complicated because the chinese music notation system is completely different. If you want to ease into it, I found that the book was a really nice way to ease into the music first without worrying about learning a new notation system yet. I don't know about this edition, but I own the previous one and it has a lot of great information on the history and culture of the dizi, which is really nice!

The numbness is unusual, but it also seems unlikely that you managed to do permanent damage to your muscles in a single weekend. I second the suggestion to play for very short periods of time, several times a day. Don't go all the way until your lips are numb; stop as soon as you start feeling off, even if that means just one scale at a time or something like that.

You might also want to take this opportunity to really optimize your use of your air and embouchure. If you are pinching the reed too much, holding lots of tension in your face or shoulders, or have poor breathing habits, that will all decrease the amount of time you can comfortably play for. Talk to a private teacher about improving your embouchure, and you could even consult an Alexander Technique practicioner to sort out other inefficiencies in how you play. If you have access to a library that can order them, or even want to buy them, the books Oboemotions by Stephen Caplan and Playing Less Hurt by Janet Horvath might be helpful for you!

Two possibilities for instructional material include Jim Hughes' book, wich starts with the very basics of both harmonica and music reading, and Douglas Tate's book, brief and subtle but containing excellent advice.

From the other comments, though, there appears to be some confusion as to whether you simply want sheet music (and already have enough harmonica technique to tackle classical music) or whether you also need to learn to play the chromatic well enough to approach this repertoire. Perhaps you could clarify a little.

By the way, another discussion group that focuses entirely on the chromatic harmonica is Slidemeister, and it might be worthwhile to inquire there, as well.

It says it's from 2015, maybe you saw the older copies being sold by resellers. This should be the lastest one, right?

https://www.amazon.com/Charlton-Method-Recorder-Andrew/dp/1908904798/ref=pd_cp_14_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=3P228YSEHD7CRZ5ERT4D

Besides the Eagle, I am also pining for one of these. But that is not my price range yet either.

In the realm of cheapest are Smart and Woodnote. The Smart soprano I have is bad enough I am not going to bother trying an alto, but I am planning on getting a Woodnote alto. At $20 on ebay there is little risk, and they are alleged to be exact Yamaha clones.

The yamaha 300 series alto is my current regular recorder and I like it. Aulos makes better plastic altos, the A509 and A709. I don't have them, but reviews all seem good enough to try them, and my Aulos sopranino is nice. Then ALSO, there is the Zen-on Bressan alto. A little more expensive for a plastic, but allegedly worth it. Considering the price difference, I will probably try all of those before going up the 1.5 orders of magnitude price difference to a modern wood recorder.

tl;dr: Woodnote for cheap, or Yamaha 300, Aulos A509 or A709, or Zen-on.

Re books: The Recorder Book

I've found The Great Highland Bagpipe and its Music by Roderick Cannon to be a fantastic book. I particularly enjoyed the piobaireachd chapter!

I'd recommend the Trevor Wye books. Lots of great advice in there! For hitting the high register notes, start on the highest note you can play comfortably, and work your way up from there. Use a focused and fast airstream while being as relaxed as possible. Don't try to force it using tons of tension in your embouchure. Quality over quantity-- playing one beautiful note is better than squeaking out lots of bad ones, because then you're just practicing how to sound bad. Eventually your lips will become stronger, and the 3rd octave will become easier and easier.

Here is a great book edited by Daniel Bonade. It features a number of the French Solo de Concours series commissioned by the Paris Conservatoire.

You're going to love it! When you get some experience under your belt, it's not an informational book, but this guy's books come with a CD, and I find it really helpful to hear a song when I'm learning it https://www.amazon.com/Klezmer-Sephardic-Tunes-Traditional-Performances/dp/1847612563/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1543119702&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=Klezmer+accordion

He has books for different types of music, you may or may not like it. Last up, it's super in depth, but if you want to master the left hand, this book is the gold standard as far as I'm concerned : https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0786688394/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1543119891&sr=8-1

I also put the sax down and picked it up 17 years later. After the basics of muscle memory for fingerings and embouchure were back I was able to jump straight back into the method books I had from back then.

After about six months of noodling around I enrolled in a jazz ensemble improv intro class. I’m obviously the rustiest one there but I’m out-sight-reading the other saxophonist in the class. (I’m getting my ass kicked in theory and transposition though, so that’s where I’m studying)

You don’t need to start on the basic basics, you got that down almost 2 decades ago. Push yourself a bit, it’ll come back pretty quick! Go get a jazz method book if that’s what you want to learn! I got The Jazz Method for Alto Saxophone (Book & CD) https://www.amazon.com/dp/1902455002/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_tlWCDbQSBFYWH and it’s been a good jumping off point, though I did also find the really early pages suuuuuper remedial.

Simple Flutes: A Guide to Flute Making and Playing, or How to Make and Play Simple Homemade Musical Instruments from Bamboo, Wood, Clay, Metal, PVC Plastic, or Anything Else https://www.amazon.com/dp/1620355302/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_w3ESDbGZDFG99

Check out this book, maybe?

http://www.amazon.com/Foundation-Studies-Op-63-Clarinet/dp/1581060629

Notes found in the back of my library's copy of Hiroshi Koizumi, Technique for Contemporary Flute Music (Schott Japan, 1996).

Thanks but that's not the one. I'm trying to find this one, not the one from Jaques Lancelot. But again, thank you :)

Please don't fix it yourself! A clean/oil/adjust is one thing (Not very hard if you know what you're doing) but padding is a beast. There's a lot of tiny adjustments and frustration.

If you're looking into starting to fix flutes on your own, I recommend buying this book. I think it may be currently out of print, but it's seriously my bible when it comes to repair and understanding the intricate workings of the flute. Work on junk flutes first, definitely.

Maybe it could be cheaper to ship it overseas?

Probably not exactly what you're looking for, but my 13 year old nephew plays clarinet and someone got him this Star Wars solos for clarinet book, and it was a hit.

other ideas --

-- Reed case (looks like a classy cigarette case)

-- Clarinet Hero Tshirt. Or have a tshirt printed with the logo for the brand of his clarinet printed on it.

-- Clarinet stand

This book has quite the collection: Cowboy Songs for Harmonica if you want to learn to play them. I’m sure you could also find them online/YouTube/etc