Ryan Cheng just won the audition for the Tenor Saxophone seat with the National Youth Band of Canada for 2017.  We have been working together for four years and every moment has been a delight. He was playing a lovely Trevor James Signature Reference Silver-plated horn with Vandoren V21 reeds and a Vandoren TL4 mouthpiece.   One of the excerpts was from Max Bruch’s Kol Nidrei with which he also won a Rigg Scholarship for excellence in the arts at St George’s School where he has been a member of the prestigious Wind Ensemble and Jazz Band for the last four years.  Ryan’s a sensitive and accomplished musician who richly deserves this honour.

I was entranced by recent internet videos of the Vandoren BD5 Bass Clarinet mouthpiece.  Part of it might have been Vandoren artist David Gould’s sublime playing, but there was something about the richness and compact fluid sound of the setup that was wonderful.  I contacted my friend Alex who distributes Vandoren products in Canada and was informed that the Bass Clarinet version was not yet available, but he sent me two of the 13 series American pitch Soprano clarinet models.  What a revelation!   They are incredibly rich, focussed, compact and fluid with great intonation and ease of articulation.  Much more focussed than anything I have played.  This has been the first time I have been tempted to change mouthpieces in 10 years and I am switching over for an extended trial.  They replace my previous favourite Vandoren models, which were already excellent and chosen by many professionals and students.  By the way, they seem supremely matched to the amazing V21 reeds!  I’m going to keep an extra couple in the studio for student trial.  Bravo, Vandoren!

Vandoren sent me samples of these a few weeks ago, and I just received my subsequent order of 16 boxes!  Possibly the best cane reed of all time!   Incredible core sound due to the conical cut!  So…here is my cane reed collection now, available to all students for trial!

Legere recently released the European Cut clarinet reed.  I wouldn’t have believed we could have improved upon the Signatures, but I ended up exchanging all my Signatures for European cuts!  Julie  at Legere noticed I still had some of the old clamshell packaging on my display wall in a photo I sent her, so she also exchanged all of those for ones in the new packaging and sent one more of the new wall racks….so here is my new Wall of Legere!

A day so anticipated that it felt like it would never come…and it was worth the wait!   Baritone saxophonists struggle with reeds more than any other single reed player.  Many have the opinion that there are no good bari reeds made, period.  Not me…there were Legere Classic bari reeds!  I stock every premium cane reed in the studio and keep trying them all from time to time, but always go back to Legere.  However, as a Legere Signature player on every other size of saxophone, I have been longing for the Bari.  It’s here and it is already selling very well in Vancouver.  One more nail in the coffin for cane baritone reeds!

I’ve never been so proud to be a Conn Selmer artist.  My talented young student, Lauren Breakel bought my lovely Bliss clarinet from me when she first started lessons.  I gave her a great deal, but unfortunately the instrument developed an unrepairable crack.  I was prepared to get her another clarinet at my cost but Brian Engstrom and Conn Selmer replaced the instrument gratis even though the warrantee period was long over.  The instrument just arrived from the factory and we still cannot believe the generosity and support of this wonderful company.

I own over 100 ligatures, totalling around $7000, and have articles on ligatures printed in Canadian Winds and  Saxophone Today.  So trust me when I say that the $2500 I just invested in 16 Silverstein ligatures is well spent!  All the good things seem to go together in a fine ligature such as this.  Smooth warm enhanced response, more clarity and presence, ease of articulation, greater density of tone and startling projection.  One can also “play” with the tone and projection by adjusting the side bars to various positions.  Silverstein ligatures are guaranteed for life, are available for everything from Eb Clarinet to Baritone Saxophone and they will make a custom ligature for any mouthpiece!  Change your life today!

This just arrived in North America and I got the first one in Canada, along with the Focus (which is a smaller tip opening…more of  a chamber mouthpiece.)  It is unbelievable…the most beautiful round warm smooth bass clarinet sound I have ever heard, with incredible ease of articulation and altissimo.   Can’t stop playing it, except to pick up my new MoBa cocobolo A clarinet!  I’ve got a gig with Pacific Blackwood on Sunday and it will blow the other bass clarinetist’s minds!

It’s hard to believe that I can be twice blessed like this.  Due to my long friendship with Morrie Backun, Joel Jaffe and Jeremy Backun, I now have the very first Cocobolo A Clarinet off the production line at Backun Musical Services.

So, it is a matched set with the very first Cocobolo Bb clarinet they made.

“A dream come true” is really an overused phrase, but not in this case!

OK, I know that sounds like it just about me!  However, it is a revolutionary new reed adjusting tool.  I’ve got two for me and one each for a couple of students who are learning reed adjusting.  It is the only tool I know where you can flatten the table of the reed and also work on incredibly fine detail or on wider areas on the surface of the reed.

Easy to use with good instruction videos on their site.  You can’t cut yourself and you can leave it in your case when traveling by air!  I used to use the Vandoren Reed Stick for most of my adjustments, but it will not flatten tables, loads up with dust quickly and wears out in 6 months or so.  In addition, the ReedGeek will do a more aggressive adjustment when necessary.   I used to have to use sandpaper and a reed knife and a reed stick, now one tool does it all!  Read more at http://www.reedgeek.com