Buying woodwind instruments I’ve recently noticed a few “rare, vintage” wind instruments going up for sale on FB marketplace and eBay. Here’s some advice that will save you a lot of disappointment and grief. 1. Always check under or around the thumb rest/plate for a “H” or “HP” before buying a vintage wind instrument. This…
A How-To Guide: Styles This is one of the most important skills for any clarinet or saxophone player that wants to play more than just classical music. The ability to sound like or at least to play in the same style within a particular genre of music is a vital skill. Yet, without this skill,…
Jazz Tonguing “Ta-Ta” versus “Doo-Doo” Tonguing. What do I mean by this statement and is there such a thing when it comes to playing the two styles? To my way of thinking there most certainly is. The “Classical Tongue” Clarinet and saxophone players are mostly taught to tongue the reed with a clean, direct stroke…
A How-To Guide: Swing The term “swing” has more meanings, connotations and references, (to quote an Aussie saying) than you can poke a stick at! “Swing” music came to the forefront and attention of the world during the early twentieth century when New Orleans musicians, mostly self-trained picked up instruments discarded by battle-weary soldiers at…
PRODUCT PEEK 2: 52 Melodic Etudes-Book 1 52 Melodic Etudes (books 1, 2 and 3) have been written for students and players that like a variety of musical styles when practising studies and developing techniques. The books range from beginner, intermediate to advanced levels which make up the 52 etudes over the three books. BOOK…
A How-To Guide: Vibrato A How-To Guide: Vibrato 1. What is Vibrato? 2. How do we create it? 3. When and where do we use vibrato? 4. How do we learn vibrato? 1. Vibrato is a term that musicians use to describe the effect of using undulations in the tone in order to colour a…
Mastering the High Register On Your Clarinet There are more opinions, techniques and myths about this subject than fish in the sea…well almost. When we ask ourselves the question, “what is a high note?”, the answer will vary from player to player depending on the player’s experience and knowledge of high note playing. I guess…
Reeds, Reeds and More Reeds! This week I have been on a quest to find, test, categorise and eliminate my large stores of reeds that seem to have accumulated all over my studio in various boxes and places! I’m sure we’ve all “been there, done this” though. I open a box of reeds up, select…
Updates to the Website Hi Friends, After much deliberation last year, I decided to move the website to a new server and Webhosting service. This server is a lot faster and more stable than the previous one so andyfirthmusic.com will always be online and running 24 hours a day whenever you want to visit, listen…
So How Does This Site Work and Why Did I Create It? Andy Firth Music was set up in 2017 as a comprehensive portal and online music shop for all things Andy Firth Music related. From my sheet music publications to my recordings, biography to a place set up to either book me and my…
