After decades of experimentation, musicians have begun to utilize a strikingly colorful palette of sounds on woodwind instruments. Flute, clarinet, and saxophone players, in many different musical settings, regularly use sounds that were unheard of in the middle of the twentieth century. Oboists, in comparison, have lagged somewhat behind their more adventurous colleagues. In writing Oboe Unbound: Contemporary Techniques, author Libby Van Cleve opens up the tradition-bound assumptions of the instrument’s capabilities. Not only does she include descriptions of the instrument’s standard technique from range and reeds to the use of vibrato, but she also discusses recent techniques, such as multiphonics, microtones, altered timbres, and extended range, to name a few. Van Cleve bolsters this book with numerous music examples and professionally-tested fingering charts, and concludes with basic information about the use of electronics for amplification, recording, and sound enhancement. The book’s appendixes include a substantial bibliography of music and literature and a discography including jazz, non-western, and art music recordings. The revised edition incorporates new information about resources now available through the internet and marks the launch of a website that includes examples of all the contemporary sounds as well as audio and video recordings of unreleased compositions.

The oboe, including its earlier forms the shawm and the hautboy, is an instrument with a long and rich history. In this book two distinguished oboist-musicologists trace that history from its beginnings to the present time, discussing how and why the oboe evolved, what music was written for it, and which players were prominent. Geoffrey Burgess and Bruce Haynes begin by describing the oboe’s prehistory and subsequent development out of the shawm in the mid-seventeenth century. They then examine later stages of the instrument, from the classical hautboy to the transition to a keyed oboe and eventually the Conservatoire-system oboe. The authors consider the instrument’s place in Romantic and Modernist music and analyze traditional and avant-garde developments after World War II. Noting the oboe’s appearance in paintings and other iconography, as well as in distinctive musical contexts, they examine what this reveals about the instrument’s social function in different eras. Throughout the book they discuss the great performers, from the pioneers of the seventeenth century to the traveling virtuosi of the eighteenth, the masters of the romantic period and the legends of the twentieth century such as Gillet, Goossens, Tabuteau, and Holliger. With its extensive illustrations, useful technical appendices, and discography, this is a comprehensive and authoritative volume that will be the essential companion for every woodwind student and performer.

Contemporary Orchestration: A Practical Guide to Instruments, Ensembles, and Musicians teaches students how to orchestrate for a wide variety of instruments, ensembles, and genres, while preparing them for various real-world professional settings ranging from the concert hall to the recording studio. Unlike most orchestration texts, it includes coverage of contemporary instruments and ensembles alongside traditional orchestra and chamber ensembles. Features Practical considerations: Practical suggestions for choosing a work to orchestrate, and what to avoid when writing for each instrument. Pedagogical features In the Profession: Professional courtesies, considerations and expectations. Building the Score: Step-by-step construction of an orchestration. Scoring Examples: Multiple scoring examples for each instrument. Exercises: Analyzing, problem solving, and creating orchestration solutions. Critical Thinking: Alternate approaches and solutions.

Modeled on the brilliant approach first formulated by distinguished professor of music and master clarinetist Michele Gingras in Clarinet Secrets and More Clarinet Secrets (both available from Scarecrow Press), Music Secrets for the Advanced Musician: A Scarecrow Press Music Series is designed for instrumentalists, singers, conductors, composers, and other instructors and professionals seeking a quick set of pointers to improve their work as performers and producers of music. Easy to use and intended for the advanced musician, contributions to the Music Secrets series fill a niche for those who have moved beyond what beginners and intermediate practitioners need. In Oboe Secrets: 75 Performance Strategies for the Advanced Oboist and English Horn Player, Jacqueline Leclair tackles the oboe’s reputation as an especially difficult instrument and illustrates how oboists and English horn players can overcome common challenges. Leclair draws on her experience as a performer and instructor, offering practical tips and sometimes revolutionary ideas for rethinking oboe pedagogy. Leclair also looks at performance strategies in the areas of equipment maintenance and management, physical health, and performance technique. Her secrets focus on such matters as how to optimize practice sessions, build endurance, improve use of the body when playing, work with reeds, and apply extended techniques. Oboe Secrets provides oboists and English horn players a quick and efficient path to significant improvement—both technically and musically—in their playing.It is the perfect resource for advanced high school oboists, professional performers, music instructors, and avid amateur musicians.

This unique reference book is a compendium of makers and manufacturers of every variety of musical instrument made in the United States today. It provides names and addresses of instrument makers indexed alphabetically. Each entry gives all known information on the total and annual number of instruments the maker has produced, the number of workers in the shop, the year the individual or firm began manufacturing instruments, whether the instruments are available on demand or made to order, and whether a brochure is available from the maker. Complete cross-references are provided for companies known by more than one name, for partnerships, and for parent and subsidiary firms. Instruments are also indexed, and makers are listed by state for the convenience of the reader. Lists of schools of instrument making and relevant organizations and publications are included as appendixes. The directory will serve two major purposes. First, it will be an invaluable source of information for historians and for the rapidly growing number of collectors of musical instruments, who will be able to use the data gathered here in appraising instruments and tracing their history. The second purpose is simply to increase communication among instrument makers and to make their names available to retail and wholesale outlets for their products.