Most of us are returning to school over the next couple of weeks and I would like to share some insights for my band teaching colleagues.  One of the best ways to make a major impact on your ensembles' performances is to dedicate time to improve ensemble tone.  Tone quality is vital for any performance.  How many times have you listened to a solo performance where the musician has amazing technique but the tone quality is bad enough to be distracting.  Let's face it:  you can have the fastest fingers in the world, but if you don't play with characteristic tone on your instrument, I really do not want to listen to you. 

We all took the requisite methods courses and learned how to play.  Most college methods courses teach you how to assemble, hold, and play instruments but embouchure formation and demonstrating characteristic tone are not addressed.  Do you even know what a clarinet is supposed to sound like?  Do you know how to teach a first year flute student to produce a characteristic tone?  Can you provide examples of exemplary tone quality recordings for your students, should you not be able to model characteristic tone?  Beginners (and all students) need to have "that sound" in their ears and you need to be able to provide examples.  My new book focuses on characteristic tone production by providing step-by-step instructions for embouchure formation for flute, clarinet, and alto sax as well as common playing errors, identifiable by sight and/or sound.  The book also provides links to a variety of characteristic tone examples.  "Teaching Beginning Woodwinds" should be available in Amazon by October in paperback and eBook formats.  Should you need examples of great tone quality between now and then, please don't hesitate to email me and I can send you some reference recording.  This year, make a commitment to helping your students - and your ensembles - sound amazing!

Bret's blog covers lots of useful woodwind topics. Especially useful are his "Favorite Blog Posts," because they're packed with good info. 

Woodwind artist Bret Pimentel is an emerging talent who is comfortable in a wide variety of musical settings. He is at home with the classical solo repertoire of the saxophone, flute, oboe, clarinet, and bassoon, as well as chamber and symphonic music, jazz, and rock and pop. In addition to the major modern woodwinds, he is skilled at a number of folk, ethnic, and period woodwinds, and the Akai Electronic Wind Instrument.

Bret’s career has included performances with Dave Brubeck, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, the Temptations, the King’s Singers, the O’Jays, Brooklyn Rider, Guy Hovis, Mimi Fox, Terry “Big T” Williams, Tricia Walker and more.

Bret currently teaches applied oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and saxophone at Delta State University, as well as chamber music, woodwind methods, and jazz courses. He has also taught applied woodwind lessons at Clemson Universityand Brigham Young University, and woodwind methods courses at theUniversity of Georgia.

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