Free Stuff!!!: A Sheet Music Utility and a Firefox Mp3 Plugin.

A couple of useful free things I have found recently on teh internets are Blanksheetmusic.net, a site which unsurprisingly offers various types of blank manuscript paper (you can customise the page to your liking, like Sibelius or Finale but faster and browser based.). Good if you want to print some blank sheets to write on with that antiquated technology, the hand.

The other is the Foxytunes/Yahoo Firefox plugin. It works really well for those sites that have mp3 links but don't feature a browser player (you know the ones, where you click on the mp3 link and it loads a whole new page, not ideal.).

An example (and this isn't a criticism btw) is the Clarinet of The 21st Century site which has lots of mp3 examples (click the images on the page) of the listed techniques/fingerings, now you can play them all from the same page with ease, you'll see a little play arrow underneath each example. Nice :-)

Woodwind Techniques Free Stuff Update

Yes, a couple final points for the time being (possibly) on woodwind techniques and non-standard fingerings etc, here is a great site for flute from the University of New South Wales, called the 'Virtual Flute'.

Also on the same site is lots of info about acoustics and some fingerings info (like clarinet multiphonics) for these instruments... flute, clarinet, saxophone, brass, didgeridoo, guitar, violin, voice (none as comprehensive as the virtual flute though unfortunately, apparently they are working on a clarinet one next, then possibly saxophone).

And, (wipes brow) check out Mats Möller's site with his 'New Sounds For Flute' section, featuring a quarter tone fingering chart and score/mp3 examples of various non-standard/extended techniques.

For clarinet, may I remind readers about E. Michael Richards's excellent site The Clarinet of the 21st Century, which I featured on this blog way back in April 2008. Lots of information about multiphonics and microtones and all sorts of stuff for the common sizes of clarinet (Bb Soprano*, Eb Sopranino, Bb Bass).

*seems to be some confusion about what to call the Bb and Eb clarinets, sometimes the Eb is called a soprano and the Bb just a Bb (as in Blatter's book) most often though, it's as I have listed it, Bb soprano, Eb sopranino (I think anyway).

Clarinet Of The Future

Well no not really, but 'The Clarinet of the 21st Century' is not far away as titles go. As it happens it`s a really super resource of information about contemporary clarinet techniques (you know the deal, quarter-tone fingerings, multiphonics and so on).

And no, not just Bb clarinet either , before those of you at the back start muttering.

A special bonus is that many of the fingering charts and musical examples have Mp3 examples to go with them, good job E. Michael Richards.


A Quarter Tone clarinet made by Fritz Schüller (1883-1977), via Wiki.