Heather Roche

#MusicIcon Michel Arrignon, co-founder of the Ensemble Intercontemporain and cherished clarinettist, has passed away at 76. A pioneer of modernism, he brought 20th-century masterpieces to life and was deeply inspired by his work with Pierre Boulez. #ClassicalMusic #Legacy

Thank you!

Thank you, dear Anita!

BBb contrabass clarinet mouthpiece — JDWoodwinds | Custom clarinet accessories The new JDwoodwinds contrabass clarinet mouthpiece is the result of many years of frustration with the mouthpieces previously available on the market. Before this mouthpiece, most contrabass clarinet ...

jdwoodwind.com/shop/p/contr...

Since it was my birthday last week, I bought myself a present: a new contrabass clarinet mouthpiece from JD Woodwinds. 3D printed, and 1/3 of the price of other models. Arrived from the US in less than a week. And it plays like a dream. Agility + dynamic control are up 10x.

Sofia Gubaidulina passed away today in Germany, aged 93. RIP.

In color: Dimitri and Irina Shostakovich playing with a little cat.

ZRD Composer’s Lab: Applications Open! The Zöllner-Roche Duo are pleased to announce their 2025 Composer’s Lab. A jury consisting of Eva Zöllner & Heather Roche 
and composer Elnaz Seyedi will select 3 composers 
who will writ…

Three days until the deadline for our Composer's Lab, get your applications in! heatherroche.net/2025/02/25/z...

Ha! The clarinet! The clarinet!

Spent all day recording Meredith Monk on my glorious contrabass clarinet and I love playing it so much and please can more people book me to do so? Please? I really don’t get to take her out often enough. She’s low and a bit farty and really just delightful.

@royalbirmcons.bsky.social is offering TWO £5000 scholarships open to applicants for our MA Musicology course. This one-year course can be a gateway to PhD studies or simply a chance to explore any area of music in more depth with world-leading experts, all in our state-of-the-art facilities 1/

Warmups and the Adult Amateur Musician On developing confident, efficient adult clarinetists through good warming up

I wrote a thing after an encounter with one of my adult clarinet students! (I also started a Substack, having already been hooked on the platform for a few months now.)

YouTube video by Heather Roche, Clarinettist Portamento, Slap Tongue and Double Tongue in Kagel's Schattenklänge for solo bass clarinet

I'm happy with this video too but this thumbnail is probably my best work ever 🤣

Can't wait Leo, see you there!

Flautist Laura Cocks

We're putting on this gig on Friday (21st Feb) with Weston Olencki and Laura Cocks (launching their album FATHM), two excellent experimental musicians from the USA who I am sure some of you know. Please come to this gig! Sign up here: www.city.ac.uk/news-and-eve...

We are now accepting applications for the next ZRD Composer's Lab. Three commissions of €1500, no restrictions on age or nationality (although 2/3 must be resident in Germany) kuenstlerhaus-lauenburg.de/composers-la...

Heather Roche | tonebase Coaching Learn more about Heather Roche and find out how you can learn from them directly through tonebase Coaching.

Have a call with a tonebase clarinet coachee this afternoon and I'm so excited to get her started. The way the platform helps you track your progress and get feedback every week is cool, I think it's going to be an amazing tool (and hope more people sign up!) coaching.tonebase.co/coaches/heat...

I don't know how true this is but I've been seeing people online saying that research is showing that input is far more important than output in language learning, advocating 80%-90% input experiences... so this would do that!

Yes, exactly - it would just take some of the pressure off while trying to have a conversation

Re-amplifying this job going in digital music cultures in @ucddublin.bsky.social @ucdschoolofmusic.bsky.social
Come work with me and many other nice people in arts & humanities. Plenty of opportunity to collaborate in the school & in the college

The search is deep & wide

www.ucd.ie/adastrafello...

The Other Dead Sea, by Jon Collin 5 track album

I'm playing a set at the Blue Moon in Cambridge tomorrow with my pal Jack Cooper (Modern Nature), and Jon Collin is headlining and I think it's all going to be rather beautiful joncollin.bandcamp.com/album/the-ot... so come along cambridge folks, lots of floaty guitars (and bass clarinets!)

I'm not the only instrumental studio in this position, but interesting to see how many professional clarinetists are signing up for Darmstadt - I have feeling younger players just don't know about it. Still some spaces in the clarinet studio so please tell your friends, today is last day to apply!

Always here for book rants

So cool!

(It’s similar but each person only speaks their native language - so it’s ‘input’ heavy without speaking practice but you at least spend 100% of the time listening to your target language - apparently it’s very effective. Must sound quite bonkers in the pub though.)

Just been reading about crosstalk as a language learning method - hoo boy that would have been a GREAT idea when I was learning German, I had so many awkward tandem dates…

Gombert - Nicolas Gombert & James Weeks (Apartment House, 2025)

#NowPlaying Gorgeous melancholic motets by Renaissance composer *Nicolas Gombert, arranged for instruments by contemporary composer James Weeks who also composed the 'media vita' interludes. Beautifully played by the great @apartment-house.bsky.social

*a bad man

😍

Ah I use a pair of the Swedish brand Line Audio's CR4s. They're great and not expensive!

No no, hang on, I think my gag wasn't right, free time sounds like I'm chastising you for using your free time to send e-mails. I meant that by using your waiting time to do e-mails you were creating free time for later. The best gags are the ones you have to explain eh