I was cleaning out my desk the other day and came across my whole collection of Monumental Reed Notes. The collection is actually just a stack of Post-It-Notes from my years of study with Richard Killmer at Eastman.

I thought I would share some of them with you.

• Don’t worry about the detail… at first. Get the reed playing. Make it a stable, functioning reed and then worry about putting on the decorations.
• Learn to make reeds quickly. Don’t caress the cane. Just get the job done… Make a reed and play it.
• Reeds don’t play the oboe, you do. Having a great reed isn’t the end, it is just the beginning. The reed is a tool, you are the musician. You are responsible for what you sound like.