It has come to my knowledge that I have neglected to instruct my students, in some cases, in some of the most basic aspects of clarinet care and maintenence. Probably the most useful tip I can leave with you is the best way to apply cork grease.
First, you must understand that cork is a natural substance and needs to be conditioned and cared for on a regular basis so that the corks provide an airtight seal under the tenons of the joints of the clarinet.
Cork grease should do this job: often it does not! Many times, a cheap and slippery, goopy substance, cork grease gets applied to the corks superficially. 
One of the best cork greases on the market today is The Doctor Slick cork grease, which you can gick up at the San Diego County Music Exchange for around $3 or $4.
It conditions the cork very well and lasts a very long time.

Now, how to apply it? When to apply it? 
It's good to have an old rag to wipe your fingers off, or a paper towel. You should dab a generous glob of cork grease onto the tenon cork and rub it into the cork with your fingers until it is worked in and the cork is smooth, but not too slick.
Repeat this step often if your clarinet is brand new, the corks have been replaced, or the clarinet sticks together. 
One of the best things to do for your corks is to grease them lightly after you are done playing so that they remain conditioned, and will not crumble in disrepair. 
​

There is not a single note or structure in Olivier Messaien's Quartet for the End of Time without deep spiritual significance. Even the scherzo-type Intermède, composed expressly for the washrooms of Stalag VIIIA, is meaningful insofar as one may infer that it is an expression of the fight of the human spirit to rise up against the horrors of the Second World War.

The other movements all have intrinsic gematriatic connection to his Catholic faith; a faith that believed in the mystery of the divine redemption of humankind by Jesus Christ and of the mystery of Time itself, and how the eternal God, being outside of space and time as we understand it, as well as having entered into space and time, will bring us into eternity where he dwells, thus ending Time.

​Nonretrogradable rhythms, notes with added values, and Messaien's Modes of Limited Transposition all point to the infinite. Messaien sought to bring the listener toward "eternity in space." A kind of surrealism pervades the Quartet;  Messaien himself stated that ". . .its musical language is essentially immaterial, spiritual, and Catholic. . . special rhythms, beyond meter, contribute powerfully in dismissing the temporal." 

What is a nonretrogradable rhythm? 
First, let's talk about what a retrogradable rhythm might be: A rhythm that is retrogradable, if played both forward (as normal) and backward, results in two different but related patterns. A simple example of this, using letters to signify segments of rhythm, would be:

A nonretrogradable rhythm, if played both backwards and forward, results in the same order of segments:
​

It is sort of a musical palindrome.

The use of techniques such as nonretrogradable rhythms in the Quartet for the End of Time reveals Meassaien's fascination with the impossible nature, in his Catholic faith, of humankind to understand God; he called it "The Charm of Impossibility-" the translation into English of "charm" might more accurately be "mesmerism."

Alice Bradley Gallagher
Literature and Materials of Music IV, 2003.

How I wish that I could tell you how to be a great musician in a blog post, or in a lesson. The very most that I can do is to inspire you to be sensitive to the meaning of what the composer has written on the page, and how to interpret black squiggles, slashes, and dots into music: artful sound.
What I can tell you is to listen. Listen carefully to everything around you, and most of all, listen voraciously to the great musicians of the past and present. In this age of the internet, so much is available at your fingertips, but even so, nothing is as exciting as a live performance.
The most important thing to do, of course, is to practice, but to never practice without listening. As soon as you start practicing without listening to what you are doing, your work starts to become a waste of time. 
​AG

Writing a Program Biography: A Few Tips
by Alice Gallagher
Auditions Committee, Musical Merit Foundation of Greater San Diego
​

    The purpose of this little article is to help someone write their first artistic biography. 
    The best writing is always engaging regardless of its purpose. An artistic biography should reflect you as a person and not be just a list of teachers you have had or rewards you have won. The artistic biography is part of the program, and ultimately, the program is part of the concert. Usually, audiences read through the program as they wait for the concert to begin, and it should be an “appetizer,” an amuse-bouche, for the concert. With that said, there are certain conventions that should be followed unless you are planning a comedy act. So your biography should be not too long, highlight the very best of your hereunto career, and perhaps end with future plans and intentions, especially as a student.

   Start writing your biography by assembling  your raw material. On a separate piece of paper (or word processing document), list all of your musical accomplishments and experiences. You might not use all of them in the biography, but it is good to keep a Curriculum Vitae, or CV, throughout your carer.
Include your high school band experience if you are in high school, and if you are in college, include your school ensembles. Make sure to keep this document updated on a monthly basis. Include non-competitive experiences as well, and even non-music accomplishments such as scholarships.
Make categories:
1.Education and private teachers
           2.Performance experience
           3. Awards, music-related/High-status experiences, music related (festivals, camps,    honor bands)
    4. Information about yourself (where you are from, an interesting hobby, future dreams)

Once you have that information, it’s time to make that list into a one or two paragraph biography.

Tips!
-Biographies are written in the third person. Don’t write “I. . .” Write your biography as if someone else is talking about you. Alternate using your full name with using just your last name with “Miss” or “Mr.” if you are eighteen or under; if you are a female, once you turn age 18, you may use “Ms.” if you prefer. Don’t begin every section the same way. Examples can be seen in the sample biography.
- For college age musicians: Don’t include every single educational experience, masterclass, or long lists of teachers- who you have studied with is not what you have accomplished; at the same time, it is very nice to include, as a tribute your most important teachers; as a rule, include anyone you studied with for at least four months, but try to keep the list to five teachers. If you took one lesson with a famous teacher, good for you, but they really are not part of your biography.
-Include second- or third-place awards of high-profile competitions if you don’t have a lot of experience.
-The more you do, the more you are able to put in your biography. Include your teacher’s  studio recitals as experience even though they were not competitive.
-Don’t include adjectives such as “prestigious” and never call yourself accomplished, even if you clearly are. Let your accomplishments simply speak for themselves without adding pretense or unneeded words.
-Do include adjectives (only one or two) that describe who you really are. You can describe yourself as ambitious rather than accomplished- it is a more humble way of saying “I’m a serious young musician” without pretension.
- Never “pad” your biography. If your high school band played at Carnegie Hall, it doesn’t mean you earned anything special, and you shouldn’t include it in your biography. However, if you played a big solo, such as a concerto movement in that concert at Carnegie Hall, you may include that.

Submit your biography to your English teacher as well as an experienced musician for editing. Use all available resources to make your biography readable and best reflect who you are and your accomplishments. A well-written biography can add professionalism to how you present yourself and help you establish a positive and realistic self-perception as you develop as a musician.