My name is Thomas Dryer-Beers. I am a woodwind player, a former working musician, soloist, ensemble performer, lecturer, author, private teacher, peripatetic teacher and ensemble coach. I am a product of the American band system having grown up in the state of Indiana and having begun my musical career playing recorder, violin, trombone in successive years before gravitating to the saxophone which finally 'took' and later adding all the other members of the woodwind family. I earned music degrees in Woodwind Performance at two major music schools in the USA, Indiana University (BMus) and University of North Texas (MMus), but have been living and working in the United Kingdom since the late 1980's. In the UK I carried on my teaching and performing but was introduced to the music industry through work with specialist music shops, most notably as a former Instrument Sales Manager Woodwind & Reed based in Cambridge ( www.wwr.co.uk ) and its associated mail order company Reeds Direct Cambridge ( www.reeds-direct.co.uk ) where I still work part time and serve as a consultant.
I have been a teacher and performer since the mid 1970's and have advised retail customers since 1988 till the present day. I have also been the principal consultant to Reeds Direct Cambridge since its beginnings and am responsible for the creation of the RDC Reed Strength Comparison Chart and author of many reed product descriptions. Customers throughout the UK and worldwide have relied upon this chart to help in assessing and selecting appropriate single reeds for their clarinets and saxophones.
Recently I have taken a more limited advisory role with Woodwind and Reed due to a permanent partial hearing loss that began to affect me several years ago. I do benefit from hearing aids that have been a great help for conversation but the technology is simply not advanced enough to allow me to hear clearly enough to advise customers as I once did. This change has been a bit of a shock to say the least but I am coping with it and looking forward to a different future than I previously imagined.
I have begun this web log, which I hope will be of interest to a wide range of woodwind and brass musicians, so that I might be able to share the experiences, insights and observations gathered in my over 40 years of playing and more than 25 years in the music industry. I have also been recently been asked to serve as a regular contributor corresponding as 'The Single Reed Doctor' for the Journal of the Clarinet & Saxophone Society of Great Britain (CASS). Writing contributions in this manner is my way of saying thank you to all the players, teachers, pupils both young and old, and the many customers whom I have met, advised, supported and most importantly from whom I have learned a great deal in the process of assisting them and attempting to answer their questions. I have no agenda except sharing what I consider to be useful thoughts, memories and accumulated knowledge though and products of interest. I will not hesitate to acknowledge individuals who have been significant to my development as a musician, cite where further information or products can be found when such citation is appropriate and direct my blog readers to where instruments, accessories or services may be experienced or purchased.
I wish to thank Daniel Bangham - proprietor, Tim Taylor - general manager, and the staff at Woodwind & Reed for encouraging me in this web blog project. I hope that readers will find the topics and information useful and if so please let others know in order to help disseminate the blog content as widely as possible. Please add your comments as they are welcome.
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