Woodwind Studio

This web site contains information about Beth Purkhiser and her woodwind studio. Visit for help with choosing equipment, performance and practice techniques, and to contact Beth concerning lessons at her studio in Lafayette, Indiana.

Ligatures


Vandoren Optimum

The Vandoren Optimum ligature is unbelievably good. It’s a ligature I just discovered last year and it has done amazing things for my playing. One of the best characteristics is that it makes more reeds playable. Of course, by ?playable? I am being a little bit picky Z beginners will play on any reed Z but this ligature makes more reeds sound good. I never thought a ligature would make that much of a difference so my endorsement of this ligature comes as a surprise to many but I’m happy to say, almost 100% of my more advanced students and most of my professional musician colleagues own this ligature.

Rovner

The Rovner is a good option if you’re not looking to spend much money on a ligature yet. If this is the case, I would recommend sticking with the ligature you already have unless it gets bent or gets stretched out which will inevitably happen sooner or later. I recommend the Rovner because the hard rubber material they are made out of will stand up to any abuse and never stretch out. Also, a lot of my students who upgraded to Optimum ligatures have used Rovner ligatures for sale if anybody would be interested in that.