History of Bassoon and Percussion

Matthew Page

Music History I

April 28, 2011

Bassoon and percussion both are musical instruments that have long

histories. Early forms of the bassoon were in use as early as the third century A.D.

Percussion goes back still further than that. The bassoon has slowly evolved from a

fairly simple instrument to what is widely considered one of the most complicated

instruments of today. Percussive instruments have an even more extensive and

complicated history. Percussion has evolved in a myriad of different ways and exists

in as many various forms. Percussive instruments were some of the first

instruments ever invented and have been some of the most widely utilized

throughout history.

The bassoon belongs to the double reed family. One of the earliest double

reeds is called the suona, or zurna. It originated in ancient Egypt around 200 A.D.

However, it is more widely recognized as a traditional Chinese instrument. After the

suona, there was not much progress in the development of the bassoon until the

1200’s. During this time, a double reed instrument known as the shawm was

brought to Europe with the Crusades. The shawm had several different forms. The

bass shawm, also known as the bombarde, was the first double reed instrument in

history that resembles the modern bassoon. It typically had a conical tube and

several sound holes. (Kendrick, 2008)

The main problem with the bombarde was its unwieldy length. This early

form of the bassoon was nearly three meters of straight tubing. So the next logical

step in the development of the modern bassoon was to make it easier to hold and

use. To accomplish this feat, instrument makers tried to make the bombarde similar

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to the trumpet and trombone. They created an instrument with a wooden body in

the shape of a hollowed out U-shaped block. One end of the tube flared out to form a

bell. The other end had a smaller S-shaped tube with a reed attached. The resulting

instrument possessed a very mellow and sweet sound. This gave it its name, the

dulcian, which means “sweet-sounder.” Many sources say that the dulcian was the

last major advancement before what is known today as a bassoon. (Kilbey, 2002)

The dulcian is generally considered to be the forerunner of the modern bassoon, as it shares many characteristics with the latter, including a double reed fitted to a metal crook, obliquely drilled tone holes, and a conical bore that doubles back upon itself. (N.W. Contributors, 2008)

While the dulcian is considered the precursor to the bassoon, it was a rather limited

instrument, with typically only eight finger-holes and one or two keys. As a result,

its range and the fingerings available were very limited. (Kendrick, 2008)

The dulcian had several other names, including the curtal and faggotto, which

arose from various areas where different forms of the same instrument developed

at the same time. Hieronymous Bassano and his family were among the first to make

curtals. Lorenzo Marucini, a Venetian doctor who in 1577 penned a history of the

town of Bassano del Grappa, credits Hieronymous with the invention of “a new bass

wind instrument.” Most of Bassano’s sons, at one point or another, moved to

England. With them, they took the curtal and introduced it to English music.

(Kendrick, 2008)

After the dulcian and curtal came the Baroque bassoon. It is unknown who

actually invented the “true” bassoon, but the general consensus is that it was

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invented by Martin Hotteterre (d. 1712). He is believed to have also developed the

three-piece flûte traversière and the hautbois. He was the first to create a bassoon

with four individual pieces that would fit together to form the instrument.

(Kendrick, 2008) The names of the four parts are still used today -- the bell, bass

joint, wing joint, and the boot. The division of the bassoon into different parts

allowed for an improved accuracy in the manufacturing of the instrument.

Hotteterre extended the range down to a low B flat by adding two new keys. After

1700, the A flat key was added, and this is what is considered a true Baroque

bassoon. It was this instrument that the most popular composers of the day, such as

Vivaldi, Bach, and Telemann, called for when writing their music. As time

progressed, more keys were added to the baroque bassoon to extend the range,

improve the quality of the sound, and most particularly, allow for a louder volume to

be attained in the larger concert halls of the day. (N.W. Contributors, 2008)

As the bassoon became closer to what it is known as today, two

manufacturers in particular stood out as being the best: Heckel and Buffet. The

Buffet is primarily seen as a French bassoon, and as such, is used mainly in France,

Belgium, and some parts of Latin America. The Heckel bassoon, used primarily

throughout the rest of the world, developed from another company, Schott, through

the work of Almenrader and Weber.

The design of the modern bassoon owes a great deal to the performer, teacher, and composer Carl Almenräder, who, assisted by the German acoustic researcher Gottfried Weber developed the 17-key bassoon whose range spanned four octaves. Almenräder's improvements to the bassoon began with an 1823 treatise in which he described ways of improving intonation, response, and technical ease of playing by

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means of augmenting and rearranging the keywork; subsequent articles further developed his ideas. Working at the Schott factory gave him the means to construct and test instruments according to these new designs, the results of which were published in Caecilia, Schott's house journal; Almenräder continued publishing and building instruments until his death in 1846, and Ludwig van Beethoven himself requested one of the newly-made instruments after hearing of the papers. Almenräder left Schott to start his own factory along with partner Johann Adam Heckel in 1831. (N.W. Contributors, 2008)

Going into the twentieth century, Heckel-style bassoons were still the

dominant throughout the world. By this time, Heckel had personally made over

4,000 bassoons. As other manufacturers began imitating the Heckel bassoon, the

style that Heckel produced became known as the German bassoon. While Heckel is

still considered the best bassoon manufacturer, other manufacturers produce less

expensive German bassoons of good quality, including Fox, Yamaha, Schreiber,

Püchner, Selmer, and Guntram Wolf.

While the Heckel system of making bassoons made huge advancements in

changing the bassoon to improve it in various ways, the Buffet system progressed

more slowly. Because the Buffet system achieved the tone quality it wanted early in

its development, it mainly focused on changing the key work on the bassoon. Its

slower progress in development resulted in the Buffet style bassoon being generally

considered second in quality to the Heckel German style of bassoon. The Buffet

bassoon typically has a narrower bore than the German bassoon. Also, because of

the differences in keywork between the two styles, notes are fingered differently on

the bassoons. This difference means that performers do not, in most cases, play both

types of bassoon, though some particular music would be performed better on a

different style bassoon.

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Buffet instruments are known for a reedier sound and greater facility in the upper registers, reaching e''' and f''' with far greater ease and less air pressure. French woodwind tone in general exhibits a certain amount of "edge," with more of a vocal quality than is usual elsewhere, and the Buffet bassoon is no exception. This type of sound can be beneficial in music by French composers, but it also has drawn criticism for being too intrusive. As with all bassoons, the tone varies considerably depending on the individual instrument and performer. In the hands of a lesser player, the Heckel bassoon can sound rather flat and woody, but good players succeed in producing a vibrant, singing tone. Conversely, when poorly played the Buffet can sound buzzy and nasal, but good players succeed in producing a warm, expressive sound that approaches that of the Heckel. (N.W. Contributors, 2008)

After time, the Buffet style of bassoon became known as the French style, because it

is primarily produced in France. Not surprisingly, France is one of the few places

where the French bassoon is dominant to the German bassoon.

Unlike the bassoon, the history of percussion instruments cannot really be

traced back to one place or one time. Percussion did not simply slowly develop into

what it is today. Percussion instruments have been created, evolved, and rapidly

advanced throughout history. Percussion was started in different parts of the world

at the same time. Dissimilar forms of the instruments have appeared in numerous

parts of the world at various points in time with no real connection to each other.

Because of the nature of percussion instruments, they have a tendency to evolve

independently.

Percussion instruments have always been and always will be part of history.

“The story of the rise and development of percussion instruments is closely linked

with the history of mankind and may justly claim to have exercised a tremendous

influence on the human race.” (Blades, 1970) The definition of a percussion

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instrument according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary is a musical instrument

sounded by striking, shaking, or scraping. Many musicians, however, disagree with

this limited definition, preferring to use the term to indicate any object that can be

used to produce sound. Spiders pluck their webs to attract mates with the very soft

sound the plucked strand makes. Crocodiles do something similar by striking their

stomachs with their tails. So even before mankind, there were countless instances of

percussion being used in nature. Man took various percussive sounds found in

nature, imitated the sounds, and combined them to produce new sounds and added

regularity to it.

The seeds of the first instrument were sown unconsciously by an early man as he stamped upon the ground, beat upon his throat, clapped his hand, or slapped his body. He produced contrasting sounds with hollowed hands, flat palms, heels or toes, or by striking either bony or fleshy parts of the body. (Blades, 1970)

Man first used these instances of percussion to intimidate foes and prey, and

throughout history, this intimidation tactic has continued. (White, 1960) Warriors

yell going into battle, beat upon their shields, and stamp the ground. They do all

these things to make them seem bigger, stronger, and invincible. It works because of

the percussive intensity produced by these acts. One of the first uses of percussion

as an instrument was to accompany war chants, and the first instruments they used

to do this were typically the ground or shields the warriors carried.

Percussion was not only used for intimidation in ancient times. In Africa,

drums were primarily used to communicate effectively over long distances. It was

similar to Morse code, but different parts of Africa had different “languages” of

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drumming. Natives would decipher meaning from the drumming from different

length strokes and various pitches and how they were combined. This method of

communication lasted for hundreds of years. Early explorers in the 1800’s who

entered Africa could not understand at first how tribes miles away from each other

could know what was happening in other tribes.

[Stanley Falls] said: ‘The islanders have not yet adopted electric signals but possess, however, a system of communication quite as effective. Their huge drums being struck in different parts convey language as clear to the initiated as vocal speech.’ (Blades, 1970)

Because of the importance of these and other drums used for communication

and other rituals of early society, the making of these drums was considered highly

important and was taken with the utmost care. When creating the drums, the tree

from which they were made was chosen with great care. The wood had to be very

strong, durable, and resistant to wood-eating insects. After selecting the tree, the

drum-maker had to wait for the appropriate season to harvest it. In preparation of

cutting it down, some tribes performed several rituals and make offerings to the

spirit of the tree. Sometimes the person who made the drum had to persevere

through restrictions and other trials in order to show his worthiness. In certain

tribes of Africa, they had to avoid water. The maker could not touch water with any

part of his body or drink until the drum was hollowed out. Also, he was forced to

fast on certain days. While this process was very grueling on the drum makers, it

was believed to produce a pure drum that would aid their tribe and help keep them

safe from unappeased spirits. (Blades, 1970)

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The first percussion instruments that were made to be used strictly as

instruments were idiophones. Idiophones are percussive instruments that produce

their sound by the vibration of the entire body of the instrument. These instruments

included rattles, stampers, scrapers, and clappers. Rattles are believed to have been

attached to the ankle, arm, leg, or neck of dancers to accentuate their performances.

Though stampers are less common in modern times, they were once popularly used

by digging a hole in the ground, covering it with a wooden lid, and “stomping” on it

to produce a sound that would be different from just stomping the ground. Scrapers

were very basic instruments -- usually a stone, shell, or piece of bone that had been

notched. Then a stick or other rigid object would be scraped against the notched

instrument. Clappers were used all over the world, though different areas had

different kinds of clappers. Clappers could have been anything with two flat surfaces

that can be struck together. One of the first actual man-made drums was a log.

People would take logs and hollow them out and beat on them to produce a

resonant sound. (Blades, 1970)

One of the most widely used percussion families today is keyboard

percussion, which was one of the earliest melodic instruments. This type of

percussion consists of various wooden bars, each with a different length, width, and

depth. The original form of this percussive instrument is known as the leg

xylophone. The player would sit on the ground with his legs slightly spread apart in

front of him. Then the bars of the xylophone would be laid across his legs, and he

would strike the bars with a stick or some type of mallet. The leg xylophone

typically didn’t have more than three bars because the bars were usually laid on the

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shins and needed to be placed as far apart as possible so that they didn’t hit each

other. (Mallet Percussion Store) It is not known for sure what materials were used

to make the bars of the xylophone and other early keyboard instruments because

their use would wear them down until they were no longer played, and as such, very

few bars of the early keyboard instruments remain today. Another result of the lack

of remains of the early keyboard percussive instruments is that we do not know

how advanced they were. In the mid-1500’s explorers were shocked to find that in

Africa there were already very advanced forms of the xylophone. These xylophones

were already constructed very similar to what we use today with resonators below

the bars. (Blades, 1970)

Different percussive instruments have developed and evolved at various

rates and times. Today, percussionists use drums similar to those used in ancient

times in the Middle East or Africa and hybrids of these early instruments. An

example of this is the drumset, which utilizes different types of drums and cymbals

to produce various effects. During the history of drums, the realization that one

player could play several different drums at the same time lead to the development

of the drumset. “Musicians found out that, with the proper drum placement and a

lot of practice, a single player could handle a set of drums; an entire group of drum

players was not necessary anymore.” (Epand, 2008) The drumset can be found in a

lot of different forms, as determined by the player who decides how many cymbals

and how many drums are needed. It is one of the best examples of how percussion

can be used in various ways to produce different effects. (White, 1960)

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Orchestral percussion also is an example of how different percussive

instruments can be combined and used in various aspects. In some of the early

orchestral writings, the percussion instruments would play a small role. Usually

they would primarily be used as a way to help with keeping time or maybe provide

some emphasis. However, as time progressed, percussion instruments became more

and more utilized in orchestral works. Composers such as Beethoven, Brahms,

Mozart, and Ravel wrote pieces where the percussion section of the orchestra

becomes critical to provide impacts and effects that they desired. The need for good

percussion parts became even more pronounced in the 1900’s.

Twentieth-century orchestration has demanded a dominant role from the instruments of percussion. Succeeding years have witnessed an ever-increasing use of the normal percussion instruments, together with a desire on the part of the composers to exploit the possibilities of unusual devices and novel instruments…. Many modern composers [feel] the majority of percussion instruments are often indispensable ingredients to the tone palette of their orchestrations. (Blades, 1970)

Often times in music, the percussion can influence audiences the most. In fast

marches, the percussion is what drives the music forward and keeps the audience

intent on the music. In some soft delicate parts of music, something as simple as a

tap of the triangle is used to either begin or end phrases of the music, and it

provides the perfect touch.

The bassoon and percussion have very long and complex histories. They

started simply, but over time, they became some of the most popular instruments

that are still used today. The bassoon has come a long way, from the suona of

Ancient Egypt, to the modern German bassoon. Percussion instruments have also

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developed greatly, from the Earth and the sounds of nature to the drumset,

orchestral percussion, and the Mississippi State drum line. These instruments will

continue to gain in popularity and continue to evolve until the end of time.

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Bibliography

Blades, J. (1970). Percussion Instruments and their History. New York, New York: Frederick A. Praeger, Inc.

Epand, V. (2008, May 28). History of Drums. Retrieved March 20, 2011, from Drumistick Studio - Percussion Ideology: www.drumistick.com/percussion-ed/2008/5/28/history-of-drums.html

Kendrick, I. A. (2008). Bassoon Resource Page. Retrieved March 31 2011, 2011, from History of the Bassoon: www.bassoonresource.org/history.htm

Kilbey, M. (2002). Curtal, Dulcian, Bajon: A History of the Precursor to the Bassoon. St. Albans, England: Antony Rowe Ltd.

Mallet Percussion Store. (n.d.). All About Mallet Percussion. Retrieved March 26, 2011, from Mallet Percussion Store: www.mallet-percussion.com

N.W. Contributors. (2008, April 2). Bassoon. Retrieved March 14, 2011, from Bassoon: http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Bassoon?oldid=678187

White, C. L. (1960). Drums Through the Ages. Los Angeles, CA: The Sterling Press.

Zed, D. (2009, April 6). History of Percussion Instruments. Retrieved March 25, 2011, from All Best Articles: www.allbestarticles.com//arts-and-entertainment/music/history-of-percussion-instruments.html

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