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IDRS Conference, Tempe, Arizona . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3God Save the Queen (Version No. 3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

William WaterhouseThe Interpretation of the Ornamentation in Mozart’s Oboe Quartet K. 370 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Trudy FraaseIf Mozart Had Been a Bassoonist: Suggestions for a First-Movement Cadenza to K. 191 . . . 15

James A. GrymesDouble Reed Players of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, 1936 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Sketches by Gerome BrushA Comparative Examination of the Notation of Selected Orchestral Bassoon Solos . . . . . . . 29

Mark AveryOboists and Electronics: Embracing a New Era . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Aaron CohenPoems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Travis A. Cox, Karen Hoagland, Maria MendozaThe Bell of a Bassoon Made by W. Hess . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Dr. Klaus GillessenA Bassoon Part to Mozart’s Coronation Mass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Dr. Klaus GillessonCartoons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Lauris MacKenzie, K. L. Davis-Mendez, David RiddlesIDRS Honorary Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58Yard Sale Bassoon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Paul LeinVivaldi Identification Information-Cross Reference Chart, Part 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Trevor CramerObituaries: Charles W.P. Cracknell, William S. Buzzard, Wilbur H. Simpson . . . . . . . . . . . . 65Making Modern Music in Moscow: a Travelogue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Dr. Jeffrey LymanBack Issue Order Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72How to Make UltraLyte Easy Playing Bassoon Reeds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Arthur L. Gudwin, M.D.A Nearly Foolproof Method of Forming Bassoon Reeds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Nicola A. AdamoThe History of the Oboe Class at the Prague Conservatoire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Miloslav MasierFrom the Past: Reprints of Double Reed Articles from Woodwind Magazine . . . . . . . . . . . 83

The Reed Problem Don Christlieb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83Letter from England Gwydion Brooke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85Woodwind Intonation Theodor Poduus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87The Horrors of Bassooning Sol Schoenbach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89The Vibrato Problem, I & II George Opperman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90The Truth About Vibrato Josef Marx . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94Bassoon and Powder Puff No. 2 Gloria Solloway . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97Simplifying the Bassoon Simon Kovar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100From Paris Ben Spieler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102Paul Bunyan-Bassonist Extraordinary Floyd E. Low . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

International Double Reed Society Membership Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106Bassoon Music Reviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Ronald KlimkoIDRS Online . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114Playing “Short” High Notes on the Hautboy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Bruce HaynesA Bassoon Lite, Please - Der Fickle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Alan GoodmanStan the Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Alan GoodmanRegression Analysis as an Aid in Making Oboe Reeds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

Katherine Ceasar-Spall, James C. SpallReport of the Executive Secretary/Treasurer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

Lowry RigginsLost Sheep . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129Contributing Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130The Use of the IDRS Trade Marks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133Classified Ads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133Advertisers Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

TheJournalof the

INTERNATIONAL

DOUBLE REEDSOCIETY

JOURNAL NO. 25, e-EditionJULY 1997

THE DOUBLE REED

ISSN 0741-7659

Ronald Klimko and Daniel Stolper, Editors; e-Edition edited by Yoshiyuki Ishikawa

© International Double Reed SocietyIdaho Falls, Idaho, U.S.A. - I997

Designed and Printed byFalls Printing Company

Idaho Falls, IdahoU.S.A.

IDRS OFFICERS

President

Yoshiyuki (Yoshi) IshikawaCollege of Music: Box 301University of Colorado, BoulderBoulder, CO 80309-0301Bus.: (303) 492-7297 FAX: (303) 581-9307E-mail: [email protected]

1st Vice PresidentMarc FinkSchool of Music: UW-Madison455 North Park StreetMadison, WI 53706-1483Bus.: (608) 263-1900 FAX: (608) 262-8876E-mail: [email protected]

2nd Vice PresidentRoger Birnstingl12 Chemin Kermerly1206 Geneva, SwitzerlandTel/Fax: 022 3474425

Past PresidentCharles O. VeazeyCollege of Music - UNTP.O. Box 13887Denton, TX 76203-3887Bus.: (817) 565-3718 FAX: (817) 565-2002Home: (817) 565-2002

SecretaryNorma R. HooksWestern Maryland College2423 Lawndale RoadFinksburg, MD 21048-1401Home: (410) 876-2171 FAX: (410) 857-9144E-mail: [email protected]

At-LargeNancy E. Goeres100 Denniston Ave. #52Pittsburgh, PA 15206-4042Phone/FAX: (412) 661-3004

Cynthia Koledo DeAlmeida2210 Almanack Ct.Pittsburgh, PA 15237-1502Phone: (412) 369-5325

Executive Secretary-TreasurerLowry Riggins626 Lakeshore DriveMonroe, LA 71203-4032Phone: (318) 343-5715 FAX: (318) 345-1159E-mail: [email protected]

Music Industry LiaisonPeter Klatt, Forrests Music1849 University AvenueBerkeley, CA 94703-1585Bus.: (510) 845-7178 FAX: (510) 845-7145E-mail: [email protected]

Bassoon EditorRonald James KlimkoLionel Hampton School of MusicUniversity of IdahoMoscow, ID 83844-4015Bus.: (208) 885-6594 FAX: (208) 885-7254E-mail: [email protected]

Oboe EditorDaniel J. Stolper1515 West Kalamazoo St.Lansing, MI 48915Bus.: (517) 355-7727 FAX: (517) 432-2880E-mail: [email protected]

IDRS On-Line Publications EditorYoshiyuki (Yoshi) IshikawaE-Mail: [email protected] WWW: HTTP://idrs.colorado.edu

LibrarianJames C. ProdanSchool of Music: UNC GreensboroGreensboro, NC 27412-5001Bus.: (910) 334-5789 FAX: (910) 334-5497E-mail: [email protected]

Gillet Competition

Bassoon ChairBarrick R. SteesSchool of MusicMichigan State UniversityEast Lansing, MI 48824-1043Bus.: (517) 355-7663E-mail: [email protected]

Oboe ChairNancy Ambrose KingSchool of MusicUniversity of Illinois1114 W. Nevada StreetUrbana, IL 61801Bus.: (217) 333-3360 FAX: (217) 244-4585E-mail: [email protected]

Associate Editors: Referee BoardWilliam Davis - Athens, GADavid Dutton - Spokane, WACharles Koster - San Fernando, CADavid Rhodes - Waterford, IrelandArthur Weisberg - Boca Raton, FLWilma Zonn - Hendersonville, TNJeffrey Lyman - Tempe, AZ

Legal CounselJacob Schlosser4937 West Broad StreetColumbus, OH 43228-1668Home: (614) 262-1974Bus.: (614) 878-7251 FAX: (614) 878-6948

IDRS JOURNAL 3

Martin Schuring, HostTEL 602/[email protected]

Jeffrey Lyman, Co-hostTEL 602/965.3726E-M [email protected]

Camelback OdysseyTravelsupports IDRS ’98 with contri-butions based upon the num-ber of participants bookingwith Marlene Rausch. Formore information, please callher at: 1-800/480.7947 or602/473.2425.

International Double Reed Society Conference2 – 6 June • Arizona State University • School of Music • Tempe AZ 85287

Double reed artists revive our past, define our present,

and shape our future. The 1998 Conference includes

a special invitational series of premieres, retrospectives,

experiments, and chronologies entitled Identity.Th

D/9

7

4 GOD SAVE THE QUEEN (VERSION NO. 3)

God Save the Queen (Version No. 3)

By William WaterhouseLondon, England

his is a footnote to the Trio for Oboe,Bassoon and Piano written by Jean Françaixin 1994 in response to a commission by theIDRS in conjunction with four other DR

Societies. It is intended to draw attention to a musi-cal quotation which might otherwise escape duenotice. It occurs during the very last five measuresof the work. With characteristic wit the composerhas marked the right-hand of the piano part ‘lechant surnoisement en dehors’, which may be trans-lated as ‘the tune surreptitiously to the fore’.

In a letter dated the 11th August 1995 written toErik Langeveld, co-host of the IDRS Conference atRotterdam. Françaix referred to it thus: “The allusionto God Save the Queen with which it ends is a wink ofthe eye at my old friend Waterhouse, to whom the triois dedicated.”

For the work’s premiere in Rotterdam, the com-

poser contributed the following programme note: “Ifpeople don’t like my ‘Trio pour Hautbois, Basson etPiano’, I have a scapegoat: my old friendWaterhouse from England, who pushes theEuropean spirit so far as to play his German bas-soon with a French sonority. It was he who, by dintof constant requests, persuaded me to write for aTrinity unknown to the New Testament. This com-bination of instruments balances better than thatof violin, cello and piano. All too often the stringsare drowned by Steinway power: but the oboe andbassoon can get the pianist to dance to their tunewithout making him draw in his claws — whichmost of them hate having to do. On the other handthe oboe and bassoon, being wind players, needtheir bars rest to enjoy the odd breather — to thedelight of the pianist, who can use the occasion tolet off steam. I have enjoyed manipulating my threeGraces by adopting a very classical style, althoughI am unable to guarantee my harmonies to beentirely free of fifths and octaves … May the audi-ence derive a similar pleasure from it!”

After the show I couldn’t resist writing to thecomposer to tell him that his ‘wink of the eye’ con-

stituted, from now on, my favorite version of ournational anthem. He replied: “I wish to confirm thatfrom now on there are three versions of the BritishNational Anthem: the one that belongs to Charles,the one that belongs to Diana, and ‘la version Jean(Françaix)’. And yet nonetheless, this anthem isas indivisible as the French Republic itself — ofthis fact the France of today is a proof. Ah, sweetmystery of the Holy Trinity — Church of Englandstyle!” *

Here are the new harmonies to which JeanFrançaix has set the opening strain of God Savethe Queen (known also to Americans as MyCountry Tis of Thee). For the actual text of hisversion, with its syncopated rhythms, the print-ed score (©1995 Schott Musik International,Mainz) should be consulted.

Here to conclude with is some good news for

all fellow bassoonists. Last February, I was inParis to view an exhibition celebrating the com-poser’s recent 85th birthday and to visit theMaître. To my surprise and delight he told methat he had just finished a two-movement workfor bassoon and piano entitled Petite divertisse-ment militaire. He had written it for a pianistfriend living outside Paris whose American-bornwife happens to play bassoon. I was able toinspect the finale, which at first glance seemedto be in much the same vein as the finale of theTrio. He had not as yet shown it to his publisher.Let us hope that in the meantime he has alreadydone so, and that an exciting new addition to ourrepertory will soon be available to his manyadmirers throughout the world. ❖

With acknowledgements to the composer andto Messrs. Schott: translations are by the author.

* O mystère anglicano-chrètien de la SainteTrinité!

T

t is generally agreed that the practice of orna-mentation came about through improvisation,traced as far back as the ornamental neumesof the early Medieval Ages. Neumann (1988, p.

72-73) speculates that the first ornaments werepitches a singer added to the melody of a song,thereby forming two or more pitches to a syllable;that is, a melisma. He goes on to state that “[s]uchornamentation was ‘melodic’ in the sense thatpitches were added between the regular, or struc-tured notes of the song … Up to about 1600 allornaments were of this ‘melodic’ kind; they deco-rated and enlivened the melody, but did not haveany effect on the harmony.” The first “harmonic”dissonances were made by displacing “a note on astrong beat with another a step above or below,forming an appoggiatura.”

From this evolved the countless varieties ofornamentation. Some of the ornamental figureswere used often enough for them to be groupedinto formulas, which then came to be “repre-sented by the shorthand device of a symbol.”(Neumann 1988, p. 73). Herein begins all thetrouble.

Neumann (1988, p. 71) identifies three ways inwhich ornamentation is reflected in notation: 1)indicated by symbols, 2) written out in regularnotation, 3) not notated at all. It is with the firstnotation of ornaments, the symbols, with whichthis paper is concerned. The obvious problem is,of course, how to properly interpret these sym-bols. Even with instructions from theorists ofthe period under discussion, there is still roomfor doubt. “Treatises give full and explicitinstructions on the performance of melodicornaments. Yet no full agreement concerningnotation of performance of these figures.”(Ratner 1980, p. 196).

One might question why the use of symbolsremained so widespread when, even at the heightof their use, there was no agreement as to theirprecise interpretation One theorist of the time,Schiebe, supported their use as “he had in mindthat a performer who sees only the main notes(chiefly the harmony notes) of the melody writ-ten down tend to give these main notes their nat-ural weight, and to festoon his own ornamentalfiguration in between with the requisite lightness

and elegance This makes everything clear, and inproper balance. But if the ornamental figurationhas been fully written out by the composer, it alllooks equally important to the eye, and the per-former tends to play or sing the ornamentalnotes as emphatically as the structural notes.”(Donington 1963, p. 94). Neumann (1988, pp. 72-74) looks at it with a slightly different slant. Hefeels that “All ornaments are born of free impro-visation and as such they were born free … It isemphatically not the function of ornaments toharden, stiffen, to regularize the musical texture.An ornament that is rendered with military drillprecision is a contradiction in terms.” With thisview of the ornament in mind, Neumann prefersthe use of the symbol because it “is not only aconvenient shorthand device, but is actually asuperior notational device because it allows it toassume, however subtly. ever differing shapes.”

How the ornaments are to be executed then,is ultimately left up to the performer. “As witharticulation, tempo, and dynamics, applicationof ornamentation was often dictated by personaltaste.’’ (Warner 1964, p. 134) Obviously, thisleads to a multitude of interpretations, none ofwhich can be labeled incorrect as long as thecharacter of the ornament remains clear: to dec-orate but not to obscure the melody, and to bedelivered in a free, improvisatory fashion.

As we look into the use of ornamentation in themusic of Mozart, we must keep in mind that theheyday of the use of embellishments had alreadypassed.“Free ornamentation began to lose its sta-tus as a primary element of interpretation duringthe second half of the eighteenth century.”(Donington 1963, p. 117). Cole (1990, p. 170)observes that “Mozart himself opposed excessiveembellishment by performers” and Warner (1964,p. 163) takes a quote of Quantz; “In no eventshould excessive ornamentation occur.” Thisfrees us from any sense of obligation to fill upMozart’s music with every kind of free ornamen-tation applicable. A performer could feel safe withkeeping his music simply decorated with only theornaments that Mozart indicates.

In doing the research for this paper, I found thetopic of ornamentation to be quite large. Thematerial could, and has, taken up several books. I

IDRS JOURNAL 5

The Interpretation of the Ornamentation in Mozart’sOboe Quartet K. 370 (368b)

By Trudy FraaseZeeland, North Dakota

I

THE INTERPRETATION OF THE ORNAMENTATION IN MOZART’S OBOE QUARTET K. 3706

have therefore restricted myself to the discussionof those ornamental formula commonly found inthe wind instrument solos of Mozart. Those orna-ments more suited to the voice, string, or key-board instruments will not be covered here.

Let us turn first to the simplest and most com-mon of embellishments, the Vorschlag. Simplyspeaking, the Vorschlag is a single ornamentalpitch that precedes, and is slurred to, its principalnote. I will follow Neumann’s designations of“appoggiatura” for a Vorschlag that falls on thebeat, and “grace note” for one that precedes thebeat. In the writings of other theorists, the terms“long” and “short” appoggiaturas have been used.

In the interpretation of the appoggiatura, manytheorists and performers follow the three rulesestablished by Türk: 1) “Whenever it is possibleto divide the main note into two equal parts, theappoggiatura relieves one-half.”

2) “When the main note is dotted, the appog-giatura relieves two-thirds of it, and the main noteone-third.”

3) “If the main note is tied to another, shorternote, the appoggiatura relieves the whole value ofthe main note.” (Hamilton 1930, pp. 17-18).

Hamilton says exceptions to these rules aremade if it would interfere with the desired har-monic or rhythmic progression. Here too, hecautions: “All three rules, indeed, should beinterpreted in the light of the performer’s artis-tic sense.” Quantz, C.P.E. Bach, and LeopoldMozart supplemented these rules with one moreabout an “overlong” appoggiatura “that takesthe whole value of the principal note if the latteris followed by either a tie or a rest.” (Neumann1988, p. 93)

Many other theorists support this method ofinterpreting appoggiaturas for Mozart.Dannreuther (1895, p. 95) advises the performer:“In case of doubt, sing or play the main notes ofthe entire phrase without ornaments, but in fulltempo. Then insert the sign where it seems want-ed, and interpret as you are told - e.g. in LeopoldMozart’s Gründliche Schule.” Ratner (1980, p.201) feels that “ … Türk’s recommendationsregarding tempo, articulation, accent, anddynamics are valid generally for the music of histime.” Does this imply acceptance of his recom-mendations for ornamentations also?

In applying these rules to W.A. Mozart, somewriters believe the rules of Leopold Mozart,which agree with Türk’s, can be applied to themusic of his son. “Mozart’s ornaments are basedmainly on the practice of his father, LeopoldMozart (1719-1787), as set forth in the latter’sGründliche Violinschule, published in 1756.”(Hamilton 1930, p. 5). “There is no evidencewhich could lead one to believe that W.A. Mozartdeparted from his father’s practices as regardsthe rendering of ornament.” (Dannreuther 1895,p. 95)

Neumann takes a firm stand against thisassumption. “In a very extensive search I foundout … that Mozart followed the ‘half-a-binary’rule only for appoggiaturas before the relativelyshort (a quarter-note or less) principal notes; thathe did not honor the ‘two-thirds of a ternary’ rule;that with regard to the ‘overlong’ pattern I hadfound only two instances out of countless thou-sands that would apply to be a rest and not a sin-gle one that would apply to a tie.” (1988, p. 93). Hesuggests that the “overlong” manner was goingout of style or that Mozart was leaning towardItalian ways. Neumann also disagrees with therules set down by Türk whether applied toMozart or not. “Türk shows his pedantry by nottaking into account the need for music to breatheand not be shackled by a mechanical beat.” (1986,p. 15).

There are variations and differences to Türk’srules by his contemporaries. For example, “C.P.E.Bach tried to establish the rule that the smallnote should represent the true value of theappoggiatura … a practice which was not how-ever, invariably followed.” (Hamilton 1930, p. 17).The theorist Geminiani gave the auxiliary noteover half the length of the principal note.

Neumann still councils for flexibility and resiststhe application of set rules for the execution ofthis ornament. The symbol of an appoggiatura, hefeels, “invites greater dynamic and rhythmic flexi-bility than would a regular note.” (1986, p. 6). Hesuggests the possibility of slight variations inlength. The quarter-note symbol, for example,would stand for a mostly-long appoggiatura andwill be held for approximately (not exactly) thevalue of a quarter-note (1986, pp. 32-33).

Special mention must be made of the rhyth-mic figure eighth and two sixteenths precededby a grace note. Beyschlag (1953, p. 196) assertsthat as with Haydn and other composers of thisera, the notation is always realized as four six-teenths, end of discussion. Hamilton (1930, p.17) evidently agrees as he lists that solutionunder the first rule of Türk (see illustration 1).Neumann calls this equalization, and concedesthat it probably applies in most cases forMozart. However, he feels there is still and areaof ambiguity. He quotes Quantz as saying theappoggiatura must be played in the time of thepreceding note.

C.P.E. Bach and Agricola, he notes, both call forshort appoggiaturas, that is, no equalization.Even Türk seems to call for short appoggiaturasexcept when the figure grows out of a sequenceof sixteenths-notes, in which case one shouldplay them as equal with an accent on the appog-giatura (Neumann 1986, pp. 81-84).

Neumann seems to carry no strong prefer-ence for the realization of this figure, and ratherjust sums up the choices available to the per-former (1986, pp. 88-89).

The main variations to be considered are 1)

evenly spaced notes with the first one empha-sized beyond its normal metrical stress (whichis probably what Pleyel had in mind); 2) in slowtempos, and mainly for the scale formula [adescending or ascending pattern], a slightlengthening of the Vorschlag note (which iswhat Steglich had in mind); 3) the shortening ofthe appoggiatura in the sense of Hiller, Lasser,and Türk; 4) once in awhile grace notes in thesense of Dannreuther, Döbereiner, and, pre-sumably, Peter.

Certainly soloists can use their inherentlygreater freedom of execution to vary the rendi-tion of the formula in one of these ways whenthe musical context favors such adjustment.

The most difficult problem of the use of thegrace note, or short appoggiatura, is in decidingwhen its use is necessary. Here C.P.E. Bachadvocated the practice of using a small note oflow value (such as a sixteenth or thirty-secondnote) to indicate a short appoggiatura. It waslater improved by adding a dash through thestem of the small note. However, when hisdevice was first coming into use, the supple-mentary dash was often left out, thereby mak-ing it difficult to determine whether a long orshort appoggiatura was intended (Hamilton1930, pp. 22-23). Another factor causing difficul-ty is discussed by Neumann (1986, p. 65). “In hisearly years, Mozart was often casual in choos-ing the value of his Vorschlag symbols. Withmaturity Mozart became more circumspectabout his Vorschlag notation, but never fullyconsistent.”

Neumann (1986, pp. 40-58) lists several situ-ations in which the Vorschlag should probablybe treated as a grace note. One very importantconsideration is that a characteristic rhythmnot be disturbed by ornamental additions. Suchcases require the grace note realization to keepthe integrity of the rhythm. He feels that groupsof three in binary meter are probably in thegreatest need of preserving the characteristicrhythm. Upward leaping instrumentalVorschläge will generally be grace notes but willoccasionally need appoggiatura treatment assuggested by the context. Vorschläge usuallyget grace note treatment when they appearbefore a staccato note or when they rise a half-step to the main note (and are written as a six-teenth or shorter). Two or more repeatednotes, each of which are preceded by aVorschlag which rises by a half-step almostalways should be a grace note. Along the linesof the characteristic rhythm situation is that ofsyncopation, which also needs to preserve its

IDRS JOURNAL 7


integrity (i.e. grace note treatment). Especiallyimportant are the rhythms dotted-eighth, six-teenth, eighth in 3/8 or 6/8 time, and theanapest figure below.

Finally, when it appears the main note itself is anappoggiatura to another note, the grace note real-ization for the small note is probably safe.

Outside of such specific cases, Neumann hassome general advice to help determine the useof short or long appoggiatura (1986, pp. 62-69).“Whenever an appoggiatura would obscurerather than embellish the underlying melody,we should substitute a grace-note, since amelody has a right to its basic integrity … Thegreater the disparity between the value of thesymbol and that of the principle note, the morethe scales are weighted toward grace-noteintention … Generally we find many moreinstances in which a Vorschlag is renderedshorter than its denomination than the oppo-site.”

Other theorists have a few guidelines also.Donington (1963, p. 148) quotes Wolf in hisUnterricht of 1787 “[Short appoggiaturas appearonly before short notes, when] the main noteitself loses almost nothing at all.” Dolmetschlists two situations which require a shortappoggiatura (1946, p. 104). “An appoggiaturato a note of the shortest value used in the pieceor passage where it occurs must be played veryshort … An appoggiatura to a note forming adiscord with the bass, augmented fourth,diminished fifth, seventh, second, etc. must beplayed very short or else the discord will bechanged into a concord, and the harmonyspoiled.” Beyschlag (1953, p. 204) claims thatthere is no short appoggiatura in Mozart as hefeels they did not come into use until after hisdeath.

The other argument regarding the shortappoggiatura is whether it should occur on thebeat or as a pre-beat figure, and whether thestress should occur on the main note or thegrace note. As stated earlier, Neumann prefersthe pre-beat realization because it is describedas light and the principal note accented. Hefeels that the figure can be light and on the beatin slow tempos, but that it becomes impracticalin faster tempos (1986, pp. 8-9). He also notesthat the theorist Milchmeyer in 1798 favors the

pre-beat as he illustrates the performance of agrace note preceding three eighth notes asbeing realized before the beat (1986, pp. 11-12).Dannreuther (1895, pp. 63-64) notes thatLeopold Mozart emphasized that “short appog-giatura indicated by small semiquavers are tobe played as quickly as possible.”

Later Dannreuther states that the stress ison the main note. This does not give us a defi-nite indication of pre-beat or on-the-beat place-ment, however. Donington (1963, p. 194) is ahard-core advocate of on-the-beat playing forall ornaments: “We have no such excuse for tak-ing these ornaments before the beat, or forbeginning them before the beat, since all theauthorities appear to assume that they fall onthe beat, and a number of them, including J. A.Hiller (Anweisung zum Violinspielen, 1792), J.H.Knecht (Methodenbuch, early 19th cent.), and I.Pleyel (Méthode de pfte., early 19th cent.) actu-ally state the fact.” Hamilton (1930, p. 23) canalso be counted among the on-the-beat advo-cates: “It is important to observe that through-out the classic period the short, as well as thelong appoggiatura, takes its time from that ofthe main note, which is slightly shortened inconsequence.” Cole (1990, p. 173) tends towardNeumann’s interpretation of the figure but asksan open question: “In his eagerness to combatthe rigidity of the on-beat advocates, hasNeumann tilted the balance too far in favor ofpre-beat execution?”

One special case in the Vorschlag ornamen-tation is the cadential formula with theVorschlag before the fifth of the dominant.Neumann is the only one to really discuss thisas a separate case and he feels either long orshort treatment will do (1986, p.76). “For thisformula the NMA [Neue Mozart Ausgabe] oftensuggests the grace note, often the appoggiatu-ra, and the former, it would seem, more fre-quently. Both will be generally possible and itwill be well to alternate their use.”

The slide is a series of two or three notes insuccession that lead up or down to the mainnote. Here again the problem lies in the pre-beat, on-the-beat debate. Hamilton (1930), p.59), in his definition of a slide indicates his on-beat preference: “In the slide (German“Schliefer”), two quick notes lead up, or (lessfrequently) lead down the main note, from

which their time is taken [emphasis mine].”Dolmetsch (1946, p. 243) admits to some dis-crepancies but prefers the on-beat: “In all theexamples of slides we have seen so far the orna-ment is played in the time of the principal note.This rule, however, was not followed by every-body. There always were some who played thegraces before the notes to which they belong, inopposition to the practice of the great masters.”Neumann (1986, pp. 97-98) admits to the popu-larity of the on-beat slide but again advises theuse of a little lee-way. “With the advent of thegallant style and the spread of the on beat prin-ciple for ornaments, German treatises usuallytranscribed the symbol in the Lombard style …Mozart uses the Lombard type, always writtenin regular notes, fairly often. The written-outform of the Lombard slide is never replaced inanalogous spots by symbols, and this along

suggests a difference in meaning. Yet there aresome cases where a Lombard interpretation ofthe symbol makes good sense.” Neumannnames one specific exception to the Lombardrhythm: “A staccato mark over the principalnote invites the anapest lest the sharpness ofarticulation be blunted.”

With the trill the argument rages overwhether it should begin with the main note orthe upper auxiliary note. Only two of the sourcesfor this paper take the hard-line position that itmust always begin with the upper tone. One isDannreuther (1895, p. 63), who takes his positionfrom Leopold Mozart, whom he says emphasizesthat “All shakes, even the shortest transientshakes, start with the upper-accessory.” Theother is Dolmetsch (1946, p. 180) who finds hisevidence in John Quantz’s “Versuch” of 1752.“Every shake begins with an appoggiatura whichis before its note and is taken from above orbelow.” Dolmetsch (p. 158) himself states that“the shake is closely allied to the appoggiaturafrom above. It can be used in the same places,the latter often serving as a preparation to it.”

Some writers merely state the ambiguity ofthe situation but give no help to the performer indetermining which to use. “The trill could beshort or long, begin on the upper or lower notes,and carry an additional ornamental turn eitherat its beginning or at its end.” (Rather 1980, p.197). Beyschlag (1953, p. 204) says that if Mozartfollowed the maxim of his father, the trill begins

on the auxiliary note, but that Wolfgang was notalways so fussy with it. Donington will admit that“as early as Daniel Gottlieb Türk (Klavierschule1789) we find a hint that exception to the upper-note start occurred, though he does not showany such exception in his examples.” He willeven go so far as to observe: “The trill was notagain, in short, what it had previously been inthe sixteenth century: a primarily melodic orna-ment. As such, it should perhaps more logicallyhave a main-note start [emphasis mine]; butthis is not a pressing necessity, as the upper-notestart is for a harmonic trill.” Donington hastilyassures us though, that the upper-note start isstandard until the second quarter of the nine-teenth century, especially for the works ofHaydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert (1963,pp. 191-192).

“Mozart’s trill, following long-standing Italiantradition, is essentially a main-note trill. This istrue to the point where one can say that thefirst [choice] for Mozart’s trill should be thestart with the main note.”: so says Neumann(1989, p. 185). He is, of course, always flexible:“There are, however, contexts that favor thestart with the upper auxiliary … I suggest leav-ing out the trill and asking yourself if a shortappoggiatura or a grace note could be prof-itably added to the unadorned note. If so, thenthe trill could be sensibly rendered according-ly.” Neumann does give more specific examplesof when a main-note trill is preferable, but wewill come to those shortly.

Hamilton is perhaps the performer’s bestguide other than Neumann, for the specificinstances that call for a main-note or upper-note trill (1940, pp. 48-49).

During Bach’s time and up to about 1800,trills began regularly on the auxiliary note …Important exceptions to this rule, however,occur (a) when the trill begins a composition orsection of it abruptly; (b) when it follows a stac-cato note or rest; (c) when the main note is aprominent note of the melody, such as onewhich occurs after a downward leap; (d) whenthe main note is preceded by the note immedi-ately below or above.”

If the trill is preceded by an appoggiatura, orby the note above slurred to the main note, thetrill begins as though the preceding note weretied to it.

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Neumann agrees with Hamilton as to when thetrills should begin on the main note, but he alsoadds a few other circumstances (1986, pp. 117-124). Where a triadic formula or a pitch repetitionis clearly thematic, the trill needs to start on themain note to maintain that thematic integrity. Ascalewise melody is to be treated in the samefashion. Neumann feels that short trills that arepart of a distinct melodic line need to start on themain note. This contrasts with Donington (1963,p. 193) who says that short trills or half trills starton the upper note. Neumann also notes that trillchains and trills on the leading-tone also belongon the list of main-note trills; the latter in order tobring out the tension in the pull toward resolu-tion. He concludes this all with a bit of evidenceto support his main-note preference: “Thereseems to be no instance of a scale leading up tothe written pitch of any trill, evidence that wouldhave suggested an upper-note start … WhenMozart intended a supported appoggiatura trill(i.e. one starting with a lengthened upper note)he usually indicated his wish.” (p. 114).

Nearly everyone agrees that most trills shouldadd on the two-note suffix whenever it is easilyaccommodated. This suffix may or may not bewritten out. “A suffix written out in regular notesfor the soloist need not be rendered with mechan-ical precision: being an ornament it may be, andoften should be, done faster, as if it had been writ-ten in little notes. When the suffix is not markedit should still be added when circumstances favorit.” (Neumann 1986, p. 113). The half-trill, or shorttrill, according to Donington (1963, p. 193), shouldbe unterminated. Dolmetsch (1969, p. 188) alsoadds that descending passages, short notes, sev-eral trills following one another, and trills that endin several short notes that serve as a terminationdon’t need the two-note suffix.

“For ornaments, and especially for turns, thereare always a number of possible solutions, andone needs to select the one that seems to be themost satisfying in a given context.” (Neumann1989, p. 165) The turn offers the greatest freedomin interpretation. The theorists say little on thesubject, or confine themselves to general guide-lines, hesitating to dictate a concrete example.For instance, Dolmetsch (1969, p. 237) is contentto mention the advise of Türk only as: “The quickturn begins with the principal note. It must beplayed as indicated (a), not as at (b).

The principal note must not be played twice insuccession.”

Hamilton (1930, pp. 39-43) observes thatafter the time of Bach, the upper of the turn isdiatonic while the lower could be a half-step.Generally, the turn should be played rapidly,stoping on the last note, except in rapid tempowhen the notes should all be of equal value.

When the sign is written over a note that is pre-ceded by a rest or a staccato note, the turnbegins on the main note, not the upper.

The sign written between two notes indicatesan embedded turn, which is usually played witha stop on the first note, and the turn is playedquickly before the next note.

Hamilton feels that the turn best begins on aninconspicuous part of the beat after a longnote. And finally, he advises that: “If the first ofthe two notes be dotted, and followed by a noteof value equal to the dot, but of different pitch,the turn should end on the dot.”

Neumann (1986, pp. 136-159) in his general guide-lines mentions that Mozart often uses four littlenotes instead of the turn symbol. He cautionsthat this can be misleading “by obscuring thefact that only the first three notes are ornamen-tal, whereas the fourth is the tail end of the prin-cipal note … as such it is often, notably after dot-ted notes, held longer than the first three …” Heagrees with Hamilton that the first note of theembedded turn should be a sustained if possible.Also similar to Hamilton is Neumann’s assertion

that for a binary note, the turn should go rightinto the following pitch whereas a dotted notewill have the last pitch of the turn ending on thedot (see illustration numbers 14 and 15). As tothe speed of the turn, Neumann advises: “ForMozart I would venture the suggestion that whenin doubt, choose a fast rendition over a slowerone … ” Neumann disagrees with Hamilton on theturn placed over a note following a rest. He feelsthat it is fitting for the turn to begin on the auxil-iary note, although it is not to be automaticallyapplied.

Finally, he mentions the placement of stress: “Aturn that occurs in the middle of a beat can hardlyevery have a claim to appoggiatura function;hence it will never be accented and will generallyincline to anticipation.”

One may wonder at this point about the mor-dent, a common devise of the period and the onepreceding. Mozart, however, simply did not usethe mordent symbol (Neumann 1988, p. 100).

Now let us apply the information gatheredabove to a specific work of Mozart. I chose theOboe Quartet K. 370 (368b) written in 1781. Theexamples I looked at were for Oboe Solos, pub-lished by Amsco Music and copywriter 1958.

The first ornamentaL figures belong to therhythmic figuration eighth-two sixteenths.

The Neue Mozart Ausgabe (NMA) indicates inparenthesis which appoggiatura they believeshould receive grace-note treatment. This is onearea that they so indicate. This agrees withNeumann’s decision that this rhythmic figureshould always receive grace-note realization andwith the theorists (Donington and Dolmetsch)who advise grace notes for Vorschläge to shortnotes. As for those theorists who believe only longappoggiaturas can be used in Mozart, I honestlydon’t know how it could be done.

The next ornaments we must deal with are

trills. There is a quarter-note trill in measure 19which, according to the rules of Hamilton andNeumann, can be a main-note trill because thenote preceding it is an upper note leading into it.

The figure would probably be realized as inillustration 10. Also, a finishing turn would be veryappropriate here. The trills in measures 21 and 23offer a more difficult problem. As I don’t believethe repeated pitches are clearly thematic, I thinkthe trills could be played either upper-auxiliary ormain-note, depending on the facility of the per-former. Personally, I prefer the upper-auxiliary formore flare.

Measures 25 and 26 contain the scale formulain the rhythmic pattern of an approggiatura pro-ceeding and eighth and two sixteenths, with allits possible realizations. As many theorists pre-fer equalization, and even Neumann admits itprobably applies to most cases in Mozart, I thinkthis traditions approach could confidently beused. However, I feel that the character of thismovement supports the possibility of grace-noteinterpretation as preferred by Quantz in illustra-tion 6.

We come at last to turn figurations in measures31 and 32. As they follow a dotted note, we cansafely use the formula given in illustration 15.Those feeling a little bolder may wish to experi-ment with a less rigidly rhythmical realization asNeumann suggests, keeping in mind the need for alengthened initial and final note.

The trill in measure 55 can be either main-noteor upper-note. It is not a strong cadential trill andtherefore does not require an upper note. Also, itcould be considered a leading-tone trill which is

IDRS JOURNAL 11


favorable to the main-note interpretation. It is forthese reasons that I favor the main-note trill here;but by following the suggestion of removing thetrill and playing an appoggiatura, we find that it isnot out of place. The finishing turn is written outand although it doesn’t have to be in time (accord-ing to Neumann), it seems to fit so nicely.

The sequence of trills in measures 62-63would most likely be main-note trills as they area chain of trills, move upward in a scale-like fash-ion, and begin after a rest. Those that favor theupper-note start could argue for the resultingeven number of notes in the figure, but I think thefigure passes too quickly for that to be a signifi-cant determining factor.

The next figure in measures 84 and 87 is men-tioned specifically by Neumann (1986, p. 53) asbeing grace notes because they rise a half-step andare written as sixteenth notes. (The dash acrossthe stem makes it a sixteenth.)

The NMA, however does not indicate thatthis figure should receive short appoggiaturatreatment. I lean more toward the grace noteas I think treating the Vorschlag long and giv-ing it the “half-a-binary” rule would place toomuch emphasis on the G sharp. Perhaps bet-ter would be to treat it as a long appoggiatu-ra but follow Neumann’s suggestion of vary-ing the length of the appoggiatura, giving it,

say, more or less the value of an eighth or six-teenth-note.

The trill of measure 85 and 88 needs an appog-giature as it is very definitely a cadential trill.There is a case for a main note trill as it is pre-ceded by the lower note and could be considereda leading-tone trill (leading to a false cadence). Ifeel the length of it, and the underlying har-monies in the strings make the upper-note trill abetter choice. Here again, the termination is writ-ten in, but in small notes.

The trills in measure 112 I believe to be bestrendered as main-note because they are in achain and part of a descending scale passage.Now, I think it is most commonly done as upper-note trills, and is probably not wrong to do so. Ineither case, these short trills do not require a ter-mination.

In the second movement, the first ornamentalsymbol we encounter in measure 11 is the caden-tial formula type discussed by Neumann.Although the NMA often recommends grace-noterealization, here it recommends the long appog-giatura treatment. I agree, as the grace notewould interrupt the slow melodious line. I usual-ly play this as in illustration 26.

The rhythmic figure eighth and two six-teenths preceded by an appoggiatura isencountered again in measure 20. Here I favorequalization to preserve the smooth character

of the melody and because a pattern of six-teenths has already been established. Thesame rhythmic figure occurs once again inmeasure 27.

Measure 27 also finds a trill that can easilybe played as a main-note trill. It is preceded bythe note immediately below it. On the otherhand, it is probably not entirely incorrect tostart it with an appoggiatura, either. Once againthe sensibilities of the performer will have tocome into play.

A cadenza is called for in the 31st measure. Itis signaled by the fermata over a leading. Asthis paper hasn’t covered the topic of cadenzas,I will hold myself to the general principles thata cadenza should not be too long, and that itshould be in the style and technical level of therest of the movement.

The third movement introduces the use ofthe slide in the opening measure and again inmeasures 17 and 25. These slides are men-tioned specifically by Neumann (1986, p. 101).He feels they need to occur before the beat asthe principal note is staccato. The aim is to pre-serve the sharpness of articulation.

The turn in measure 30 follows a quarternote and so could receive the binary treatment.That is, the first note will be held, and the turnwill lead straight into the next note. Again, thelength of the held note, and thus the speed ofthe turn, can vary.

The turn at measure 45 is discussed byNeumann (1986, p. 159). He gives two possiblesolutions (illustration 30). I had been using thefirst one, but now I prefer the second realiza-tion. It seems cleaner. Similar turns can be real-ized the same way at measures 52 and 57.

I believe the Vorschläge in measures 52, 54,

56, and 58 would be grace notes as the figure isone in which Neumann recommends preservingthe rhythmic integrity. The NMA also recom-mends grace-note treatment here.

We come again to the equalization versesgrace note debate in measure 96 and 100. Thegrace-note interpretation may well be used hereas there is no established pattern and the char-acter of the movement would accommodate it.However, we may wish to keep in mind the useof equalization as this is the first chance we getto establish the meter change to alle breve. Thisneed becomes all the more important when weconsider that the piano is continuing in 6/8time.

The subsequent trills in measures 97 and 101can be main-note trills as they are preceded bythe note immediately above. Once again theinterpretation would probably be as in illustra-tion 10.

The chain of turns in measure 98 present aspecial problem. In spite of the fact that all theturns begin after a dotted note, the rapid tempodisallows any chance of prolonging the firstnote except in the first case, or of ending theturn on the dot. In this case we must follow theadvice of Hamilton and give the notes equalvalue.

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The trill in measure 111, I feel, needs theappoggiatura as it definitely has a cadentialfeel. The two-note suffix can and should beapplied here. As the next note is below thetrilled note, the effect will be of a mordentrather than a turn.

Likewise, the trill at 150 is also cadential andshould receive the same treatment. This trillalso resolves downward and here the suffix iswritten out.

The Vorschläge of measure 162 are recom-mended to be played long by the NMA and, ofcourse, those theorists who traditionally callfor the long appoggiatura over the short. I thinksuch an interpretation goes against the charac-ter of the movement, and agree with Neumann.He refers to this spot (1986, p. 51), saying thattwo or more repeated notes, each preceded bya Vorschlag rising by a half-step should receivegrace-note treatment.

While the trill in the measure following couldstart with the main note because of the preced-ing note being next to it, it would not be amissto use the upper auxiliary to help emphasize itsrole as a cadence.

The remaining Vorschläge to the end of thepiece should best be played as grace notes tokeep in the style of the rest of the movement.Also, this is again that rhythmic figure specifi-cally mentioned by Neumann as preferring thegrace note (as in illustration 31). In this case,the NMA agrees, and recommends the use ofshort appoggiaturas.

I must close this paper with the admonition,echoed by nearly all the theorist here dis-cussed, that the best method to decide how toexecute the embellishments is for the per-former to play them and to experiment with dif-ferent solutions to see which best suits theindividual temperament and taste. Neumann(1989, p. 159) perhaps says it best: “Any dis-cussion of desirable performance that reliessolely on theoretically grounded arguments,and fails to engage the ‘subjective’ elements of

musical logic, judgment, and common sense, isbound to be at best limiting, at worst mislead-ing and disturbing.” ❖

Works CitedBeyschlag, Adolf. Die Ornamentik der Musik. Leipzig:

Breitkopf und Härtel. 1953. pp. 195-204.Cole, Malcom. Rev. of Ornamentation and

Improvisation in Mozart, by Frederick Neumann(Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press 1986).Performance Practice Review. 3 Fall 1990: 170-174.

Dannreuther, Edward. Musical Ornamentation (Part II).London: Novello and Company. 1895. pp. 63-95.

Dolmetsch, Arnold. The Interpretation of the Music ofthe Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. Seattle:University of Washington Press. 1946 (reprinted in1969).

Donington, Robert. The Interpretation of Early Music.London: Faber and Faber. 1963 pp. 88-219.

Hamilton, Clarence. Ornaments in Classical andModern Music. Boston: Oliver Ditson Company.1930 (reprinted in 1976).

Neumann, Frederick. Ornamentation andImprovisation in Mozart. Princeton, N.J.: PrincetonUniversity Press. 1986.

__ “Interpretation Problems of Ornament Symbolsand Two Recent Case Histories: Hans Klotz onBach, Faye Ferguson on Mozart. PerformancePractice Review. 1 (1988): 71-106.

__ “Some Problems of Mozart Ornamentation: AResponse to Robert Levin” and “Ornamentation inthe Bassoon Music of Vivaldi and Mozart.” NewEssays on Performance Practice. Ann Arbor, Mich.:UMI Research Press, 1989. pp. 155-168 and 175-194.

Pohanka, Jarolsav. Neue Ausgabe sämtlicher Werke.Serie VIII, Werkgruppe 20, Abteilung 2. Kassel:Bärenreiter. 1962.

Ratner, Leonard. Classical Music. New York: ShirmerBooks. 1980. pp. 196-203.

Warner, Thomas Everett. Indications of PerformancePractice in Woodwind Instruction Books of the 17thand 18th Centuries. Diss. New York U. 1964 NewYork, 1965.

About the Author …The author earned a Master of Music degree from the

University of Illinois in 1992 and a B.S. in music educa-tion from Dickinson State University in Dickinson, ND in1990. She is currently teaching K-12 vocal and instru-mental music in Zeeland, ND, while working on a M.S.in music education degree during the summers at theUniversity of Illinois. This paper won the Mu Phi EpsilonMusicological Research Competition in the area of grad-uate papers (non-thesis) in 1992.

IDRS JOURNAL

If Mozart Had Been a Bassoonist:Suggestions for a First-Movement Cadenza to K. 191

By James A. GrymesTallahassee, Florida

15

ozart’s Bassoon Concerto in B-flat MajorK. 191 (186e) is one of the most fre-quently performed works in the bas-soon repertoire. With the recent trend

towards historically informed performance, therehave been several studies applying currentknowledge of the performance practices ofMozart’s time to K. 191.1 Surprisingly, very littlehas been written on how to devise stylisticallyappropriate cadenzas for the concerto. Althoughthe first and second movements of K. 191 eachrequire a cadenza, this article will deal only withthe formulation of a first-movement cadenza.

Cadenzas are extended passages of virtuosicfigurations based on motives from their respec-tive movements. While cadenzas are generallythought of as having been improvised, it wasapparently not uncommon for a soloist to pre-pare some or all of a cadenza prior to perfor-mance. Eighteenth-century composers wouldindicate where a cadenza was to be provided bynotating a fermata over a tonic six-four chord(see Examples 1a and 1b). Cadenzas should not

be confused with Eingänge (lead-ins), which aremuch shorter passages comprised mainly ofscales and arpeggios unrelated to the motives ofthe movement. The location of an Eingang wasdesignated by a fermata over a dominant chord.Eingänge are required in the first and third move-ments of K. 191 (see Examples 2a and 2b).

The first movement of K. 191 is based on theeighteenth-century “concerto sonata” form,which involves an establishment of the tonic key,a departure from that key, and an eventual returnto it. The structural function of the cadenza wasto create harmonic tension near the end of the“recapitulation,” which was the part of the move-ment dedicated only to the re-establishment ofthe principal key. Composers would set upcadenzas by generating tension, often through adominant pedal point, and then stopping the har-monic motion over a second-inversion tonicchord. At that point, the soloist would furnish acadenza centered around the tonic six-four anddominant seventh chords. This continued

M

IF MOZART HAD BEEN A BASSOONIST16

emphasis on the dominant created even moreharmonic tension, heightening the anticipation ofthe cadenza’s tonic resolution.

Although appropriate cadenzas are necessaryfor any historically informed performance of K.191, few musicians know how to prepare theirown. Modern performers often resort to playingone of the popular cadenzas written by well-knownbassoonists. These standard cadenzas eliminatethe element of spontaneity that made cadenzaspopular; eighteenth-century audiences expectedto be dazzled by an original display of virtuosity.The modern cadenzas are also frequently incon-sistent with Mozart’s style. The goal of this articleis to explore the type of cadenza that Mozart him-self would have prepared for the first movement ofK. 191, had he been a bassoonist.

The most appropriate models for designing acadenza in Mozart’s style are, of course, thecadenzas that he wrote. In keeping with commonpractice, Mozart included in his scores just theintroductions and conclusions of cadenzas tofacilitate coordination between the soloist andthe orchestra. The main body of the cadenza wasto be provided by the soloist as a means of indi-vidual expression. Since Mozart would not havedevised a cadenza to a concerto that he himselfwould not play, there are no cadenzas to any ofhis wind concerti, serenades, divertimenti, orother music for winds.2 The only solo concerti forwhich Mozart wrote cadenzas were those for hisown instrument of choice, the piano.

It seems odd that Mozart, whose improvisa-tional skills are legendary, would have taken thetime to write out cadenzas. After all, Mozart him-self stated that when performing cadenzas, “Ialways play whatever comes to me at themoment.”3 This suggests that Mozart’s survivingcadenzas may have been composed for inept stu-dents and friends who could not improvise, mak-ing them poor examples of his true style. Thisgeneralization is refuted by the cadenzas for K.271 and K. 488, which Mozart notated directlyinto the score from which he read during his ownperformances. The scarcity of copies to Mozart’scadenzas outside his inner family circle furtherproves that he had written many of them for hisown exclusive use. Other cadenzas were appar-ently intended for his sister Nannerl,4 who was anaccomplished performer in her own right andwas surely capable of improvising her own caden-zas. Regardless of these examples, Mozart’sextant cadenzas are undeniably the result of adeliberate compositional process and clearly rep-resent the type of cadenza that the composerhimself performed.

Mozart wrote cadenzas for over two-thirds ofhis piano concerti, often writing more than oneper concerto. When attempting to compose acadenza similar in style to one Mozart wouldhave written, it would be an “act of self-depriva-tion” not to examine these cadenzas.5 Variousstudies have shown that he was extremely con-sistent in form, length, harmony, and in his use ofmotives, especially in first-movement cadenzas.These commonalties allow for speculationregarding what type of cadenza Mozart-the-hypo-thetical-bassoonist would have written for thefirst movement of K. 191.

Using Mozart’s piano cadenzas as the onlymodels would not be sufficient for devising a styl-istically correct cadenza for the first movement ofhis bassoon concerto. Since there are manyaspects of writing for the piano that simply do notapply to wind instruments, one must also exam-ine the wind cadenzas that are extant fromMozart’s lifetime. David Lasocki, who examinedtwo hundred such cadenzas,6 found several com-mon features that can be applied to a first-move-ment cadenza for K. 191.

Eighteenth-century cadenzas, including all ofMozart’s, begin on a note in the tonic triad overthe orchestra’s six-four chord. This introductorynote was generally written into the score by thecomposer. At the location of the first-movementcadenza in any scholarly edition of K. 191, the solopart includes a b-flat over the tonic six-four chordas well as another b-flat preceding it (see Example1a). These two notes are unfortunately not oftenperformed by modern bassoonists. Throughoutthe concerto, Mozart notated the bass line in thebassoon part for the tutti sections; it was custom-ary during the eighteenth century for a soloist toalso play as a member of the orchestra duringthese passages.7 Although most modern perform-ers prefer to rest throughout the tutti sections,there is no justification for leaving out the twonotes in measures 159 and 160. The b-flats in thebassoon part do not double the bass and there-fore clearly belong to the solo part.

Introducing the cadenza with an extended fer-mata helps catch and hold the audience’s atten-tion. In Saggio per ben il flautotraverso (1779),Antonio Lorenzi suggested that the soloist slightlyincrease and then decrease the volume of the sus-tained note.8 This stemmed from the populareighteenth-century ornament messa di voce,which was used on most expressive long notes.After the fermata, Mozart often notated a brief restbefore re-entering with the cadenza. Other times,he connected the fermata to the cadenza throughan Eingang-like transition. Milan Turkovic accom-

IDRS JOURNAL 17

plishes this by employing thematic material fromthe orchestral ritornelli in the introduction to hisUniversal Edition cadenza (see Example 3).9

The majority of an eighteenth-century caden-za is made up of material borrowed from themovement. Theorists from Mozart’s time werevery specific about the types of motives thatcould be used as well as how one could use them.In Klavierschule (1789), Daniel Gottlob Türkwarned against the incorporation of “all sorts ofideas that do not have the least relationship towhat has gone before in the composition. Theresult is that the good impression left on the lis-tener by the composition has for the most partbeen cadenzaed out of him.”10 Mozart’s cadenzasquote only short fragments of no more than threemotives. After all, the composer had thoroughlydeveloped all of the thematic material in themovement proper.

Most of Mozart’s cadenzas begin by quoting theprincipal theme of the movement, but not in itsoriginal harmony. He often destabilized the motiveby replacing the root position triad that had ini-tially appeared under the motive with a six-fourharmony. If Mozart had presented the principalmotive in its original tonic key, the dominant func-tion of the cadenza would have been lost; if he hadtransposed the motive to the dominant, it wouldhave undermined the fundamental relationshipbetween the principal theme and the tonic key.This destabilization also heightens the musicaltension, which is resolved only in the dominant-to-tonic progression at the very end of the cadenza.

In the first-movement cadenza to the PianoConcerto in G major K. 453, Mozart borrowed theintroductory material from the piano’s first soloentrance (see Example 4a). He destabilized the

harmony by replacing the original root-positiontonic harmony with a second inversion tonicchord (see Example 4b). Turkovic’s Universal

Edition cadenza (see Example 5) presents theprincipal motive from K. 191’s first movement

(see Example 6) in a stylistically correct mannerby briefly employing the motive in an ornament-

ed form before promptly stressing the fifth scaledegree, implying a six-four harmony. Other mod-ern cadenzas tend to suggest a six-four harmonyonly through several repetitions of the bassoon’sfirst entrance. Türk mandated that, “No thoughtshould be often repeated in the same key oranother, no matter how beautiful it may be.”11

Motivic openings in Mozart’s cadenzas usuallylead into passage-work. This proceeds directly intothe middle section of the cadenza, often pausing ona dominant seventh chord before making the tran-sition.12 The middle sections of Mozart’s cadenzasfrequently employ a sequential development of thesecond motive from the movement. This allows themotive’s expressive effect to be transformed froman expository one, as heard in the movement prop-er, to a speculative one.13 To create a Fortspinnung(continuous development) effect, the motive isinterrupted before it can round itself off with acadence. Very few modern cadenzas for the firstmovement of K. 191 employ the second subjectfrom the movement (see Example 7).

IF MOZART HAD BEEN A BASSOONIST18

The final sections of Mozart’s cadenzas are notas predictable as the other sections. This isbecause he was much freer in the construction ofthe concluding bars of a cadenza.14 These mea-sures most often include a number of virtuosicruns and arpeggios that lead to the cadential trillof the cadenza.

Authorities from the eighteenth century agreethat a cadenza should conclude with a long trillon the second scale degree. This trill, like theintroduction to the cadenza, was usually notatedby the composer. Mozart’s piano cadenzas allemploy a trill in the right hand over a dominantseventh chord in the left. Since wind playerscould obviously not simultaneously perform bothfunctions, they played just the trill on the super-tonic. Halfway through the trill, the full orchestrawould enter on a dominant seventh chord.15 Thiswas apparently so common that it was rarelynotated in the score. Unfortunately, this practicehas been forgotten; the chord is omitted in mod-ern editions and is consequently not performedby the accompaniment. The final trill of anycadenza is ornamented with a two-note close (seeExample 8). The note following the bar line rep-resents the final note of the cadenza and the firstnote of the last orchestral ritornello.

Mozart also demonstrated remarkable consis-tency when it came to the length of his cadenzas.This uniformity is a result of both the limits of thedominant function and the structural level towhich the cadenza belonged; a lengthy cadenzawould alter the formal proportions of the move-ment. Mozart treated the cadenza as an impor-tant structural event, but by no means a domi-nating one that might be comparable to an “expo-sition” or a “recapitulation.”16

Baroque treatises dictate that cadenzasshould only be as long as one breath. This ruledoes not apply to cadenzas from the late eigh-teenth century. In 1791, Johann Georg Tromlitzadvised that contemporary performers couldtake a few breaths, but only if they carefullyarranged the melody and figures in such a waythat the continuity of the cadenza and the impe-tus to the final trill would not be disrupted.17

Performers of Mozart’s time were very conscien-tious about limiting their cadenzas to the lengthof only a few breaths; most woodwind cadenzaswere only two to four lines long. This brevity isprobably due not as much to the soloist’s need to

breathe as to a wind player’s inability to sustaininterest without harmonic support.

The lengths of Mozart’s cadenzas are directlyproportional to the overall lengths of their corre-sponding movements. Ellwood Derr has foundthat Mozart cadenzas tend to be roughly half aslong as the “development” sections of the move-ments for which they were written.18 The “devel-opment” section of K. 191’s first movement istwenty-seven bars long (measures 71 through 97),which would suggest a cadenza length of onlythirteen or fourteen measures. While recording K.191 on a period instrument, Milan Turkovicinstinctively noted, “The extended cadenzas cus-tomary today . . . seemed out of place.”19 Thecadenzas Turkovic used are similar to hisAutograph Edition of cadenzas for K. 191.20 Thefirst-movement cadenza, which is just seventeenmeasures long, is among the shortest of moderncadenzas for the bassoon concerto.

Another problem with most twentieth-centurycadenzas is their use of complicated harmonies.The cadenza’s location at the end of the move-ment imposes significant restrictions upon its har-monic design. In keeping with the form on whichthe first movement of K. 191 is based, there can-not be any harmonic excursions in the “recapitu-lation” section, including the cadenza, that under-mine the tonality of the movement. Furthermore,harmonies that obscure the dominant function ofthe cadenza would weaken its final cadence.

Mozart’s own cadenzas do not include anysubstantial modulations from the main key of themovement. They generally consist of a simpleprogression from the tonic six-four chord to adominant seventh, which is resolved on the finalnote. This was also a structure common forwoodwind cadenzas. In the few instances inwhich Mozart did briefly diverge from the princi-pal key, the deviations were limited to the har-monic and modulatory intricacies of the particu-lar movement. This is consistent with eighteenth-century common practice. Türk advised thatwhen performing cadenzas:

In no case should one modulate to a key whichthe composer himself has not used in the compo-sition. It seems to me that this rule is founded onthe principle of unity, which, as is well known,must be followed in all works of the fine arts.21

An analysis of the first movement of K. 191shows that Mozart used very simple harmoniesthroughout the first movement; the most compli-cated harmonies are secondary dominant anddiminished-seventh chords. Any cadenza for thismovement should not include any harmoniesthat are more complex.

IDRS JOURNAL 19

Of course, there is no such thing as the “ulti-mate cadenza.” Mozart himself demonstratedthis by sometimes writing more than one set ofcadenzas for a given concerto. With carefularrangement, however, one may be able to designa first-movement cadenza for K. 191 similar to onethe composer might have written, if Mozart hadindeed been a bassoonist.

ENDNOTES

1 See Frederick Neumann, “Ornamentation in BassoonMusic” in New Essays in Performance Practice (AnnArbor, Michigan: UMl Research Press, 1989) and MilanTurkovic, Analytische Überlegungen zum klassischenBläser-Konzert am Beispiel von Mozarts Fagott-KonzertKV 191 (München: Emil Katzbichler, 1981).

2 In addition to raising numerous questions on theauthenticity of the Sinfonia Concertante for oboe, clar-inet, horn, bassoon, and orchestra in E-flat major, K.297b (Anh. C 14.01), Robert Levin has found that itscadenza was not written by Mozart. See Robert D.Levin, Who Wrote the Mozart Four-Wind Concertante?(Stuyvesant, NY: Pendragon Press, 1988) xvii.

3 W.A. Mozart to L. Mozart, 22 January 1783, in EmilyAnderson, ed., The Letters of Mozart and His Family, 3ded. (London: Macmillan Press, 1985) 837.

4 See W.A. Mozart to L. Mozart, 22 January and 15February 1783, Ibid., 837 and 840.

5 Brian K. Kershner, “A Study of the Classical Cadenzaand a Manual for Writing Cadenzas for Classical WindConcertos” (D.M. treatise, The Florida StateUniversity, 1986) 92.

6 See David Ronald Graham Lasocki, “The Eighteenth-century Woodwind Cadenza” (M.A. thesis, TheUniversity of Iowa, 1972).

7 See Terry B. Ewell’s advice on “Playing Those‘Missing’ Notes in Baroque and Classical Concerti”that appeared in the Vol. 20 No. 1, 1997 Double Reed.

8 Quoted in David Lasocki and Betty Bang Mather, TheClassical Woodwind Cadenza (New York McGinnisand Marx, 1978) 16.

9 Milan Turkovic, “Kadenzen” to W.A. Mozart, Konzertfür Fagott und Orchester KV 191, ed. Milan Turkovicand William Waterhouse (Vienna: Universal Edition,1987).

“Daniel Gottlob T ü r k Klavierschule, trans. Raymond H.Haggh (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1982)298. Emphasis in the original.

11 Ibid., 300.

12 Eva and Paul Badura-Skoda, Interpreting Mozart on theKeyboard, trans. Leo Black (New York: St. Martin’sPress, 1962), 217.

I3 Robert D. Levin, “Improvisation and Embellishment inMozart Piano Cadenzas,” Musical Newsletter 5:2(Winter 1975): 12.

I4 Badura-Skodas, 225.

I5 Betty Bang Mather, “The 6/4-Chord Cadenza forClassical Concerto Movements,” Flutist Quarterly 13:l(Winter 1988): 35.

16 Joseph P. Swain, “Form and Function of the ClassicalCadenza, Journal of Musicology 6:1 (Winter 1988) 43-44.

17 Johann George Tromlitz, “Unterricht die flöte zu spie-len,” trans. Linda Bishop Hartig (Ph.D. diss., MichiganState University, 1982) 444.

18 Quoted in Mary Robbins, “Reinterpreted Elements inMozart’s Cadenzas for His Piano Cadenzas,” Mozart-Jahrbuch 1991: 187.

I9 Liner Notes to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Concerto inB-flat major for Bassoon and Orchestra, K. 191,Concentus Musicus Wien, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, con-ductor (Teldec 9031-77603-2) 1987.

20 Milan Turkovic, Autograph Edition of Cadenzas forMozart Concerto in Bb, K. 191 for Bassoon, as recordedon Telefunken 6.4236lAW (Spokane, WA: JonesDouble Reed Products, 1980).

21 Turk, 300.

About the Author. . .James A. Grymes is currently working towards

Masters degrees in Historical Musicology andBassoon Performance at Florida State University,where he studies with Jeff Keesecker.

20 DOUBLE REED PLAYERS OF THE BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, 1936

Double Reed Players of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, 1936

Sketches by Gerome Brush

[Reproduced from a book of sketches of all the members of the orchestra]

IDRS JOURNAL 21

Fernand Gillet

22 DOUBLE REED PLAYERS OF THE BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, 1936

Henry Stanislaus

IDRS JOURNAL 23

JEAN DEVERGIE

DOUBLE REED PLAYERS OF THE BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, 193624

louis speyer

IDRS JOURNAL 25

RAYMOND ALLARD


ABON LAUS

IDRS JOURNAL 27

ERNST PANENKa


Boaz pillar

IDRS JOURNAL

A Comparative Examination of theNotation of Selected Orchestral Bassoon Solos

By Mark AveryMacomb, Illinois

29

usic notation is an integral element ofWestern art music. Classically trainedmusicians respond to every dot of inkcomposers apply to their compositions.

Correct notes, articulations, slurs, dynamics,beginning and ending of crescendos and diminu-endos, tempo and stylistic terms, etc. in the musicare important aspects of music publishing andultimately musical interpretation by the recreativeperformer. By careful attention to detail of manyelements of notation, however, many errors canbe found in the music we perform. Preparation oforchestral literature for auditions or performanceinvolves interpretation of the printed page. Threeof the main sources of orchestral preparationinclude orchestral excerpt books, the orchestralpart, and the orchestral score. Traditionally, mostbassoonists’ first encounter with many of the stan-dard orchestral solos is with an excerpt book.With this article, I have examined and comparedthe notation of select bassoon orchestral solosusing Fernando Righini’s bassoon orchestralexcerpt book (Il Fagotto in Orchestra. Florence:Edizione a cura dell’Autore, 1971) with a standardedition of the orchestral bassoon part and theorchestral score.

The excerpts I chose are based on surveys doneby Susan Nigro (“Bassoon Audition Excerpts,” Tothe World’s Bassoonists, Volume V, No. 3, 1975-76)and Richard Ramey (“A Survey of Bassoon AuditionRepertoire of Major North American Orchestras,”NACWPI Journal, Fall 1984), and works included onDavid McGill’s CD (Orchestral Excerpts for Bassoon.Summit Records DCD 162, 1994). The excerptsappear in the order of their popularity, based onhow often they were mentioned in Susan Nigro’ssurvey of North American and European orchestralbassoonists on the subject of bassoon auditionexcerpts. I have included what I consider to be themajor solos from these works.

In my preparation of this article I needed tomake a decision regarding which edition to use tocompare with Righini’s excerpt book. To remainconsistent I used the part and score from the sameedition. I possess parts and scores from variouseditions for many of the examined excerpts.Different editions of the same composition are notthe same in all notational aspects. For example,some crescendos are notated in slightly differentplaces, accents and staccatos are left off or added,

and some slur groupings are notated differently.Upon examining the part and score from the sameedition, I also discovered many of the same nota-tional inconsistencies. I corresponded with SandyPearson, the assistant librarian with the BostonSymphony, regarding the editions I chose toinclude. She commented, “in general the partsavailable from Kalmus are reprints of editions inuse by major orchestras. In many instances, eventhough the critical editions (e.g., Mozart) havecome more to the foreground as being better,there are many conductors who prefer the oldereditions.”

Another concern arose when I located newerKalmus scores. Kalmus’ new editions ofTchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony, Fifth Symphony,and Sixth Symphony contain corrections to theinconsistencies between the score and the partthat I discovered in their earlier editions.

There is also a problem of interpretation regard-ing “errors” in notation of which we’re all sup-posed to be aware. For example, the end of TheRite of Spring second solo, 4 measures after num-ber 12, the score, part, and Righini all slur down toan F from the Af in the previous measure; howev-er, many bassoonists and conductors believe thatthis is a publishing error and that the Af should tieinto the 4th measure rather than slur to the F(refer to David McGill’s CD). And of course there isstill the question of “is it a Dn or a Df 4 measuresafter number 6 in Stravinsky’s Berceuse from theFirebird?”

Righini’s Il Fagotto in Orchestra is a tremendouscontribution to the profession. It includes a largecollection of the tutti and solo passages for thebassoon from the standard orchestral repertoire.Righini has provided edition references with someof the works in his book, but most edition refer-ences are not included. As I compared the scoreand parts of the published editions I chose withRighini’s book, there were numerous notationalinconsistencies. Whether the notational differ-ences are due to Righini’s choice of editions,Righini included an editorialized interpretation (ifthis is the case, it is not mentioned in the prefaceor anywhere else in the publication), or publishingerrors, these notational differences need to beaddressed, especially to bassoonists who use theexcerpt book to learn the major solos and tuttipassages in the repertoire.

M

A COMPARATIVE EXAMINATION OF THE NOTATION OF SELECTED ORCHESTRAL BASSOON SOLOS30

The presentation that follows is not an answerto the questions of notational problems in theseselected bassoon solos. My intention is not tovoice my opinions of how to interpret these solos,but to reproduce what notation is used in each ofthese three sources, thus helping point out theinconsistencies that must be addressed in a finalinterpretation. Performance solutions will involvestudying the part and score, looking at other edi-tions, looking at the critical editions and accom-panying critical commentary, studying similarsolos in others parts of the work that precede orfollow, listening to recordings, studying excerptswith professional bassoonists, discussions withconductors, etc.

Using Finale, a music software program, Istacked the three versions (Part, Score, Righini)on top of each other for easy visual examination.Following each excerpt I have highlighted some ofthe differences that are apparent between eachversion. Some excerpts contain more notationaldifferences than other excerpts, and some havemore significant differences.

Publishers rely on proof-readers before releas-ing their editions. I wish to thank Linda Fess forhelping me proof the music I put into Finale.Hopefully, we have represented the editions accu-rately.

B

B

B

bb

bb

bb

4

2

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2

4

2

Allegro ma non troppo

p

h = 80

Part

Movement IV

m. 15

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p

h( = 80)

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p

h = 80

Righini

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Beethoven: Symphony No. 4

Beethoven, Ludwig van. Symphony No. 4. New York: Kalmus, n.d.1) Measures 15-17: Righini slurs all 3 measures and indicates this passage as Solo2) Measure 184 and 300: The Score does not indicate Solo3) Measures 184-187, 300-302, 350-353: Righini indicates staccato4) Measure 186: Righini indicates a slur from the grace note to the principal note5) Measure 187: Righini does not indicate a piano dynamic

IDRS JOURNAL

Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring

31

Introduction

Lento J = 50 tempo rubato

Lent0 1/4 =SO tempo rubato

Lento

m-m 4--

Righini ad.lib. 3 3


B

B

B

4

2

4

2

4

2

4

3

4

3

4

3

4

2

4

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4

2

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Tempo I q = 50

Solo

(come sopra)Part

12œb

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Tempo I q = 50

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(come sopra)Score

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come prima

1. Tempo

Righini

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Stravinsky, Igor. The Rite of Spring. New York: Kalmus, n.d.

1) 3 measures before to 2 measures after : Righini does not indicate the higher level phrase marking

in the first 2 measures and indicates different slur groupings

2) 3 measures after : Righini does not indicate 2 eighth note rests on beat 2 which changes the

rhythmical grouping of the high C to a duple eighth note

3) 3 measures after to 5 measures after : Righini indicates the slur differently

4) 2 measures after : Righini indicates forte, the Part and Score indicate poco più forte

5) : The beginning and ending of the Part’s slurs in the first two measures are poorly notated

: Righini’s ending of the first slur is poorly notated and the second slur is different than

the Part and Score

12

12

3

11

1

11

IDRS JOURNAL 33

B

B

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bb

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b

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2

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4

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Andantino in modo di canzona

Movement II

Part

m. 274

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Score

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Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4

Tchaikovsky, Peter Ilyitch. Symphony No. 4. Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, n.d.

1) Measure 277: Righini does not indicate a dot over the 1st C

2) Measure 283: The Part does not indicate a dot over the 2nd F

3) Measure 287: Righini slurs all 4 notes

4) Measures 289-290: Righini slurs into the Bf

5) Measures 301-304: Righini indicates the morendo earlier than the Part and Score


B

B

B

4

3

4

3

4

3

P

Tempo di Boleromoderato assai

Solo

Part

m. 41œb œ œ œ œ

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Tempo di Boleromoderato assai

Solo1˚

Score

q = 72

œb œ œ œ œœ œ

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P

SoloMod. assai q = 76

Righini

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Ravel: Bolero

IDRS JOURNAL 35

Ravel, Maurice. Bolero. Park Durand & Cie, 1929.

1) The Part does not indicate a metronome marking. The Score indicates1/4 = 72 and Righini 1/4 = 76

2) Measures 41-42: Righini indicates a lower level set of articulations, mostly in the form of slurs

3) Measure 42: Righini has indicated a tenuto for the 1st Bb-

4) Measure 44: The Part has indicated a • for the Db

beat 1 with • articulations 5) Measure 46: The Part indicates the triplet notes on

6) Measure 47: Righini indicates a lower level set of articulations, mostly in the form of slurs, andextended the higher level slur to the E

Presto

Mozart: The Marriage of Figaro Overture

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Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus. The Marriage of Figaro Overture. New York: Kalmus, n.d.

1) Righini has printed this excerpt in cut time2) Measure 101 and 214: Righini has not indicated a dynamic3) Measures 101-102: The Part does not slur to the D4) Measures 107: Righini indicates a staccato5) Measure 156: Righini indicates pianissimo6) Measures 157, 159, 161-163: Righini has indicated different slur groupings7) Measures 214-215: The Part does not slur to the G8) Measure 218: Righini slurs all 4 notes9) Measure 220: The Part indicates a staccato

IDRS JOURNAL 37

Movement IIRimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade

Andantinodolce espressivo

Andantino J = 112Capriccioso quasi recitandoSolo ad lib.

Andantino j = 112 capriccioso, quasi recitando


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IDRS JOURNAL 39

Rimsky-Korsakov, Nikolai. Scheherazade. New Kalmus, n.d.

Andantino

The part does not indicate a metronome marking. The Score indicates J = 112 and Righini 1/4 = 112Righini has indicated many slurs terminating with a dot release throughout this solo(e.g., the first 3 measures)Measure 5 and 16: The Part indicates a crescendoMeasure 11: The crescendo begins and ends differently in all 3 versions and the articulation is differenton beats 2 and 3 in each versionMeasure 12-14 Righini has indicated different articulations and slur groupingsMeasures 17-18: Righini has indicated different articulations and slur groupingsMeasure 20: Righini does not indicate an accent on the high AMeasure 21: Righini does not indicate a diminuendo and the rit. ass& begins earlierMeasure 22: Righini does not indicate an A tempo

Recit. Moderato assai

Righini does not indicate that each cadenza begins forteRighini indicates a longer diminuendo than the Part and Score to the piano dynamic at the beginningof each cadenza - Righini does not indicate a piano dynamic after the diminuendo at the beginning ofthe 3rd cadenzaRighini does not indicate that the 1st two notes (D and E) of each cadenza are part of a triplet figureRighini’s beginning and ending slur after the fermata F is different than the Part and Score in eachcadenzaRighini ends each cadenza with a diminuendo to a piano dynamicThe Score indicates an accent on the fermata F in the 1st cadenza, and does not indicate an accent onthe F in the 2nd cadenza in the Tempo measureEach version notates the accelerando .and crescendo in slightly different placesThe Score does not indicate an accelerado in the 1st cadenza (the Score does however indicate inthe violin part senza ritard. ed acceler. and ad libitum colla parte)Righini does not indicate a tenuto on the last D just before the Tempo in the 3rd cadenza

Movement IITchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5

Moderato con anima


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Stravinsky: Firebird Suite

Tchaikovsky, Peter Ilyitch. Symphony No. 5. New York: Kalmus, n.d.

1) 4 measures before : The hairpin crescendo/diminuendo begins and peaks in different places in

each version. An earlier published Kalmus Part slurred only the B to the A in this measure.

2) 3 measures before : The Part indicates a dotted quarter note E at the beginning of the measure

3) 1-2 measures before : The Score slurs to the h C#, the Part does not. An earlier published Kalmus

edition reversed this situation — the Part slurred to the h C#, the Score did not.

4) : The hairpin crescendo/diminuendo begins and peaks in different places in each version

5) 3 measures after : An earlier published Kalmus edition did not indicate a fortissimo in either thePart or Score

E

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D

D

IDRS JOURNAL 41

Stravinsky Igor. Firebird Suite (l919).

1) l?l : Righini indicates a repeat of the first 4 measures ofand did not include come sopra.

m

New York Kalmus, n.d.

El in his book. I added the piano dynamic

2) l.Ll.The Part indicates (as above) and the Score come sopra. Come sopra means as above.

3 ) &nd m.. The Part indicates a Db as the fast J in these measures. The newer Kalmus edition (1985)has changed this Db to an EL.

4) Izl: Righini indicates a piano dynamic. The newer Kalmus edition indicates in the Score a pianodynamic, but not in the Part.

5) 1 measure after Bl : The Part and Score indicate a 1/4 = D natural on beat 2. The new Kalmus edition indicatesbeat 2 as Dh-Bb eighth notes in both the Part and Score like llike the Righini.


6) 3-4 measures after : Righini indicates a slur over both measures

7) 4 measures after : Righini indicates a Dn. The new Kalmus edition indicates Dn in both the Part and Score.

8) 1-2 measures after : The Part does not indicate a slur, and Righini breaks the 2 measure slur. The new Kalmus edition Part and Score indicate a 2 measure slur.

9) 4 measures after : The Part does not indicate a slur. The new Kalmus edition Part does indicatethe measure slur.

7

7

6

6

Tchaikovsky, Peter Ilyitch. Symphony No. 6. New York: Kalmus, n.d.

1) The hairpin crescendos and diminuendos are placed slightly different throughout all 3 versions2) The Part does not indicate a metronome marking3) Measure 5-6: Righini does not indicate a diminuendo to a piano dynamic4) Measure 9: The Score indicates a diminuendo at the end of the measure instead of a crescendo5) Measure 9: Righini does not indicate a crescendo after the h G, and indicates a mezzo forte where the

Part and Score indicate mezzo piano

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Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6

IDRS JOURNAL

Oboists and Electronics:Embracing a New Era

By Aaron CohenMontreal, Quebec

43

he purpose of this article is to explore the ideas and work of those oboists who have embraced a new era - thosewho have incorporated electronics into their repertoire. The oboists who have utilized the new technology haveeach taken it in a different direction. This is a most unusual situation to find in the oboe world where tradition isso highly valued. Instead, these players have welcomed the chance to undertake pioneering work.

This article describes a series of individuals who have made a contribution to the field, be it large or small. Theinformation presented here is based primarily on personal interviews conducted during the summer of 1995. An appen-dix of technical terms is included at the end of the text.

Starting in the 1960s, each successive decade has witnessed more oboists utilizing electronics.

1960sHeinz Holliger

Switzerland

One of the greatest oboists of our century and the first to experiment with electronics, Heinz Holliger introduced elec-tronics into his early compositions, notably Siebengesang (1966-7) for oboe, voices, orchestra and electronics andCardiophonie (1971) for wind instrument and three tape recorders.

Siebengesang requires a microphone placed inside the oboe. The sound is passed through a band pass filter, sound reg-ulators (bass and treble controls), and a reverberation chamber. Cardiophonie includes amplified heartbeats of the per-former as he or she is performing.

1970sJoseph Celli

Black Rock, Connecticut

“Electronics for me have been two kinds of steps. One has been the use of live electronics in performance, butsecondly in terms of electronics informing me of what actually goes into producing sound. I began to understand,through algorithms, the filtering aspects of overtone systems. When we play a pitch, the pitch can be played withvarious timbral aspects by changing our relation to the reed. Therefore the actual composition of a tone, the over-tone appearances of the tone, change depending on how we play it.”

Joseph Celli is one of the most important figures in the modern oboe world because of his unique way of playing theinstrument and his keen interest in improvisation. Mr. Celli has been incorporating electronic elements into his oboe play-ing for almost thirty years. He also plays many other instruments from around the world.

Mr. Celli began using live electronics in the early seventies while presenting the American premieres of Stockhausen’sSolo and, later, Spiral using “home-made electronics” to perform these pieces. His early electronics consisted of tape loops,a home-made wah-wah pedal, volume control pedals, and Moog and Arp synthesizers. In the late seventies he worked withcomposer David Behrman who processed his oboe sound live using computers in performance.

T

OBOISTS AND ELECTRONICS: EMBRACING A NEW ERA44

In the eighties, Mr. Celli worked with composer Jerry Hunt which led to a 1984 performance of Phalba at the New MusicAmerica Festival. This performance is believed to be the first live satellite piece in the United States. Mr. Celli played intoa microphone in Washington, D.C., the sound being transmitted to Austin, Texas where it was processed live and then sentback to Washington and mixed with his live, real-time performance.

In the nineties, Mr. Celli has begun to play the Yamaha WX7 MIDI wind controller which is the only single reed instru-ment he plays. “Most instruments are functioning within restricted systems of organization. Each culture has differentways of organizing sound. Usually sound is not organized to the potential of what instruments can actually do, but intothe constriction of how sound fits into the system of organization. This instrument allows me to be cross-systems andcross-cultural.” Mr. Celli and his son program all the sounds on a Yamaha TX802 algorithmic synthesizer. The sounds theyprogram will vary with the volume of air used, lip pressure, and tongue.

Mr. Celli has released several recordings of his electronic performances on his own label, O.O. Discs; these includeOrganic Oboe, No World Improvisations, and No World (Trio) Improvisations. More information about his work can be foundat the web site: http://www.hear.com/o.o./

John CorinaAthens, Georgia

John Corina is both an oboist and a composer. In 1977, he wrote Partita for Electronic Oboe which he revised in 1982.This has been Dr. Corina’s only experience utilizing electronics with the oboe.

A Barcus-Berry transducer is attached to the reed and the signal is sent to an ARP 2600 Synthesizer, a pitch follower andan envelope follower. The follower controls the voltages sent to the synthesizer where the sound sources of the oboe andthe synthesizer are processed by the various modules of the synthesizer: the ring modulator, the voltage controlled fil-ter/resonator, the voltage controlled amplifier, and the three voltage controlled oscillators. Each movement of the Partitahas a different synthesizer patch and requires an operator at the synthesizer to make the changes.

“I had some technical difficulties relating to volume in a performance at an IDRS convention (Towson State University,1982) that I don’t think anyone will ever forget. When they invited me to play the next year they said I could play anythingI wanted as long as I didn’t play that electronic piece again! (laughter) It has had several good performances though. Myrecommendation to anyone doing anything to amplify the oboe is to always make sure that someone is in the audiencemonitoring and controlling the volume.”

1980sLibby Van CleveNew Haven, Connecticut

“In order to ensure music stays alive and keeps generating new audiences, it’s important that all of us use thetools that are at hand. I don’t think the electronic oboe is going to radically change oboe playing for generationsto come, but I do think if we want to keep the oboe around, it’s a good idea to keep expanding.”

Libby Van Cleve has been incorporating electronics into her oboe playing for 15 years. After exploring electronics dur-ing her Bachelor’s degree, she continued to experiment during her Master’s and Doctoral studies.

“All my friends were composers! Many of them were into electronic music, so they wrote electronic pieces for me. Oftenthey wanted to learn a new program and would write a piece to get into it. Frequently they chose me to be the guinea pig!(laughter) After the piece was written, I would work with the composer to get it working. It always took a bit of tinkeringbefore it could be played.” Ms. Van Cleve is currently working on a book about contemporary oboe technique forUniversity of California Press.

Ms. Van Cleve plays in her husband’s group “Chez Vees” in which she performs on the oboe with live electronics andhas also gone on solo tours where she plays entire concerts of electronic works written for her. “The audience response

IDRS JOURNAL 45

is fantastic! Of course, some people like the “gizmo” side of it. My students in particular get very excited about it.”Ms. Van Cleve prefers a standard air microphone coupled with a DBX Noisegate to eliminate feedback. Her two main

pieces of equipment are a ZOOM Box (a pedal controlled multi-effects box) and a Lexicon Jam Man Digital Delay unit. Inspecific pieces she interfaces with a Macintosh computer using a Roland VP70 Pitchrider.

Ms. Van Cleve is featured on two CDs playing works for oboe and tape, Byzantium by Christos Hatzis (Centrediscs) andXantippes Rebuke by Mary Jane Leach (Ariel). The following works have been written for and/or commissioned by Ms.Van Cleve:

Ingram Marshall - Dark Waters for english horn, tape, and digital delay (1995)Scott Lindroth - Terca Rima for oboe with live electronics and computer (1995)Mary Jane Leach - Xantippe’s Rebuke for oboe and tape (1994)Jack Vees - Tatooed Barbie for oboe with live electronics and electric bass (1993)Eleanor Hovda - Coastings for oboe with live electronics and electric bass (1992)Jonathan Berger - Philately for oboe and live electronics (1990)Skip Brunner - Teaching No Talking for oboe and live electronics (1990)David Jaffe - Impossible Animals for oboe and tape (oboe version, 1990)Todd Winkler - Three Oboes for oboe and live electronics (1989) Jack Vees - Apocrypha for oboe and tape (1986)

Jan WieseOslo, Norway

“For the electronic oboe there will be a lot of development. Oboe players are curious, but they would ratherhear traditional oboe music. Up until now, it has been an exclusive group.”

Like Ms. Van Cleve, Jan Wiese has been experimenting with the oboe and electronics for 15 years. He plays mainly hisown pieces, many of which have not been committed to paper because they are partially improvisitory in nature.

Mr. Wiese captures his sound using a Barcus-Berry transducer but has been working with sound technicians in Norwayto develop his own system for amplifying the oboe. Presently he is patenting it and hopes it will soon be commerciallyavailable. “It could be bought by any oboist because it will be cheap, good quality, and eliminates key noise and feedback.”Mr. Wiese attaches his oboe to a Pitchrider and triggers his two fifteen-year-old synthesizers, a Korg MS20 and a RolandSPV355. He also uses a Yamaha TX81Z synthesizer, a Yamaha TX7 synthesizer, and a Yamaha Midi Control Station. He isquick to praise the Yamaha WX7 Midi Wind Controller which he plays frequently. “It’s a beautiful instrument. I used tothink that this was an instrument for the fast passages but it’s the opposite. It is an instrument for long, beautiful phras-ing with a lot of color. It’s an advantage to be an oboe player when playing this instrument because it requires a tremen-dous amount of precision, something the oboe can’t be played without!”

In the past Mr. Wiese has played with ballet and jazz groups, creating all the music himself. Recently Norwegian com-poser Terje Winter wrote four interactive pieces for him utilizing the Macintosh computer and the MAX program. In 1991,Mr. Wiese released a CD of electronic oboe music entitled “Stunt” on his label, Oslo Impresario. The disc features his ownworks for oboe, live electronics, and tape He hopes to record another CD featuring his piece for electronic oboe and windband, his piece for electronic oboe and string quartet, and more solo electronic oboe pieces.

Matt SullivanNew York City, New York

“Many people are intrigued by the electronic oboe and audiences love it. People who are adventurous or havean open mind would really be excited by it. Generally, this option is not taught, but I teach my students at


Princeton and they include electronic pieces on their programs. It’s going to be an important part of the futurewhether I promote it or anyone does. I wouldn’t say that electronic oboe is a driving force in keeping the oboe cur-rent, but I feel that in terms of the oboe being a participant in recent developments that it is important for the oboeto be in this realm. I see it as a perfectly natural development. Instruments are used to express the meaning intheir time.”

Matt Sullivan has been incorporating electronics with the oboe for 15 years performing mainly his own works which,like Jan Wiese, include improvisational elements. Mr. Sullivan’s pieces are best described as original. A recent piece titledMa Bell Canto is based on samples taken from phone sounds and phone conversations. These are blended with samplesof his oboe playing. For this work, Mr. Sullivan uses a Yamaha WX7 Wind Controller and a Roland 550 Sampler. “This setupenables me to “play” poems, words, and even jokes!” Apparently this piece is a real crowd pleaser. His other composi-tions include Oh Boy! (1990) for solo electronic oboe, Sonic Bloom (1994) for solo electronic oboe, and Mesa (1995) fornative American flute and English horn.

“The technology is so varied that to standardize what you might get is the hard part for the composer. The music thatI play is a result of the equipment I use and not vice-versa. I have learned to incorporate the ‘defects’ or specific sonic qual-ities that come with some equipment to my advantage and incorporate it appropriately”. Mr. Sullivan prefers a Shure 57air microphone to capture his sound and is experimenting with microphones on his body to help eliminate excess key nois-es. He uses four Boss Digital Delay guitar pedals (to hold pitches and rhythmic patterns), a Yamaha REX 50 (for pitch shift-ing and cleaner echo than Boss pedals), and a ZOOM box (for timbral effects). By connecting them all together, Mr. Sullivanmaximizes his sonic options.

Mr. Sullivan also performs with the electro-acoustic trio, “First Avenue” that has released two CDs, “Two Suns” (NewportClassics) and “Hocus Opus” (O.O. Discs). Of considerable interest are the “Portraits” performed by First Avenue. In thesepieces, Mr. Sullivan uses a contact microphone on the reed to drive interactive video. The video, or story, changes as dif-ferent members of the group perform. First Avenue has been doing “Portraits” for three years and audience response hasbeen most enthusiastic.

Lawrence CherneyToronto, Ontario

“Electronics are important to the future of music. It’s harder to know just where it fits in with the oboe. Someinstruments lend themselves easier to the medium. I think incorporating the oboe into electronics has to be donevery carefully because the instrument has such special characteristics. For instance, the quality of sound is whatmakes it such a marvelous instrument to start with. However, manipulation of sound by computer or digitalmeans is here to stay and I think we will want to be a part of it. The fact that we can extend the possibilities forthe instrument is good. Ultimately, it all has to be at the service of a good musical imagination, the composer.”

Lawrence Cherney is the world’s leading authority and commissioner of oboe and tape pieces. To date, 35 pieces havebeen written for him by composers such as Alvarez, Arcuri, Hambreus, Harvey, Keane, Lake, Piché, Rimmer, Smalley, andTruax.

“If you are going to tour as much as I do, you realize very quickly you can only play what you can conveniently carry. IfI can’t carry it with me, I can’t do it.” With this in mind, Cherney carries DAT cassettes with him and a portable DAT play-er. Although he has played whole programs of tape music, he prefers to spice up an otherwise ordinary concert with anelectronic piece. “The response to an electronic piece can be phenomenal if it is the right piece at the right place in theprogram. What’s really amazing is if you have six or eight speakers around the hall. The audience really has a sense ofbeing inside the music.”

“Many people feel ‘locked in’ with tape pieces because the tape part never changes. Whenever I hear that, I think aboutwhat Robert Bloom used to say about the metronome. He said that a lot of people misunderstood what a metronome did.A metronome actually taught you freedom, not bondage and in a way playing with tape is like that. If you know the tapepart really well, you can be creative within certain parameters and there is still room for an artist.”

Mr. Cherney has put out a complete CD of oboe and tape music entitled “Tongues of Angels” (Centrediscs). The piecesare all Canadian works written for Cherney and the disc has received extremely positive reviews in the United States andJapan. Mr. Cherney is also featured as a soloist with tape on seven other CD’s where he plays one of several works on thedisc.

IDRS JOURNAL 47

1990sAntoine Lazennec

Paris, France

“Due to the advances in technology, we can now play music that we could not before. Rock, jazz, and worldmusic are now open to us. I would like to see more oboists play these kinds of music. In rock band situations, theaudience goes wild for the oboe sound! “

Antoine Lazennec is a major innovator in searching for ways to capture the oboesound and amplify it. With the help of Phillipe Rigoutat, Mr. Lazennec has developedand patented a system of amplification utilizing extra posts on the oboe to hold twosmall Isomax microphones. Having used this system for four years, Mr. Lazennec con-tinues to improve it as well as test it on new audiences. He has given demonstrationsin Minneapolis, Marseille, New York, Paris and Reims, sometimes playing as an ampli-fied soloist with an orchestra.

In the past, Mr. Lazennec has used wireless systems that have allowed him extensivefreedom of movement during a performance. He recommends a Rexer or Shure wire-less system. “When I was on tour with a rock group several summers ago, I would playa game with the sound engineer. When it was time to check the sound level of the oboe,I hid in a different place. It wouldn’t matter where I was, because of the wireless sys-tem whatever I played would come out the speakers. Sometimes I was backstage,another time I was behind the sound engineer! One concert we played in front of aschool building, and I played from a window about four stories up!”

Mr. Lazennnec has had several pieces written for his amplified oboe by composersA. G. Ochoa, Benoit Palliard, and Mannu Pikar, and has been performing with Frenchrock groups “Mad Machine” and “I Muvrini.”

Harry SargousAnn Arbor, Michigan

“The oboe is being refined, but it’s basically the same instrument that people played at the turn of the last cen-tury. If we’re going to interest composers and interest people to study traditional instruments then we need all thepossibilities that electronics give us. I think it’s very important that people get to know the equipment and some-how plug into it. I’m not recommending that they go the route that I’ve gone because it’s been a lot of work and ittook me eighteen months to get the equipment to do what I wanted. You don’t want to let the equipment take over,you still have to do your job as a musician.”

Harry Sargous has made electronics an integral part of his oboe career. He hopes to aid oboists interested in the fieldof electronics to get started by developing a convenient and affordable electronic oboe setup. He recently completed aninternship at IRCAM in Paris where he worked towards this goal.

Mr. Sargous has built up a large collection of equipment over the past four years, with support in part by grants fromthe University of Michigan. He plays a Rigoutat oboe that is amplified by microphones based on the Lazennec/Rigoutatsystem modified by Tim Clark. The acoustic oboe sound is captured using two Audiotechnica ATM 35s. MIDI note mes-sages are captured using a Barcus-Berry transducer which is sent to an IVL Pitchrider 4000 Mark 2. The MIDI notes aresent to one or several of three synthesizers, a Yamaha VL1, a Roland JD990, or an EMU Morpheus. A Yamaha Promix 01 (a

Lazennec/Rigoutatoboe amplification system.


MIDI controllable mixing board) balances the whole setup. All this equipment fits into one rack and thus makes travelmore convenient.

Using a Pitchrider results in a small delay and Mr. Sargous has found the most efficient way to minimize the delay is byequalizing the oboe sound before sending it to the Pitchrider. He also programs a 12-15 millisecond delay on the amplifiedacoustic oboe sound so that the acoustic and processed sound line up sonically.

Mr. Sargous plays a variety of repertoire utilizing electronics. He performs arrangements of traditional repertoire on theelectronic oboe (Britten Metamorphosises and the Telemann Fantasies) and commissions new works by such composersas Bart Plot and Steven Rush. Outside of classical music, Mr. Sargous performs occasionally with jazz ensembles and otherimprovisatory groups using his electronic setup.

Aaron CohenMontreal, Quebec

My interest in the electronic oboe began in 1991 when I played the oboe through some of my friend’s guitar pedals. Thisgave birth to a short-lived band called “Oboecop”. Over the next three years I performed with electronics on several occa-sions, the climax being a complete electronic oboe recital in 1994.

I have never owned any electronic gear and have always borrowed equipment from the institution where I was study-ing (University of Michigan, McGill University). Live electronic performances require constant access to equipment topractic with. For this reason, I have temporarily postponed electronic work until I can purchase my own equipment.

Here is a list of works that I have written or have been written for me:

Aaron Cohen and Jason Vantomme - Commemoration and Reflection on the Holocaust for electronic oboe, computer, andstill images (1994)

Pierre Simard - Messier 31 for electronic oboe and string quintet (1994)Jason D. Vantomme - Concertino for electronic oboe and simulated ensemble (1993/4)Armando J. Bayolo - Concertino Electronico for electronic oboe and string quintet (1993)Aaron Cohen - Le Tombeau de Ravel for Oboe and Digital Delay (1993)Armando J. Bayolo - Electroboephobia for solo electronic oboe (1992)Aaron Cohen - Splash for solo electronic oboe (1992)

Sally FaulconerNorman, Oklahoma

“What I find exciting is that through this equipment, I can study everything. I can sequence traditional reper-toire, pop tunes, and now I’m working on orchestral excerpts. One of the most important things is that it allowsmy students to get into a contextual situation right away. They learn music faster. My feeling is that any musi-cians willing to embrace this technology are not going to be put out of business. I think the musicians that aregoing to be put out of business are the ones that refuse to accept that the technology is here.”

Sally Faulconer uses the oboe coupled with a computer as a learning tool. She uses MIDI equipment to perform andstudy standard literature by programming the accompaniment using Mark of the Unicorn’s Performer. “Some sequencesjust play along as you play with them, others use tap tempo which means that someone taps the speed in predeterminedbeat notes on the synthesizer as you play. In the future I believe this is how music will be taught. Some of my colleaguesare skeptical, but so far, reactions to my workshops have been extremely positive.”

Ms. Faulconer created the “Contemporary Oboe Press” to inform others of her sequenced library which consists of sev-eral oboe standards such as the Hindemith Sonata, the Saint-Saëns Sonata, the Bach Double Concerto, and the MozartQuartet.

IDRS JOURNAL 49

Coda’s Vivace Intelligent Personal Accompanist is worth mentioning because it allows oboists to incorporate electron-ics. It is a system in which the player is tracked via a clip on microphone and the accompaniment follows. Vivace currentlyoffers over 30 complete oboe accompaniments including Hindemith, Marcello, Mozart, Poulenc, Schumann, Saint-Saëns,and Vaughan-Williams. Unfortunately you are limited to their accompaniments and cannot create your own. For moreinformation on the Vivace system, write to Coda Music Technology, 6210 Bury Drive, Eden Prairie, MN, 55346-1718 or call1-800-843-2066.

Kathy GeislerBerkeley, California

“I’m trying to attract and draw listeners in who may not otherwise come in contact with this music.” Kathy Geisler has recorded a CD of baroque oboe concertos accompanied by a “virtual orchestra” consisting of many

synthesizers performing the orchestral parts. Unlike Sally Faulconer or the Coda Vivace system, her “virtual orchestra”does not follow her and she must play along with it, much like a tape. In preparing the “virtual orchestra”, the scores wereloaded into the Finale program. Elements of musical interpretation (velocity, start time, envelope, and duration) wereadded using a program called “MIDI Sculpt”. Finally Ms. Geisler re-opened the scores in the Vision program where sheadded tempos and selected instrument sounds.

Closing RemarksI would like to thank everyone I interviewed for this article. If you have had experience with the oboe and electronics,

please write to me at the following address and I’ll interview you for the next installment. Aaron Cohen • c/o Champion Records • P. O. Box 1170 • Station H, Montreal • Quebec • H3G 2N1 • Canada

DefinitionsAll definitions were taken from The Electronic Musician’s Dictionary by Craig Anderton (Amsco Publications, 1988), A Dictionary of Electronic and Computer Music and

Technology by Richard Dobson (Oxford University Press, 1992), or were invented by myself and Laurie Radford.

air microphone - a device that captures an audio signal via the medium of air.algorithm - A procedure a computer uses to solve a particular problem.bandpass filter - A circuit that passes a particular range of frequencies while rejecting frequencies higher and lower than the selected range.contact microphone - a device that captures an audio signal via physical contact with the sound source.DAT - Digital Audio Tape.digital - A type of technology that considers any signal to be composed of a finite number of voltages, each of which can be represented by a number. digital delay - A device that converts an analog signal into digital data, delays the signal by a generally selectable amount, then converts the delayed digital data back into an analog signal.effects processor - a device that modifies some aspect of sound.equalization - For audio signals, the process of altering the distribution of energy in various frequency bands.feedback - the penetrating whistle that occasionally occurs when a microphone is being used for live amplification and is caused by the microphone picking up the signal from the loudspeaker.Finale program - a notation program.live electronics - electronic devices that can be used in a live concert or performance situation.Max program - a graphical MIDI processing program.microphone - a device used to capture sound (can also be called a transducer).MIDI - Musical Instrument Digital Interface; a standardized language and hardware/software serial protocol for transfer of musically-related data between computers and/or musical instruments containing computers or sim-ilar data-processing circuitry.MIDI Control Station - the central station that controls the flow of all MIDI data to all MIDI instruments connected.MIDI controllable mixing board - A mixing unit that is controlled by MIDI data.MIDI note messages - MIDI data that conveys information about a particular note (pitch, duration, velocity).MIDI wind controller - an electronic instrument that converts wind signals from a performer into MIDI data.multi-effects box - an effects unit that contains numerous effects which can be selected by the performer.Noisegate - An audio processing device with one audio input and one audio output that senses whether the input signal is above or below a user-settable threshold and subsequently passes or suppresses the output.Performer program - a sequencer program.pitch and envelope follower - a device that maps the contours of pitch and envelope of an audio signal onto a user defined MIDI parameter.pitch shifting - shifting the frequency of an input signal to produce a different pitch.Pitchrider - a device that identifies the pitch of an audio signal (also called a voltage to MIDI converter).reverberation chamber - a chamber that gives the effect caused by sound waves decaying in an acoustic space.ring modulator - A signal processor with two inputs and one output. The output provides the sum and difference of the frequencies of the signals appearing at the two inputs, while suppressing the original input signal.sample - a sound that has been digitized and recorded into computer memory.sampler - a device that digitally records sounds, usually with the intention of triggering these sounds during playback via a musical controller of some sort.sequence - a musical phrase or composition stored in a sequencer.sequencer - A device that records the parameters of a performance but not the actual sounds. On playback, the sequencer feeds this information into an instrument capable of translating the stored data into a replica ofthe original performance.sound processor - any electronic device which performs some controlled function on an input audio signal.sound regulator - a high or low shelving filter.synthesizer - a musical instrument that generates various timbres via electronic means, which are then amplified through a power amplifier and played through a loudspeaker to create sound.synthesizer patch - a set of conditions that create a specific sound on a synthesizer.tape loops - that portion of a sampled signal that repeats indefinitely.transducer - a device that transforms one form of energy to another.Vision program - a sequencer program.voltage control - The process whereby the parameters of one electrical circuit are controlled by a control voltage feeding that device.voltage controlled amplifier - An electronic circuit that varies the output gain of an input audio signal in response to the voltage applied to its control voltage input.voltage controlled filter - An electronic circuit that varies a filter parameter in response to the voltage applied to its control voltage input.voltage controlled oscillator - A circuit that generates one or more audio/low frequency wave forms, the frequency of which varies in response to the voltage applied to its control voltage input.volume control pedal - a foot pedal that controls volume.wah-wah pedal - A (foot) pedal-controlled audio signal processor that contains a filter and varies the timbre of the signal going through it.wireless system - A system that use radio signals instead of wires.

50

The Oboe PartyBy Maria Mendoza

An oboe is like a birdif you don’t feel it, it will not be heard.You can blow on it until your eyes fallon the floor,but you knowpeople willalways yell formore.The oboe ishard I do admitbut it is worthevery last bit!

About theAuthor…Maria is a sixth grade, beginning oboestudent of Gwendolyn Carlton in Peoria,Illinois..

Concert High

By Karen Hoagland,Los Angeles, California

I lend my voice, so sweet and clear,To all the voices gathered here.And when our souls are so combined,It gives our hearts a flight sublime.But when you lend to us your ear,We find your heart is also here.We soar upon your added strength.For you now, we go full length.Our soaring hearts, they fly so far.Our spirits now, have touched the stars.

Oboe in Flight

It is my breath that gives it life.My fingers cause a dance so bright.It is my heart that gives it soul.And from my lips comes sweet control.The rich, sweet sound, it softly floats.My total self, this rich voice holds.To your heart, has my soul flown?Does my soul then touch your own?

Oh Boy Le Hautboy

By Travis A. CoxHot Springs, Arkansas

Truly an ill wind that requires prodigious strainwhen gut is distended in diaphragmatic drivesonly the most dedicated, would thus shorten their livesas Tabuteau, a double hernia testifying did rive.

The master, though Frenchman, rose above French traditionsetting a new standard perhaps never to be surpassed.This glorious instrument doth beckon with double admonitionputting to naught the older nasal order unto attrition.

This pungent singer is from antiquityt’was even competitor in early Grecian gamesstill an athletic endeavor, now celestial amidst musical gainsthe stars, the most serious double-reedist fains.

A woodwind rising out of antiquity fameEvidently obstreperous from the very beginningIn Handel’s time still did create quite a dinbraying like asses and evoking Bachanalian sinning

Fortunate that somewhere crafty reedmakers designeda more sensitive and soulful reed, blessed findle hautboy in dire need for a fateful personality changelyrical melodies in analogous propitiousness sought its rangeThe braying trumpets then left to the task of noise inscrutablele hautboy rose to more distinguished ranks immutablethis strange wind of incipience rose to quality indubitablearresting the attention of that invincible incipient of Mannheimthus gained rightful access to that fledgling symphony sublimeno longer relegated to doubling, now savoring its very own linecoming of full age in Mozart with melodic poignant rhymenow a unique musical entity of expression so fine.

One is soothed so pleasingly by sounds pastoraland what better rustic rummaging than master knellof the double reed family so lyrically distinguishedas the ebony lead, wafting plaintive tones relinquished.

Soothed so delightfully by the oboe’s joy, nay not rueas it frequently flavors in solo, the orchestral brew:none better than the golden nugget in Tchaikowsky’s 4ththough a bit melancholy, it sparks soul anew.

One is titillated in Bacchanalian fashionas Samson and Delilah cadenza twists in near pagan revelor Beethoven’s violin concerto introduced so invitinglymost refined in Brahms violin concerto, a bejeweled navel.

So, what is that magical ingredient for the oboist?might it not be a touch of genius bordering dementedness?would that I knew, for once the oboe obsessed the mostI did feel an estrangement yea even reality absentedness.

So, where zephyrs frolic and nymphs do cavortthere in the distance the shepherds pipes exhortintermingled with forest song, the feathered artists impartwhat better tonal painter than oboe to sally forth?

About the Author …Travis Cox is a member of the first violin section of the South ArkansasSymphony. He played the oboe before switching to violin. The poem isdedicated to Gerry Gibson, first oboist of the Arkansas Symphony.

POEMS

Poems

IDRS JOURNAL

The Bell of a Bassoon Made by W. Hess

By Dr. Klaus GillessenHeilbronn, Germany

51

he bell of a bassoon described in this noteis exhibited in a showcase at the Universityof Heidelberg, where announcements of theCollegium Musicum are posted.

Its wood (maple?) is stained black, the metal partsconsist of brass. Shape and the most importantdimensions in millimeters are depicted in Fig. 1.There is a closed key mounted in a saddle, with aleather pad and a spring attached to it. The bore isslightly counter conical, the tone hole is providedwith an extension tube about 5 mm (at the center)to 7 mm (at the sides) long. There is no ring presentto reinforce the upper rim. Consequently, the bellshows several cracks, and a piece of the rim is bro-ken out.

The bell bears two stamps: the first one indi-cates the makers name and location (“W. Hess /Müchen” in script), the second one comes proba-bly from a former owner. It reads “(crown) / (a let-ter ‘A’ or ‘M’) / INVT / N˚ 18”.

According to The New Langwill Index1 therewere two makers of woodwind instruments withthe name Wilhelm Hess, father and son. W. Hesssenior lived from 1800 to 1874, he was active as awoodwind instrument maker from 1825 to 1868.W. Hess junior was born in 1841 and died in 1880.

Up to now eleven bassoons made by one ofthe two W. Hess’es could be located, mainly inGermany2 to 12, whereas most of his instruments donot have a bell described here are known fromother bassoons from Hess. The counter conicalbore in the bell seems to be typical of his instru-ments.3, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12 The closed key for low B is alsopresent on two bassoons11 12 whereas most of hisinstruments do not have a bell key.2 to 9 One bas-soon10 in the Heckel collection is unique in thisrespect: it does have a key for low B which is,however, located on an elongated bass joint. Thebell joint is shorter accordingly and does nothave a key. Two further instruments with thispeculiar key arrangement for low B are exhibitedin the Stadtmuseum Lindau.13, 14 They are proba-bly not made by W. Hess, however, because theydo not show stamps. The keys on most bassoonsfrom Hess consist of brass and are also mountedin saddles as with the bell described here. Onlytwo instruments11, 12 are equipped with Germansilver keys mounted on pillars. In some cases thestamps of Hess (“W. Hess / München” in script)have additional marks: one star,3, 4, 7, 8 two stars9,

or three Maltese crosses.5, 10 The bassoon in theDeutsches Museum12 exhibits also a secondstamp “L / IN Vi N˚ / 3” which is somewhat simi-lar to the one described above. The shape of thepresent bell joint is very similar to most of theinstruments in other museums.2, 5, 6, 8, 9

The extension tube for the B tone hole is pos-sibly a unique feature of the bell joint which isdescribed here. Two other specimens11, 12 show abulge around this tone hole, but this bulge ismuch lower. The purpose of the extension tube isprobably to flatten and soften low B. It might alsobe speculated that it was added in connectionwith a conversion of the key from normally opento normally closed. This explanation is ratherimprobable, however, because the key wasapparently constructed originally for normallyclosed operation. (See the shape of the end ofthe lever and the way the spring is attached.)More likely, the extension tube suggests that thisbell joint belongs to one of the the first bassoonsmade by Hess equipped with a key for low B,when the correct position of the respective tonehole was not yet finally determined. The low Bkey may also be a later addition to an earlierinstrument, and the additional note had to beadjusted with respect to pitch and/or tone color.

Unfortunately, no fabrication dates of theHess bassoons are available. It is also not knownwhether they were made by W. Hess father orson. It is possible, however, to bring the speci-mens into a most probable sequence in time,using the following four rules:

1. with bell keyprobably later thanwithout bell key

2. metal parts German silverprobably later thanmetal parts brass

3. keys mounted on pillarsprobably later thankeys mounted in saddles

4. larger number of keysprobably later thansmaller number of keys

Application of these rules results in thesequence shown in table 1:

T

THE BELL OF A BASSOON MADE BY W. HESS52

No.Ref. no. Bell key Material Mounting of

Keys2 no brass saddle 93 no brass saddle 104 no brass saddle 105 no brass saddle 116 no brass saddle 127 no brass saddle 128 no brass saddle 139 no brass saddle* 1610 no (yes) brass saddle* 16(this bell) yes brass saddle ?11 yes German silver pillars 1712 yes German silver pillars 17

*one resp. three keys on pillars, later additions?

Table 1. Most probable sequence of bassoons made by W. Hess

The most pronounced change in this compila-tion occurs two lines before the end: brass keysmounted in saddles are replaced by German silverkeys on pillars. Therefore it seems sensible to sup-pose that the first ten bassoons (including the onethe bell described here belongs to) were made byW. Hess Senior, whereas the last two were fabricat-ed by W. Hess Junior. The larger number of bassoons from W. Hess (father) corresponds with his con-siderably longer active period of 43 years, com-pared to 12 years of W. Hess (son).

The author would be grateful if the readers ofthe IDRS Journal could help to answer the followingquestions.: Are there more bassoons from W. Hessin public or private collections? In particular, isthere a bassoon with the bell missing? Is somethingknown about the dating of Hess bassoons?

References1 W. Waterhouse, The New Langwill Index, London: Tony

Bingham, 1993.2 Instrument shown in the Städtisches Museum

Hechingen, Germany.3 Renate Huber, Verzeichnis sämtlicher Musikinstrumente

im Germanischen Nationalmuseum Nürnberg,Wilhelmshaven: Noetzel, Heinrichshofen-Bücher, 1989,page 268, instrument no. MIR 413. A detailed descrip-tion of this instrument was kindly provided to me by K.Martius.

4 R. Birnstingl, private communication.5 F. Groffy, Musikhistorisches Museum Heckel-Biebrich, Abt.

Fagotte, Wiesbaden-Biebrich: 1968, instrument no. F11.6 Instrument no. 40-284 in the Münchner Stadtmuseum.7 Instrument no. Mus. 12 in the Stadtmuseum Lindau.

The stamp of W. Hess is only on the wing.**8 Instrument no. Mus 13 in the Stadtmuseum Lindau.

There is no stamp on the wing, only on the butt, bassjoint, and bell.**

9 Instrument no. 238 in the collection of theMusikwissenschaftliches Seminar der Georg-August-Universität Göttingen. Data of this instrument werekindly provided by K.-P. Brenner.

10 F. Groffy, Musikhistorisches Museum Heckel-Biebrich, Abt.Fagotte, Wiesbaden-Biebrich: 1968, instrument no. F12.Jansen15 states that the bell of this bassoon has acounter conical bore.

11 Instrument no. 41-228 in the Münchner Stadtmuseum.12 Heinrich Seifers, Katalog der Blasinstrumente im

Deutschen Museum, Abhandlungen und Berichte, 44.Jahrgang, 1976, Heft 1, instrument no. 69671.

13 Instrument no. Mus. 14 in the Stadtmuseum Lindau.14 Instrument no. Mus. 15 in the Stadtmuseum Lindau.15 W. Jansen: The Bassoon, Buren: Frits Knuf, 1978, vol. 1,

page 401.

** The parts of these two instruments could possiblyrearranged yielding one bassoon with stamps on all partsand one completely without stamps. In this case only oneinstrument should be attributed to W. Hess.

The author is grateful to H.R. Drengemann, the con-ductor of the Colegium Musicum, for the permission toexamine the bell, and to Ms. G. Heidler for the permissionto examine the bassoons in the Stadtmuseum Lindau.

Fig. 1 Shape and dimensions of a bell of a bassoon made by W. Hess.

About the Author …Dr. Klauss Gillessen is a physicist/bassoonist and

a member of the Galpin Society and the IDRS. He isparticularly interested in Bassoon History.

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IDRS JOURNAL

A Bassoon Part to Mozart’s Coronation Mass

By Dr. Klaus GillessonHeilbronn, Germany

53

ost bassoonists will agree that Mozartmust have loved the sound of the bas-soon very much, and that he had an inti-mate knowledge of its various tone

colours which he applied with unequalled mas-tery to express his musical ideas. The bassoonparts of his piano concerti and his later operascertainly belong to the best which have everbeen written for the instrument. Therefore a bas-soonist would get excited if something new writ-ten by Mozart for the bassoon is announced.Exactly this happened to me at the end of 1996.

A large German newspaper reported about a per-formance of Mozart’s Coronation Mass (KV 317) in achurch in Augsburg1 which had used an up-to-dateunknown contemporary copy of the work with aseparate bassoon part, in particular a bassoon soloin the Agnus Dei. The article contained the name ofa musicologist involved in the matter, ErichGackowski, who told me that the copy was writtenby a Father Matthaeus Fischer for the monasteryHoly Cross in Augsburg, but that the material is nowin private possession and not available to the pub-lic as long as an argument between musicologistsconcerning its authenticity is going on. With thehelp of Professor Dr. G. Voelkl from the Amt fürKirchenmusik, I received a copy of an article in thelocal newspaper, the Augsburger Allgemeine, whichis reprinted here with kind permission of the editor.

Considerable Doubts

About the discovery of the bassoon in the“Coronation Mass” of Holy Cross

By the member of our editorial staff Ruediger Heinze

The Mozart-City of Augsburg seems to have no luckwith sensations regarding Mozart. When in 1990, organ-ist Wilhelm Krumbach offered a Mozart “first perfor-mance of”, an “unknown organ concerto” to the munici-pal theatre, the former general manager of music, Luig,blindly seized the opportunity and placed a piece on theprogram which turned out to be the well-known PianoConcerto KV 175.

When in October 1996 the Augsburg musicologistErich Gackowski and the “Musica Suevica” choir calledthe attention to themselves with an up-to-date unknowncontemporary copy of Mozart’s Coronation Mass, onewas not without reason inclined to believe that this copycontained also a hither-to unknown bassoon part byMozart to the Coronation Mass.

Now there are considerable doubts, however,

whether this bassoon part really originates fromMozart. These doubts are expressed by Monika Holl(Music Department of the Bayerische StaatsbibliothekMunich) who has edited three volumes of masses forthe New Mozart Edition and presently is working on acritical report for the Coronation Mass. Based on herknowledge of handwriting she confirms that the copyoriginates most probably from Matthaeus Fischer - asalso declared Gackowski - but also points out that thebassoon part exhibits a different handwriting withinthe score.

At the upper margin of the paperThe bassoon part is located in a curious place with-

in the score, i.e. on top of all other instruments and notbelow the oboe parts as usually found. Due to severalindications, Monika Holl has concluded for the timebeing that the bassoon part was added subsequently byFischer “or rather by the hand of somebody else” to thescore where space was available, i.e. at the upper mar-gin of the paper. From this is follows that the sourceused by Fischer to compose his score did not contain abassoon part, which is Holl’s most important argument.

The words “for the time being” address the presentproblem of the whole story. The findings of Monika Hollare based on reproduction in our newspaper whichshowed only the beginning of the “Angus Dei” from theCoronation Mass. She has not been allowed to inspectthe original handwriting, not allowed to see more of itby the owner, who prefers to remain anonymous, asstates Franz Wallisch, conductor of the choir “MusicaSuevica”. And it seems that this will continue, thoughWallisch himself admits that it would be desirable toinspect the original copy thoroughly, so that the choiralso can get to the bottom of the discovery of thescore. As long as scientific investigations are fore-stalled by the owner, as long Gackowski and Wallisch,who have propagated the Augsburg Mozart event, haveto present proofs, the myster will continue.

Despite better knowledgeFinally, the events around the performance of the

“Augsburg version” of Mozart’s Coronation Mass haveanother more than unpleasing aspect. Erich Gackowskialready came to know some days before the concert(October 27th) that there are good reasons to doubtthe authenticity regarding the bassoon part: during avisit at Salzburg where he presented the script to theexperts Ernst Hintermaier (ErzbischoeflichesKonsistorialarchiv) and Father Petrus (Erzstift St.Peter) the same objections were uttered as later by

M

A BASSOON PART TO MOZART’S CORONATION MASS54

Monika Holl. This was confirmed by Hintermaier on thephone.

Despite these critical objections regarding thesource, the responsible persons kept to the hoped-forMozart-discovery still at the concert in Holy Cross, andthe public was informed only in a biased manner. Withthis, the circle to organist Wilhelm Krumbach and theyear 1991 is closed: The organizers have emphasized

the alleged importance of their finding to the end,despite their better knowledge.

As a happy ending: the whole story has broughtnew scientific knowledge nevertheless. For at least itwas also proven that some material of the CoronationMass went from Salzburg to Augsburg after the death ofLeopold Mozart.

Figure 1. The beginning of the Agnus Dei in the Augsburg copy of Mozart’s Coronation Mass. The bassoon part is at the very top, in the first staff.

There is further proof that the bassoon part atthe top was added later, which can be seen easi-ly: the staff is obviously written crossing thedenotation “Andante sostenuto”, the heading“Agnus Dei”, and the instruction “Con sordini”.

As a summary of the article it can be statedthat there exists another contemporary copy ofMozart’s Coronation Mass, with a bassoon partadded probably not by Mozart, of which only thefirst six bars of the Agnus Dei are available at pre-sent.

To facilitate further discussion, the publishedpage of the manuscript is written here in theorder of a modern score, and with some slursadded as usually performed today: (See Figure 2.)

Of course one can draw only very little and pre-liminary conclusions from six bars of which threeand a half are rests. At least the passage seems tobe written by the unknown composer in aMozartean manner, for the following reasons: Thefirst part of the phrase doubles the first violins in

IDRS JOURNAL 55

2Oboi

Fagotto

2ComiinC

Violin0 I

Violin0 II

Bassi

Figure 2.

Andante sostenuto

the lower octave, an instrumentation which is atrait knownfrom many Mozart works. See forexample the beginning of the Figaro Overture.The second part, the descending scale of sixnotes is not very specific, but it can be found inother bassoon passages by Mozart, for examplein the Quintet for piano and winds (KV 452) firstmovement, bars IO, 122 and 13, or in D o nGiovanni (KV 527), finale of the first act, bar 270.The scale in the manuscript discussed here iswritten without a slur, but it seems more ade-quate to me to slur all six notes, because theoboes also slur their parallel descending scalesin the eighth bar immediately before the sopranoenters.

As the next step I made contact with othermusicologists who are well acquainted with thesources of Mozart’s works, Dr. Fay Ferguson fromthe management of the New Mozart Edition andDr. Monika Ho11 f rom the BayereischeStaatsbibliothek who is occupied with the edi-tion of Mozart’s masses (she is also mentioned inthe newspaper article reprinted above). Bothexperts say that fundamentally there is no argu-ment between the musicologists concerning theauthorship of the bassoon part: at present theauthor is simply unknown, but it is very unlikely

that it was Mozart. This does not preclude thehypothesis that the part was written using musi-cal material by Mozart. Both musicologists alsoagree that it is necessary to examine the wholemanuscript to resolve the question of author-ship, and they regret that this is not possible atpresent.

This is the current status of the discovery ofthe bassoon part to Mozart’s Coronation Mass. Iwill continue to try to get access to the completescore which then could be examined by leadingexperts and published. Of course, the IDRS willalso be informed. +

ENDNOTESI Augsburg is located some 60 km west of Munich. The

family of Mozart father Leopold lived in Augsburg.Even today the telephone directory of Augsburgcounts seven private entries with the name Mozart

56 CARTOONS

[The above cartoons are by Vancouver, B.C., oboist Lauris MacKenzie and sent in by Jesse Read, bas-soonist and conductor at the UBC. #1 was for an oboe-bassoon-piano trio recital on opera themes withoboist Beth Olson and pianist Terry Dawson, and #2 was for Lauris’ own oboe recital. — ED]

Cartoons

IDRS JOURNAL 57

How Your Cat Sees Your Reed Desk

By David RiddlesLos Angeles, CA

[David Riddles has been a free-lance bas-soonist in the Los Angeles studios for the last20 years ED]

58 HONORARY MEMBERS

Honorary MembersMaurice Allard

Günter AngerhöferLady Evelyn Barbirolli

Philip BateGwydion BrookeDonald Christlieb

Lewis Hugh CooperGeorge F. GosleeJohn de LancieRalph Gomberg

E. Earnest Harrison

Norman H. HerzbergK. David van Hoesen

Cecil JamesKarl Öhlberger

Ivan PushechnikovMordechai Rechtman

Roland RigoutatSol Schoenbach

Leonard SharrowRay Still

Laila Storch

Robert Bloom(1908-1994)

Victor Bruns(1903-1996)

Robert De Gourdon(1912-1993)

Ferdinand Del Negro(1897-1986)

Fernand Gillet(1882-1980)

Leon Goossens, CBE(1897-1988)

Benjamin Kohon(1890-1984)

Simon Kovar(1890-1970)

Dr. Paul Henry Lang(1901-1991)

Lyndesay Langwill(1897-1983)

Alfred Laubin(1906 - 1976)

Robert M. Mayer(1910-1994)

W. Hans Moennig(1903-1988)

Frederick Moritz(1897-1993)

Fernand Oubradous(1903-1986)

Jerry Sirucek(1922 - 1993)

Louis Skinner(1918 - 1993)

Robert Sprenkle(1914-1988)

Deceased Honorary Members

IDRS JOURNAL

Yard Sale Bassoon

By Paul LeinMt. Pleasant, Michigan

59

ne of the tall tales bassoon players alwaysenjoy sharing with each other is about some-one they know, or have heard of, finding aterrific bassoon at a yard sale. The more

times the tale is told, the more it gets embellished:the bassoon becomes more and more terrific and theprice paid gets lower and lower. Since I’ve beenrestoring bassoons I’ve spent lots of time tracing thehistories of some “mystery” horns for myself and oth-ers. Although I’ve come across dozens of interestingbassoons with obscure histories, I had yet to literallycome across a genuine “yard sale” bassoon until acouple of years ago.

Some time in the summer of 1994 I received aphone call from a repair technician on the East Coastwho had bought a bassoon at a yard sale and wantedto try to find out more about it. I told him where tolook for serial numbers and brand stamps. The bas-soon turned out to be a Heckel, but it was in sorrycondition; all the keys and posts has been violentlyremoved. The finish was damaged and the case andbassoon were both laden with mildew. Our immedi-ate concern was that the bassoon had been stolen.While he contacted local and state officials, I inquireddirectly at the Heckel workshop to see if they had anyinformation about the history of the instrument orreports of it having been stolen. I also checked withthe IDRS, corresponded with the Doublereed–L andtalked to some East Coast bassoonists I know to seeif they had any anecdotal information about stolen9000 Heckels. During the following several months Icontinued to try to find out more about the history ofthe bassoon while the technician who found it con-tinued going to yard sales hoping to find a bag ofkeys.

The people at the Heckel workshop were as help-ful as they were able to be, reassuring me the bas-soon has not been reported as missing or stolen tothem. At the same time I inquired about the cost ofhaving a new set of keys built for the instrument andthey said it would cost about the same as a newHeckel. Then I asked about the cost of key castings sothat I could build a set of keys myself, but they couldnot be sure the castings they had would fit a bassoonthat they had made in the fifties. They also men-tioned that they had once sold a set of key castingsto an instrument maker in the Netherlands for a sim-ilar project, and he reported that he never wanted todo that job again. In any case, the cost of a set of rawkey castings would have been about the same as theprice of a new Fox Renard.

I kept in touch with the technician who had pur-

chased the keyless bassoon for the next two years;when he abandoned hope of ever finding the keys, heagreed to sell me the project. The joints arrived in fall1996 and the first thing I checked for was bore dam-age; while the outside of the joints looked terrible, thebore was untouched. Whoever had removed theparts had no love of the instrument, because therewere screwdriver pry marks where they had unsuc-cessfully tried to remove the bands. There were alsocircular marks at each guard which showed they hadunscrewed one screw and then twirled the guard toremove the other screw. The joints appeared to havebeen soaked in linseed oil and put away wet.Surprisingly, when taking apart the case, I found theoriginal high E key! Also scattered around in the casewere the original pads, rollers and push rods. I canonly surmise that whoever removed the keys, posts,etc. from the bassoon thought they were real silverand hoped to sell them for for the value of the silveritself. (Was it fifteen years ago when silver was over$50 an ounce?) Putting the bassoon in a linseed oilbath, on the other hand, is something that wouldhave been done by someone knowlegeable aboutbassoons.

Refinishing the bassoon was more time-consum-ing than it might otherwise have been because theoriginal finish was rust–stained from the remainingmetal pieces. There was also the physical damagedone by screwdriver and prybar when the keys wereremoved, a couple of cracks and an extensive inva-sion by mildew. After sealing the lined side of theboot and wing to protect the bore and tone holes, Iremoved the old finish and linseed oil with lacquerthinner. The badly discolored surface had to bebleached and then sanded. Fortunately, despite theterrible condition of the finish, the pad seats wereperfect. When the wood was ready for stain, I tried tomatch the original color. The red pigment in olderHeckel bassoons always fades with exposure to light,but the original color can usually be determined onan older bassoon by looking where the long and wingjoints nest together, since almost no light gets inthere. After staining and masking the pad seats, Isprayed on several coats of clear finish. When theclear coat was completely dry, I wet–sanded andbuffed each joint. What remained of the original ivorybell ring had been lying in pieces in the case, so Imade a new bell ring out of Corian.

When I spoke with the good people at Fox, theywere intrigued by, and very supportive of, the pro-ject. I ordered blank posts in the appropriate sizesfrom them and set them with epoxy in the original

O

YARD SALE BASSOON60

Heckel post holes. Having the posts set in the refin-ished bassoon made it much easier to visualize keyposition and spacing. I spent a day at the Fox fac-tory with Chip Owen going through their files ofpast and present key castings to see which mightbe usable or modified to fit the Heckel. Late in theday, I left South Whitley with several feet of bar androd stock, nickel silver sheet and a little box withabout two pounds of miscellaneous key castings.Fortunately I have a 10,000 series Heckel which Icould use as a guide to shaping the new keys to beas Heckel-like as possible. My goal was to build aset of keys using the original post holes in the 9000and reproduce the roller placement, etc., of my10,000 so the bassoons would feel as much alike aspossible.

The Fox pad cups have the same shape thatHeckel used, but they are not available in all of thesizes I needed. Fortunately in my collection of overforty bassoons, I found a Riedl bassoon withunplated keys which had the pad cups of the sizesI was missing. Since some keys had as many aseleven separate parts to be built and fitted, it wascertainly a pleasant surprise when a Fox partwould be usable with only minor modification. Theoriginal high E key on the wing joint was an offsetdesign I had not seen before; considering the bas-soon’s vintage and the fact that it came from theEast Coast, I wonder if the late Hans Moennigadded it.

The missing U-tube and attachment hardwareproved to be another interesting challenge. Thebore spacing at the bottom of the boot joint wasquite large and no bassoons in my collection orparts from Fox were suitable. I transferred borespacing and dimensions from the existing bootplate to brass sheet stock and then was able to usethe U-tube bow from the same old Riedl. Since Riedlhad cast a very thick bow, I was able to enlarge it tothe Heckel dimensions and solder it to the bootplate I had made.

I have large hands and have always played on aHeckel with many extra rollers for the right thumband little finger, so I wanted to include all the samerollers on the 9000. The shape of the pad seataround the low E tone hole was an indication thatthe bassoon originally had a double roller E.Unfortunately the Fox double wide pancake keywas quite a bit too large as cast, but with hours ofgrinding. finishing and reshaping, both the sixrollers for the thumb and the right little finger dou-ble wide F# turned out well.

Building an entire set of keys from a differentmanufacturer’s castings and building keys fromscratch was definitely an education. The projectthus far had taken several months, and I kept accu-rate records on time and materials as well as photo-graphic documentation. By the time I completedbuilding all the keys, I had become such a nervous

parent that I personally drove the keys down toAnderson Silver Plating. When I went back a weeklater to pick them up, the jigsaw puzzle of nickel sil-ver parts had been turned into gleaming silver plat-ed jewelry!

If a bassoon has to be fairly heavily sanded dur-ing refinishing, the brand stamp is often lost, so Ialways have the boot band engraved with the man-ufacturer’s name, serial number and country of ori-gin. Even though I was able to save the brand stampson this Heckel because they were clear and deep, Istill had the boot band engraved; it seemed to be anice touch.

As I assembled the bassoon and approached thefirst time I would play it, I’m not sure whether I washappier that the job was almost done or more indread of playing those first few notes. What if I hadjust spent hundreds of hours building a bassoonlamp? My confidence in the innate quality and mys-terious “Heckelness” built in to this bassoon was jus-tified, however. After the first few notes, despite themany terrible things that had happened to thisinstrument, I was reassured it was still a Heckel,albeit a “HeckeLein”.

Before taking it out of the house, I wanted to cus-tom–build a case. Much of the damage I see on olderbassoons is not from careless players, but ratherfrom movement while the bassoon is in its case,especially when loose blocks let the joints bumptogether. The case I built is a little larger than aver-age with no freestanding blocks. The joints are heldfar enough apart that they cannot possibly touch. Ieven put mirror–image saddles in the lid so thateach joint is clamped in place when the case isclosed.

I’ve now played the bassoon in dozens ofrehearsals and several concerts. It was especiallyinteresting to switch back and forth with DrewHinderer, my colleague in the Midland SymphonyOrchestra, who also has a 9000 Heckel. He saidthat mine plays just like his, except mine has newkeys. The yard sale bassoon did not originally havewater tubes, but after playing it for a while I’vedecided to add them. Drew’s similar Heckel hasHans Moennig water tubes, so they will be a goodpattern to follow. My being a bassoon technicianprobably means that this bassoon will never becompletely done; it seems there’s always some-thing new to try.

On a subsequent visit to the Fox factory, it wasgratifying to show them how the box of parts I hadleft there with several months earlier had becomekeys. Alan Fox, Chip Owen and Mike Trenticosti cer-tainly deserve special thanks for their advice andsupport. The project has been a great learning expe-rience for me and I’m happy this old Heckel is mak-ing music once more. Would I ever do it again? Youbet! Im looking forward to this summer’s yard saleseason. ❖

IDRS JOURNAL 61

1 In original bassoon case,- broken bell ring

Damage to boot joint

Pry marks near boot band

Stripped, ready to bleach and sand

Refinished after buffing clear coat

Bell key detail

Offset high E on wing

Left thumb key work close-up

YARD SALE BASSOON62

9 Boot front10 Boot back detail11 Low B detail — note roller action12 Finished bassoon in custom built case; note “before” picture (No. 1)

IDRS JOURNAL 63

Vivaldi Identification Information - Cross Reference ChartCompilation in Two Parts - Part 2: The Vivaldi Concerti

By Trevor CramerTallevast, Florida

VIVALDI IDENTIFICATION INFORMATION - CROSS REFERENCE CHART

Ryom Rinaldi Pincherle Fanna Malipiero Key Instrument CommentSolo Sonatas (one instrument plus continuo)

RV53 P.6/3 F XV, 2 M 375 c Ob SonataRV54 Op.13 No.1 P.3/9 F XVI,5 M 467 C Ob Sonata, Il pastor fidoRV55 Op.13 No.5 P.4/3 F XVI,9 M 471 C Ob Sonata, Il pastor fidoRV56 Op.13 No.2 P.3/10 F XVI,6 M 468 C Ob Sonata, Il pastor fidoRV57 Op.13 No.3 P.4/1 F XVI,7 M 472 G Ob Sonata, Il pastor fidoRV58 Op.13 No.6 P.4/4 F XVI,10 M 472 g Ob Sonata, Il pastor fidoRV59 Op.13 No.4 P.4/2 F XVI,8 M 470 A Ob Sonata, Il pastor fido

Trio Sonatas (two instruments plus continuo)RV81 F XV,8 g 2ObRV86 Op.43 P.7/8 F XV,1 M 18 a Rec/Bsn

Chamber Concertos ( more than two instruments plus continuo)RV87 Op.44 No.22 P.81 F XII,30 M 155 C Rec/Ob/2VlnRV88 Op.44 No.24 P.82 F XII,24 M 143 C Fl/Ob/Vln/BsnRV90 Op.44 No.15 P.155 F XII,9 M 42 D Fl/Ob/Vln/Bsn Il GardellinoRV91 Op.44 No.18 P.206 F XII,27 M 149 D Fl/Vln/BsnRV92 Op.37 No.2 P.198 F XII,7 M 39 D Rec/Vln/BsnRV94 Op.44 No.23 P.207 F XII,25 M 144 D Rec/Ob/Vln/BsnRV95 Op.44 No.4 P.204 F XII,29 M 248 D Rec/Ob/3Vln/Bsn La PastorellaRV96 P.6/7 F XII,42 M 354 d Fl/Vln/BsnRV97 Op.25 No.1 P.286 F XII,32 M 248 F Vla d’a/2Ob/Bsn/2HnRV98 Op.44 No.16 F Fl/Ob/Vln/Bsn Tempesta di MareRV99 Op.44 No.17 P.323 F XII,26 M 147 F Fl/Ob/Vln/Bsn (see RV 571)RV100 Op.44 No.10 P.322 F XII,21 M 106 F Fl/Vln/BsnRV101 F XII,13 M 52 G Rec/Ob/Vln/Bsn (see RV437)RV103 Op.44 No.3 P.402 F XII,4 M 23 g Rec/Ob/BsnRV104 Op.44 No.5 P.342 F XII,5 M 33 g Fl/2Vln/BsnRV105 Op.44 No.12 P.403 F XII,20 M 103 g Rec/Ob/Vln/BsnRV106 Op.44 No.14 P.404 F XII,8 M 41 g Fl/Vln/BsnRV107 Op.44 No.13 P.360 F XII,6 M 40 g Fl/Ob/Vln/Bsn (also P. 6/6)

Solo Concertos (one instrument plus orchestra and continuo)RV446 F VII,20 C ObRV447 Op.39 No.1 P.41 F VII,6 M 216 C Ob (see RV448 & RV470)RV448 Op.39 No.3 P.43 F VII,7 M 217 C Ob (see RV447 & RV470)RV449 Op.8 No.12 P.8 (F I,31) (M 85) C Ob (see RV178)RV450 (P.50) F VII,11 M 283 C Ob (see RV471)RV451 Op.39 No.4 P.44 F VII,4 M 222 C ObRV452 P.91 F VII,17 M 520 C ObRV453 Op.39 No.7 P.187 F VII,10 M 279 D ObRV454 Op.8 No.9 P.259 F VII,1 M 2 d Ob (see RV449 & RV236)RV455 Op.39 No.6 P.306 F VII,2 M 14 F ObRV456 P.264 F VII,16 M 488 F ObRV457 F VII,7 M 315 F ObRV458 F VII,18 F ObRV459 F Ob IncompleteRV460 Op.11 No.6 g Ob (see RV334)RV461 Op.39 No.2 P.42 F VII,5 M 215 a ObRV462 F VII,19 a ObRV463 F VII,13 M 316 a ObRV464 Op.7 No.7 F VII,15 M 448 Bb ObRV465 Op.7 No.1 P.331 F VII,14 M 442 Bb Ob

As owner of TrevCo Music I receive many re-quests for help in ferreting out information in twoareas of importance to double-reeders: Bach“Cantatas” and Vivaldi “Concerti”.

To make my life a little easier, I decided a fewmonths ago to sit down and compile several cross-

reference lists. The “fruits of my labors” follow.These are NOT intended to be scholarly

reports, nor definite assessments of either com-poser’s opera - they are merely little lists whichany one of us may find helpful at times.

VIVALDI IDENTIFICATION INFORMATION - CROSS REFERENCE CHART - PART 264

Ryom Rinaldi Pincherle Fanna Malipiero Key Instrument CommentRV466 Op.40 No.12 P.51 F VIII,28 M 274 C BsnRV467 Op.40 No.5 P.48 F VIII,18 M 239 C BsnRV468 Op.40 No.17 P.55 C Bsn IncompleteRV469 Op.40 No.8 P.49 F VIII,16 M 237 C BsnRV470 P.43 F VIII,33 M 281 C BsnRV471 Op.40 No.9 P.50 F VIII,34 M 282 C BsnRV472 Op.40 No.1 P.45 F VIII,17 M 238 C BsnRV473 Op.57 No.2 P.90 F VIII,9 M 118 C BsnRV474 Op.45 No.1 P.69 F VIII,4 M 47 C BsnRV475 Op.40 No.18 P.56 F VIII,21 M 267 C BsnRV476 Op.40 No.27 P.57 F VIII,31 M 277 C BsnRV477 P.46 F VIII,13 M 224 C BsnRV478 Op.45 No.4 P.71 F VIII,3 M 34 C BsnRV479 Op.40 No.14 P.52 F VIII,26 M 272 C BsnRV480 Op.40 No.4 P.432 F VIII,14 M 225 C BsnRV481 Op.45 No.7 P.282 F VIII,5 M 67 d BsnRV482 Op.40 No.16 P.303 d Bsn IncompleteRV483 Op.40 No.10 P.433 F VIII,27 M 272 Eb BsnRV484 Op.45 No.2 P.137 F VIII,6 M 71 e BsnRV485 Op.45 No.5 P.318 F VIII,8 M 109 F BsnRV486 Op.40 No.19 P.304 F VIII,22 M 268 F BsnRV487 Op.40 No.6 P.298 F VIII,15 M 236 F BsnRV488 Op.40 No.7 P.299 F VIII,19 M 240 F BsnRV489 Op.40 No.21 P.305 F VIII,20 M 266 F BsnRV490 Op.40 No.25 P.307 F VIII,32 M 278 F BsnRV491 Op.40 No.13 P.300 F VIII,25 M 271 F BsnRV492 Op.40 No.15 P.128 F VIII,29 M 275 G BsnRV493 Op.40 No.26 P.131 F VIII,30 M 276 G BsnRV494 Op.40 No.24 P.130 F VIII,37 M 300 G BsnRV495 Op.40 No.20 P.384 F VIII,23 M 269 g BsnRV496 Op.40 No.2 P.381 F VIII,11 M 214 g BsnRV497 Op.45 No.6 P.72 F VIII,7 M 872 a BsnRV498 Op.45 No.3 P.70 F VIII,2 M 28 a BsnRV499 Op.40 No.3 P.47 F VIII,12 M 223 a BsnRV500 Op.57 No.1 P.89 F VIII,10 M 119 a BsnRV501 Op.45 No.8 P.401 F VIII,1 M 12 Bb BsnRV502 Op.40 No.11 P.382 F VIII,24 M 270 Bb BsnRV503 Op.40 No.23 P.387 F VIII,35 M 298 Bb BsnRV504 Op.40 No.22 P.386 F VIII,36 M 299 Bb Bsn

Double Concertos (two instruments plus orchestra and continuo)RV534 Op.53 No.1 P.85 F VII,3 M 139 C 2ObRV535 Op.42 No.2 P.302 F VII,9 M 264 d 2ObRV536 Op.42 No.1 P.53 F VII,8 M 263 a 2ObRV543 Op.39 No.5 P.301 F XII,35 M 265 F Vln/Ob (unison)RV545 Op.42 No.3 P.129 F XII,36 M 280 G Ob/BsnRV548 Op.52 P.406 F XII,16 M 73 Bb Vln/Ob

Multiple Concertos (more than two instruments plus orchestra and continuo)Due to the unique nature of some of these concerti, it is suggested that instrumentation be confirmed beyond the reference contained herein.

RV554 Op.28 No.4 P.36 F CII,34 M 250 C Vln/Ob/Org ad. lib.RV555 Op.53 No.3 P.84 F XII,14 M 54 C 3Vln/Ob/2Rec/2Vla/2Vcl/2Hpd/2TptRV556 Op.53 No.2 P.84 F XII,14 M 54 C 2Ob/2Clar/2Rec/2Vln/2BsnRV557 Op.41 No.4 P.54 F XII,17 M 90 C 2Ob/2Vln/BsnRV559 Op.47 No.4 P.74 F XII,2 M 10 C 2Ob/2ClRV560 Op.47 No.3 P.73 F XII,1 M 3 C 2Ob/2ClRV562 P.169 F XII,47 M 380 D Vln/2Ob/2HnRV562a P.267 F XII,39 M 338 D Vln/2Ob/BsnRV563 P.210 F XII,50 M 510 D Vln/2ObRV564a D 2Vln/2Ob/Bsn Doubtful versionRV566 Op.41 No.1 P.297 F XII,31 M 213 d 2Vln/2Rec/2Ob/BsnRV568 Op.64 No.5 P.267 F XII,39 M 338 F Vln/2ObRV569 Op.46 No.2 P.273 F XII,10 M 43 F Vln/2Ob/2Hn/BsnRV570 Op.44 No.16 F XII,28 M 150 F Fl/Ob/BsnRV571 Op.64 No.2 P.268 F XII,40 M 350 F Vln/2Ob/2Hn/Vcl/BsnRV572 F 2Fl/2Ob/Vln/Vcl/Hpd IncompleteRV573 P.265 F 2Ob/2Hn/2Bsn LostRV574 Op.46 No.3 P.319 F XII,18 M 94 F Vln/2Ob/2Bsn/2 Trombon da cacciaRV576 Op.41 No.2 P.359 F XII,33 M 249 g Vln/Ob/2Rec/2Ob/BsnRV577 Op.41 No.3 P.383 F XII,3 M 25 g Vln/2Ob/2Rec/BsnRV579 Op.41 No.5 P.385 F XII,12 M 51 Bb Vln/Ob/salmoe 3Vla all’inglese

IDRS JOURNAL

Obituaries

65

Charles W. P. Cracknell1943 and Barbirolli was engaged as its conductor.He had to contend not only with the difficulties ofrecruiting musicians in wartime, but with the factthat most local players opted for the greater secu-rity of the BBC. Nevertheless, he succeeded in turn-ing the Hallé into one of the country’s finest orches-tras in the postwar years.

Cracknell was highly regarded by his colleaguesin the orchestra, who appreciated his beautifulsound, his natural musicianship and his supportand encouragement of his fellow players. He gave anumber of historic performances, among them theBritish premiere in 1949 of Richard Strauss’s DuetConcertino for Clarinet and Bassoon (with Pat Ryan).

Despite his heavy workload with the orchestra,with more than two hundred concerts a year,Cracknell found time to teach at the NorthernSchool of Music (later to be the Royal NorthernCollege) and Chetham’s School, as well as taking anumber of private pupils.

He was an inspirational teacher, but exactingand methodical. He demanded high standards ofaccuracy and technique, though always at the ser-vice of musical expression. Many of his formerpupils have gone on to become professional play-ers and teachers often returning to him throughouttheir careers for coaching and advice; the distinc-tive school of playing they represent is his lastingmusical legacy.

Cracknell was made an Associate of the RoyalAcademy of Music in 1972, and retired from theHallé in 1977. His imposing 6 ft. 5 in. presence wasmuch missed by colleagues and concert audiencesalike. The former still recall his wry sense of humorand predilection for complex spoonerisms. Despiteheavy professional commitments, he took greatdelight in trying to grow dahlias almost as tall as hewas in his Didsbury garden.

Retiring to Kent, Cracknell continued to teach atKing’s School Canterbury, and in 1980 his work as ateacher was recognized when he was appointedMBE in the New Year’s Honours List.

In 1941 he married Patricia Mary Murphy. Shesurvives him with their three daughters, two ofwhom are also musicians and teachers.

Charles W. P. Cracknell, renowned British bas-soonist, died on Thursday, May 1st, 1997 at theMaidstone Hospital, Kent, at the age of 81. Charleshad a long and distinguished career as principalbassoon of the Hallé Orchestra. His presence inthe IDRS and BDRS will be greatly missed. His obit-uary from the London Times reads as follows:

Charles was principal bassoon of the Hallé for31 years, during which time the ManchesterOrchestra under John (later Sir John) Barbirollibecame of Britain’s best. He was also an active anddistinguished teacher of his instrument, who influ-enced generations of pupils and may be said tohave created his own individual school of bassoonplaying.

The second son of a Hastings clockmaker,Charles William Penton Cracknell was expected tofollow his elder brother into the family business.However, visits to the Hastings MunicipalOrchestra had kindled in him an interest in musicin general and the bassoon in particular. “Once bit-ten by the bassoon bug, there is no known anti-dote.” he said.

A local piano-tuner and bassoonist started himoff on a French-system instrument, and his studiescontinued with Frank Rendall. After switching to anAdler bassoon, using the more manageable andnow much more widespread German system,Cracknell began to deputise at weekends in theEastbourne Municipal Orchestra.

After the Second World War, spent in the RoyalCorps of Signals at York and then in Algeria,Cracknell enrolled part-time at the Royal Academyof Music. He studied with Richard Newton, princi-pal bassoon of the BBC Symphony, and freelancedalongside players such as Archie Camden, PaulDraper and Eddie Wilson.

When Barbirolli came to conduct a performanceof the Verdi Requiem at the BBC towards the end of1945, he asked Newton if he had any promisingpupils for the recently reformed Hallé Orchestra.Cracknell went to play for him, and by August wasin the seat he was to make his own over the next 30years.

The Hallé, founded in 1857, had been goingthrough a difficult period. Players were shared withthe local BBC Orchestra and the LiverpoolPhilharmonic Society. But Liverpool formed anindependent orchestra in 1942, and, with BBC com-mitments preventing the Hallé from functioningproperly, the decision was taken to go it alone.

A separate full-time orchestra was formed in

OBITUARIES66

over the years that followed to make a distin-guished contribution to what were the vintageyears for the Hallé Orchestra under Barbirolli’sdirection. A highlight early on was the Britishpremiere of Richard Strauss’s Duet-Concertino,which Cracknell gave with the clarinettist PatRyan during the 1948-49 season.

In addition to his activities as orchestral play-er, he was a dedicated and much-loved teacher,working at both the Northern School and theRoyal Manchester College of Music. He tookretirement in 1977, having spent 31 years withthe orchestra, and was appointed MBE in 1980.

Moving back south to Borough Green, Kent,he continued to teach for many years inCanterbury and the surrounding region.”

In an obituary for Charles that appeared in theBritish newspaper the Independent (May 30,1997) distinguished bassoonist WilliamWaterhouse wrote the following words:

“Charles Cracknell was for over 30 yearsManchester’s leading bassoonist. Joining theHallé Orchestra in 1946, he was one of the freshcrop of wind principals recruited after the endof war by Sir John Barbirolli to revitalise theorchestra. Cracknell was born in Hastings in1915, the second son of a clockmaker. Earlyexposure to the excellent local MunicipalOrchestra inspired him to take up the bassoon.After war service spent mostly in Algeria, hecompleted his studies on the instrument inLondon at the Royal Academy of Music.

Having moved to Manchester, he was able

William S. BuzzardWilliam S. Buzzard, 74, chemical engineer for

50 years, amateur bassoonist, and longtimeIDRS member died of heart failure onWednesday, May 14, 1997, at his home inJenkintown, Pennsylvania.

He was born in Portage, PA, and graduatedfrom the Massachusetts Institute of Technologyafter serving 28 months in the US Army inEurope during WWII. He married his wife,Georgine in 1948 after meeting her in Austria

while in the Army. He worked as a chemicalengineer for many years in Hatboro with theFisher and Porter firm, retiring in 1990.

Mr. Buzzard was an avid bassoonist, playingin the Bucks County Symphony Orchestra for 44years. He also served as librarian and was onthe board of directors. He is survived by hiswife, four children and three grandchildren. TheIDRS joins them in mourning the loss of thisvaluable member.

Wilbur H. SimpsonWilbur H. Simpson, former bassoonist with

the Chicago Symphony and bassoon teacher inmany of the Chicago area universities, includingNorthwestern University, died at his summerhome in Platte Lake, Michigan, on Tuesday, June17, 1997. He was 79 years old. A resident ofEvanston, Illinois, he performed with theChicago Symphony for 45 years until his retire-ment in 1991. Originally from Angola, Indiana,Wilbur graduated from Northwestern Universitybefore serving in the Navy during World War II.

He was in the 30 piece band on the battleshipMissouri when the Japanese formally surren-dered in 1945. In 1946, he joined the ChicagoSymphony and over the years taught many bas-soonists who can now be found in major orches-tras and universities throughout the world.Wilbur Simpson is survived by his wife,Margaret, three children and four grandchil-dren. The IDRS joins them in mourning the lossof this great bassoonist and teacher.

IDRS JOURNAL

Making Modern Music in Moscow:a Travelogue

By Dr. Jeffrey LymanTempe, Arizona

67

Few musicians would argue that, in the best of cir-cumstances, a concert is much more than simply therecreation of a set of notes. Similarly, travel to a for-eign country is never simply a run-through of dailychores on different shores. So when concerts andtravel are mixed, the possibilities for adventure andeducation increase exponentially. With thesethoughts in mind, I hope you will allow me to sharethis travelogue.

ussia. For most of the world, for most ofthis century, Russia was a land thatinspired both fantasy and fear. Whetheryour homeland was engaged in a Cold War

with the Soviet Union, or choking under the grip ofits iron hand, you as a citizen of the 20th centurywere hopeless of ever escaping its influence. So,when I had the chance to travel to Moscow for aseries of concerts and recordings this pastNovember, all the images I had ever envisioned ofthe capital of this previously off-limits countryflooded forth. These ran the gamut of playing withmy Russian G.I. Joe soldier as a kid to worrying asa young adult if Reagan or Brezhnev would be thefirst to press “The Button.” To this slightly oldertraveler in the 1990’s, Russia was still a land of fan-tasy, but thanks to a monumental change in theworld political climate, one almost devoid of fear.True to my expectations, the Russia I had the plea-sure of visiting was a place whose sense of tradi-tion was so deep that it poured over into the pre-sent, mixing old and new at every turn. But what Icouldn’t ever imagine was how much this oppor-tunity I was given to make music in Moscow wouldenrich my life.

First ImpressionsUpon arrival in Moscow your initial thought will

surely be, to quote an American cultural icon,“We’re not in Kansas anymore.” The lines at pass-port control in Sheremetyevo Airport are hardlylines at all, but more like amorphous masses ofpeople that from time to time break off an individ-ual like a ripened fruit and force it through theappropriate open channel. You then approachRussian customs officials, to whom you mustdeclare everything in your possession, including ofcourse your instrument and all of your cash aswell. Not until you’ve passed through both of these

checkpoints do you ever get sight of the peoplewho may be meeting you. For me, this meant try-ing to find the composer Yuri Kasparov, a man Ihad seen only in a photograph on a CD booklet, butwith whom I’d established a pen-pal like friendshipover the past three years.

Mr. Kasparov is the Music Director of theMoscow Contemporary Music Ensemble, as wellas an internationally renowned composer. I hadmade contact with him three years before this tripafter purchasing a CD by his ensemble that fea-tured Valeri Popov’s performance of the compos-er’s Sonata-Infernale for bassoon solo.

Dragging my bassoon, my carry-on, and myoverloaded suitcase through the exit, I was met notby a composer holding a sign with my name on it,but by a great crowd of heavily dressed peoplewaiting for family, friends, business associates, etc.As I passed down between the mass of faces, I sawthe man from the CD booklet near the exit. I calledout, “Yuri?,” and was met with an affectionate hugby my new friend. We walked out into what was,being a new resident of Arizona, the coldest weath-er I’d felt since I left the Mid-West. Even as I wasabout to remark on the frigid air, Yuri stopped mywords cold by commenting how warm it was inMoscow. This was another indication that, depend-ing upon my perspective, I would be in for severalsurprises over the course of the next two weeks.

As you drive to downtown Moscow from the air-port, you might have difficulty distinguishing theRussian countryside from its American equiva-lents. You’ll pass a McDonald’s, several billboardsfor European cosmetics, and the inevitable ciga-rette ad. If you glance quickly at the cigarette ad,you’ll notice the picturesque Arizona landscape,with young beautiful models leaning over a broken-down Cadillac in front of an old service station(smoking, of course). Look a little closer and you’llsee that one thing isn’t quite right. Instead of thesign on the service station reading “Gas” or“Texaco,” the Russian version has the words“Pinute Butter” across the top of the building. Thisseemed hysterical to me until my friend asked ifthe average American would be able to notice mis-takes in Cyrillic words posted in an ad for Russianvodka. Point taken: Exoticism sells, mistakes andall.

The cigarette ad on the road into Moscow was

R

MAKING MODERN MUSIC IN MOSCOW: A TRAVELOGUE68

not the last time I’d see the all-pervading influenceof Madison Avenue on Leningradsky Prospekt. Itwas hard not to feel embarrassed when I saw howmany US companies have defaced the look ofMoscow with their billboards and advertisements.The McDonald’s restaurants are the size of cityblocks, and are packed full with people, while ter-rific little Russian restaurants nearby are nearlyempty. You can buy Baskin-Robbins Ice Creameverywhere, provided you are prepared to payabout $5 a scoop. Chevrolet dealerships occupybuildings as large as hospitals, yet barely any resi-dent can afford anything more than the broken-down domestic autos. Always and everywherethere are the cigarette ads. No streetcorner is with-out its enormous gaudy billboard, no wall withoutits scene of the Marlboro man telling both youngand old Muscovites to light up. “Lighten up” wasthe advice I tried to give myself, hoping that thesebusinesses might in some way be helping to putthe city on its way toward economic prosperity.But I was here for music, wasn’t I? Why not try andadopt the stance of a visiting artist, not of a self-righteous tourist? Why not just do the job I cameto do and go home? Thankfully, my host and mysoon-to-be new friends had another kind of trip inmind for me.

Russian HospitalityWith the help of several travel guides, I had tried

to prepare myself a little before leaving for Moscowby learning about cultural differences, by attempt-ing to brush up on my Russian history, and by set-ting some goals regarding which museums to visitand which sights to see. I gleaned from the guidesthat Russians are a generous people, self-deprecat-ing to their very soul, and not afraid to pull out allthe stops in seeing that their guests are comfort-able. My first witness to this was when I learnedthat Yuri had arranged for me to have an apart-ment all to myself, where I could practice withoutbothering anyone. I was provided with a stockedrefrigerator, a kitchen of my own, and all the modcons. Having this apartment also left me free to livepretty much like I do at home, meaning I couldspend hours and hours in front of the TV.

Forget CNN, forget Crossfire, or This Week withDavid Brinkley. If you want to learn about the aver-age Russian’s ideas about America, you mustwatch Russian television. The first thing you’llnotice is how great a percentage of what you watchin Russia was actually made in America. I watchedreruns of NBC’s Homicide, with only one male voiceand one female voice doing all the overdubs. Thesame two voices could be heard coming frommany characters the next afternoon in Santa

Barbara. But American reruns don’t tell the wholestory, as these are imported whole, likeMcDonald’s. The rest of the story is told in nativeprograms like one that was supposed to be set inTexas. A police story, it was peopled by TexasRanger-types who cooked spaghetti and served itwith no sauce. Instead, these “typical Americans”added ketchup, Tabasco and grated parmesancheese at the table. They dressed in clothes embla-zoned with American flags on their arms or shoul-ders, and even the smallest cabin had a largeAmerican flag in the corner. All the children worecowboy hats, and it seemed everyone drove greenEl Dorados.

Anyone who thinks American television hasreached rock-bottom in the Trash TV genre has notyet seen Russia’s equivalent. Hard Copy has noth-ing on Catastrophe, a kind of apocalyptic version ofCandid Camera in which the producers stage pub-lic accidents waiting to happen, then set the cam-eras rolling. On the episode I saw, a studio audi-ence roared with laughter as they watched a dis-abled car being placed in the middle of a busyMoscow street. The car was left in the center lane,just after a blind curve, and the point of the jokewas to watch as speeding cars swerved around thestopped one. How would the new ratings board forAmerican TV deal with that one?

We are also accustomed to programs endingand beginning at the top of the hour or at the halfhour. Often, such is not the case on Russian TV, butto their credit the extra time is filled with excerptsfrom cultural events. The definition of “culture”could be pretty loose, however. I saw everythingfrom excerpts of recitals by Vladimir Spivakov andDmitri Hvorostovsky to a music video of a trans-lated version of “the Macarena.”

Commercials, a sure sign that capitalism hasreached this land, are as much a part of televisionhere as anywhere. You can watch the same help-less Mentos girl get her car blocked by the sameinconsiderate businessman, and be helped by thebeefy but decidedly non-Russian-looking workers,all to the memorable Mentos melody. TheEnergizer Bunny walks through the streets ofMoscow too, but at the sign-off the word“Energizer” is sung to the first four pitches of “TheSong of the Volga Boatmen.”

Making MusicAfter immersing myself in the sights and sounds

of my first Moscow day, I eventually had to get towork and begin rehearsals for the first concert, aperformance of Gunther Schuller’s Sextet forBassoon and Piano Quintet. Yuri drove me to theMinistry of Culture, a large gray building in an area

IDRS JOURNAL 69

of the city that seemed to me to look more like anindustrial park than a center of culture. Thisimpression, though seemingly unkind, was onethat would return throughout my stay. Under theformer Soviet system, the arts were treated muchas any other commodity, as if art or music was aproduct which could be systematically maintainedlike an industry. A tragic fact of life in the post-Soviet era is that government support for the arts,which was reliable under the old regime, simplydoes not exist in the New Russia. The averagemusician’s salary in Moscow is an incredible $50 to$100 a month. The Russian National Orchestra,perhaps the best orchestra in the entire country,plays its concerts on folding music stands.However, if you think that the Russian musicianshave adopted a defeatist attitude toward the pre-sent situation, think again.

Upon entering the Ministry of Culture, I heardthe end of a rehearsal of the Symphony #9 by theGeorgian Merab Gagnidze. As frustrating as it is toadmit, it is nearly impossible to hear contemporary music played by American orchestras, andhere I was listening to one of Moscow’s many fineensembles digging into the score with relish. Therewere no repeated interruptions to stop for expla-nations, or for misbehaving musicians. Instead,here were nearly one hundred players treating thisodd piece with the same attention they would giveto a Chaikovsky symphony. Too good to be true? Ihoped not.

After the orchestra rehearsal, I met my col-leagues for the Schuller, all members of the orches-tra except the pianist. Luckily for me, we had theassistance of the young conductor Mark Kadin. Hislack of English skills, and my lack of Russian, wasovercome by a mutual knowledge of French.Although one might hope that a sextet would notrequire a conductor, the difficulties of Schuller’stricky score were more quickly overcome thanksto Marks assistance.

The next meeting of this group took on particu-lar significance for me when I was told where it wasto be held. The seven of us met the next afternoonat the Russian Union of Composers, in what wasonce the office of Tikhon Khrennikov, formerGeneral Secretary of the Soviet Union ofComposers. As I stood outside the office looking atthe nameplate that still hangs there, I felt a chillwhen I realized that I was probably in the verysame spot where once stood Dmitri Shostakovichand any number of other composers while await-ing the news of their fates from the authorities. Thegreatest irony lay inside the office, which still con-tains Khrennikov’s desk and chair. Above andbehind them on the wall now hangs the most

imposing object in the room: a large portrait ofShostakovich.

The Union and House of ComposersAn organization that has no parallel in the

American musical scene is the Moscow Union ofComposers. This group, along with the RussianUnion of Composers, was formerly known as theSoviet Union of Composers (names seem tochange faster than traffic lights in Russia.) It is atone and the same time a professional organizationand an extended family, a close-knit group of likeminded individuals and a conglomeration of unre-lated artists.

The Union of Composers meets, lives, worksand shares at the House of Composers, located inthe heart of the artistic district of Moscow. Withina few small blocks one can find the MoscowConservatory, the Mayakovsky Theater, the apart-ments of many renowned musicians, artists, andfilm directors and this important center of Russianand Soviet musical history.

Though every room in these two buildings hasseen its own special history, no room is more cen-tral to the experience than the cafe on the secondfloor. Decorated in a style that combines 1950’sWestern ranch, 1960’s Chinese restaurant chic, andan East/West neon bonanza, this cafe, or “buffet” asthe composers called it, is full at all hours of theday and night. As you enter the smokefilled interi-or and belly-up to the bar, you’ll find fantasticespresso, surprisingly good Russian beer, tastyArmenian cognac, Red October chocolate bars, asmall bistro menu that includes crab salad and redcaviar, and at least five different types of vodka, ina selection that rotates almost daily.

Back at the tables, composers now engage inconversations that only ten or fifteen years agomight have had them reported to the authorities. Itwas at these tables that I heard composers my ownage speak of the excitement they felt at theAlternatives Festivals of the late 1980’s where forthe first time, auditoriums full of hungry musiclovers could listen to recordings of late StravinskySchoenberg, Hindemith, and any number ofyounger composers whose music had, even thisshort time ago, been banned in their country. Evenmore remarkable was hearing how a certain pro-fessor at the Conservatory would attend concertsin Western Europe, outfitted with a hidden microphone, then come back to Moscow, meet studentslate at night behind locked doors, and do theunspeakable: listen to new, un-sanctioned works.

It is one thing to read about such situations in amusic history text, quite another to hear the talescoming from new friends sitting across a table from

MAKING MODERN MUSIC IN MOSCOW: A TRAVELOGUE70

you. When people who are living in your own time,who grew up in the same era as yourself, speak ofhaving to lock doors before listening to music, thenthe art which nourishes you day after day beginsto take on an importance that it did not havebefore. It was impossible to hear people say thatthey could have their careers ended because theyexpressed interest in, or intimate knowledge of, themusic of certain composers, and not come awayfeeling somehow unfairly privileged. At the sametime, it was difficult not to feel a strange kind ofenvy for them, because their knowledge and loveof this music was so much more deeply personalthanks to these risks.

Edison DenisovMusic lovers in the West, if they know any-

thing of contemporary Russian composers, mayknow the names of Alfred Schnittke, SofiaGubaidulina, and perhaps Edison Denisov. Butwhile Schnittke and Gubaidulina have for yearslived and worked primarily outside of Russia,Denisov maintained homes in both Moscow andParis, and never lost touch with the day-to-dayworkings of the Union of Composers, the classesat the Moscow Conservatory, or the profession-al lives of his many students and colleagues.Naturally then, all of the people I met at theUnion of Composers were worried during thefestival because Denisov was in Paris at the time,undergoing surgery for complications from adevastating automobile accident of two yearsearlier. News from Paris after the first two oper-ations was cautiously optimistic. A third, unex-pected operation was needed, and a deeper pal-lor seemed to fall upon everyone.

On the 24th of November, we began rehearsalsof a new concerto for bassoon, 8 double bassesand 8 timpani, composed for me by YuriKasparov. After the rehearsal, Yuri and I returnedto the Union of Composers and were met on thestairs by Dmitri Denisov, the composer’s son, anda flutist in the Contemporary Music Ensemble. AsDmitri descended the stairs, he embraced Yurisilently and it was then that I heard that EdisonDenisov had died after the third operation. As weentered the cafe on the second floor, all the com-posers stood to offer their condolences to Dmitri,and to pay their respects to his father’s memory.

The sad underlying truth of the situation wasthat in many ways they were all paying theirrespects to their own musical father. Almost nodoor seemed to open for anyone without theassistance of Denisov. That day and long into thenight, many composers told me over coffee andcognac that it was Denisov who got them their

first publishing deal, or that Denisov arranged forperformances of their music, or that he arrangedfor commissions, or wrote recommendations, andso on. So that evening, at the concert which wasto feature Denisov’s latest work, and which nowfeatured his last work, the mood of the entirecrowd assembled was that of the funeral of amember of the family. Dmitri Denisov stayed inMoscow to assist in the performance of the work,titled Women and Birds. As is customary whenRussian audiences particularly enjoy a piece, theapplause turned from random clapping into a uni-son rhythm. Everyone stood in tribute to theman, in the room where so much of his music andthe music of his many students had been broughtto life for the first time.

Popov’s ClassOne of the other highly anticipated moments

of my trip was to meet and play for the greatRussian bassoon virtuoso, Valeri Popov. Popovmust be one of the busiest musicians in all ofMoscow, teaching at several schools, playing inorchestras and chamber ensembles, and seem-ingly seeing to it that music gets played whenand where it is supposed to. If someone neededmusic stands, they called Popov. If they needed ahigh-quality tape deck, they called Popov. Simplystated, if it wasn’t working, Popov could make itwork.

On the day I was to perform for Popov, Yuritook me to the neighborhood where the MusicalCollege of the Moscow State Conservatory waslocated. After maneuvering around a construc-tion site with no evidence of actual constructiongoing on, I arrived at Popov’s class to play a shortprogram of American music for solo bassoon.The program consisted of Leslie Bassett’sMetamorphosen, Kirk O’Riordan’s Temptation,Samuel Adler’s Canto XII, and David Lang’s PressRelease. It was in this class that I experiencedsome of the most attentive listening I have everreceived, and after my performance Popov con-tinued to teach the class of 5 students as I lis-tened. There was some truly top-notch playing,even when some of the students were handi-capped by instruments in poor condition.

Da SvidanyaThe final evening in Moscow was both unusu-

al and unforgettable. We were to make therecording of 12 Samples at the Small Hall of theMoscow Conservatory. As mentioned earlier, theConservatory is right in the middle of downtownMoscow, so the recording was scheduled tobegin at midnight. This was delayed even further

IDRS JOURNAL 71

because the bassists, all members of the RussianNational Orchestra, were called at the last minuteto an extra rehearsal demanded by a guest sopra-no from La Scala.

The recording went on without a hitch, and wepacked up everything by about 3 a.m. Then camethe task of moving timpani all over Moscow intiny cars, then moving me to the airport for anearly flight home. I left Yuri at the curb of the ter-minal, as he went back downtown to see to thedetails of the continuing concerts of MoscowAutumn. Flying home, I noticed that things every-where seemed to happen a little more pre-dictably than in Moscow, a little more on sched-ule, with a little less panic. Yet, they were alsohappening without that sense of achievementthat comes from overcoming the inevitable road-blocks, locked doors, and helpless shouldershrugs of every Moscow official. Simple logisticswill never be taken for granted again by thismusician.

Nearly every minute of every day of my trip,every Russian I met was apologizing for this orthat problem of day-to-day life in their country. Ionly wish I could show them the opposite side,with a glimpse into a musician’s life in America. Iwish I could show them how an American orches-tra will refuse to work five minutes longer to fin-ish a piece if their rehearsal clock says it’s time tofinish. Or, how so many American musiciansseem more concerned with finding flaws in theircontracts rather than finding ways to improvetheir music. Before my trip, many people asked ifI was going to bring old reeds, equipment or caneto give to the bassoonists in Moscow. The truthis, these musicians don’t need American charityor sympathy, but our respect. Making music inMoscow, modern or otherwise, is a superhuman

task that happens with very human regularity.What I took home from this trip, and what all ofus could take from our colleagues in Russia, is alittle reminder of how important and how vitalmusic is to our daily lives. If it can survive againstunimaginable odds in Moscow, then it can andmust survive in the rest of the world. Da svi-danya! ❖

(A Recent Footnote: While visiting with ValeriPopov in Evanston, he pointed out a small error inthe announcement made in Bassoonists’ News ofInterest. He reminded me that the new work I playedin Moscow by Yuri Kasparov was called 12 Samplesof Interrelations between Bassoon, 8 Double Bassesand 8 Timpani, while the Concerto for Bassoon isanother completely different work by Kasparov, thatPopov himself premiered last Fall in Stavanger,Norway. This detail is important when you realizehow often and how well Mr. Kasparov composes forbassoon. Mr. Popov and Mr. Kasparov both deserveproper credit for continuing to champion the bas-soon around the world.)

About the Author …Dr. Jeffrey Lyman is Assistant Professor of

Bassoon at Arizona State University in Tempe.

Valery Popov and his students (Left to Right)Sergei Vorkov, Dmitry Belokpidov, VitalySodnikov, Popov, Jan Back, Dmitry Arseniev.

Jeffrey Lymanin concert atthe House ofComposers,Moscow.

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1979 V1 #1 (V2 #1) ____V2 #2 ____V2 #3 ____

1980 V2 #4 (V3 #1) ____V2 #5 (V3 #2) ____

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IDRS JOURNAL 73

How to make

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The astonishing method of reed construction for the space

Tired of carrying around those old-fashion heavy reeds that needthree wires, string, and glue? Sick of waiting for the damnedthings to break-in? Now a real Doctor reveals his discovery

based on 36 years of intensive research, endless bassoon camps,seminars, personal communications, and pure inspiration!

Here are instructions for a fool proof method ofbassoon reed construction. We begin with shaped,profiled cane.

The traditional construction method consists ofsoaking the cane, possibly beveling the inside edgesof the tube portion, folding it, placing three brasswires, and inserting (forcing in) a mandrel to formthe tube. Then the binding is applied, usually string,followed by some glue or other sealant.Generally this method works well. I made hundreds

of reeds that way but there were always problems—splits, poor seal, and especially asymmetry of thetwo halves at the throat near the first wire. Therewas always the need to return to the mountain towatch the gurus do it right.

My personal experience, guru-wise, has been withLou Skinner, Norman Herzberg, Philip Kolker, KeithBowen, and Mark Popkin.

All of those gentlemen teach variations of the tra-ditional construction method.

There are even books written by the original HeckelBassoon makers showing the same general steps.They called for lubricating the forming mandrel withgoose grease, something found in every bassoonist’skitchen in the 1830’s!

An alternate way of forming the tube portion of thereed is that promoted by Don Christlieb. Theseinstructions show a variation on his method and anew method of binding.The Christlieb method involves placing the soaked

cane on a mandrel and applying many windings of astrong rubber band to the tube portion, then allow-ing the cane to dry on the mandrel for at least threedays.

In order to prevent air leaks, Christlieb gives spe-cial attention to the beveling of the inside edges ofthe cane where the tube halves are to meet.

After the cane has spent three days on the dryingmandrel under the force of the rubber bands, the

HOW TO MAKE ULTRALYTE EASY PLAYING BASSOON REEDS74

material has no more desire toreturn to its previous contour.Christlieb then binds the twohalves together with four wiresand applies a plastic material tothe tube which hardens into a redblob. The reeds do not leakbecause of the beveling andbecause of the very extensivebinding. By the way, his reeds playgreat.

In my method the cane is applied to a drying man-drel, but no beveling need be done. The tube edgesare trued up against a sanding block after the dryingperiod.

Okay, here is my recipe:

There are three main steps: First, the formation of thetube on the mandrel; second, the sanding of the tubehalves against a flat surface; and third, the binding.You may form the tube per my instructions and thenproceed to bind and wrap the tube in the traditionalway (three wires, string and glue). Or for the full won-der of the UltraLyte style, you use only two wires thenwrap the tube end with mylar (“MonoKote”). A tightbinding is not needed because the tube has beenproperly trimmed to prevent air leakage.

The tools for the first step include a heatableforming mandrel, preferably made of brass,with a heat resistant handle. Mine wasobtained from Pfeiffer many years ago. A gasstove or butane burner is nice for heating themandrel. Christlieb Products sells an electrichot mandrel but I haven’t tried it. I use a heat-ed mandrel to only partially form the tube,then the cane is placed on the drying man-drel. For the drying mandrel I have a great dis-covery—it’s a “scratch awl” made by Stanley,(69-007), and is available at most hardwarestores. I have six of them in case I want to haveseveral reed blanks drying at a time. It is theright size and taper for this process. It is rust proof,and is designed with a flat side on the handle (to

prevent rolling). And it is alsoflat at the bottom so it can standon your living room mantle!

I start with shaped, profiledcane. I’ve had very good resultswith Christlieb Cane, JonesCane, and numerous others. Of

course you can use your own home shaped and pro-filed cane as well. (I’ve even grown my own arundo

donax). Try to avoid shapes that are too narrow atthe tube portion because some stock is removed dur-ing the process as you will see.

Soak the cane overnight or until it sinks. Place thecane on an easel to help locate the exact middle andlightly score the cane across at that point then foldit in half.

A temporary brass wire (the standard #22 softbrass wire used by most reed makers) is placed atthe general location of the first wire—thewire near the “shoulder” of the reed. Itwist it on the side to remind me it’s tem-porary. This wire should be made quitetight because it will prevent any splitsfrom extending to the blade. I learnedthat trick from Bob Williams (Detroit).

In forming the tube I have not found itnecessary to score or cut into the cane asis often recommended for “damage con-trol”. A hot mandrel steams the cane enough to soft-en it a little (if it’s done slowly), so major cracks orsplits are rare.

Next, wrap the tube end with some butcher’s twineor a piece of leather (shown below). Heat the form-ing mandrel (but not to glowing) and push it into thewet reed for about an inch and wait until the sizzlingstops. In fact, wait about 30 seconds—it gives the lit-tle veggie a chance to cook.Remove the mandrel and heat it again. Wet the reed

again and reinsert the hot mandrel and push it sothe tip goes well beyond the wire. Wait 30 secondsagain. Don’t worry if you don’t yet have a perfecttube—the drying step will take care of that.

Remove the mandrel and the leather or string andwet the reed again. Now push the drying mandrel(the Stanley scratch awl) into the tube end a littlepast the wire until the butt end of the cane is about5 cm. (2") from the end of the handle. This distancewill vary depending on the width of the shape at the

Three reeds drying on the mantle.

IDRS JOURNAL 75

tube portion of the cane. 5 cm.works well for Christlieb canewhich is about 6 mm. longer thanmost other cane pieces. The ideahere is to push the mandrel in farenough so that after the reed iswrapped with the rubber band, thetwo halves of the tube do nottouch each other. You will learn bytrial and error the correct distancefor each style of cane shape, buttry to be consistent.

! The reason the two halvesshould not touch is that youwant the cane to form against

the perfect symmetrical steel ofthe mandrel rather than becrushed against itself resulting inasymmetric distortion of the cane.The goal here is that the arch of thecane at the shoulder orfirst wire should be thesame for both halves ofthe reed. This is one ofthe strong points of

this construction method—matchingblade contours.

Next wrap the tube portion of the reedonto the mandrel with a strong rubberband. (I use the ones that come with themail or newspaper). Simply cut it andwind it from the wire to the butt. Make itnice and tight. Then tuck the end underthe last turn to secure it.

Now let the cane dry for three or more days. Youcan make as many of these as you have Stanleyscratch awls. I always have several reeds in this con-dition. They can be left indefinitely until you areready to do the final assembly.

There is a little more work that can be done whilethe reed is waiting on the drying mandrel: Removethe wire after a day or two (or longer). and file aledge to delineate the shoulder. A simple nail fileworks well but will need periodic replacement.Don’t file too much—there is no “undo” button toclick. The sharp shoulder ledge is useful for mea-suring the length of the blade later when you clipopen the tip.

Oh I know—many prefer to measure from betweenthe loops of the first wire, but thewire can move. It’s a little like usingdriving directions that say “turn leftat the dog”. The shoulder ledge willstay put. Also, filing away the slopethat is usually present on machineprofiled cane makes the reed playless stuffy.

Sometimes I find I have removed alittle too much cane and when I later

hold the reed up to the light there is a clearish areanear the shoulder ledge. Although I try to preventthat from happening, it does not mean the reed willnot be good. In fact, one of the reed styles taught byLou Skinner was his “Windsor Mill Window” whichhad an extra bit of cane intentionally taken off nearthe shoulder, which gave the reed a special playingquality, but I forget what that quality was! (WindsorMill is the Baltimore suburb where Skinner livedbefore retiring to Maine).

Three days later...

In this step you will see why no beveling was doneprior to forming the tube. In fact, the condition ofthe sides of the shape has been ignored so far.Wet the tip area before removing the cane from the

drying mandrel so that it will not be so brittle andbreak apart when youunfold it. But leave the restof the cane piece dry. Cutthe rubber band andremove the cane from themandrel. Unfold the caneand sand the two halves ofthe tube against a sandingblock. Use medium grit—about 120. Press hardest inthe area of the tube wherethe first and second wireswill go (see arrow in abovephoto). Try to sand the twohalves approximately thesame number of rubs. Sandonto the blade about 1 cmjust lightly.

The next photos showthree stages of the process.

You will note that due to the sanding, the tube isnot quite circular, but rather two ellipses—Don’tworry—it’s fine. When construction is completethe tube must be reamed. The main concern is thatthe reed be air-tight without the need for a tightbinding.

5 cm

.


Carefully sand across the butt end of the tube tomake it even.

Now apply the two wires. First apply the secondwire (or “middle” wire borrowing from the termi-nology of reeds with three wires). This is thetighter of the two wires, but not so tight as to dentthe cane. Position it about 1 cm. from the shoulderledge. Then apply the first wire. All reed gurus tryto have this wire applied as evenly as possible.Christlieb’s film shows him holding the wire withtwo pin-vises so it can be wound around the shoul-der area with even tension. Don’t forget—the tubehas started to flair at this point making it difficultto apply the wire evenly by simply pulling andtwisting.

The way Lou Skinner taught to apply the first wireis as follows: Wind the wire just above the secondwire, snug it up a little, then shove it up to theshoulder with a needle nose pliers (or your thumbnails). Then just twist it a little more and you’redone. This has the effect of distributing the pres-sure of the wire ligature evenly, and it’s a whole loteasier than using pin-vises.No third wire (near the butt) is used in my method.

My theory is that this wire’s main use is to force thecane halves together tightly to make it well sealed.This tightness contributes greatly to the prolonga-tion of the break-in period. Of course the cane hard-ens during the first two or three uses. But beyondthat, there is the need for the cane to recover fromthe crushing it receives from the wires, especiallythe third. After a while the binding finally loosensup a little and the reed plays much better.

Norman Herzberg teaches that new reeds should beput aside for a few months if possible. In my opinionthey need this aging-in to allow time for the cane toloosen up under the wires, especially the third wire. Inthe Herzberg method some cane is removed from thesides of the butt end of the future tube portion prior toinserting the forming mandrel. Then the third wireforces the tube closed. This manoeuvre helps keep thetip from collapsing but adds to the need for a period ofaging. During this waiting time, there are many fluctua-tions in humidity which act like mini soakings and dry-ings. Gradually the cane becomes thinner at the wiresand the reed plays more freely. My reeds do not needthis waiting period. Period.

By now you have guessed that my method of reedconstruction relies on accurate trueing-up of the tubeedges rather than brute force to create a good seal.Since the binding is not tight enough to force its wayinto the cane, no aging is needed. Sure, the blades willrequire some scraping as they harden, But they willplay freely from the first use.If you find that the reed tips tend to collapse, you can

apply more pressure on the back end of the canehalves when sanding. This will give the tube a configu-ration that will open the tip more. Just experiment. Itdepends on the cane and the shape. The style of thescrape also affects the tendency of the tip to stay open.

Now the fun part—the mylar!

To apply the wrapping you will need a productcalled MonoKote. It is available in most hobbyshops. MonoKote is normally used to cover modelairplanes. It is made of mylar (which is clear) with acolorful heat activated adhesive on the inner side. Itcomes in many colors ranging from clear colorlessto transparent or opaque colors. even metallic col-ors such as gold and silver or metal flake are avail-able. It comes on rolls that are about two yards longby 30" wide. One roll will last you several careers,but you will probably need at least one other roll ofanother color so you can make spectacular designs.If you know anyone who makes radio control modelairplanes, ask him to save his MonoKote scraps foryou.

Mylar shrinks when heated, but just enough totake out the wrinkles. It does not tighten enough todistort the cane, and it is not elastic when cooled.

The heat activated adhesive sticks well to softwoods such as balsa, but to get good adhesion tocane bark you should do the following: Lightlyscrape, file, or sand the bark from the butt to the“middle” wire. Then apply a tiny dab of Ducocement to the roughened cane and smear itaround. In fact, smear most of it off.Now cut a small strip of MonoKote about 1/2" wide by

6" long (approximately).You will need an iron (hot) to apply the material to

the reed. You can leave the iron in its standing posi-tion leaving both your hands free. Tack one end of theMonokote to the cane at the middle wire with the iron.Then wind the material snugly along and beyond theend of the tube. You can use a mandrel to help holdthe reed, but push it in very loosely so it does not forcethe tube halves open. Now iron the Monokote ontothe reed and while it is still hot, press the materialfirmly onto the reed with your fingers.Cut the mylar off flush with the end of the tube with

a sharp X-Acto knife.Now you might want to add a trim piece. Cut a

thin strip of another color and apply it anyway youwant. These pictures show additional trim strips of

white being applied over the candy-apple red tocreate a Barber of Seville reed.You may have noticed I have not included any pic-

tures of aclothes ironbeing used.That is becauseI no longer do itthat way.Instead I use a

IDRS JOURNAL 77

MonoKote heat gunand a small Top FliteTrim Seal Tool. Bothare available at thesame hobby shops

that sell MonoKote. An ordinary hair dryer will notdo—it’s not anywhere near hot enough.

If you can’t stand the idea of not having a ball ofstring at the end of your reeds (John Miller saysthe ball gives the reed a good handle), you canapply string and glue and paint the tube, but with-out the third wire, and still have a good result.Make sure not to use any aliphatic resin glues suchas white furniture glue or Elmer’s Glue. These arewater soluble before they dry and will wick into thestring onto the cane and glue the whole thingtogether so firmly that it kills the vibrations of thereed. Trust me on this—I’ve done it! In fact, that’swhat gave me the idea to move towards a non-con-stricting binding. A coat of Duco cement on thestring is fine.

Sometimes only paint will do the trick as in thiscamouflaged reed for combat gigs (above).

There are lots of possibilities for creative expres-sion. These mylar bound reeds are covered withchrome colored MonoKote followed by some words

printed on paper, then cov-ered with clear redMonoKote. You can put yourname on there or an emer-gency message such as,“Help! I’m a prisoner in abassoon reed factory”. Inever have two reeds thatlook the same. It would behard to remember which iswhich, especially when youhave “too many reeds” asLoren Glickman onceobserved when he saw mydesk!

Reaming is always required due to the distortionof the lumen of the tube caused by the sanding.This is easily accomplished with the standardreamers available.

I use the Rieger and the Popkin reamers, shownabove. This step is done while the reed is still dry.

At this point the construction of the reed is com-plete but I will share a few of my thoughts on thefinal trim.

Clip the reed at 27 mm. from the shoulder ledge. Whenever I leave the blades longer than that thereis instability of this C# and single finger E.I use the Popkin reed clipper. It is very easy to use

on new, unopened reeds.Once a reed has been opened and needs further

clipping, though, there is a tendency for this tool togive unequal lengths to the two blades because thetop and bottom blades can distort unequally just

as they are clipped. To get around this on alreadyopened reeds I use the Popkin clipper to locate theoutside edges of the proposed cut. This is possiblebecause there is a straight and true indentation inthe plastic anvil area of the tool. Mark the edgeswith a pencil, and cut it with an end nipper, scis-sors, or razor blade/cutting block. I find it difficultto get a true straight across cut by simply eye-balling it.

Several years ago I bought a few reeds from LouSkinner. They were great. But the first one I tried hadan unstable C# in spite of the 27 mm. blade length. Icalled his home in Jonesport, Maine. He said to cutoff another mm. It was perfect after that.

Speaking of Lou Skinner, he used to sell two handy

MonoKote heat gun


tools that I use frequently. These are probably nolonger available but are easy to make for yourself.The upper item is a section of a rat tail file. The tip is0.173" in diameter and at the handle the diameter is0.223" (1.125" from the tip). There is a mark inscribed5/8" fromthe tip. Thisfile is usedto do a finalreaming ofthe tube when it is wet. It is used only the for the por-tion of the tube that will be around the crook.Sometimes a reed will leak around the crook area if

it has not been used in a while. This file/reamer cor-rects that problem with the slightest counterclock-wise turn.

The other item is a thin mandrel for increasing thearch of the reed at the first wire—from the inside. Itcan be made from a nail. The shaft is 0.14" in diame-ter. It is 2" in length. I find it very useful.Another handy item, but at the “high end”, is the tip

profiler from Rieger in Gaggenau, Germany, a towndevoted to the manufacture of Mercedes Benz carsand trucks.

Once a reed has been clipped, it can be placed onthis gadget and you can do a final scrape of the 1.4cm of the tip area. Theoretically, this profiler hasbeen customized to match some reeds you haveliked and sent to Rieger.

It is ironic that we use such a precise tool (thedial indicator is another) for working with cane, aperverse organic agricultural material—a “veggie”as Mark Popkin likes to point out. But at least the

tip profiler will make the tips of both blades thesame thickness and general contour, and you caneasily tell which half of the reed is thicker.

One common cause for unequal thickness of thetwo blades is failure to fold the cane exactly in halfin the early steps.

The gadget can also be used to check the square-ness of the tip (assuming that squareness is desir-able). The transverse line on the anvil can be usedto mark the cane for correcting the cut with arazor, scissors, or rose shears. Again, the tip pro-filer is a luxury item!

Monokote costs about $13.00 per roll. The materi-al is packaged on a layer of clear plastic and rolledonto a cardboard tube. Do not confuse this clearplastic with the actual mylar.

If you want to pursue this technique, the other

costs are those of the heat gun and the trim tool(tacking iron). They each cost about $25.00.

For a reed making method to be good, one must begood at it. My own learning time was slowed by myinitial reluctance to sand the tube halves enough toprovide a good mechanical seal. If you sand thetubes against the sanding block adequately, yourlearning curve will be short, because the method isessentially fool proof. It’s simple woodworking—thetwo tube halves must be sanded so the sides aretrue, smooth, and flat. I was afraid, at first, to sand onto the blade portion

of the reed. I had this erroneous concept that theblades hit each other when they vibrate, and thatsanding them to prevent air leakage would spoil thesound. Not true! What spoils the sound is having touse excess ligature pressure from the wires—assuming you have good cane, as well as goodgouge, shape, and profile.

I almost never tighten the two wires after a reed isfinished. In the dry weather they just take more timeto soak and swell to form a seal.

Finally, I would like to take advantage of the privi-lege of the floor by relating a few short anecdotesabout Lou Skinner that I remember from theMiller/Skinner Bassoon Symposia during the yearsMr. Skinner was alive and teaching reed making atthat inspiring yearly event.

Three scenes come to mind: In one, Lou would look up at the class in the mid-

dle of a session and say, “You don’t have to be crazyto do this, but it helps.” Now I know he did notinvent that comment, but it was especially amusingwhen told by a kind old bespectacled man sitting inthe middle of a pile of cane scraps, tools, hot plates,strings, wires, and papers.Many times he started class a few minutes late and

would say, “I’m sorry I’m late, but it’s such a niceday I thought I’d walk.” This was especially effectivewhen the weather was ghastly.

Once, during the time of the Contra rebellion inNicaragua, he started class by saying, “I have animportant political statement to make — I am for thecontras!” (Lou played contra.)

But I digress...

My phone number is listed below. If you havequestions about this process, I can be reached mostevenings (Eastern Time) at:

(410) 647-8677. My e-mail address is [email protected]

My snail mail address is: 3 Cedar Point Road

Severna Park, MD 21146

onestly, now, how many reed blades havesplit on you during forming of the tube,despite the most adroit use of your skilland tools? More than you care to admit?

Would it make you happy if you could formyour reeds with relative nonchalance andimpunity, and, a nearly 99 and 44/100s percentchance of success, reed after reed after reed?And, achieving this without any particular diffi-culty, special gadgets, twine (wet or dry), steam,and without the use of a forming mandrel (cold orhot)? Does that sound like day-dreaming or wish-ful thinking? It isn’t and it is within easy grasp ifyou use my method and follow my instructions.Read on!

The method is simplicity itself, requires noparticular re-learning or other digression fromthe classical formation of the tube other thanthe use of an extra piece of wire, but it doeswork, and with an uncanny rate of success atthat. The method is as follows: After havingadequately soaked the folded, shaped andscored cane blank usually, I put the profiledblanks I want to shape and form in water when Igo to bed and fold, shape, score ((four scores,centered and two millimeters apart, thus avoid-ing the longitudinal center line of the reed tobe)) and form in the morning) I place two wires(0.6mm or 24 gauge) one ahead of and onebehind the first wire mark and wind them inopposite directions. These I pull up as tight aspossible without making the cane buckle andkeeping the blades aligned. Squeeze the fourresulting rings or strands together so they formpractically a band approximately 2-1/2mm wide,then drive a short mandrel into the end of thereed blank and carefully push it in until it iswithin four to five millimeters of the registrationmark. Check your work. All should be well. Now,give the tube portion a preliminary squeezing tocompletely open the scores with the reed pliers(oval hole preferred) or a pair of smooth-jawedpliers. This squeezing operation will also par-tially form the throat of the reed. Now comes themagic moment! Drive the mandrel all the way into the registration mark. If all went as is shouldhave you may now push the mandrel in up toone millimeter beyond the registration markwhich will help to compensate for the eventualshrinkage during drying. Then I follow withwires two and three (0.7mm or 22 gauge).

Tighten all four wires, squeeze the tube portion(behind the double wire) so that the cane prop-erly assumes the configuration of the mandreland voilá, a beautifully formed reed blank withan excellent transition from round to an ellipseand a longitudinal arch to the tip of the bladesand, no splits beyond the first wire and seldomchecks worthy of mention. With reasonable carethe blades practically align themselves duringtightening of the double wires. Should therenonetheless be any slight discrepancy, it can beeliminated at this point either with the thumband forefinger shifting the blades laterally intoposition or better, using a pair of smooth-jawedpliers. Additionally, the ellipse at the heel of theblades can also be regulated at this time so thatthe arch ahead of the first wire meets individualpreference. Finally, adjust the tip of the blank sothe blades form a straight line (a spring typeclothespin is handy for this, if necessary) andset aside to dry for at least 48 hours. You may ormay not want to chamfer the end of the tube atthis time.

Prior to developing this technique I used toemploy the forming mandrel, more frequentlythan not, with destructive results. I have experi-mented with the forming mandrel on severaloccasions since then and despite the double wireI ended up with destructive splits ahead of thefirst wire and into the blades. In considering thisphenomenon I came to the conclusion that thelong mandrel exerts excess pressure from theinside out thus causing the blades to split. Thetwine method, wet or dry, is also not the answerbecause it does not apply the pressure neededwith the necessary force at the point required. Ofthe last 600 reeds I made ten split during the tubeforming operation. That comes to approximately0.015 percent. You be the judge.

Oh yes, the two wires. When I get ready towrap the reed I discard them and substitute a sin-gle 0.7mm wire in the ordinary manner.

Afterthoughts and further considerations:1) You do not have to soak the cane all night.

A profiled blank will be completely saturatedwithin two hours. The reason I do it this way isbecause I am an early riser and this fits best intomy pattern of living.

2) Four scores rather than “many” will resultin a stronger tube and also provides for a bettertransition from the round portion of the tube that

IDRS JOURNAL 79

A Nearly Foolproof Method of Forming Bassoon Reeds

By Nicola A. AdamoHeidelberg, Germany

H

A NEARLY FOOLPROOF METHOD OF FORMING BASSOON REEDS80

fits over the bocal to the throat and on to the tipsof the blades.

3) If you do not have a pair of reed pliers withan oval hole you would do well to acquire a pairof smooth-jawed pliers. They are excellent forshifting the blades of the reed as well as protect-ing the bark from destruction through chewingup during squeezing of the cane on the mandrelduring forming of the tube and throat. They arealso useful in shifting the blades even after thereed is finished. But, use the plaque fully insert-ed when doing this. And, proceed carefully.

4) My reeds measure 58mm: tube=30mm;blades=28mm.

5) Wire placement: first wire=25mm; secondwire=16mm; third wire=6mm.

6) The reason for letting the formed reed dryat least 48 hours is to insure that the relativehumidity drops down to ambient values (aprox.15%).

7) NEVER wrap a reed that has not fully dried.It will not come off the mandrel. In this connec-

tion, save yourself a lot of trouble and avoid thepossibility of destroying a reed after havinginvested so much labor by buying yourself agood wrapping mandrel with an ejector. I assureyou that after using it for the very first time you’llwonder how you ever got along without it.

In conclusion I hope the foregoing will be ofassistance to fellow reed makers, reduce thenumber of failures and ban the distress associat-ed therewith and, bring back a ray of sunshineinto reed making. ❖

About the Author …Nicola Adamo is a graduate of the Cleveland

Institute of Music where he studied bassoon withGeorge Goslee. After a distinguished career as amusician and conductor in the US Army from 1947to 1971, where he rose to the rank of Major, henow resides in Heidelberg, Germany.

he art of playing wind instruments has agreat and long tradition in Prague. I havealready written about the “bassoon class”in the Double Reed, Vol. 18.3, Winter 95,

page 46. I will now briefly introduce the history ofthe oboe class of the Prague Conservatoire.

The Prague Conservatoire was founded in thebeginning of the second decade of the last centu-ry, when initiative from the old Czeck aristocraticcircles couldn’t afford to maintain numerousorchestras. First, an “Association for Promotingthe Music in Bohemia” was established whichmediated the foundation of the Conservatoire,cared for its cultural mission, and secured eco-nomic conditions for the Conservatoire’s exis-tence until its nationalization in 1919.

Since then the Conservatoire has fulfilled itsmission more than well. For example, the pupils’orchestra was admired by Berlioz, Wagner andLiszt, the latter having played some of his workswith them.

Graduates of the Prague Conservatoire, for exam-ple include: Josef Slavik, Otakar Éevcík, Ondrîcek, JanKubelîk and Kocian, from among composers AntonínDvorák, V. Novák and Josef Suk, and conductorsVáclav Talich and Rapael Kubelik.

The following professors of oboe worked atPrague Conservatoire:

Ludvík Fischer (1811 - 1819)Bedrick Bauer (1820 - 1824)Josef Zomb (1825 - 1832)Bedrick Bauer (1832 - 1870)Arnost König (1870 - 1913)Ladislav Skuhrovsky (1913 - 1940)Josef Deda (1940 - 1945)Dr. Václav Smetácek (1945 - 1956; he was the

chief conductor of the Prague orchestra FOK andworld famous conductor)

Adolf Kubát (1948 - died on the 3rd ofNovember 1980, at the age of 81)

The Prague Conservatoire was honored in1842 at the inauguration of Mozart’s statue inSalzburg. Artists and pupils of the PragueConservatoire were invited to play at this event,among them oboist Jan Vozka, clarinetist AntonínMauerman, bassoonists Alois Kössel andAntoním Straka and bombardon-player VáclavJakeé. Their performance met with a high appre-ciation.

Although the wind section at that time wasmainly oriented to the education of orchestraartists, a great attention was paid also to thechamber music. For example, the pupils of thewind section played as soloists in festival con-certs at the occasion of the 50th anniversary ofthe Conservatoire’s foundation, among themwas the bassoonist V. Neukirchner who laterbecame famous as an outstanding soloistthroughout Europe.

In the beginning, manuals of the ParisConservatoire were utilized for teaching at thePrague Conservatoire, but the professors werenot satisfied with them. They began to look fortheir own new ways. For this they composedétudes and other study materials, mainly forlower classes, some of which are being used atthe present time such as L. Milde studies for bas-soon.

The following are some outstanding gradu-ates of the Prague Consevatoire who excellentlyworked abroad:

- Frantisek Kouba (a famous oboist in Russia,solo-oboist in the Czar Orchestra and professorof the Petersburg Conservatoire)

- Antonín Jand’ourek (solo-oboist inHelsingfors, in the Prague National Theatre andin the Court Opera in Vienna who gained a worldreputation)

- Karel ÉimuÚnek (solo-oboist in Odessa andHelsingfors)

- Karel Sika (solo-oboist of the NationalTheatre and the German Theatre in Prague, fur-ther in Lwów, Warsaw and Petersburg)

- Oto Siegl (solo-oboist in the Czar Opera inPetersburg)

- Jan Cink (solo-oboist in Warsaw and Vienna)- Matyás Hájek (solo-oboist and professor in

Würzburg)- Vilém Schubert (solo-oboist of the Czar

Opera and professor of the PetersburgConservatoire, founder of the “Schubert’sFoundation for Woodwind Instruments”)

- Vilém Kopta (solo-oboist in Odessa and ofthe Czech Philharmonic Orchestra)

Standards of the wind section of the PragueConservatoire have continuously increasedsince the middle of the last century, especiallyunder the guidance of Arnost König (oboe pro-

IDRS JOURNAL 81

The History of the Oboe Class at the Prague Conservatoire

By Miloslav MasierPrague, Czech Republic

T

THE HISTORY OF THE OBOE CLASS AT THE PRAGUE CONSERVATOIRE82

fessor in 1870 - 1913) whose artistic personalityinfluenced the whole section. After ProfessorKönig retired, the artistic growth of the wind sec-tion was influenced mainly by the flute professorRudolf Cerny and the bassoon professor JosefFüger, the last outstanding pupil of the professorLudvík Milde. He later became mayor and hon-orary member of the “Union of CzechMusicians.”

Until recently I myself was the “ExecutiveSecretary”, for concert artistic activities of the“Union of Czech Composers and ConcertArtists”, being also a bassoonist. (Ronald Klimkomentioned it in the Vol. 17, No. 1 - Spring 1994,pp. 33-36.) I was in very good personal contactswith the Professor Füger whose pupils were K.Bidlo and K. Pivonka. K. Bidlo was myConservatoire Professor of the chamber musicand K. Pivonka my Professor of bassoon and theAcademy of Arts in Prague where later I taughtthe bassoon and chamber music.

In the Prague Conservatoire, one played for along time in the so-called, “German way.” Onlyafter the Professor Ladislav Skuhrovsky (oboist)and the Professor Artur Holas (clarinetist) start-ed to teach, a change of tone creation occurred.French oboe and clarinet style,” technically bet-

ter equipped and suitable for their efforts to cre-ate the Czech way of the tone creation, wereintroduced in the Prague Conservatoire in 1922-23.

The introduction of these new instrumentsystems also affected the development of theCzech production of musical instruments. Czechfactories, producers and master-instrumental-ists started to produced new instrumentsaccording to French types (except for the bas-soons). They were frequently technicallyimproved by their own innovations as was, forexample the oboe in the Prague master Knopf’sworkshop.

As I have already mentioned in the article onthe history of the bassoon class of the PragueConservatoire, the Prague Conservatoire is mod-eled after some Italian institutions of this kindand after the Paris Conservatoire. As such it isthe oldest school of this kind in Central Europe.

That’s why I request that all colleagues, espe-cially the men and women from other countries,write down the history of “our instruments”, theoboe and bassoon. I am convinced that the his-tory of teaching our instruments which has notbeen written yet, should be recorded. And whereelse? - in “our magazine.” ❖

IDRS JOURNAL 83

From the Past:Reprints of Double Reed Articles from

do likewise. This of course is down acenter line.

Magazine

I have noticed, in many reeds,that a difference of 5 suffers nospecial defects but invariably this isat the back where slight differencesare not so critical, For example one

blade may read 40, the other 35,both graduating down to 5 at thetip. Half way down the average dif-ference will be 21/2 which is prettyclose.

[Because of the generosity of bassoonist Betty Asher of Scotts Valley,California, we are able to reprint reproduced articles of double reedinterest from the pages of the famous old Woodwind Magazine, manywritten by and about still-famous artists. Ms. . Asher subscribed to themagazine “... I’ve treasured for years ..."” as a high school student. Thefollowing articles are reprinted from the January and September 1949issues, which cost a whopping 15 cents each back then! We hope torun these reprints as a regular feature in future issues of the Journaland the Double Reed. ED]

The Reed ProblemA Treatise on the Manufacture of Bassoon Reeds

Part I - Continued

Don Christliebln our first discussion with John

Conzelman, mechanical engineer ,Ray Nowlin and I were agreed thatif we could think in the terms of,say binding two clarinet reeds backto back and inserting a mandrel wewould have a start. Actually ourcompleted machine was based onthis principle. Avoiding separateblades was the knotty problem,though a key to the solution.

We set about literally dissectingall our reeds to determine, if pos-sible some contours and proportionsthat would serve as a basis for ourfirst experimental template. We wereas surprised as the machinist thatmicrometer readings of blade against

sandths. Most failures showed anover abundance rather than a lackof wood. This fact alone showed theadvantages to be gained by havingthe cane stripped and “lay” workedin by mechanical means before it isfolded and wired, so that all thatneed be done before the reed pro-duces a tone, is to cut the bladesapart. In fact in making them byhand I had a greater success bystripping the maximum bark fromthe cane while it was still on theshaper.

blade and side against side showedagreement within one or two thou- Lets us begin to think in thou-sandths. Such readings concerned sandths. The thickness of a humanthe more successful reeds. In the hair is about three thousandths, sopoor reeds, one that got off to a even one is not imperceptable. Letpoor start, or ones in which in one US assume that if one blade beginsway or another inspired less care, at a thickness of 40 and graduates

Differences approaching ten, how-ever, are very noticeable in the per-formance of a reed and any adjust-ment lessening this difference usuallybrings about an improvement.

Consider now the lateral gradua-tion which diminishes as it ap-proaches the edges, from the center.From 40 it tapers to approximately33. At the “lips” where the centerreads 6 it tapers to 4.

Bear in mind these figures aregeneral. In this lateral taper I be-lieve we make our most frequenterror. Here an error of 4 or 5 thou-sandths difference, one side from theother (same blade) is more critical.It is increasingly so as it occurs to-

ward the “lips” as shown below. It

,---, -- --I, 17 ----------,I I-- \ ,; 22 -t 1 /’

__ _ ---__--0

h_-_ -

is not surprising then, in a reed nearcompletion, that this area near thetip is sensitive to the slightest touchof silicon or 8/0 sandpaper. I be-lieve most bassoonists who make theirown reeds are thoroughly familiarwith these pitfalls, but because handi-craft is not necessarily bad, but in-consistent and because our eyes ad-just themselves to errors. Because wehave not availed ourselves of thebetter precision instruments of meas-ure, what we start out to do andwhat we accomplish are two differ-ent things. Consecmently we have

84 WOODWIND MAGAZINE REPRINTS

I believe errors in “scraping in”are often pre-determined by the setthe cacoon (cane folded and wiredready for scraping and binding)takes as it comes off the mandrel.An unusual set becomes a mentalhazard. If this is true then the causesfor unusual sets are worth examining.Considering our technique fairly con-sistent up to this point, I maintainthat here at the neck or throat of areed, with such operations as slittingthe cane along the tube, nursing thecane around the mandrel with pliersand cinching the wires, neither theoutside radius nor the inside radiusare as reliable as before as referencepoints indicating actual thickness.This forming operation means thatthe pith of the inner surface will besqueezed and compressed togetherand the crust of the outer surfacewill be split and subject to stress,in both cases it will be un-uniform.In fact the very splits or creases inthe tubing by the throat will give theouter crust the illusion of being atruer radius than it is. Finally thereis the out of round tubing caused byhasty and excessive squeezing withthe pliers. Usually one of the halvesof the tubing is of slightly differentdimension or the slits in the tubingare of faulty distribution. Such dis-tortions present us with psychologicalproblems considering that symmetryaids the hand and eye in this work.

Let us catalog a few of the variousshapes that the tubing at the throatcan take because they do determinethe "set" of the “lay” as well as ourtechnique in “scraping in” the “lay”.A silhouette of the “set” can be seenby looking through the back end ofthe tube, but it is much more reliablewhen the blades are clipped off fordirect observation.

Fig. 1 is normal with degree ofradii varying with individual tastefrom eliptical to round.

Fig. 2 is caused by incompleteforming around the mandrel and bythe center slits in the tubing pre-dominating to such an extent thatactual molding around the mandrelis reduced to a minimum.

Fig. 3 is a variation of Fig. 2caused by excessive squeezing of thesides.

Fig. 4 is caused by cinching wireNo. 1 with great tension while twist-ing.

Figs. 5, 6, 7, and 8 are caused byhaving the slits in the tubing otherthan the ones in the center predom-inate, either on one side or both.

My first great error concerns Fig.2. It was assuming that because theoutside radius at the neck seemedsymmetrical and round, the insidewould be symmetrical and roundalso. Actually it was angular.

Though a beginner, I first learnedthat a great danger lay in scrapingtoo thin the angular part of the “lay”as occurs in Fig. 2, then ensued thealmost unconquerable habit of over-compensating leaving this part toothick. Realizing this I began an earlyhope for calipers or something totake measurements at this point.

My next greatest mental hazard iswhat I call the cornicopea model,Fig. 4. The radius on the side of thewire twist is drawn into an angularshape, whereas the other side con-forming to the mandrel remainsround, thus the reed is left with oneside comparatively flat, the othereliptical.

This offers more than a psycho-logical problem alone, in “scrapingin,” because while the flat side mayactually be thicker, it will feel weak-est to the thumb pressure because ofthe greater structural arch in theopposite blade. It is almost impos-sible to avoid a little cinching ofwires while twisting them together,therefore it does help to put a tem-porary wire immediately back ofwire No. 1, twisting it on the oppo-site side as a counter-balancing force.Another safe method which also re-duces the possibility of splits is toinsert the mandrel between the wiredhalves in several easy stages, makingcertain that it is well soaked eachtime.

The best method of forming asymmetrical tube by hand is basedon the old Almanraeder method ofbinding the halves with a cord be-fore wiring. Moisten this cord asoften as needed and insert a heatedmandrel (not red hot). Two man-drels, the first being of a more slen-der taper and the second, regularsize, will be most satisfactory. Un-wind the cord to where wire NO . 1can be applied, then No. 2 and so on.

An almost involuntary habit whichwould follow from avoiding thesepitfalls near the tube is confining therest of “scraping in” operation to thetip or lower one third. Bringing re-sults at first it is usually continueduntil one realizes that the ideal re-sponse is still wanting and the tip is

becoming too thin. After many fail-ures by this method, I noticed thataside from the tip there was in allcases an over abundance of cane re-maining in the rest of the reed.

All of us at one time or anotherhave faced the problem of adjustingthe opening of a reed at the lips. Itis not always solved by pinching thesides of wire No. 1, or the top andbottom of wire No. 2, when the open-ing is too narrow, nor by reversingthis procedure when it is too wide.The method I use now is the onetaught me by Frederick Moritz, firstbassoonist with the Los Angeles Phil-harmonic Orchestra. With a sharpknife begin a beveling operation afterthe cane is shaped and before it isfolded. Begin the bevel at the first

wire and increase the pitch to itsgreatest angle at the second wire,then decrease this bevel until it isout by the third wire. The depth ofthis bevel should be the greatest atwire No. 2, where it coincides withthe rind, somewhere between a 64thand a 32nd of an inch. Four suchbevels provide a natural fulcrum atwire No. 1, and help the openingstay in adjustment.

IDRS JOURNAL 85

L e t t e rfrom

EnglandGwydion Brooke

The Edinburgh Festival attractedmany Americans this year, includingseveral Woodwind enthusiasts. I en-joyed a meal or two with WhitneyTustin (oboist) and learned that hehad been studying at the Conserva-toire and incidentally contacting awide variety of people on his travels,including most of the EuropeanW/W gentry. I discovered that, likemyself, he had begun his career withBasil Cameron-but at Seattle, in-stead of Hastings. Another keenmember of the f ra terni ty , who,hurrying home had yet found timeto deviate up to Edinburgh “es-pecially to hear Leon Goossens” wasone Max Risch, of St. Louis-freshfrom Heckel’s factory with a newbassoon! I hope she’s proving malle-able, Max.

The Festival lasts for three weeks:and of constant interest are thevaried styles of playing to be com-pared in the Swiss, French, Germanand British orchestras. This time Ithink I found the French Orch. duConservatoire the most stimulating.Listening to a rehearsal of this orch.,I looked at some wind men sittingwith me and enquired “What onearth was that? There’s no saxo-phone in this work.” “It was atrumpet” sa id an Oboe Player .“Oh no - surely a bass flute” ven-tured a Trumpet Player. . . .

Solo W/W works were not for-gotten. Leon Goossens played hisbrother Eugene’s extremely effectiveoboe concerto with the Berlin Phil.Orch., conducted by the composer.On. another occasion he could beheard with the Reginald JacquesString Orch. at one of their 11 a.m.concerts, playing the Gordon Jacobconcerto. These morning concertsprovided opportunities to hear othereminent W/W men. Gareth Morris,our 29 year old flute virtuoso, played

a Suite in A maj. for flute andstrings by Scarlatti, arr. by ArthurBenjamin. This work is in five move-ments and has been adapted fromsome piano Sonatas. Perhaps theearliest, and certainly the latest,

clarinet concertos were played byFrederick Thurston; the former byStamitz and the latter by MalcolmArnold. It is not long since Arnoldplayed a really brilliant first trumpetin the London Phil. Orch., but nowhe makes music with rather lessphysical effort. His new concerto isessentially light and attractive,though not without difficulty. Geof-frey Gilbert played the solo flutepart in the Bach Brandenburg Con-

certo No. 5, and, on a later occasion(with the co-operation of flautistRobert Raynes) in the Bach Bran-denburg Concerto No. 4 and HandelConcerto in B flat.

The Beethoven Septet and Schu-bert Octet together made a completeprogramme, the wind parts in thiscase being in the able hands ofFrederick Thurston, Dennis Brainand Paul Draper. Paul (a son ofCharles Draper, the famous clarinet-tist ) is a very fine player and usesa unique instrument he evolved about20 years ago. He plays at the CoventGarden Opera. More about Paulanon.

If, after an evening, say, at theOpera, one still felt impelled to in-vestigate the improbabilities of reedand pipe, one could repair to theRoyal High School at 11.30 p.m. andlisten to a quartet of experts into thesmall hours! This was no jam session,but music written by a contemporaryScotsman (Cedric Thorpe Davie) fora production of The Gentle Shep-herd-a “Pastoral Comedy” writtenby one Allan Ramsay in 1725. Theplayers were Gerald Jackson (Fl),Terence McDonagh (Ob.) , JackBrymer (Cl) and Edward Wilson(Bsn) -all fresh from the aforemen-tioned Opera!

British Woodwind Personalities.No. 1. Terence McDonagh. B.E.M.

Acknowledged as a pre-eminent

Just Released“CONCERTCHAMPETRE”

bYHENRI TOMASI

The first recorded performance of the work by thecontemporary French composer and conductor.

This work performed on GALLERY Record No. 5002 by:

HARRY SHULMAN - oboeDAVID WEBER - clarinetLEONARD SHARROW - bassoon

On unbreakable 12” record, only $1.58 through your ownrecord dealer, or direct from

MUSART DISTRIBUTORS7 West 46th Street New York, N. Y.


artist, commanding a satin oboe tone,Terry was born 41 years ago, andfrom 14 to 16 studied in Paris -with Itubi! However, he was at thesame time also studying the oboewith none other than Mystil Morel(always mentioned with respect),whose Loree oboe and cor anglaishe considers himself very fortunateto have acquired. Terry prefers theLoree, in spite of one or two draw-backs, such as a flat low D.

He was educated at a Jesuit Col-lege in Bruges and also studied atthe Brussels Conservatoire. Initially,no doubt he gathered a thing or twoabout the oboe from his Father, thelate James McDonagh, the outstand-ing cor anglais exponent of his dayand indeed the man who set thepresent British standard in coranglais tone.

After attending the Roy. Academyof Music he spent a year successivelywith Basil Cameron at Harrogate(1927); with Barbirolli and theBritish National Opera Co.; andwith Albert Coates and the ScottishOrch. In ‘30 he joined the B.B.C.Sym. Orch. as principal cor anglais(when Terry plays the cor you reallyhear something. He says he actuallyprefers it), changing to principaloboe in ‘36. He joined the part timeArmy before the war, and whenChamberlain told Adolf he didn’twant to play any more, Terry spenta year or two as a despatch rider, atwhich intoxicating amusement hemanaged to fracture five ribs. How-ever, when the Luftwaffe began pay-ing visits to London he joined theFire Service in time to rescue (adeux with another musician) twodamsels in dire distress and, I be-lieve, rather attractive undress. Therewere evidently no strings to theservice rendered as Terry, thoughcarrying no mean profile, is still afree man. It was for this sticky featthat he was awarded the British Em-pire Medal.

After the war he rejoined theB.B.C., but left to join Sir ThomasBeecham’s Royal Phil. Orch. in ‘47.He is Professor of the oboe at theRoy. College of Music; has broad-cast much chamber music (the firstbroadcast of the Villa-Lobos WindTrio was a notable affair! ) ; and isjust as likely to be found in one Lon-don orchestra as another.

Gordon Jacob has written him a“Rhapsody” for Cor Anglais andStrings, which he has performed sev-eral times. Other works he has per-formed include a Vivaldi Concerto(1st performance); a Dittersdorf

Concerto (1st perf.); the MarcelloConcerto; the Bliss Oboe Quintet;

great appreciation of the Continent,

Moran Oboe Quartet; V. Williamsand Terry is a keen traveller. He

Concerto, etc.usually owns a fast car but they are

His early training has instilled aalways of the open variety. His weak-ness is cats.

Across the NationWoodwind News

THE picture of the Trio D’Anches in the right hand column is closelyrelated to three woodwind soloists who have taken the bold step and

initiated a group dedicated to a task similar to that of the three Frenchmusicians. Unnamed for the present, the woodwind trio under discussionis made up of three well-known men about town who take a serious viewof the state of woodwind chamber music on this side of the tracks. ‘DaveWeber, clarinetist par excellence, Leonard Sharrow, 1st Bassoon with theN.B.C., and Harry Shulman, solo oboist at A.B.C. Beside recording theTomasi Concert Champetre, the trio plans to concertize extensively through-out the United States with a view towards stimulating further activity inthe chamber woodwind field. All this within the frame of an enormouslyfull schedule, for each man, besides their orchestral affiliations, plays numer-ous concert engagements during the season. They represent a phenomenonthat WOODWIND MAGAZINE has often called attention to . . . there-exploration and new experimentation within the realm of woodwindgroup possibilities. Together with numerous college groups, and such organi-zations as Wendell Hoss’ various woodwind groups on the west coast, theWeber-Sharrow-Shulman Trio deserve close attention. W.M. will act as thewoodwind conscience in this matter and reviews of recitals and recordingscan be expected during the next season.

Above, the successful and pioneering Trio d’Anches made up of (from leftto right) Andre Gabry, bassoon; Andre DuPont, clarinet; and Paul Paillefer,

oboe, All are members of the French National Orchestra.

Letter from EnglandGwydinn Brooke

The American who forsook a weekly £20 in order to live in England (sub-sequently claiming that, at £7 per week, he was far better off over here)undoubtedly gave the British press good cause for a smug crack or two. Hewas no musician.

Bothered not with reed or rosin, he maintained an excellent digestion anda British wife (the cause of the unbalance) with the aid of a pick andshovel--in some Northern Shire where men are men and the Government

IDRS JOURNAL 87

is glad of it. Not that he is an isolated example. Citizens everywhere, detect-ing a narrowing of the post-war groove, have decided to take a look over thefence. Really first rate musicians have arrived from Australia or Canada,seeking approbation (or more solid benefits), in far greater numbers thanour boys have moved outwards. Our music colleges nurture all races andcreeds, and I see that the latest pianistic debut is a dusky maiden fromCeylon.

However, the American W/W man who has been making enquiries as tothe possibilities for himself and family over here (!) must not assume thatthe players’ market is as it was in 1945. Indeed no.

My Friends, the outlook today is Different!

Even transport is a problem. Many W/W types are to be seen gettingaround on various types of miniature motor-cycle (the type-propelled bythose E flat, 5/8 motors-capable of covering, on one gallon, about four timesas many miles as they can put behind them in an hour. And they can dotheir 45).1 have just watched Bob Burns, confederate from Canada, liftinghis bass clarinets and so forth, from a sidecar attached to one of these things-itself no bigger than a fiddle case! (Burns is studying with bass clarinetmaestrissimo Walter Lear.)

What do I use? Prewar I made the most of 30 horses, as dispensed byFord; but now I stagger along behind 71/2-yellow in the teeth at that. Ihave had about four new cars on order for about three years, but I am afraidyou blokes take first choice. The present arrangement, however, saves meshowers of shekels . . .

Talking of cars brings me to a recent trip to Derby, the seat of the RollsRoyce. (Even the train was 90% 1st Class . . .) This visit was for the pur-pose of rendering the Strauss Duo for Clarinet and Bassoon and StringOrchestra, in co-operation with 22 year-old Colin Davis. It would be easyto dismiss this work as rubbish, until one reflects that it was, after all, writtenby Strauss, and obviously put together with the facility of a master. For thedevotee of Heldenleben, though, there is too much facility and no contentat all. My colleague seemed to enjoy himself, and contended with the non-stop clarinet debut as though concealing something rather cunning in bellows.A far more stimulating and effective (and difficult!) work for these twoinstruments is the earlier Double Concerto by Joseph Holbrooke. It has beenplayed twice over here-once by Kell and Camden, and once by Kell andAlexandra.

BRlTlSH W/W PERSONALlTlES: No, 2. CECIL JAMES

The name of James is legendary in British bassoon annals, and the famousbrothers, Wilfred and spade-bearded Fred, held righteous sway in their day.Unfortunately there is now only one member of the cian left to shoulderthe beacon, but this duty is carried out by Cecil, son of Wilfred, in no uncer-tain manner. Playing a Buffet, he is one of the reasons why many studentsof Carl Almanraeder are chiding themselves for having forsaken the EntenteCordiale. Cecil conjures from his basson about twice the phons heard frommany a fagott, and when touring in America with the R.A.F. Band, duringthe war, confounded not a few of the more remote unbelievers.

Now 37, James made his initiatory mark at the Royal College of Music,where for two years he studied conducting with Sir Malcolm Sargent. Alsoworthy of intensive study at the College, the lucky Cecil found attractiveand talented oboiste Natalie Caine-and Cecil is a man of purpose. TodayNatalie copes with the oboe, Cecil, and three daughters. They make one ofthe few husband and wife teams seen regularly around town.

The London Symphony Orch. soon snaffled him and Cecil spent nine yearswith this body, the latter part in the first chair. Nowadays allegiance is owedto the New London Orch., London’s best small orch., with whom he recently

gave the first British performance of the Michel Spisak Concerto. (I didnot hear this, though I have heard Cecil play the Mozart. The bassoon partof the Spisak appears to me to be somewhat synthetic, consisting of muchscalework; but I have heard musicians dub it a bright little work).

James can be heard in Harry Blech’s broadcasting ‘London Wind Players’-a truly admirable enterprise, giving excellent performances of the variousSerenades and Nonets and so forth; used to play with the now defunctNational Sym. Orch.; and has played much chamber music over the air. Infact he is to be found almost anywhere, in the best professional style. Hobbiesare photography and cars.

Woodwind IntonationThe Problem As It Exists Today

Theodor Podnos

In discussing the subject of intona-tion, the woodwind instrumentalisthas presented many questions, Someof these concern technicalities ofconstruction; others are directly re-lated to the subject of esthetics.

Of all the perplexities, the onewhich never fails to appear is thatwhich concerns the making of theinstrument. The musician wants toknow why his oboe or clarinet cannotbe built in tune. What he reallymeans to say is, “why can’t my clari-net be constructed in such a manneras to eiiminate the need for humor-ing”.

The every-day woodwind playerhas been so involved in intonationfrom an esthetic standpoint, that hehas overlooked the scientific side ofthe subject. Let us briefly investigatethe matter.

In the opinion of many musicians,the intonation as found embodied inour piano of today, is just about asperfect as we would like to have it.Thinking along these lines, the playershould be reminded that the tuningof keyboard instruments, equal tem-perament, is regarded by physicistsas a compromise tuning.

Many odd measurements have re-sulted because of this equal divisionof the octave. The so called perfectfifths are in reality I/50 of a semi-tone flat, and the fourths are 1/50of a semitone sharp. The interval ofa fifth C-G, for example, is slightlycontracted; whereas the interval ofa fourth, G-C, is slightly enlarged.When combined, these two intervalsresult in an absolute perfect octave.

In overblowing a vibrating tubesuch as a trumpet or a flute, we mayobtain the interval of a fifth on thesecond step of the harmonic series.This note forms an absolute perfectinterval with the fundamental of theinstrument. Its scientific measure-ment i s different than that of thepiano fifth There are many dissim-ilarities existing between the vibrat-ing properties of the piano and thoseof the natural harmonic series. An-other one which may be mentionedin this brief reading, is that of themajor third. This note of the har-monic series will be found flat ascompared to the third of equal tem-


perament. Such differences, althoughinvolving minute measurements, mayhelp us understand why the naturalbasic intonation of our woodwindsprovides a major impediment whenwe attempt to play in the many keysof our present music. The pianosounds well in all keys only becauseof its compromise tuning.

In the attempt to match the tun-ings of equal temperament, instru-ment makers have filled in the gapsbetween the notes of the harmonicseries in a sort of equal manner. Buttheir success has not been complete;these men have been faced with suchproblems as the “1150 of a semi-tone variance”, the parabola, thebarrel, the bore, etc. Woodwind in-tonation is governed by all these fac-tors.

Resigning ourselves to the solutionof intonation perplexities to be en-countered through the use of ourpresent-day instruments, we cannotescape the fact that we must humoron many occasions to make certannotes sound in tune.

Let us isolate one of these notes.It sound very much on the flat side.We have already presented our prob-lem to the repair man, but he hasgiven us no encouragement. He hastold us that alterations could bemade, but as a result, the intonationof other notes would in turn beaffected. Our only solution seems tolie in the remedy of humoring.

Using our faulty instrument atorchestral rehearsals, we find thatthis flat note generally requires analteration on the sharp side to makeit sound in tune. Sometimes we havehad to raise its pitch a little; othertimes we have been compelled tosharpen the note very much. Theobserving musician will also remem-ber many occasions calling for noalteration at all. In these instances,the flat intonation of the note seemedto be in tune.

Although we have beeen aware ofsuch occurrences, we have not at-tempted to find reason for them. Inraising the pitch of the faulty noteinherent. in the instrument, we havesatisfied the necessity of general cor-rection. But in the case of non-alter-ation, what reasons have we provided

other than its being in tune in a par-ticular instance? There are explana-tions for all these characteristics.

Many musicians arc acquaintedwith the practices of playing a (C#higher than a D flat. Let US call thisthe accidental system. In using the

intonation as dictated by this system,woodwind instrumentalists have beenhelped considerably. This system willbe found useless however, in musichaving no accidentaly.

A second tendency found in performance has another classification.The interval s y s t e m advocates al lmajor and augmented intervals asbe ing enlarged in size minor anddiminished intervals have a contrac-tive force. But this system also hasits deficiencies. Using the major thirdC-E for example , should we keep theC fixed and raise the E; or should westabilize= the E and lower the C?Both of these alterations are in ad-herencc wi th the principles of thissystem.

Through use of the accidental andinterval theories, musicians have ap-proachrd intonation problems froma scientific angle. They have realizedthat the ear can be guided by suchprinciples

Many musicians object to the U S C

of anything other than the ear inregulating intonation. It is true thatthe ear will always be the final judge.But this process of using only the car,is of a very tedious nature, and quitefrequently produces embarrassing re-sults. If there are means of helpingour problems, we should cer ta in lytake advantage of them.

Regarding the subject of esthetics,one question often asked concernsintonation standards. Musicians wantto know the definition of good in-tonation.

Our present standards of intona-tion have been directly influenced bythe Pythagorean school of thought.In accord with astronomical obser-vances, Pythagoras preached that“number is everything? We may dis-cover this doctrines by constructinga thirteen string instrument tuned inperfect fifths. If we should tune ourbottom string to C, and then progressupwards till the B# string, we willfind that this highest string is ap-proximately one quarter of a semi-tone sharper than our original Cstring. Thus in Pythagorean intona-t ion , B# in higher than C.I t is be-cause of this differcncc t h a t o u rpiano must be tuned with contractedfifth:.) We may also descenddes fromC, and in turn, will obtain the flattednotes. Both the accidental and inter-val systems are derived from Pytha-gorean measurements.

It is this form of intonation whichall present woodwind instrumental-ists attempt to achieve. The word“attempt” is used in consideration of

the many instances calling for exag-gerated humoring. On these occa-sions, the player may be forced tosacrifice intonation in order to ob-tain a better tone quality.

Of the three major thirds dis-cussed in this article, the one foundin the harmonic series is the lowest;the one of Pythagorean dimension isthe highest and the one of the pianois intermediate Such observances arecontradictory to the oft-mentionedstatement that each note should havea specific pitch-that such a sound,is the only intonation which may becalled in tune.

Experienced musicians find thatit is better to use a large major thirdwhen possible. By carrying out suchpractices, the musicians' intent is touse a sound which does not approachthe border line separating the majorand minor third. In this manner, thedesired tonality may be convincing-ly presented. Acoustical laboratoryreadings of performing artists pointto such practices. These tests haverevealed the. use of the sharp majorthird in preference to the harmonicseries measurement.

It is a point to be decidedwhether or not we should regarddeviations from the norm as intona-tion differences or as microtonal dif-ferences. In actual performance, thewoodwind instrumentalist uses ap-proximately twenty-five or thirtydifferent notes within a single octave,depending upon the key, pitch fac-tors, weather conditions, the faulti-ness of the instrument and othertechnica l i t ies . The use of twelvesemitones to the octave is a char-

acteristic found only in the com-promise tuning of the’ piano. Wood-wind intonation is not this simple.

Those who have not as yet ac-quainted themselves with the acci-dental and interval theories, shouldby all means do so. Through theunderstanding of these systems, themusician will have made the firststeps toward better intonation.

IDRS JOURNAL 89

The Horrors of BassoningCasual Observations While Playing

Sol Schoenbach

From Woodwind Magazine Vol. 2, No. 6, Feb. 1950, p. 5)

Contrary to the general impres-sion, musicians do think while play-ing. Unfortunately, m o s t o f t h egentle thoughts are of the nastyvariety, some of which are unprint-able for obvious reasons. The othertantalizing gems center about theconduct, or better still, misconductof reeds. With specific reference tomy reeds, a million words more orless might cover the general rangeof cortical activity. The little wheelsthat spin around during the 8:30to 11: 00 period (if we are playingat night) merely work out problemsthat have been dealt with time andtime again wherever and wheneverbassoon players meet, without tangi-ble results.

We will begin by assuming (asI had to when writing this) thatwe are contentedly squatting duringa performance in the Academy ofMusic. The wheels are spinning, thelights are flickering on and off, andwe are running through the per-fo rmance o f t he Cesar Franck DMinor that broke the camel’s back.We are thinking, unfortunately, ofbassoon reeds.

Over a period of years, I havecome to regard the reed as one ofthose elusive subjects (such as truth,or justice), which are hard to de-fine and still harder to achieve. Myfirst experience with reeds was oneof faith in the maker. For example,Knochenhauer or Mechler certainlyknew more about the subject, andtherefore a reed manufactured bythem must be good. I am the one

who failed if the reed sounds lousyand I must get back to practicingMilde or some other student bible.This illusion was destroyed whenI vis i ted Germany in 1932 andfound that Knochenhauer had noless than five employees who assem-bled reeds in Willow Run fashionwhile Mechler opened the kitchendrawer and shaped a reed with hiswife’s potato knife. Surely DonChristlieb has gone into it morescientifically than that, with betterresults. But that deep seated feelingthat those l ineal descendants ofA l m e n r a e d e r k n e w t h e d a r k e s tsecrets still creeps into one’s mind.

Having lost faith, I now turnedto the reed itself, and upon closeobservation under strong lights, de-tected the causes of the trouble.Light poured through the back with-out refraction and I had a point.Two days later I found a similarsituation in optics but one of thenicest reeds that ever graced the endof a Heckel crook . . . . . . . well,then it must be the cane.

Cane brings up the vision ofFrench farmers who have returnedto the Frejus area with diplomasfrom the Paris Conservatory. Theycut and bundle with a knowledge ofastronomy that anticipates the fullmoon after which they select thebest pieces for relatives at homeand abroad. Surely, under such con-ditions a good piece of cane couldnot come my way and that is thecause of all my trouble. But a visitto the south of France can prove

that a piece of cane grows like astring bean and the farmer has neverheard a bassoon, let alone a reed.So we wend our weary way back toourselves, where we examine thethroat with more concern than aotolaryngologist, who sees a strepcondition. We look at the shape withmore interest than the casting direc-tor of a new musical and we con-tact the wires with a deeper engi-neering understanding than thestructural experts at work on a newsuspension bridge.

At this point, the non-bassooningreader will exclaim, “Why not throwit away and t ry another?” Andrightly so, but remember the workput in, or the trips to the post office,the language difficulties, the foodpackages and frankly the dollarinvestment. One can hardly throwall that away, and yet perhaps itcan be corrected if only one knew.That brings us back to ourself andthe loss of faith mentioned in thebeginning.

But . . . concerts are played andbassoon players do have some choicebits so there must be some empirical

approach to all this. Many of theexperts can stop here, but for theuninitiated it would be wise to seethat the butt of the reed is air-t igh t and the b lades wi l l ho ldtogether when a vacuum is createdby suction. Students find low notesdifficult to play with a leaking reed,which is just as important as asplit crook, or faulty pads or a leaky“abguss” on the boot. Much more

WOODWIND MAGAZINE REPRINTS

attention should be paid to the back our attention to the front of theor tube of the reed before turningto the vibrating front. Frequently

reed. Now it is possible to have

obvious defects can be correctedvariations in personal taste but itis almost axiomatic that the first

there. eighth of an inch must be extremely

We shall next examine the rela- fine to start the tones. After the

tion of the tube portion of the reed tone is started, disturbances may be

to the crook. They must not only created all along the way by varying

fit your specific crook, but the rate amounts o f wood in unun i fo rm

of taper must be continuous, and arrangements, or too great a tension

not abrupt. Crooks vary as much of the wires on the natural diameter

as reeds and it is difficult to con- of the arch in an effort to achieve

clude t h a t a l l reeds fit internally a resounding opening. This reaction

as well as externally all crooks. to the opening varies according to

It is only after these fundamen-one’s environment, as I have found

tals are observed that we can turnafter a few tours. I now leave mypliers with John Fisnar, our second

bassoonist, and must plead my casebefore he will let me play with them(a happy arrangement and a won-derful partner!).

You may wonder how one couldhave so many thoughts while play-ing. I hasten to assure you that it isnot because I am not concentratingon my part , but rather becausewe play so many concerts. In anycase, I have not covered the prob-lem completely but must leave offnow as I have to fix a reed forTschaikowski’s 4th and 6th, whichwe are playing tonight (God, whereare my pliers?)!

The Vibrato ProblemThe Seashore Study Applied

George Opperman(From Woodwind Magazine, Vol. 2, No. 6, Feb. 1950, p. 6;; andVol.. 2, No. 7, March 1950, p- 6,, 12 and 14)

The vibrato is one of the mostinteresting, and at the same timethe most troublesome of techniqueswhich confront the wind player.Ignorance of this technique can re-tard and even completely frustrateartistic development. Much of theconfusion concerning the mys t i cvibrato results from a general lackof knowledge of what the vibratoactually is and how it is heard.

In my opinion, the greatest stum-bling block in producing a goodsound is most often attributable totechnical weakness, rather than tothe vibrato itself. It must be remen-bered that the vibrato is a musicalornament. It embellishes a givensound and is not a cure-all. It can-not make up for faulty intonation;it cannot make a sound rich whichis lacking in intensity, or one whichis distorted by improper production.

However, the vibrato is an integralpart of our musical system. It can-not be bv-passed. Absolute controlof vibrato is a paramount prerequi-site in the development of artisticplaying. What is required basicallyfor the mastering of the vibrato isthe mastering of breath control ,embouchure control and a l l theother techniques of playing.

Assuming then that the playerhas sufficient control over tone pro-duction, etc., all that is required forthe average player is his own musicaldevelopment which would carry with

it a conception of sound and avibrato to produce that sound. Thisstatement is made because thevibrato has not been systematicallytaught by teachers of wind instru-ments. It has always been up tothe student to grasp that part of theplaying by himself. The fact thatmore and better players are beingdeveloped indicates that the vibratocan be mastered in most instanceswithout special study.

There is an old story about thelate George Barrere which is par-ticularly appropriate. Rudy Valleeasked the master how a vibrato isproduced. Barrere replied that hedidn’t use a vibrato. Yet Barrerewould tell his students to make thetone sing. It is hardly possible thatsuch an effect can be created ona wind instrument without the useof vibrato. In the previous issue ofW O O D W I N D M A G A Z I N E , t h e

French flutists, Marcel Moyse isquoted as saying that fifty yearsago French woodwind musicians didnot sing on their instruments. Vi-brato was a thing not yet revealed.Taffanel, the eminent flutist, andGillet, formerly oboist with the Bos-ton Symphony, led the way. Takinga cue f rom s t r ing players theyrevolutionized the French style ofwoodwind playing. It is an inter-esting fact that Taffanel and Gilletchose to emulate the vibrato ofstrings. Why didn’t they imitate the

voice? I think we can find in thiscase an example of artistic intuitionpreceding scientific corroboration.Time has shown the correctness ofof this school of thought. It is en-tirely logical that string instrumentsshould be the leaders in this devel-opment because mechanical controlof the vibrato is possible to a greaterdegree here than in voice or windinstruments. The question of vibratoin strings is not so much how toproduce a vibrato, but rather whatkind of vibrato is wanted to enhancethe particular musical situation. Weshall compare the vibrato of voiceand string instruments elsewhere inthis article.

We are indebted to the late Dr.Carl E. Seashore and his staff atthe State University of Iowa forthe i r monumenta l work on thevibrato. Years of experimentationwith the cooperation of vocalistsand instrumentalists of artist calibrehave revealed much concrete infor-mation. The following material isindebted to their work, “The Psy-chology of the Vibrato”.

The most revealing informationon the vibrato can be found in thefact of the vibrato illusions. TheSeashore group found that there isquite a difference between the actualvibrato and the way it is heard.Here we may find the real key toan understanding of the vibrato.

IDRS JOURNAL 91

It was further demonstrated thata vibrato is constituted by a pitchvibrato, an intensity vibrato, and aresultant, the timbre vibrato, each ofwhich is separately dealt with. Thepitch vibrato and the intensi tyvibrato are considered with regardto extent and rate. In the p i t chvibrato, the extent represents thedegree to which the frequency of thetone rises and falls. The rate indi-cates how frequently these regularfluctuations take place during onesecond. The intensity vibrato is con-sidered in the same way as the pitchvibrato; the extent in this case repre-sents the amplitude of the vibrato.The timbre vibrato is representedas a periodic pulsation in the har-monic structure of a tone. Each toneis represented to have a character-istic sound due to the strength ofthe overtones. The character of thetone is determined primarily by the3rd, 4th, and 7th overtones.

Due to the regular rise and fallof pitch and intensity of a vibratocycle, the strength of the overtonesconstantly change. The result is ashimmering in the harmonic struc-ture of the tone or a constant changein color.

Little is known about the intensityvibrato. It is more difficult to iso-late. It occurs less frequently, is lessregular and is not so prominent asthe pitch vibrato. It is modified byroom resonance. The pitch vibratooccurs most frequently.

Good singers, investigated by theSeashore group, were shown to singwith an average pitch pulsation of.5 of a tone. For about three-fourthof the singers, the extent rangedbetween .45 and .55 of a tone. Each

singer tends to have a character-istic average with allowance for mu-sical variation from selection toselection and tone to tone. Therewere no differences in vibrato dueto sex, musical mood, pitch level,of loudness of the tone. The pitchvibrato for string instrumentalists ofartist calibre was much narrowerwith an average extent of .24. Thereis no marked difference in thisregard between violin, viola or cello.

The average rate for good singersis about 6.5 cycles per second. Arate slower than 5 cycles per secondmakes the pulsations intolerable. Itwas shown that the average rate forten violinists was 7.0, ranging from6.2 to 7.7 cycles per second.

How is the vibrato heard? Tenlisteners were tested under ideallaboratory conditions to determinehow they heard the pitch extent invibrato. As an average they hearda pitch extent of .25 of a tone as.13; .50 as .17, .75 as .23, and awhole tone as .27. The conclusionsderived from these experiments indi-cated that the larger the extent ofpulsa t ion the greater the under-estimation. There is also the ten-dency to hear all extents alike.

Other experiments applied theover-estimation of small angles fromthe visual to the same principal inhearing. Miles showed that whena good singer is asked to imitate awhole tone interval sounded by tun-ing forks, he gets it about right.The half tone interval under thesame conditions he sharps, sharpen-ing increasingly more and more asone progresses to the one tenth tonepoint. This explains how a pitchextent of a quarter tone, as com-

pared with larger extents, is heardrelatively longer due to the smallangle illusion.

Another explanation of the illu-sion of vibrato deals with the areaof the vibrato cycle. In hearing avibrato, we tend to hear a deviationf ro m t h e mean tone, so that in acomplete vibrato cycle of one halfa tone, we think of the deviationfrom the mean tone as one quarterof a tone above and one quarterof a tone below. This creates anillusion of smaller extent. Also, thehear ing of intermediate pitchesabove and below the mean tonetends to divide the half cycles sothat we hear the larger area towardthe middle or close to the m e a ntone. It is to be noted that theillusion of overestimation of smallincrements and the underestimationof the large, work one against theother.

The Seashore group concludedthat these reductions in the extentof hearing pulsations make thevibrato tolerable. The faster the ratewithin limits and the richer the tone,the greater would be the underesti-mation of the extent. It is pointedout that if we heard all the separatechanges in a complex tone, it wouldbe intolerable. However, a complextone is in constant flux, changingin pitch, intensity and timbre. Thetone quality which results from aseries of such changes is called suc-cessive fusion or sonance. This isdescribed as another illusion ofsound, for if we heard the parts itwould again be intolerable. In thenext article, I shall discuss thevibrato in application.

The Vibrato ProblemThe Seashore Study Applied

Part II

In the last issue, we outlined thephysical characteristics of the vibratoand introduced the radical idea ofillusions in the hearing of vibrato.The aforementioned illusions greatlyfavor the performer. In practisingthe v ib ra to t echn ique , we mus tremember tha t we do not havethe use of the laboratory with ad-vanced recording, photo and radio

equipment, etc. Therefore we mustconsider this study from the pointof view of practise at home.

The v ib ra to mus t become anintegral part of the sound. Whenthis is an accomplished fact, theplayer will feel that he is producinga natural vibrato. He will not beparticularly conscious of the wayin which he produces it, but will

be aware only of the musical situa-tion in which he applies it. Thevibrato is a long term study andis rarely learned quickly. Like allother techniques, it is acquired instages. It is unreasonable to expecta student to produce a perfectlyfused vibrato in the lesson followingits explanation. It is just as unrea-sonable to expect a complete change


of vibrato without an accompanyingchange in musical conception and adevelopment of the other techniquesin producin g sound and playingmusic.

The time to incorporate the useof vibrato in playing is the momentthe instrumental is t can think ofanother factor and still handle themusical material at hand. This doesnot mean that a long and detailedexplanation of the vibrato follows,but rather an attempt is made tohave the instrumentalist produce avibrato . A simple explanation tothe effect that the singing qualityof the sound is due to the vibrato,accompanied by a demonstration ofa sound without a vibrato, and thesam e volum e of sound with avariation of vibrato in extent andrate , will generally be all that isrequired d to start a talented studenton a new track. Sometimes it helpsto have the student whistle or singa vibrato; this being successful, hemight try it on the instrument.

There is as much controversy be-tween players on the subject of pro-

ducing a vibrato as there is disagree-ment on how it is heard. On windinstruments (except on saxophone,where a jaw motion is used), vibratois produced by regularly increasingand decreasing the force (intensity)with which a given sound is beingproduced. This is done by usingalmost the same mechanism whichthe body employs in producingspeech, the obvious difference beingthat in the case of wind instru-ments, we do not use the vocalchords. This is quite s imple todemonstrate. If the student holds onehand on the diaphragm and shouts“Hey” loud and short , the dia-phragm will move in. The softerwe expostulate ,the lighter will bethe action of the diaphragm. Ineach case the diaphragm pushes in.The moment we re lax the d ia -phragm, the body muscles push itback to its normal position. Thisrepresents a pendulum-like action,the diaphragm pushing in, the bodymuscles pushing it back to normal.Its effect on a steady air stream isrepresented by the following dia-gram :

Of course this is not the onlymuscular activity which is employedin the production of the vibrato. Inthe same manner as the diaphragm

the body muscles set up a pendulumeffect, so all along the air streamsimilar minor pendulum effects maybe simultaneously located. However,the most important of these is theaction of the diaphragm and bodymuscles, the strongest and most posi-tive of these pendular actions. De-pending on the resistance to the aircharacteristic of each wind instru-ment , different simple methods toeducate muscular control of thispendulum effect have been devel-oped. Where there is greater windresistance, the heavier muscles mustbe used more than the others. As thisresistance decreases, the l ightermuscles along the air stream may beactivated. Thus on bassoon, Englishhorn and oboe, we find almost pre-dominantly a consistent use of dia-phragm vibrato. This does not meanthe exclusion of the other factors inproducing vibrato, but generally thatin comparison with flute which hasvery little wind resistance, the lighterpendulum actions occur less fre-quently and to a smaller degree.This is so primarily because wherethere is great resistance to the wind,the weaker pendulum actions haveno significant affect on the windcolumn.

In developing vibrato, we areconcerned first with regularity. Thevibrato must be absolutely free fromirregularity due to lack of control.Variation in rate and extent of thevibrato together with variation inintensity of the tone are the meansof developing a “tonal palette”. Theway to develop tone color is to com-bine and exercise these factors. Fora start, let us illustrate a straighttone as contained within the spaceof two lines, as below:

Vibrato in wind instruments iscreated by regular increase and de-crease in the intensity of the windcolumn. Let us represent this “pump-ing up” of a straight tone thus:

From this is abstracted the graphicvibrato symbol :

The method used to pump up atone is to first stimulate the dia-

phragm and other muscles to set upa pendulum action. In the beginning,pronouncing “ha ” over the steadyblowing produces the fluctuation ofpressure necessary. There is thedanger of not maintaining properbody support of the wind when usingthe repeated “ha”, “ha” to stimulatevibrato. The result is a cutting offof the wind and a knocking or beat-ing results :

However r this will soon disappearwith the development of the dia-phragm actio nwhich the “ha” ex-postulation is intended to create.Sometimes, gutteral l noises are pres-ent. This indicates either too weaka diaphragm action and an over-exert ion o f the l i gh te r , uppe rmuscles, or inadequate blowing. TO

develo p regularity , the vibratoshould first be practised in definiterhythmic groups, i.e., groups of two,three, and four pulsations, etc. Sincewe are “pumping up” and releasingthe intensity to create the pulsations,it is of the utmost importance inpractise to start at the lightest inten-sity level possible. This is so becauseit makes it easier to pump up thetone. Also, we are attempting todevelop sensitivity and control overthe body muscles which producethe pendulum action and it is easierto feel the change from a lightermuscular tension to a stronger ten-sion rather than vice-versa. This isextremely important. To illustrate,clench the fist as tightly as possible;then release the pressure as slowlyas possible. It is very difficult to feela gradual reduction in pressure. Nowrelax the hand for a moment andtry it the other way. Close the handvery lightly and clench the fisttighter and tighter. Here we canfeel great sensitivity with the in-crease in pressure, almost as thoughit were gauged.

In the beginning, a student mustbe allowed to make any kind ofvibrato in any register. Most oftenit is easier to produce vibrato inthe upper and middle registers onwind instruments. A routine forpractising g vibrato differs from playerto player and instrument to instru-ment. However, the basic require-ment on all instruments are quite thesame. A routine, for example, ‘mayinclude :

1. For first attempt at vibrato,“pump up” long tones four to eight

IDRS JOURNAL 93

counts in slow definite pulsationsat a low volume of sound in rhyth-mic groups of 2, 3, and 4.

2. After one week, the same exer-cise can be made a little bit moreinteresting and advanced by playinga two octave scale with two pulsa-tions per note up and down. Thisstudy is a long t ime repair thetempo should increase gradually twopulsations per note. This works verywell with students. It seems that isless fatiguing to play and easier forthe average student to grasp thanmore pulsations in the group.

3. When the student has becomeproficient in making the two octavescales in vibrato, it is time to beginwork with variations in rate andextent. These should be coupled with

variation in the intensity of thetone.

Exercise 1. Student should p l aywith light intensity (blowing lightly)a v ibra to in smal l extent , i .e . ,“pumping up” lightly.

Exercise 2. Same as exercise 1,with wider extents but retaining lightintensity of tone . Grea ter forceshould be used on “pumping up”,releasing each pulsation to the orig-inal low intensity of the sound.

Exercise 3. Combine exercises oneand two with increasing intensity.

Exercise 4. Play exercises one, two,and three with faster and slowerrates, i.e., pulsations per second.

Exercise 5. Play crescendo-decre-scendo from a straight low intensity,

adding a vibrato which is madewider in extent with the increase ofintensity. Then play in reverse withwide extent at the high point, grad-ually reducing with the decrescendo.

It may be helpful where a vibratois too fast to slow it down by em-phasizing the activity of the heaviermuscles. Practise with greater inten-sity, wider extent, and slower rate.If the vibrato is too slow, practise

with light intensity, narrow extentand increase the rate.

Sensibly applied these exercisesform a good routine to developvibrato. It is not possible to developa finished technique quickly, butcareful application should bringgradual reward and ultimately acomfortable control.

94 FROM THE PAST: REPRINTS OF DOUBLE REED ARTICLES FROM WOODWIND MAGAZINE

The Truth About VibratoA Musicologist Views Its Development

By Josef Marx

[This article by oboist and musicologist JosefMarx first appeared in the November, 1951Woodwind Magazine. We are pleased to reprint ithere. ED.]

n contemporary voice, violin, cello, or pianoteaching every phase of sound production,every single physical movement is codifiedand standardized according to the precepts of

certain, successful, masters. Various schoolsmonopolize the practice of each instrumentaccording to time and place — but right or wrong,there is never any doubt about what is desired onthe instruments and what is to be done to obtainthis. In contrast, the teaching of woodwind instru-ments thrives in chaos. There are no pedagogueswho have established a ritual, no Leschetitzky,Matthay, Auer, or Sevcik. How unclear the funda-mental issues of wind instrument playing reallyare is best indicated by the generally acceptedinstrument methods, most of them of Parisian ori-gin, which skirt more or less gracefully everybasic point which calls for elucidation. If we hadto reconstruct 19th and 20th century wind playingby means of these instruction books alone wewould be left unaware of the fact that oboe, clar-inet, and bassoon use a reed, that all wind instru-ments are activated by human breath, and that amore than ordinary dexterity of the fingers iscalled for.

Supposing that a hundred years from nowsomeone will ask the question: Did they play windinstruments with vibrato in the 20th century? Theresearch necessary to answer that questionwould be stupendous. Supposing the same ques-tion were asked today! Would a uniform and allconclusive answer present itself?

If we go to the instrument methods with thisquestion, we again draw a blank. According to thebooks the word vibrato does not exist. If we availourselves of the contemporary advantage of beingable to observe the 20th century player at firsthand, the result would still be confusing.

The Germans and their Eastern neighborspride themselves on their straight, vibrato-lesstone. When, in 1930, the New York Philharmonic,on their European tour under the direction of Mr.Toscanini, performed in Prague, the woodwindprofessors of the conservatory were shocked. In

one single night their whole life’s work seemed tohave been destroyed. The young generation wasfascinated by the vibrating flute, oboe, and bas-soon, a sound they had never heard before. TheFrench, Italians, Belgians, and Dutch advocate var-ious degrees of vibrato for the flute, oboe, andbassoon from a wide wave produced by thediaphragm to a faint quiver caused by the stiffen-ing of the throat muscles. (The lip vibrato seemsto be an American contribution). On the samePhilharmonic tour, the German reviewers com-mented on the “French tone” of the oboe. TheFrench musicians in America, who read this com-ment in the New York Times were shocked andinsulted. The first oboe of the Philharmonic thenwas Mr. Labate, an Italian.

None of the countries mentioned above, how-ever, extend the courtesy of a vibrating tone to theclarinet. The clarinet, anywhere and anytime,must be played with a straight tone. Why?

Although isolated cases of clarinettists with avibrato have been heard in New York in recentyears, Mr. Reginald Kell in London seems to havebeen the first to take this question seriously and toconclude that the vibrato should be an intrinsicpart of the clarinet tone also. His results areadmired, or abominated, the world over, where hisplaying is known through his many recordings ofall the important clarinet solos. His arrival in NewYork, registered immediately, in the form of a dis-cussion of the vibrato question in WoodwindMagazine, which was taken up by other papers,including the New Yorker. We can safely assumethat his presence here will bring about a change intaste for he is certain to have pupils and imitators.

In this country the issue of woodwind vibratohas never been national because we have nonational conservatory. Up to a few years ago mostof the key positions in America orchestras wereheld by prominent European woodwind players sothat one could easily identify each orchestra bythe vibrato or non-vibrato of its various winds.Many of these men established themselves asteachers in the leading music schools. Thus,among the younger generation of American instru-mentalists, mostly products of the excellent publicschool music system, who went ahead to one ofthe large Eastern conservatories, local peculiari-ties developed, so that it is very easy today to tag

I

95IDRS JOURNAL

each flutist, oboist, clarinettist and bassoonist ascoming from either Philadelphia, New York,Boston, or Rochester. This has perpetuated a char-acteristic of our American orchestras. WhereasGerman, Italian, French or English orchestras aremanned, not only be devotees of the same school,but for the most part even graduates of the samenational conservatory, our American orchestrasculled their players from different national back-grounds. Each section, string, brass, and wood-wind, represents different sound ideals — eachsection sometimes harbored different sound idealswithin itself. Whereas a wind chord played by aFrench orchestra vibrates uniformly (the clarinetexcepted), and the same chord played by aGerman orchestra is straight and unflinching, theAmerican version would be uneven and diffuse.

Since it so happened that most of the teacherswho established themselves in the leadingAmerican music schools were French or underFrench influence, and since the constant din ofpopular music and jazz emphasizes it, theAmerican school which is slowly emerging favorsthe vibrato on all woodwinds except the clarinet,and we have seen that the concepts of the soundof this instrument are at this very moment chang-ing towards a vibrato also. There is, however, stillno uniform method of producing this vibrato andthe teaching of it is unsystematic and haphazard.Very few players and teachers, indeed, under-stand theoretically and physiologically how avibrato is produced on a wind instrument. Aspointed out before, two schools are at war, theexponents of the diaphragm vibrato and the prac-titioners of the throat vibrato. They view eachother with such contempt that reconciliationseems improbable. First we shall have to settleonce and for all which is morally superior, to haveblue eyes or to have brown eyes.

It is generally held that the use of vibrato on awind instrument is a sign of modernism, and that,in line with progress, in all other matters of taste,it is a new invention. This myth is, of course, notconfined to wind players alone, and a similar oneexists among string players who feel that theirvibrato is an invention of Romantic times and thatall music before Mozart was played with an ardentand devoted dryness which makes listening to it apainful and therefore educational process. Thelate and respected Armold Dolmetsch shared thatview. Wherein his excellent and fundamental workThe Interpretation of 17th and 18th Century Music,historic accuracy prompted him to quote faithful-ly proof of the opposite (such as the definite callfor vibrato in Geminiani’s violin method), hewould expostulate angry protests in a footnote.

Vibrato in the violin has been generally tracedto the beginning of the 17th century and is oftenattributed to Monteverdi. It was also known onkeyboard instruments such as the clavichord andthe organ. At that time, with the development ofthe Baroque opera, the solo voice became thehighest form of musical expression. It would behard to think of a virtuoso singing technique, suchas developed at that time, without such a deviceas the tremolo, especially in a period where orna-mentation was the basis of performance and thetrill a most important part of voice culture. Itstands to reason that instruments, which weredeveloped to imitate the vocal ideal, wouldinclude the tremolo in their application. Thisapplies also to the winds which, at that time,played a much more elevated social role in musicthan they do today.

Fortunately, our knowledge of wind instrumentvibrato in the past is not based entirely on theo-retical speculation. There exist documents whichprove its existence, as well as that of vibrato ingeneral, much earlier even than is assumed by themost broad minded. Three examples, which willbe given here in inverse chronological order, spana period of 250 years. They should suffice to con-vince us of the truth of our claims, though theycertainly do not exhaust the subject. They call formore information, more research and more inter-pretation.

On June 12, 1778, Mozart wrote in a letter: “Thehuman voice trembles by itself, but such, and in adegree which is beautiful — that is the nature ofthe voice which one imitates, not only on windinstruments, but also on the string instruments,but also on the string instruments, yes, even onthe clavichord — but as soon as one passes thelimit, it is no longer beautiful because it is againstnature; it sound just like an organ when someonepokes the bellows.”

In the first flute method ever published,Jacques Hotteterre le Romain’s Principes de laFlute Traversiere, which appeared in 1707, we finda chapter devoted to two ornaments, called batte-ment and flattement. The former is a trill pro-duced by covering only the edge of the tone-holebelow the note played, or by covering entirely thetone-hole second below the note played. The flat-tement of the low D, then the lowest note on theflute, was produced by turning the flute back andforth, thus lowering the pitch. Since these proce-dures produce a downward wave of only a fewvibrations this ornaments must be grouped withthe vibrato. Hotteterre further informs us that thesame method also applies to the recorder and theoboe.

FROM THE PAST: REPRINTS OF DOUBLE REED ARTICLES FROM WOODWIND MAGAZINE96

The third reference seems to have gone byunnoticed so far, although it is the oldest and mostsignificant in its implications. It takes us back intoa period much less than the Baroque, precedingthat of the culture of the solo voice and its reflec-tion upon instrumental techniques. It is found inthe second book of musical instruments ever pub-lished, Martin Agricola’s Musica InstrumentalisDeudsch which first appeared in 1528. This book isa reworking in German verse of its predecessor,Sebastian Virdung’s Musica Getutscht of 1511,Agricola used Virdung’s plates of various instru-ments but added his own text, which he changedand augmented in subsequent editions of 1530,1542, and 1545. In the later edition, discussing theSwiss Fife, a cylindrical six-hole instrument whichis reproduced in four sizes, discant, alto, tenor, andbass, Agricola tells us:

“When playing the fife bear well in mindTo blow it with a trembling windThe way they mostly teach it inThe case of the Polish violin:As trembling ornaments the songHere too it never can be wrong.”

The continuation of this poem exhorts theGerman organ makers also to install a vibratomechanism to their organs, a device known, but

not frequent at that time. “God did not give usknowledge of it to keep it to ourselves, but tomake it available to everybody”. Here we have adocument which tells us that the vibrato was com-mon practice in the Renaissance in the voice aswell as on instruments, with particular referenceto the flute, the rebec (Polish violin) and in someinstances the organ.

The two printed books on wind instrumentspreceding Agricola do not happen to tell us any-thing about it, but we cannot infer from that thatthe wind vibrato was invented around 1545. Hadprinting been invented earlier we surely wouldhave more pertinent evidence about instrumentalstyles of the Middle Ages. As it is we can onlyassume that vibrato was used then too. We knowfrom pictorial evidence that vibrato existed invoice culture in ancient Etruscan and Egyptiancivilizations. And as the instrumental sound idealis generally related to vocal and linguistic estheticconcepts we can safely assume that vibrato hasbeen consistently used on wind instruments sinceseveral thousand years before our era. ❖

IDRS JOURNAL

Bassoon and Powder Puff No. 2

By Gloria Solloway

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(Editor’s Note: Our Austrian correspondent’s interimreport on Gloria Soloway’s ubiquity was carried in lastmonth’s Woodwind Magazine This month we have adetailed rendering by the fabulous Gloria herself. For back-ground material, readers are referred to W.M., Volume 2,No. 10).

es! It is really that long, lost bassoonist makingher “yearly” report … for it seems to be justthat. At the time the last piece appeared, I wasin Salzburg for the Festival … and at the pre-

cise moment when I received my copies of W.M., I hap-pened to be around most of the members of the WienPhilharmonic, who took quite an interest in readingthe article … much to my embarrassment! After that, Ijoined them to hear them record an octet for winds byAlexander Uhl (one of the big composers in Wien).And so began the first of many interesting and variedthings I was treated to in Salzburg.

Because of my friendship with the musicians, I wasable to hear every rehearsal that went on during theFestival. This included the operas, the Phil. concertsand the chamber music. Of the outstanding events,there were Fidelio, with Fuertwaengler conducting andFlagstad, who sadly was not too good. But it wasFuert’s show and the Leonore No. 3 Overture wassomething … played as I’ve never heard it! It wasabsolutely thrilling and electrifying. Several good con-certs of Fuert, and Kubelik. Unfortunately, theFestspielhaus, where all the concerts are held, is a ter-rible hall and the acoustics are so bad, it really did notdo the orchestra justice. Then there was a privatehearing for Fuert (which I was lucky to be asked to) ofa new work by the orchestra’s English horn player,Prof. Hadamouvsky. A sextet for w.w.’s and harp arevery interesting. And so the summer went … beingpleasantly saturated by all this music, running intofriends from the States, some of whom are studyingand working in Paris … in particular Art Hoberman,flutist, who seems to be doing so well both in recitalsand in conducting.

Before closing the “summer chapter,” I reallyshould mention a word about the “lederhosen” … thenational summer costume of the men. They are theshort, suede pants that they all wear, including thePhil. men. They’re really marvelous and very practical.They are never supposed to be cleaned and the dirti-er they are, the more valuable. In many families, theyare handed down from generation to generation togeneration. They are worn with knee-length stockingsand the whole outfit is really very quaint and colorful.

But, I must say, it took me a little while to get used tothem for it seems to accentuate the knees and bellies… and really some were so funny!! But I grew to lovethem after a while and overlooked the variety of knees.

Well … the time had now come (as it invariablydoes) to earn some money or return home. Since Iwas not quite ready for the latter, I had to think of away to execute the former. Much as I would have liketo return to Wien, it was really impossible to workthere. (Ah, the trials of being a woman musician!) Sobag and baggage and with Melba (Berke … my sopra-no singin’ gal friend from L.A. with whom I shared lifein Wien), off we trooped to Rome. A two-day stopoverin Venice proved delightful. We attended the openingnight of a Contemporary music festival andMetropolitan first nights have nothing on Venetianfirst nights. All Venetian Society was there in all itsspangles … and how they did glitter. Wish I could saythe same for the program. One of the numbers was anew Hindemith Horn Concerto and played by … of allpeople … Dennis Brain, who must have come over forthe Fest. I wasn’t too impressed with the concerto.Also in Venice bumped into a conductor friend ofmine from Calif. … Gastone Usigli. On to Rome …scorching heat and likewise Italians! In the ensuingthree day madness, I met and chatted with the man-ager of the Santa Cecilia Orch. and also another con-ductor, Carlo Zecchi, whom I had met in Salzburg. Theinformation I succeeded in getting was that it is diffi-cult for women to get into orchestras and further-more, the music season in Italy doesn’t begin untilDecember. It’s cooler then! Well… we did manage tosee one of the last summer opera presentations andthis was a thrill. It was held in the old Roman Baths …the Baths of Caracalla … a natural setting and a sim-ply gigantic stage, making one gasp at each new set.The opera was Carmen and sad to say, it was awful.But the sets were worth seeing in this wonderful sur-rounding. Ah, those Romans … they really must havehad quite a life. Anyway, off we went again … Melbaback to Wien … and I, as a last resort, to London.

Here the stumbling block was ye good ole union.Seems one has to live in England one year before onecan even join. Ah well … it does have to protect itsown. But in my six week sojourn, I had seen enough ofthe music picture and was very disappointed. Toomuch quantity and not enough quality. So manyorchestras and so much music going on. There wereonly a few orchestras I felt were any good and amongthem was Barbirolli’s Halle Orch. from Manchester.They work very hard but there is a wonderful feeling

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among them. They are crazy about B. and he aboutthem. Quite a few women too … aside from the usualstrings, there are 1st oboe, English horn, 1st trom-bone, a horn and tympani. I met and chatted with B.who was very sweet. Introduced me to the bassoonsection. Later on, I had lunch with Charles Cracknell,the 1st bassoonist and a very nice person. TheEnglish seem to be very enthusiastic chamber musiclovers and I had much fun joining a group to play theShubert Octet, Beethoven Septet, as well as quintets.I attended rehearsals of the B.B.C. Orchestra, theLondon Philharmonic and the Philharmonica (themain recording orch.) and among the musicians I metwith Archie Camden, (bassoon) Frederick Thurston(clarinet) and Alex Whittacker (oboe). It was wonder-ful meeting and chatting with them, but as I say, I wasrather disappointed in the music in general. What Ireally did learn to appreciate was the English sense ofhumor … which is just marvelous. The bus conduc-tors especially … they seem to have a brand all theirown which can either keep you in stitches for thewhole ride, or make you feel less than “threepence”!Then, of course, there is the famous English tea,which is not only had in “high” afternoon, but “high”morning as well … (always served at rehearsals). Thefood situation … I’m sure you’ve heard about it … andit’s all true. Well … the time had now arrived when Iexhausted what possibilities I thought there were (lit-tle did I know then!) and I made arrangements to setsail. My ticket being on the French Line, I was deter-mined to spend one last gay month in Paris.Somewhere in the midst of packing, I looked at a mapand saw what I thought would make a nice detour …Paris via Holland and Belgium. I thought I’d spendabout three days in Holland … see the canals, themarvelous Rembrandts (and the whole Dutch schoolof painting, which I love), and hear that famousorchestra, the Konzertgebouw.

And so it happened one morning … another lifeago … that my two feet and faithful fagott touchedDutch soil. The three days went exactly as planned,but it was the fourth that became memorable.Through an introduction (from a friend in the States)I met Tibor de Machula (the orch’s marvelous 1st cel-list) who in turn had me meet the 1st cellist, who inturn had me meet the 1st fagottist, Thom de Klerk.That was the fourth day and in Thom’s factory. Fornot only does he play exquisite bassoon, but he has afactory where he makes all the woodwinds as well.Quite an unusual person, this Heer de Klerk. Andanother thing … much to the envy of we poor human,“reed strugglers,” he plays on reeds he’s been usingfor the past 15 years!! Don’t ask me how, but it’sabsolutely so. And the sound he gets … to use theteenagers vernacular … is absolutely “creamy.” It real-ly is a continual wonder and joy for me to listen to

him. His velvet tone just ripples through the orches-tra. This was one of the things that struck me when Ifirst heard the orchestra. Oh yes … he plays on one ofthe bassoons he made himself. Well, on with the story.

Just as I was about to walk out the door, fatewalked in. During the course of our goodbyes, I jok-ingly asked if he couldn’t use another bassoonist inthe section. As a matter of fact, he could use an asso-ciate first. After giving this statement a hearty laugh, Isuddenly realized he wasn’t joking. From thatmoment on, my life hasn’t been the same.

If this was a dream, I was sure I’d wake up swim-ming in the nearest canal! I arranged to play for Heerde Klerk and after not practicing for about 2 weeks Idashed home to put in a quick two hour session! AfterI played for him, he started to arrange an audition forthe committee and four days and ten reeds later Ifound myself on a stage playing the Mozart Concertoand all the choice tidbits of the symphonic repertoire,with a scale thrown in for good measure. Among thelisteners were Dr. Rudolph Mengelberg (nephew ofthe conductor), director of the Concertgebouw (here-inafter referred to as C.G.); the personnel manager ofthe orchestra and several of the first-chair men of theorchestra. Since they had to consult with other peo-ple and couldn’t come to a decision then, and since Icompleted my sight-seeing and was nervous about allmy stuff I had already sent to Paris, I decided to leaveand wait in Paris for an answer, which I could not con-ceive would be anything but “Sorry”. So off I went. Astopover in the Hague with a visit to another museumcontaining a fascinating collection of old instrumentsincluding a piccolo fagott. A day in Brussels — a love-ly city with its town hall and square surrounded bythe picturesque guild houses. Even took in a concert— the L’Orchestre Nat’l (which was not good) andEdmund Kurtz playing the Khatchaturian Cello con-certo. And so Paris Finally! But it did not turn out to be“Paris finale” as 4 days later I received a telegram fromthe C. B. asking me to return! It was so utterly fantas-tic and I simply walked around as in a dream with thesilliest grin plastered on my face from ear to ear!Seems this was mistaken for a flirtatious look by aFrenchman who got out at my “Metro” stop and fol-lowed me! Now just how could I explain in detailexactly in detail exactly what that earful grin was allabout! After a merry chase along the Avenue deL’Opera, I succeeded in losing him and thereafter con-tinued my grinning with a low head. And so I returnedand as a friend wrote later: “How much in Dutch couldone person get!” The Orchestra is wonderful and ofcourse it goes without saying how thrilled I am to playin it. Since Eduard Von Beinum, its permanent con-ductor more or less, is ill, we have guest conductorseach speaking in his own native language, i.e.Klemperer and Krips speaking German, Jean Fournet

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— French and Hien Jordans — Dutch. Most Dutchpeople speak three or four languages anyway. I speakEnglish with Thom, German with die Herren Odijk andRood (2nd and Contra, respectively), a bit of Frenchwith several others and with the rest limited sen-tences with any Dutch I’ve been able to pick up! Sucha language — a mixture of all including “LowerSlobovia”! (See Al Capp). The other women in theorchestra are three violinists and two harpists. I’mprobably their only woman W. W. in its history and anAmerican at that!

We rehearse practically every day and have threeor four concerts a week. One of these is usually out-of-town, in either the Hague, Rotterdam or othercities. It’s all very interesting though sometimeswhen I really stop to think of it, it seems unbelievable.You’re probably very curious to hear somethingabout the “incident” that occurred a few months ago,but as much as I’d like to write a bit about it, it wouldtake much too long, and it is far too complicated togo into. It seemed to start out as one thing but via thenewspapers et al, it snowballed into other things. Iam certainly in no position to know all the politicalinvolvements and believe me it is very involved. Sofor that reason alone, I am not in a position to sayanything. I have never been in such a situation but tosay the least, it was educational. After three weeks,things were smoothed over and we resumed playingagain. Enough for that! (Editor’s Note: the foregoingremarks refer to the orchestral strike of some monthsago).

Just one more episode will bring you completelyup-to-date on this “Fantasia”. You remember, I wroteyou last about the Gramatti Concerto that was writtenespecially for me last year in Wien? Well, severalmonths ago I was invited by the WienerKonzerthausgesellschaft to play it for their FourthInternational Music Festival held in April. I wasthrilled. What nicer way than that to return to yourmost loved city — Wein. The music city — at that!Since it came more or less at the time of our Eastervacation here, I could manage it very well. With spe-cial permission from Dr. Mengelberg, who allowed mea few extra days, I remained in Wein four weeks.During this time, I played six times. This included aconcert in Salzburg where I played the MozartConcerto at the Mozarteum. But doing the Festivalwas a lovely thing — all the wonderful artists con-nected with it — such as Pears, Britten, D. Maynorand many more.

Much modern music that was played, made for avery interesting two weeks. Though I couldn’t remainfor the full two weeks of the Festival (had to return asKlemperer was beginning a Beethoven Cycle) the fourweeks that I was there were completely mad and won-derful. Seeing all my Wiener Philharmonic friends

again, and going to operas, concerts and a fascinatingfolk song and dance group from Yugoslavia. Also prac-ticing, rehearsing with the orchestra, going to recep-tions and parties given for the artists of the Festivaland being interviewed — all this kept me breathlessand it’s a wonder I had any left to blow the concerts.

The interviews were particularly amusing. One fora newspaper and the other for radio, where theywould ask questions of my composer and myself andwe would answer. The usual routine, only of course —in German. How I did howl when I listened to arebroadcast later. My German is from hunger. But itwas fun. The big reception given after the openingconcert of the Festival in one of the lovely Saals of theKonzerthaus (the Schubert Saal) was a beautiful affairand looked like something you read of about oldVienna.

My concert went very well and I certainly couldn’thave had a more critical audience. Among the peoplewere Dr. Hans Sittner (President of the StaatsAkademie für Musik and who commissioned the workoriginally), Professor Leopold Wlach (1st clarinet ofthe Wien Phil.); Professor Karl Öhlberger (1st Fag. ofthe Wien Phil.); several of the W’Ws from the WinerSymphoniker; your own Wein correspondentFriedrich Schonfeld (at whose house I spent a niceafternoon playing chamber music last year), and sev-eral friends I met in London — Dr. Harpner (head ofthe Anglo-Austrain Society in London) and anotherfriend from the B.B.C., who came over for the samefestival. And so it was — and a very nice “Was” at that.

It too, was a bit on the fantastic side and some-times I really couldn’t believe it. But it was all true andwonderful. I returned to Holland several weeks agoand am now looking forward to the tulips, which theysay is a breathtaking sight. In the tulip fields are rowsand rows or gorgeous tulips of all colors. Spring hasalso belatedly arrived and now begins the outdoor-cafes — a delightful European pastime.

After Klemperer and the Beethoven Cycle, Kubelikcomes for several concerts from June 15th to July15th there is the Holland Festival. Then the season isover and I am hoping to catch some of the CasalsFestival later on. After that it’s anyones guess. Whoknows — least of all do I. ❖

[This account appeared in the May and June, 1951editions of the Woodwind Magazine. Do any of thereaders know what happened to Gloria Solloway fol-lowing this? Perhaps a knowledgeable reader can bringus up-to-date. ED.]


Simplifying the Bassoon

By Simon Kovar

[This reprint from Woodwind Magazine isstill good advice today from one of the greatteachers. ED]

he following article was originally con-ceived as a descriptive introduction forstudents. However, while going over thematerial, I realized that it applied to

teachers and professionals as well. Further, itnot only applies to the bassoon, but to the oboeand English horn as well. After 40 years ofteaching and producing most of the fine bas-soon players in the country today, I think it istime to put in print an objection to some of themalpractices and outmoded theories that makelife difficult, if not miserable for the bassoonistand the double reed player in general.

The first and most troublesome pointinvolves the over-rated problem of vibrato. Thewhole vibrato controversy seems nonsensicalto me. Between groups of scientists trying tostandardize a method, and teachers who worrythemselves and their pupils to death trying toteach something that cannot be taught, theproblem has become a monster. In reality thereis no difficulty. In the case of the student, itbegins (like all his other problems) with listen-ing to somebody use the vibrato and immedi-ately trying to apply it himself in a consciousand artificial way. He uses it in the wrong placesand in the wrong way and is aided and abettedby professional musicians who try and make abig mountain out of a little mole hill.

The student should try to bring out a goodsound, a beautiful sound. He should try and pro-duce a singing sound. The attempt to beautifyhis sound automatically leads up to vibrato. Hisvibrato comes with ripening and it comes natu-rally as he becomes more advanced. It is impos-sible to tell somebody how to use it … firstcomes a strong embouchure and control. Thereis no philosophy in that.

In the case of vibrato, like so many otherthings in music, you wake up one morning andyou have it. It makes no difference where itcomes from … from the lip or the diaphragm. Ifyou sing and the tone has life, you have vibrato.Those professionals who claim that they have aspecific formal method simply are fooling them-selves. There is no more to the problem thanwhat has been mentioned above.

The usually heartbreaking problem ofembouchure is another case where there hasbeen too much talk and too little action. Thereis no certain or specific rule for the formation ofthe lips. Everybody’s mouth is built differently,and whether you like it or not, man was notbuilt like a suit of clothes. Once you accept theinfinite variation in mouths, lips, etc., youaccept the fact that embouchure must adjust tothe capability of the lips. The old dictum thatteachers occasionally give pupils that they can’tplay bassoon because of the formation of theirlips, or the sob story some players give youabout the hard time they had, is nonsense. Aslong as a player produces a good tone, he cankeep his lips the way he feels like it. Brass menare always complaining about the horror ofplaying from the side of the mouth, but I haveheard some of the most magnificent brass play-ing from musicians who seemed to be holdingthe mouthpiece up against their ears. Theembouchure should be as comfortable as possi-ble and can’t be taught. The most comfortableand most natural is the best. The thick lips ver-sus thin lips argument is again nonsensical.Experience will reveal this. The student shouldfind out for himself which is best. Nobody whodoesn’t have his mouth or lips can teach himand there is no rule. If necessary, even his earswill do.

I am, myself, a staunch believer in the tradi-tional way of teaching. I believe that thereshould be a strong discipline and a rational one.For this reason I insist on orchestral passages.Every student should start in his teens to studyhis orchestral passages. He will in all probabili-ty not be a soloist (how many bassoonists are?)and an early acquaintance with the literatureand with the proper way of handling the day inday out material of his professional life will helpimmeasurably. There should be the greatestinsistence on taking them in slow tempos, grad-ually working up to the faster. All double reedsbegin with the idea of solo passages, but whenthe conductor says … “play such and such apassage,” he can’t handle it. The work that ischaracteristic should be mastered first andmastered well. From the first two months on,the student should begin with orchestral pas-sages. In this way he gets acquainted with therepertoire from the beginning and develops a

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command of the instrument through correctphrasing, something which seems out of modetoday.

A young player should go through the tradi-tional method of taking his teacher’s way ofphrasing. He should strictly stick to this teacheror good players as guides. Then, when he is anaccomplished player, he should add his individ-uality. There are too many loose players whobegin with a nihilistic revolt against the meth-ods of teachers and end up with an individuali-ty which is nothing but loose playing and slop-piness. Discipline is necessary for the finishedplayer, for the most part of his life’s work willdepend on the base and if that is inadequate …you know what happens.

In the case of the old bugaboo reeds, the lessaid the better. All reeds are individual andinstead of fooling yourselves about it, face thelife-long reed slavery with resignation. Thereare men who can play with resistance. The vari-ations are infinite. Every reed player has to

make reeds himself and find out what he needsfor himself. Nobody else can tell him.ProfessIonals occasionally fall out of the habit,and should know better. The sooner you realizethat you will have to go through the same trialand error as everybody else, the better.

The last point is perhaps the most important.The most important fact of life concerning abassoonist is that he is a group man. He cannotestablish his own criteria but must adjust to thefeeling of the group. It is around this phenome-non that the problem of intonation must be con-sidered. No instrument has perfect intonation.Anything to the contrary is just feeble dream.While good intonation can be taught, mostimportant is the ability to humor with the lips.The bassoonist must be able to match, he has toadjust to the group. When playing for himself,his intonation should be as perfect as possible,but when playing with the group, he must beable to adjust to whatever pitch variationsexist.


From Paris

By Ben SpielerFrom Where

[This is an interesting report on the Paris Con-servatoire of 1951 from Woodwind Magazine.ED]

e have been having some real Springweather these days, and the balmybreezes blowing up the boulevardsmake routine wind work rough going.

The promenade impulse is a strong temptation,and a fellow has to be made of a pretty goodgrain of grendilla to resist the pressure. Your cor-respondent gets a bad case of sighinitis everyyear at this time, and the travail has a tendencyto suffer. Oh well, sighing down those low noteson the flute seem to help a bit, but in everythingelse it’s on the grim side.

The two principal music schools here are theConservatoire National, and the Ecole Normalede Musique. Practically everybody who comes toParis is enrolled in one or the other. TheConservatoire had its beginnings during thereign of the Kings Louis, under various names. Itsadministration under French Republican rulestarted with its founder, SARRETTE in 1793.About this time, most of the stray heads layingaround after the revolution were swept up andconveniently holed down somewhere, but thosepeople walking around who still had a head tobrag about were pretty touchy about it and any-thing Royalist, and were still ready for a goodguillotinic scrape at the drop of a colored garter.Mr. Sarrette, in his capacity as Director of theConservatoire was a victim of this confusion.One of his eleves played a horn solo in publicentitled “Oh, Richard, Oh, My King.” Nobodyknows what happened to the eleve, but rumorwent that his head was found in one piece butnot his horn. As for Mr. Sarrette, he was prompt-ly put in prison. Thus, the Conservatoire begin-nings show that a musician’s lot was always atough one, and that audiences were always hardto please.

The Conservatoire is located on a typicalParisian street, the five story buildings along thelane being garnished with balconies. The school,however, has a flat facade with no ornaments,and is conspicuously unassuming for that rea-son. All the arched windows on the ground floorare iron-barred and this outward appearancemight have a stranger pass by completely

unaware of its significance. Up till 1913, the build-ing was a Jesuit college, and the school was onthe other side of town—not far from the FoliesBergeres. (They were the good old days nodoubt.) The studios in the Conservatoire arevast, and hence give a feeling of emptiness andausterity. No desks as we have Stateside, buttables and long flat benches. The gray walls areadorned with occasional painting of FrenchArtists and teachers, plus a long rack to accom-modate a few dozen hats and coats.

The Ecole Normale, on the other hand, is astructural gem. It was a private mansion built in1892 with all the cheese cake of that carefreeperiod, and was converted into a school in 1919.It’s ideal for those who crave inspiration, andwho want that salon feeling when they practice.The Marquise who built it was, incidentally, andAmerican woman. The fine concert hall of theschool was built in 1928 on the site of the stablesIt seats 500 people, and is a perfect hall forrecitals and small chamber groups.

The rumor of Messrs. Crunelle and Deleclusecoming to the States (Woodwind January) is pureinvention. They have never given it a moment’sthought, and were greatly amused when Ichecked up with them. Mr. Mule is currently on aconcert tour in Morocco, and so I can’t speak forhim, but in recalling a conversation I had withhim a few months back, I seriously doubt his everconsidering going to the States on his own initia-tive. A little concert tour, yes, but that’s where itends, and it would have to be arranged by inter-ested parties. In this regard, he was approachedlast year but there was nothing decisive.

The Conservatoire is sending an ensemble of18 eleves on a two-week woodwind tour underFernand Oubradous, their instructor, the end ofMarch. The first performance will be in Milan’sLa Scala. The idea behind this is to enhance artis-tic relations between the countries. Italy, in turn,is sending singers here. Mr. Selvincourt, Directorof the Conservatoire, has just returned from atrip with other eleves to Spain. Off goes the hatfor this sort of thing.

For bassoonists, who might be curious aboutthe work covered on their instrument at theConservatoire, here's the list: The etudes includeBITSCH (25 Etudes), BOZZA (15 Etudes), GAM-BARRO (18 Etudes), MILDE (50 Etudes), PIARD

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(90 Etudes; 16 Etudes Characteristic), DHERIN(La Nouvelle Technique du Basson), and BOUR-DEAU. About every week a new solo is studies.Here is Mr. Dherin’s method. He has three class-es weekly. On Tuesday, all twelve elves come toplay their solo of the week with piano. Each playindividually during this weekly three hour ses-sion. When this is done, the group plays togetherthe solo for the following week, with all correc-tions of interpretation, breathing, etc. OnThursday and Friday, there are six in each classfor the etude work. Scales are played in unison,and the etudes are played in a chain; one takingup where another stops. This is a good tech-nique, and the entire etude must unroll withoutmistakes or interruptions. Here are the solosplayed up to now since October 15th.

BOZZA - Concertino; Fantaisie.BUSSER - Portuguesa.BITSCH - Concerto.DE LA PRESLE - Petite Suite.BLOCH - Dancing Jack.DUTILLEUX - Sarabande & Cortege.DUCLOS - Fagottino.MOZART - Concerto.WEBER - Andante and Rondo Hongrois.

In general, the weekly digest is 6 to 10 etudesand a solo. This is not easy work. Add threehours a week of solfege, and an hour of musichistory to this, and you know what JeanVenthomme is up to all day.

Next time, you will know what the other wood-winders are doing. Might add that the age forentrance is now between 10 and 20 at theConservatoire. A student generally has hisPremiere Prix in three years, but in some cases,after a year’s study he may receive it. This is veryrare, though, the limit is five years study at theschool. In every class there are three vacanciesfor foreign students who enjoy the same statusas eleves. In France, the educational system isdifferent. A child doesn’t have to go to publicschool. If, for example, at a very early age, heshows musical talent, his parents can pull thechild out of school, to concentrate on music. Ithappens often, the only obligation, apparently, isto have a private tutor a few hours a week toteach him basic necessities. This explains whyyoungsters are seen putting in full time aroundthe Conservatoire.

Well, that’s the gossip from over here. Here’swishing you all fine Easter vacation. ❖


Paul Bunyan - Bassoonist Extraordinary

By Floyd E. Low

[Some early bassoon fiction from WoodwindMagazine! ED]

(Author’s Note: Nearly everyone has heard talesof Paul Bunyan, the legendary lumberjack hero ofthe North Woods. According to legend, Paul was agiant among men. Everything he had or did wassimply stupendous and tremendous. It is said thathe had a gun that could kill geese so high in the skythat they were spoiled by the time they reached theearth. Paul was undisputed master of the forest. Heoften cut down trees that were so tall that in orderto see the tops of them it was necessary to call outthe entire logging crew to help him look. There aremany, many tales of a similar nature. However,until only recently was it generally known that Paulwas a super-duper bassoonist.

Being somewhat familiar with the legend ofPaul Bunyan, the author had often heard rumors ofthe powers of Paul on his bassoon, but had givenlittle credence to this fanciful presumption. He hasmade a careful search through forgotten archivesand old documents and unearthed this heretoforelittle known artistic side of the great Paul.)

hen it is said that Paul Bunyan was agreat bassoonist it is not meant in theordinary sense. He was greater thangreat. Even a genius would shrivel up

to nothing in comparison. With due respects tothe great artists of today, Paul was undoubtedlythe most terrific performer on the bassoon thatthe world has ever heard. Paul could blow soloud that he could drown himself out! When Paulpracticed, so powerful were the vibrations set inmotion by his gigantic lungs that the earth shookfor miles around.

Paul’s bassoon was no toy such as it playedby the decadent musician of today. Paul’s instru-ment was made from an immense pin log whichhe whittled out one stormy evening while he wastoasting his shins by the fireplace. The compli-cated acoustical problems involved in this taskwould have baffled present day engineers, butPaul figured them out in his head with just a fewminutes of mental concentration.

The bassoon keys were forged from heavyhunks of iron, and, while it is true that they wentclankety-clank clank clunk when Paul’s huge fin-

gers pressed the, his playing was so passionateand artistic that the attention of his admiringaudience was never diverted, even for the time ofone little 128th note, by the din of rattling keys.Paul could, by the slightest touch of his powerfulfingers, play the most entangling finger busterswith lightning rapidity.

One winter Paul was so busy cutting logs anddigging rivers to float them out in the spring thathe didn’t have much time for practice.Carelessly, he had left his bassoon lying on theside of a mountain fifty miles away.

On about the first of April it was customaryfor Paul to play a dirge at the funeral of Old ManWinter. Since winter was nearly over, Paulthought of the bassoon and sauntered over oneevening after supper to get it.

Paul thought he better toot on it a bit to lim-ber up his lip. Imagine his surprise when, at thefirst blast, seventeen bears that had hibernatedin the tubing for the winter were catapulted outof the bell and went sailing over the mountain!

W

105IDRS JOURNAL

In the memoirs of old-timers it is recordedthat a colossal concert was once given by aLumberjack Symphony. An auditorium builtespecially for this concert and covering an areaof sixteen square miles was erected one Saturdayafternoon by Paul and his men.

All winter the hundreds of lumberjack musi-cians had carefully sandpapered, polished, andrehearsed every note and rest of the music.Finally, the week of the concert arrived. Theword “week” is used because the symphony tobe played had been composed by Paul in hisspare moments and it took one week to play it.

Even though this was the largest orchestraever assembled, no conductor was necessarysince Paul had so written the music that no onecould escape from the bassoon. Thus making itimpossible for any player to go wrong.

An original oddity about Paul’s symphony—one that would certainly create a sensation eventoday—was a flute and ax duet. A huge pine logwas placed in the center of the orchestra, andwhile the flute played trills and arabesques alusty axman ran up and down the log showeringthe audience with crisp and luscious chips.

On the sixth day of the concert at two o’clockin the afternoon the orchestra reached a climacticfortissimo in the Finale. Paul became so moved byhis emotions—which, by the way, were as intensein comparison to those of ordinary human beingsas were his other extraordinary qualities—that hecompletely forgot himself and blew so loud thathe not only drowned himself out but also all therest of the orchestra!

It was, indeed, a thrilling sight to see fourthousand musicians fiddling, blowing, pounding,and scraping, and not a sound to be heard! It wasas if a giant and overpowering pause was beingobserved by the entire universe.

As Paul blew louder and louder it becamesilenter and silenter until one could hear a lum-berjack think in the remotest part of the auditori-um four miles away!

Finally, the orchestra came to a pianissimopassage. Instantly the great silence receded anda glorious harmony burst upon the ear. Thetones of this magnificent orchestra were sointense and powerful that they engulfed the audi-ence like the waves of the sea and were plainlyvisible as they soared out over the forest.

Once more during that memorable concertPaul demonstrated his mastery over the bas-soon. Seeing a “Sforzando” accent approaching,Paul, at the proper instant, gave a tremendousheave with his mighty lungs and a powerfulwhack with his tongue. Unfortunately, however,he outdid himself. Even the great Paul could nothave anticipated what was to happen. Undersuch terrific pressure his massive bassoonstraightened out like sewer pipe and, slippingfrom his grasp, went roaring over the heads ofthe audience like a hurricane! It sped with terrif-ic velocity through the side of the auditoriumseveral miles away and for days after, so the old-timers say, thee bassoon could be heard zoomingand smashing through the forest and scoopinggreat holes in the earth, which, so ’tis said,accounts for many of Minnesota’s Ten ThousandLakes.

Finally, the bassoon came to rest on what isnow Minnesota’s famous Mesabi Iron Range. Itfailed, however, to make a perfect three pointlanding and buried itself far into the earth.

Since the discovery of iron ore inNortheastern Minnesota, the mining companieshave been unearthing great chunks of bassoonkeys which are forged into guns, tanks, battle-ships, and skyscrapers. ❖

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IDRS JOURNAL

Bassoon Music Reviews

By Ronald KlimkoMoscow, Idaho

107

Music for Bassoon Aloneor Bassoon and Piano

Günter Angerhöfer (Editor): Orchesterstudien fürFagott. Friedrich Hofmeister Musikverlag,Hofheim-Leipzig. FH7049: Works by Peter

Tchaikovsky (DM 25.00); FH7050: Works by theRussian Masters Borodin, Khachaturian,

Mussorgski, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Shostakovich.(DM 32.00).

These are two new volumes of orchestral excerptsfrom Russian composers edited in very handsomeeditions by IDRS Honorary Member GünterAngerhöfer. They have a very useful quality in thatboth volumes contain works that are normally diffi-cult to obtain. In the Tchaikovsky volume, Günter hasincluded very sizeable excerpts from the more rarelyheard first three symphonies of the master, as well asthe last three. The volume also contains bassoonparts from the operas Eugene Onegin and PiqueDame, along with the conventional Capriccio Italienand the Nutcracker Suite. The volume of Russian mas-ters includes selections from the Symphonies#7,8,9,10,11, and 12 of Shostakovich, along with theViolin Concerto, the Gayne Ballet Suite byKhachaturian, Scherezade and Capriccio Espagnol byRimsky-Korsakov, Borodin’s Polovitzian Dances, andMussorgsky’s Pictures from an Exhibition. Each workcontains not only the solo passages, but useablechunks of the more difficult technical sections aswell. These new volumes are a valuable tool for thestudent training for an orchestral career.

Hofmeister has been one of the recent leaders inpublishing orchestral studies for all instruments ofrarer and more difficult to obtain works. These twovolumes continue in this tradition.

Liu Chi: A Collection of Etudes for Bassoonby Orefici, Pivonka, Bianchi, Bruna, Bitsch,

Gambaro, Gatti, Milde, Orselli, Bozza, Hoffman, and Oromszegi, with

additional scales andexercises by the author.

This volume was given to the IDRS by BernardGarfield, who, on a recent tour to China, was giventhe collection by Liu Chi, principal bassoonist of theCentral Philharmonic Orchestra of Beijing, with therequest that he give it to the Society. Besides his ownoriginal exercises, the bulk of the volume are some of

the more famous etudes culled from the exercisebooks of the various authors listed above. I wouldimagine that Liu Chi pulled all these etudes into onevolume and reprinted them for teaching purposes,since I would assume it would normally be difficult tofind this music in the stores in China. This might be

explained in the frontispiece of the book, printed onlyin Chinese. I reproduce these two pages here forthose readers who can understand it.

Richard J. Cioffari: Sonatina for bassoonand piano. Southern Music Company,San Antonio, Texas. SU 211. $10.00.

This is a very well written work by ProfessorEmeritus, Richard Cioffari, of Bowling Green StateUniversity, Ohio. It is dedicated to bassoonist RobertMoore, who recently also retired from the same uni-versity. The work is in the standard three movementformat and is written in a generally conservative neo-tonal style. The bassoon part goes no higher than b2,and is not overly demanding technically. The pianopart is similar in its demands. I would rate it a solidGrade 3, well within the reach of a talented highschool student or better. Overall it is a nice piecewith very “tuneable’ thematic material. The lastmovement fits the bassoon especially well.

BASSOON MUSIC REVIEWS108

Graham Powning: Bassoon Sonata No. 1(for bassoon and piano) Spratt Music Publishers,

170 N.E. 33rd St., Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33334.Tel: (305) 563 1844, Fax: (305) 563 9006. $10.00. I found this work to be somewhat difficult, both

technically and musically. Powning is an Australianoboist/composer, and this work is dedicated to hisbassoonist colleague, John Cran of Syndey. It is athree movement work, but with an unconventionalandante-scherzo-lento format. It is written in a mod-ern- somewhat harsh- though not pointillistic style.The bassoon part is fairly demanding, climbing to ahigh d#2 in the very last measure of the lento finale.Of the three movements the scherzo is the most inter-esting musically. I must confess I didn’t care for thefinal lento which seems to end rather unconvincingly.The scherzo, however, might be worth performing asa separate single movement. It has some interestingrhythmic ideas.

P.D.Q. Bach: Sonata “Abassoonata” S.888 for bas-soon and piano. Theodore Presser Co.,

Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, 19010. OK. Here’s the setup as described in the perform-

ers notes: “When the piece is to begin, it isannounced that the pianist ia inexplicably not onhand. He or she runs on only in time to play the lasttwo measures, until then the bassoonist plays boththe bassoon and piano parts simultaneously, using aneck strap for the bassoon.”

Need I say more? This latest “oeuvre” from the fer-tile mind of Peter Schickele is a show-stopper ifyou’re up to it. The three movement work is cleverlywritten so that the bassoonist can play both parts.Schickele/Bach has thought of everything so that thethematic material can easily be fingered while alter-nating back and forth (and sometimes simul-taneously!) between the two instruments. I have torate it as a definite Grade 4, however,not because ofthe bassoon part but because working it all out (espe-cially with my limited piano playing ability!) would bequite a feat! I do hope to perform it, however. It’sguaranteed to bring down the house-a rare kudo forus bassoonists! Get it! Do it if the piano playing does-n’t scare you off!

George Longazo: Concerto (1954) for bassoonand piano; Skyline Publications,

160 Skyline Drive, Eau Claire, WI 54703.Tel. and Fax. (715) 838 8890.

This is a three movement work originally compos-ed for bassoon and a chamber orchestra while thecomposer was at Indiana University studying compo-

sition with Bernard Heiden and bassoon with RoyHauser. Dr. Longazo, who later recieved his DMAfrom the University of Southern California, where hewas a bassoon student of Norman Herzberg, is cur-rently Chair of the Department of Music, CaliforniaState University, Chico. The composition is written ina fundamentally atonal style, at times approachingserialism, (the first theme of the first movement con-tains 11 of the 12 pitches of the chromatic scale inconsecutive order), but is not totally organizedaround this system, as far as I can perceive. Some ofthe thematic material seems to have been derivedfrom the superimposition of perfect fourths. The bas-soon part is not overly difficult-rising to a high d flat2,but only in the slow movement. The last movementscherzo has a tongue-in cheek quality, somewhatreminiscent of Shostakovich. Overall I would grade itas a 4- in difficulty.

Adrian Williams: Sonate pour basson et piano.

Éditions Max Eschig(215, rue du Faubourg St.-

Honoré, 75008 Paris)This is a fabulous new work for bassoon! According

to the frontispiece, it was commissioned with assis-tance from “Pour que l’esprit vive” for CatherineMarchese and first performed by her with the com-poser at La Pree on May 19, 1996. It is a four move-ment composition, (moderate, slow, very fast, andfast), 15 minutes in length, and not overly difficult(about a Grade 4). The work is cyclic in structure inthat thematic material is carried over from one move-ment to the next, but often beautifully transformed inthe process. The range is only up to high d2, but itstill would take an advanced performer to get themost out of the wonderfully written music. The styleis British, somewhat reminiscent of Ralph VaughanWilliams, but more modern in technique if not inmood. I fell in love with the work the first time I readthrough it. The primary thematic material is basedupon the reiteration of descending minor thirds. Thisis an interval which I have always felt has a kind ofuniversally mournful quality to it-somewhat impres-sionistic in character. This thematic idea recurs in allthe movements, but is often varied in the carryover-a kind of “ideé fixe”. The third movement is an excit-ing scherzo-like Allegro Vivace. Even here and in thespirited final movement however, the overall expres-sive quality of the music prevails. I have alreadydecided to perform this work myself. Get a copy of itand I know you or your better students will want toas well!

IDRS JOURNAL 109

Ed Bland: For Bassoon (November, 1979)(Osmund Music Inc., PO Box 451112, Los Angeles,

CA 90045; tel: 213 368 6418; Fax; 310 215 9924.$5.95, plus $3.50 shipping and handling)

This is a single movement work for solo bassoon ofabout 3 minutes duration written in an atonal jazzstyle. The first twelve pitches of the work comprisea 12 tone row, which is then used with somewhatfreely in subsequent statements. The work is primar-ily held together by the unity of the jazzy rhythmicgestures. This is the greatest challenge of the work-the rhythm, which, while not overly complex, muststill be “swung” in order for the work to be stylisti-cally successful. Technically the range is only up tohigh a2, but the rhythmic problems make it prettymuch a 4- in difficulty. It would require a mature stu-dent to pull it off. As a matter of fact, California bas-soonist Julie Feves, Director of Performance at theCalifornia School of the Arts, who has worked closelywith Ed Bland on a number of occasions, stated in anaccompanying letter of introduction that she uses hismusic “...to help advanced students learn to mastercomplex rhythmic and contrapuntasl idioms.”

Music for More Than One Bassoon

Graham Lyons: Bassoon Games: Rita and theWolf and Stereonata for two bassoons. UsefulMusic: Advanced Woodwind Series 4 (availablefrom: Sunshine Music Distribution Co., Inc., 407North Grant Avenue, Suite 400, Columbus, OH43215-2157. Tel: (614) 221-1917, (800) 221-0711,

Fax: (614) 22c4-1009. $8.50) This is an interesting, fairly short duo for two bas-

soons of moderate to advanced difficulty. The rangeascends only to c2 in the first bassoon, and only inthe second of the duos. That, and the relativelystraightforward technical difficulty make it only aGrade 3, capable of being played by talented highschool students. I found the first duo of only moder-ate interest. The first bassoon plays the Rita role andthe second growls along mostly down low as the bigbad wolf. The second work is much more interesting,however, with clever uses of rhythm and imitation ina stereophonic way under an allegro tempo. It is anice collection, and makes for fun reading with agood student.

Michael Curtis: Seven Jazz and Ethnic Duos fortwo bassoons. Managed Systems Solutions,

P.O. Box 2281, Ft. Collins, Co.Tel: (800) 421 1016. $15.00.

This is a fun collection of works. The jazz numbersrequire a bit of expertise to “swing” so that one doesn’tsound too “square” while playing them. (Fortunately

I have some “jazzers” in my bassoon studio who canhelp me out here!) The ethnic movements are writtenwith flavors of Latin America, Bulgaria, Scotland andIsrael. They make for delightful reading with one ofyour better students (a solid grade 4) and might evensound well on a recital program. (Movements couldeasily be extracted and played alone.) The first partascends only to high d2 and the second part to b2,but the parts are generally treated equally in techni-cal difficulty with the second part crossing the first attimes and taking the lead. Michael Curtis is a formerstudent of Norman Herzberg, and lives in Portland,Oregon, where he free lances as well as serving asprincipal bassoon of the Eugene SymphonyOrchestra. This, along with other works of his men-tioned elsewhere in this review, is a nice set of duosfor bassoon, and I recommend them strongly to youfor your musical enjoyment.

Daniel Kazez: Canons, Catches and Roundsfor 3 and 4 bass clef instruments.

(Works by Purcell, Byrd, Blow, and other com-posers of the English Baroque). SU 274.

(Southern Music Co. San Antonio, Texas. $10.00. This is a nice collection of very easy and readable

canons and rounds, written out in score form andarranged by cellist Daniel Kazez. The works can beplayed by any bass clef instruments, even cellos, asKazez has included bowings for them as well. Theyall sound great, on bassoons however, and are verymuch within the ability of even an average highschool student. The range never exceeds a2 in any ofthe upper parts, and often the third part is written anoctave lower, so that it could be handled by a playerof even more limited ability. All the parts are in thebass clef-there is no tenor clef. I would rate this aGrade 2+ in difficulty, and recommend it especiallyfor use in clinics and classes with high school-agedstudents. The works are all quite short and delightfulto read and play.

Johann Neopomuk Hummel (1778-1837)Fagottquartett in Es-Dur für 4 Fagotte, edited by

Helge Bartholomäus. Musik-und BuchverlagWerner Feja, Berlin.(Available from Bassoon

Heritage Editions, P.O. Box 4491,Fort Lauderdale, FL 33338. $13.25.

This quartet was recently discovered and printedby the first time under the editorship of HelgeBartholomäus, who is a member of the BerlinFagottquartette. It is a very pleasant, single move-ment work of about 4 minutes length that is generallymarch-like in character. The parts are not overly dif-


ficult-the first bassoon has one rapid series of arpeg-gios on an f dominant seventh chord followed by a bflat chord that might require some fast- (or double-)tonguing, but all the other parts are quite easy andreadable. It is a nice addition to the bassoon quartetliterature, and I recommend it strongly to you. Itwould make a good opener (or closer) on a bassoonrecital.

Reinhard Keiser (1674-1739)Geloso sospetto from the Opera

Octavian (1705) for soprano, four bassoonsand continuo. (Edited by Gordon Solie).

Editions VIENTO, 8711 SW 42nd St.,Portland, OR 97219Tel: (503) 244-3060.

This is a unique early quartet for bassoons andsoprano by one of the early German of opera com-posers. It is a da capo aria typical of the opera seriastyle of the time. In an andante tempo, it presents thefour bassoons in a florid, flowing 6/8 meter on theritornello at the beginning and the end of the A sec-tion, then tacet for the fairly short B section, beforereturning for the da capo A. Only the first and secondbassoon parts are of moderate difficulty (Grade 3-),and the bass continuo part, (which could be read ona fifth bassoon) is much more interesting than eitherthe 3rd or 4th bassoon part. This is presumablybecause the 3rd or 4th parts were played by the twooboists who were believed to have picked up bas-soons to play these parts! The work is a curiouslyunique historical piece which might go well on a con-cert of mixed vocal and instrumental music.

Ed Bland: One on One for two bassoons, or anadaptation of the rhythm of the second bassoon

part for percussion on tape. (1996)(Osmund Music Inc. Address given earlier.

$10,95 for bassoon duo version$12.95 for the bassoon/tape version-tape

supplied-plus $3.50 shipping and handling.)

This is a very interesting concept for a piece. Themusic exists in two versions. The first is that of aconventional duo for two bassoons written in anatonal but jazz style. The second version takes therhythm of the second bassoon part and presents it asa taped percussion part, so that the work could bepresented as a solo/tape composition. Frankly, this isthe version that sounds the best to me. The two

parts are very contrapuntal and imitative in nature,but the solo/percussionn version gives the musicmore variety and contrast for my ears than the duobassoon version.Moreover, another version of thepiece with the first bassoon part as a taped percus-sion part also exists, but this version was not on thedemonstration tape sent me. This work, written justlast year, in 1996, sounds much more mature stylisti-cally than Ed Bland’s solo bassoon work: For Bassoon(1979), reviewed earlier. As with that piece, however,the more complex rhythms, which the bassoonistmust once again “swing”, make this a work of about agrade 4 level, suitable for an advanced player. I real-ly liked the bassoon/tape version and would recom-mend it strongly as an interesting ca.3-4 minute“change-of-pace” work for your next recital. The workalso exists in versions for flute and bassoon, clarinetand bassoon, bassoon and bass clarinet, as well asother oboe and clarinet configurations! Quite a bit ofversitility from a single work!

Music for Bassoonwith other Instruments

Michael Curtis:Eight More Original Jazz Duos, and

Duo Suite on Mexican Themes for oboe and bas-soon. Managed Systems Solutions,

(Address given earlier.)$15.00.

These are neatly composed and written duos foroboe and bassoon. They are cleverly crafted in eithera jazz or Mexican style and/or idiom. Each movementis almost exclusively in da capo form and about twoto four minutes in length. They are technically fairlydemanding, more rhythmically than by range. Playingthem in a jazz style would also require “swinging” therhythms as they are written. Because of these morerarely requested technical demands, they probablyshould be graded at a 4- level. They are, however,very well done and would be lots of fun to play on arecital. The Jazz Duos could be performed as individ-ual movements without sacrificing the quality of thewhole. The Suite, however, would probably work bestperformed as an entire piece. As sightreading piecesthey are quite challenging, though quite feasible toplay, especially if one has some experience with thejazz idiom. All in all I can recommend them stronglyto you for an interesting “change of pace” work on afuture recital.

Mariano Mores: “El Firulete”

IDRS JOURNAL 111

arranged for oboe and bassoon by Mariano Kraus.Latin American Works for Bassoon (Andrea

Merenzon Collection)(Avenue Córdoba 2555 “5o”,

Capital Federal (1120)Argentina. Tel: (54-1) 961 5593,

Fax: (54-1) 961 8223).

This is a lovely, spirited Latin American encore-type work arranged for oboe and bassoon from thecollection of Latin American music by the Argentinianbassoonist Andrea Merenzon. Many of you mighthave heard Andrea, herself, perform it withArgentinian oboist Ruben Albornoz at the IDRSConference in Tallahassee last year. It is in da capoform and is very tuneful and, as one would expect,very rhythmic. It would make a perfect recital encorepiece with its brief length and warm spirit. AndreaMerenzon has been very active in South Americacompiling, collecting, and commissioning LatinAmerican composers for music for the double reeds,especially the bassoon. This work is only one of manythat she has published herself and made available tothe general public. You can probably get hold of hercatalog of works by writing to the above address. Irecommend you do. This gem is only one of the manythat there are in her collection.

Václav Kucera: Duettini per Oboe e Fagotto.

Editio Moravia, Brno 1995. EM0056.When I wrote the article “Bassoon Music from the

Czech Republic” (Double Reed, Vol.17, No. 1,1994), Ireviewed this work. This is a reprint of part of myreview at that time: “This is a major work by one ofthe Czech Republic’s most important modern com-posers. It is in four movements-Introduke, Scherzino,Canzonette, and Finale-and is about 14-15 minutes inlength. The technical demands are quite severe, how-ever, even though the bassoon part ascends only tod2. The rhythms are quite varied throughout, makingit a 4+ to 5- in difficulty. It reminds me a little bit of theAndre Jolivet Duo for Oboe and Bassoon in difficultylevel. It is a striking piece, however, well worth theeffort it would take to perform it.”

When I wrote that review the work had not beenpublished. It has subsequently been published byEditio Moravia of Brno. If you should have troublegetting hold of the work, you might try writing thecomposer directly, whose address (at least in 1994!)is: Vaclav Kucera, Csc, Jizni II., 778 CR-14100 Praha 4,Czech Republic.

Christopher Weait:

Ten by Three: A Collection of Folksongs fromQuébec for oboe (or clarinet),

bassoon (or cello) and keyboard(piano or harpsichord). Miami Music Editions

(Address given earlier) MME 27 $29.00.

I don’t know if this work has been reviewed before. Ido recall hearing this work performed at a previousIDRS Conference. Some of you might know it from thatperformance. If you don’t you should get to know it. Itis a lovely compilation of French Canadian folk songsarranged by Chris Weait when he was still with theToronto Symphony, prior to his move to Ohio StateUniversity, Columbus. It is now available through HenrySkolnick’s Miami Music Editions, and I recommend itstrongly to you as a very solid recital piece. The tenmovements are widely varied in style and length, andwhile technically demanding at times, they are very wellwritten for the instruments by a composer who knowswhat the instruments can do. Each instrument, includ-ing the piano, gets a chance to shine with both solo andensemble movements, which also add nicely to the vari-ety of textures found within the work. The style is fun-damentally tonal with modal/folk-style gestures alsoquite prevalent. I would grade it as a Grade 4-. It’s a nicework-one of the so very few for this combination ofinstruments- and I recommend it strongly to you.

Gordon Jacob: Duo for clarinet and bassoon(First Edition)

Miami Music Editions MME 40.(Address given earlier.)

This work is a gem. It is only four minutes in length,and was written in 1975 as a sound track for a shortabstract film. It was resurrected by WilliamWaterhouse and is now available thru Miami MusicEditions. Despite its brevity, it manages to capture andhold the attention of both the performers and the lis-tener. It would be perfect as an encore piece on yourrecital. Technically it is virtually sightreadable, proba-bly a Grade 3, but that does not distract from the qual-ity of the work. I can only quote the reaction of my clar-inettist colleague, Roger Cole, after we had read it:

“This one’s a ‘keeper’!”

Ryuji Yamauchi: Duet for flute and bassoon.Phoebus Publications, 1303 Faust Ave.,Oshkosh, WI 54901. Two scores: $8.00.

This is a work in seven short movements. It is writ-ten in a tonal, at times somewhat oriental style, andis technically quite easy (Grade 3) in both parts. It isa little disappointing musically in that some of the


movements seem a bit static and too repetitive ofsimilar rhythms and motives. It would be a nice workfor high school performers who would find it wellwithin their technical scope, or perhaps as a sight-reading piece in your library. The music is hand writ-ten but very legible and clearly printed.

Gernot Wolfgang:Duo (1992) for flute and bassoon. Ludwig

Doblinger (Bernhard Herzmansky) KG, Wien-München, Catalog # 06 319. (Ca. 8 minutes)

This is an interesting single-movement work with avariety of tempo changes. According to the compos-er’s notes, it is based on the construction of synthet-ic scales, after the teachings of American composerVincent Persichetti. These scales are neither majornor minor, but constructed totally by the composerwho can then use them in an atonal, polytonal, oreven at times tonal manner. The piece makes inter-esting use of silence as a structural part of the musicas well. The style is quite varied, at times serious, atothers rather tongue-in-cheek in its humor. It is notoverly difficult, perhaps a Grade 4+ to 5-. The bassoonpart ascends to d2, but the tissitura is not in the highregister all that much. It is definitely a pleasant work,and I recommend it to you strongly as a solid piece ofcontemporary music that will be quite accessible toyour audience.

Mark Sforzini:Rhapsody (1995) for flute and bassoon.

(4111 West Swann Ave., Tampa, FL 33609,Tel. (813) 287-1319)

This is a beautiful piece of modern music. Some ofyou might have been fortunate enough to hear it per-formed by Mark Sforzini himself on the bassoon,along with flutist Catherine Wendtland-Landmeyer atthe last IDRS Conference in Tallahassee last June. Iwasn’t able to myself, but so many colleagues told mehow impressed they were with the work, I ordered acopy from the composer. It is a single movementwork but about 12’ 30’’ in length, which makes it amajor piece for this combination of instruments. Itbegins with loud and rapid music that gradually sub-sides into a more rhapsodic section. After this themusic becomes a bit more playful, with first the flute,then the bassoon playing a legato melody, with theother instrument alternating with a staccato ostinatopattern. An acceleration in tempo leads to faster andmore agitated music, followed by a cadenza andrecitative-like section that rises to the climax of thework-only to gradually slow to a soft and gorgeousending. Technically it is not an easy work. It would bea Grade 5+ to 6- in difficulty. The highest note in the

bassoon is only c2, but with the varied rhythms,tempo changes, accelerations, and with the rhythmicprecision required between themselves, it wouldrequire quite a bit of rehearsal time to work out the“signals” between the two performers. The musiccomes with a full score, along with two beautifullycross-cued separate parts. The only complaint wasthat our flutist felt that the flute part could have beencross-cued even more. The bassoon part is fine. Istrongly recommend this work to you as a beautiful,exciting and skillfully written piece of modern musicworth reaching a wide audience.

Hans Possega:Trio für Flüte, Fagott und Klavier. Accolade

Musikverlag (Tölzer Strasse 10, 83607 Holzkirchen, Germany.

Tel/Fax 0049-8024-92143. ACC 1050. Here is still another nice piece of contemporary

music written in a highly expanded tonal, but gener-ally lyrical and non-pointillistic style by Munich com-poser/pianist Hans Possega. The work is published ina very handsome edition by a fairly new publishingcompany founded by Celia Collins and bassoonistBodo Koenigsbeck. The work is also in a single move-ment, but with three main sections: an allegro, anintroduction and modified “waltzish” section, and anagitato finale. The antiphonal interplay between thethree instruments is particularly well handled in thiswork. The technical demands are somewhat strong,but not overly so. I would grade it overall as a goodGrade 5-. It is not particularly “sightreadable”, butwould probably go together without too much diffi-culty in rehearsal. The impressive factor is that it is,as with the two previous flute-bassoon worksreviewed above, very skillfully composed. It is excit-ing to see such good music being written for ourinstrument! Accolade Musikverlag is in the process ofbuilding a chamber music catalog. Hopefully the com-ing works will be as solidly written as this one.

Karl Eduard Goepfart (1859-1942):Trio Op. 75 for clarinet, bassoon, and piano.

Bassoon Heritage Edition BHE 14(Address given earlier)

This is an interesting work in a late romantic styleby the relatively obscure German composer KarlEduard Goepfart. It is in three movements-fast, slow,fast-and is not overly challenging technically ormusically. It would make a nice contrasting romanticwork (a rarity for this combination of instruments!)on a chamber music or solo recital. The bassoon partis only a Grade 3+ ascending only to b flat2, but wouldprobably require at least the maturity of a college stu-

IDRS JOURNAL 113

dent to “wring” the proper romanticism from thenotes. It is printed here by BHE very clearly in repro-duction of its original printing by Johannes Sernau inWeimar, coming from the prodigious music library ofWilliam Waterhouse. I recommend it strongly as anice addition to your chamber music library.

Peter Schmalz:Four Horsemen of the Peptic Apocalypse for clar-

inet, bassoon and piano. Phoebus Publications(Address given earlier)$22 for score and parts.

This is a fascinating, well-written piece of music. Itis in four “upsettingly titled” movements: Rubor (red-ness), Tumor (swelling), Dolor (pain), and Calor(heat). The composer provides no programmaticnotes describing the “raison d’etre” for the titles, butthe work, written in a modern, but not overly pointil-listic style, is both pleasing to play and enjoyable tohear. The composition follows a somewhat standardfour movement sequence of a slow intro-fast firstmovement, scherzo-like second, lento third, andpresto finale. The parts are composed well for allthree instruments and would provide a fair challengeto each. I would grade it a 4+ overall. Though it is notquite sightreadable, one can get a pretty good feel forthe work reading it for the first time. My ensemblewas enthusiastic enough about the work to considerprogramming it ourselves in the near future. I recom-mend it strongly to you as a nice modern work forthis combination of instruments.

Giuseppe Verdi:La Traviata (Excerpts from the Opera arranged byAlexandre Ouzounoff for oboe, clarinet, and bas-soon) International Music Diffusion (IMD 321) (24-

26 rue Etex, 75018Paris, France; tel: (1) 42 29 21 31;

fax: (1) 42 63 47 31. This little gem is a delight to play. French bassoon-

ist Alexandre Ouzounoff has skillfully arranged theOverture and most of the memorable arias andensembles from the opera for wind trio. Every instru-ment gets a chance to “show off” in the course of the

work, and it is written so that the entire work couldbe performed (with a nice finale to finish it off!), orindividual movements could be extracted from it andplayed alone. It is very readable and not overly diffi-cult in all the parts, about a solid grade 3+. I recom-mend it to you as a nice source for potential encorematerial for your repertoire, or even just for the funof reading it with your colleagues.

Carl Maria von Weber:2nd Movement from Concerto Opus 75, tran-

scribed for bassoon and wind ensemble by PeterSchmalz. Phoebus Publications

(address given earlier)Full score and parts $15.00.

With the addition of the slow movement to theOpus 75, Peter Schmalz has now made the entirework available for solo bassoon with an accompa-niement of 2 first clarinets, 2 second clarinets, 2 thirdclarinets, alto clarinet, bass clarinet, E flat contraclarinet, BB flat contra clarinet, and 2 horns.According to the catalog, the prices are: 1st mvt.$40.00 for score and parts, $8.00 for full score; 2ndmvt. $15.00 for score and parts, $5.00 for full acore;and 3rd mvt. $35.00 for score and parts, $20.00 for fullscore. If you have a solo appearance coming up in an“orchestrally impaired” location, this arrangementmight be just what you need! ❖

114 IDRS WWW ONLINE

IDRS WWW Search, July, 1997http://idrs.colorado.edu/Search/Search.html

IDRS OnLine®Access to certain sections of the IDRS WWW, such as the membership directory, requires a password. Toobtain a password, you must subscribe to IDRS OnLine®. To subscribe to IDRS OnLine®, send an email mes-sage to: [email protected]. Leave the subject field blank and type in the first line of text in the bodyof your message: SUBSCRIBE IDRS-L [your first name] [your last name]. Example: for Joe Bassoon to sub-scribe to the mailing list, Joe would type SUBSCRIBE IDRS-L Joe Bassoon as the first line of text in the bodyof his email message.

IDRS JOURNAL

Playing “Short” High Notes on the Hautboy

By Bruce HaynesMontreal, Quebec, Canada

115

he hautboy (or “baroque oboe”) is expect-ed to play up to d3, but has no octave key.For this reason, there is a certain urgencyin finding secure fingerings for the high

notes. In the earliest experiments with the instru-ment back in the 1960s, the fingerings thatseemed to be the safest were the so-called “longfingerings” (because of their longer speakinglength, using fingers of both hands). These fin-gerings, which tap second harmonics of lowernotes, have been generally used for a generationnow.1

Many players have used them reluctantly,being aware that long fingerings had no connec-tion with the baroque instrument; until after themiddle of the 18th century, every known chartindicates high notes with fingerings identical tothe octave below, and c3 was given “all open.”2

Even after bb2 and c3 began to be played withadded right-hand fingers, b2 often continued tobe indicated “short,” ie., with the first fingeronly.3

By contrast, almost every chart from c1770gives the more complex fingerings (the ones nor-mally used nowadays), suggesting that a defini-tive change took place at about this time.(Changes of technique at this date are not sur-prising, since by 1770 the “classical” or “narrow-bore” hautboy was very different from the instru-ments of the late 17th and early 18th centuries.Short-fingered high notes might therefore be con-sidered one of the defining characteristics of the“baroque” hautboy.)

Here are the high-note fingerings for the nineknown hautboy charts that appear prior toc1770:

g2 123 (Ba, L, S, H); Bi, F, M add 6

g# 123 (Ba, L, S, H); F, M add 6; 12 4 (E) Bi adds

6

ab 123 (H); Bi, F, M add 6; 122 4 (Ba, L, S)

a 12 (Ba, L, S, H); Bi, M add 6, F adds 68

a# 1 3 (F); Bi adds 6

bb 1 3 (Ba, L, S, F, H); M adds 6; Bi adds 68

b 1 (Ba, H); Bi, M add 6; 2 (L, S, F)

c3 “All open” (Ba, L, S, F, H); 2 6 (Bi); 2 7

(E); 23 45 (M)

d 23 456 (Bi, H); 23 8 (F)

(Bi) Bismantova 1688

(Ba) Banister 1695

(L) Le Riche c1692

(S) Second Book of Theatre Music 1699

(F) Freillon-Poncein 1700

(H) Hotteterre 1707

(E) Eisel 1738

(D) Diderot 1756

One way to check whether long high-note fin-gerings were used is by looking for upward slursto bb2, b2, and c3 from beyond the register break(that is, from c2 downwards) in music written inthis period specifically for hautboy. Slurs of thiskind are only possible with long fingerings. I haveso far failed to find any in hautboy solos writtenprior to 1770.4

The angle at which the hautboy was held alsosays something about whether short high-notefingerings were used. To play the c3 “all open,”the hautboy must be held at an angle of at least45˚, since the fingers cannot be used to hold theinstrument; it is balanced on the two thumbs.Hotteterre wrote (1707:44)

That would explain why thumbrests are neverfound on original instruments; holding theinstrument between 45˚ and 90˚ to the verticalmakes a thumbrest redundant. Several early pic-tures show the instrument held fairly high.5

The fine metal chains that were sometimesattached to the top joints of hautboys may havehad to do with using short high-note fingerings.6

It is possible to drop the instruments when play-ing c3 “all open,” especially if (as often happenedin those days) the player is marching. The chainmay have been meant to loop through a button-hole to keep the instrument from falling.

As I wrote in an article on hautboy fingering in1978,

T

On doit tenir le Haut-Bois,à peu prés comme la Fluteà Bec, avec cette differ-ence, qu’il doit être unefois plus élevé.

The hautboy should beheld much like therecorder, with the differ-ence that it should beraised still more.

PLAYING “SHORT” HIGH NOTES ON THE HAUTBOY116

Most if not all players of the early 18th-centu-ry oboe regularly use these more secure har-monic fingerings for the upper notes whenthey must be tongued. The reason for thisanachronism is one of the current mysteriesin the field.7

In the intervening years, this statement hasremained true. Using the equipment we havedeveloped, no one has been able to switch entire-ly over to the original fingerings. Some playersuse b2 fingered 1 and even bb2 with 1 3, but Iknow of no player who regularly uses an open c3.

Why is this important? An anachronistic fin-gering or two is not a serious issue. The realquestion is whether after a generation of playingthe hautboy, a failure to find a solution to such abasic problem is not a sign of an anomalousapproach to breath support, embouchure, reeds,or a combination of all three. Beyond this (as wehave discovered before) is it possible that byignoring the few historical clues we have, we aremissing technical advantages, insights, some-thing of the original character and sound of thehautboy, or even a more beautiful tone?

Michel Piguet raised this subject in his talk atthe Utrecht Double-Reed Symposium in 1994,suggesting that “something is not right about ourBaroque reed material.” I found Michel’s remarksboth an appeal to conscience and an inspiration,and in May 1995, I set out to try to understandthis mystery. As might be imagined, Iapproached this project reluctantly, involving asit did a certain loss of security on the high notes,and a reed that squeaks more easily. I’ve beenexperimenting with it more or less continuously(with a few retreats) since then, and this articleis a report on what I have so far found.

My approach was first to begin using theshort fingerings (after warning the neighbors!),and second to make a test over 80 different sta-ple designs and a number of different canegouges and shapes. I’m not yet sure I have a finaldesign, but I think I’m getting close.

It is likely that there is more than one way toachieve these fingerings. For myself, I found it tobe a question of about 75% reed and 25%diaphragm support. The reed I ended up using isdescribed below. While I hope the dimensions Igive will be of help to the players, my point is notto advocate certain reed dimensions. Every play-er has his own dimensions. I’m sure the way toplay the short high notes does not depend ononly one kind of reed. I do want to say, though,that in one way or another it is indeed possibleto use these fingerings. After testing them in thepurifying fires of a number of concerts since the

middle of 1996, I can also say that (although theyinvolve risk and insecurity) I never want to goback to the long fingerings I myself used for near-ly 30 years. The short fingerings offer advantagesthat I’m only slowly beginning to appreciate,some of which I will discuss below.

As far as reeds go, I experimented with canediameter, cane gouge, cane shape, staple topopening, staple taper, staple wall thickness, sta-ple length within the counterbore, and reedpitch. I also tried staples with circular and ovaltop openings, and tying loosely with a gapbetween the sides of the cane and the top of thestaple.8 I developed reeds for different hautboysat A-415 and A-403. In the end, to have good high-note response using short fingerings, including areasonably secure open c3, I found there werethree factors that were critical: the dimensions ofthe top opening of the staple, the taper of thestaple, and the width of the cane.

I had been using a top inner diameter of 2.6 to2.8; for these fingerings, I find it cannot be biggerthan 2.2 (smaller than this does not help). Ibelieve the critical dimension is not the topopening itself, but rather the outer diameter itimplies (I tried using a small top opening with ashape that was wide at the throat, and it did notproduce responsive high notes). A small outerdiameter allows a throat that is narrow enoughto accommodate a tip width of 8.8 to 9.22(depending on the pitch of the hautboy). The tipwidth appears to be a critical dimension. I hadpreviously used 10 mm, which gives deliciouscross fingerings and a flexible low register. A nar-rower shape has the effect of raising the tessitu-ra; the notes that speak most easily are those ofthe upper register.

I also found I had to change the taper of thestaple. From .054 expansion per mm of length,which I had used previously, I’m now up to .074.Staple taper affects the tuning of the notes aboveg2 in relation to those below it (a bigger tapermakes a bigger interval, ie., the high notesbecome higher). This taper seems extreme com-pared to what I have used in the past, but I find itnecessary in order not to pinch off the sound ofthe high notes, and to bring the bb2 up to pitchwith the fingering 1 3. Also, with a throat this nar-row, a taper that is too slight will cause the cross-fingerings in the low register to roll.

A related consideration is that lengtheningthe EL (the exposed length, or the amount thestaple projects out of the instrument) not onlylowers the general pitch but also makes the highnotes lower in relation to the low notes. Quantzwrites (1752:XVII:vii:7) that the octaves expand

IDRS JOURNAL 117

as the reed is shortened and contract as it islengthened, a rule that I find to be true. The gen-eral pitch at which an instrument is played (andthere is considerable leeway with hautboys) willaffect the tuning of the high notes, and thusinteract with staple taper.

In a sense, good high-note response and goodcross-fingerings are conflicting requirements,because the first demands a narrow throat andthe second demands enough volume within thestaple. These two extremes are in balance with areed that can tongue quick repeated c1s andshort c3s. This is a matter of subjective judge-ment, of course, since it is a balance betweenthe percentage of time the open c3 fails torespond against the tone quality and feel in themiddle and lower register. Since a squeak is akind of unintended high note, any reed thatencourages high notes also tends to squeakmore easily, as for instance in the passage ab2-eb2-c3-eb2. As Michel Piguet noticed, most earlyfingering charts have the first hole completelycovered for eb2. Squeaks are mainly caused byleaking; James Talbot’s hautboy informant(probably François Le Riche) expressed his con-cern about leaks.9 One way to avoid them is todesign the staple so it enters as far as it possiblycan into the instrument’s counterbore. This alsogives a more solid, stable feeling.10

As far as blowing technique for the high notesis concerned, I now understand whatBismantova and later sources mean when theytalk of “increasing the air for each note as youascend.”11 The c3 is the most sensitive note, andrequires a very generous flow of air that mustnever let up.

It occurred to me that this setup might workonly on modern copies, so I’ve purposely tried iton several old hautboys. I found that it worksthe same way.

If we imagine a continuum of reeds that workon the hautboy, one extreme is the bassoonreed, which when placed on a hautboy producesgratifying low-register notes and cross-finger-ings, but nothing above a2. On the other end isthe modern oboe reed, which is extremely unco-operative in the ways the bassoon reed is help-ful, but will play into the stratosphere. In negoti-ating a compromise between these extremes,each player finds his own balance. The reed thatallows the original high-note fingerings to workis somewhat closer to the modern oboe reedand farther from the bassoon reed than I wouldotherwise choose. But is has advantages thatare difficult to ignore.

Not only is it, to the best of our current

knowledge, closer to what players used in theperiod from about 1670 to 1770, but it offers abetter sound and a simplified technique in thefollowing ways:

• Tone quality: short fingerings produce asweeter, clearer, trumpet-like tone. They pro-duce a more direct, homogeneous sound in rela-tion to the rest of the instrument’s range, elimi-nating the shift in tone normally associated withthe high register. The long fingerings have stuffi-ness by comparison (as, for instance, a2-c3, orthe sound of d3-bb2-g2-bb2). The lack of a regis-ter break above a2 is liberating.12 Although smalladjustments are still necessary, there is a senseof playing the complete range of the instrumentwith essentially the same embouchure andbreath pressure.

• Intonation and stability: the short bb2, withits ceiling sharper than which it will not go,keeps all the high notes lower and more fixedthan those produced with long fingerings. Theb2 is also unwilling to be pushed up.

• Dynamic contrast: short fingerings offerconsiderably more dynamic range than is possi-ble with long fingerings. A by-product of the reedthat plays them is an a2 with a better dynamicrange and response, virtually equal to that ofany lower note.

• Passagework is obviously simpler to fingerin most combinations that involve the highnotes: compare, for instance, the combinationsg2 combined with bb2, b2, and c3.

• Upwards slurs: the lack of a register breakmakes more upward slurs feasible: compare thelong and short fingerings

to c3 from f2, g2, and g#2.to b2 from d2, e2 and f2.to bb2 from eb2.There are drawbacks as well, though minor

ones. The short fingerings emphasize the regis-ter break between c3 and the two notes above it,c#3 and d3. As a result, slurred c3-d3 and b2-d3are delicate. (The most successful fingering ford3 is 23 6.) And the kind of reed that will playshort high notes also emphasizes the registerbreak between the low register ending on c2 andthe next register. This is especially noticeablefor the slurred interval c2-e2, which is more dif-ficult than on wider reeds with larger staple topdiameters.

Although they are new to most players, theshort fingerings (except for c3) are the same asthe ones already used in the lower octave, whichmeans they are easy to learn. Fortunately, themore complex long fingerings are not affectedand continue to be available as backups. ❖

PLAYING “SHORT” HIGH NOTES ON THE HAUTBOY118

Endnotes

1. The long fingerings vary but are often bb2 = 12 456 7,b2 = 1 3 456 7, c3 = 23 45 7.

2. Except for Minguet (see below).3. This fingering actually works well with any kind of

reed as a “passive” b2 (ie., one approached by slur).4. The last Allegro of Dreyer’s 6th sonata, mm 19-20,

has octave slurs from a1-a2 and b1-b2; the slurs arecasually placed and I prefer the musical effect whenthey are not slurred. The original score to C.P.E.Bach’s hautboy concerto in Bb (H466, c1765) hasupward slurs to bb2 and c3 in bars 52, 146, and 204of the first movement that cannot be accomplishedwith short fingerings. But not only is this piece rel-atively late, it is uncertain if it was originally con-ceived for harpsichord or hautboy. J.S. Bach’sChristmas Oratorio of 1734 calls for octave slurs onbb 1-2 and c203 in the 1st hautbois d’amour part. Itis possible this instrument always — or more often,at least — used long high-note fingerings (or wasdoing so by 1734 in Leipzig). Short fingerings areoften useful in d’amour parts, however (cf. BWV108/1), and are more readily available than on thetreble hautboy. The first movement of Cavazza’sSonata de oboe of 1777 (which was conceived as atest piece) has slurs from c2 to bb22 and c3.

5. Evidence is divided on this point, however. Onlyfour of the nine pictures I know earlier than 1770that show the angle of the hautboy relative to thebody are larger than 45˚.

6. Cf. the poem comparing the Schalmeye with thehautboy under the “Schalmeyen” illustrationJohann Christoph Weigel’s Musicalisches Theatrum(c1720), which includes the phrase “dich ziert einPfening-Band und mich die Guldne Ketten” (“Thouart held by a penny-band; a golden chain gracesme”).

7. Bruce Haynes, (May 1978), “Oboe fingering charts,1695-1816,” GSJ, pp. 68-93.

8. Cf. Burgess, Geoffrey and Peter Hedrick, 1989. “Theoldest English reeds? An examination of 19 surviv-ing examples,” GSJ 42: 41ff. I did not find that eitherof these variables was of help in high-noteresponse.

9. “The reed must be well moistened before the instru-ment will sound well to preserve itself the Windwithin …” James Talbot, Musica, c1692.

10. There are indications that early staples did notalways extend as far as possible into the instru-ment, however. The Stanesby staple (HornimanMuseum, with hautboy 1969.683) is only 43 mmlong, but with the top opening and taper it has,could probably have extended another 10-12 mm.Staples were sometimes short enough that theycould go in too far; Fischer (The complete tutor forthe hautboy, c1770:5) advisesWhen you put your Reed in the Hautboy you should becareful not to put it in too far, as it will be difficult toblow, and probably be out of Tune: if the end of theReed is too small, to prevent it’s going too far into theHautboy, put some thread round it.The carelessness with which the bottom of the sta-ple in the grand chalumeau of the Claudius musette#485 (Copenhagen) was made (clearly not round)suggests that it was not intended to extend all theway to the walls of the counterbore.

11. “… crescere ogni volta piü il Fiato, e ad ogni voice,che farrà piü ascendendo …”

12. Cf. for instance the Vivaldi Concerto in C, RV 447,1:82-85.

IDRS JOURNAL

A Bassoon Lite, PleaseBy Alan Goodman

Los Angeles, California

Der Fickle

119

January 3, 1997 / Daily News

vana Trump is suing an Italian ship-buildingfirm for $35 million, saying the $4.1 millionyacht it sold her is a lemon. She says the 105foot boat she ordered up 1 1/2 years ago is

‘unseaworthy, dangerously built and abysmallycontracted,’ plus it measures but 98 feet and onlyhits its posted top speed of 33 mph when it carriesno load and no passengers.

Trump accuses the Cantieri Di Baia Corp ofundermining her ‘internationally recognized per-sona, inflicting emotional stress and causing adiminution in her reputation and prestige.’”

In 1974 I placed an order with the worldrenowned Fickle Bassoon Company located inSchmendricks an der Danube for a brand newbassoon. I had been playing on an older modelFickle for many years and because of someapproaching middle aged hormone imbalancedecided that newer was better. So I sent to thecompany for their brochure which I received inshort order. After much agonizing over the par-ticulars, I settled on an instrument with more orless standard keys, rectangular case, and withsomething I had coveted for many years, a jetblack finish. I labored over the order sheet,something perhaps devised by a former IRSemployee, for several nights. Finally satisfiedthat all was correct, off went the order sheet toSchmendricks an der Danube complete with amoney order representing one-third of the totalpayment. To emphasize the importance of myneed for a good instrument, I enclosed a person-al letter with my order form describing how I wasplaying principal bassoon in the Los AngelesPhilharmonic and therefore needed the bestinstrument possible from the Fickle BassoonCompany.

Satisfied that the Schmendricks an derDanube would soon provide me with bassoonbliss, I settled down to wait my turn on the twoyear waiting list. About a year later a letter writ-ten in foreign code, somewhat similar to English,but probably best understood by otherSchmendricks informed me that the second thirdof the payment was due. I mailed the sum

requested. The Fickle Bassoon Company has aquaint tradition that ensures both the continuedprosperity of the company and the poverty of thecustomer. The bassoon is paid for in advance ofdelivery in three payments: the first at the timeof placement of the order, the second halfwaythrough the two year waiting period, and the bal-ance just before the instrument is mailed off tothe buyer. The first two payments are basedupon estimates of what the instrument mightcost. Might cost is the operative term here sinceno definite price is ever stated at the time of theorder or the waiting period that ensues. Themost interesting payment is the last. Here thecompany charges a balance that reflects thechanging exchange rate of their currency, theHighmark, the increased cost of raw materials,inflationary pressure, increased cost of labor,increased cost of a new Schmendrickmobile, andthe cost of replacing some plumbing in theSchmendrick factory.

The huge cost is immaterial, however, whenwhat you are getting for your money is a worldclass, state-of-the-art, carefully crafted, fullvoiced, finely tuned instrument representing thepinnacle in the art of the bassoon maker’s secret.As I opened the case of my new Fickle bassoon Itingled with anticipation. Here was the answer toall my dreams. A beautiful new jet black bassoonthat would carry me to auditory glory. As a pieceof furniture it rivaled the beautiful finish of aSteinway grand piano. As an instrument it rivaled…? Gee, it didn’t play a note. It leaked so much itwould probably make a good spaghetti strainer,providing that the leaks weren’t so large thespaghetti slipped through the cracks.

This is what it must feel like to drive an expen-sive new car off the lot only to watch the doorsfall off a mile from the dealership. Panic is thehandmaiden of despair. I despaired. I panicked.My doors had fallen off. The spaghetti was slip-ping through my jet black, high priced strainer.Vas der Fickle a pickle? The only way to tell wasto have the bassoon repaired. Then we wouldknow what it sounded like, but not before.

A written complaint to der Schmendricks atthe Fickle factory about my disappointment withthe instrument brought back a most sympathetic

I

A BASSOON LITE, PLEASE - DER FICKLE120

and finitive reply. The Fickle bassoon was per-fect I was informed. All Fickle bassoons wereperfect I was informed. People all over the worldsince the beginning of time played on Ficklesand no one but no one, with the exception of me,had ever had the temerity to even suggest thatthe Fickle was anything less than perfect … I wasinformed. Therefore, the problem obviously laywith me. I was less than perfect and so the prob-lems I was encountering were of my own making… I was informed. Upon reflection I had to admitthere was a certain logic at work here. It wastrue that I was less than perfect. Hadn’t severalconductors been so kind as to point this out tome? Hadn’t my first wife, in a selfless campaignto make me perfect, reminded me of this quiteoften? My response to the Schmendricks atFickle’s thanked them for their insight. Perhapsthey would be so kind as to take my persona intotheir world renowned workshop to make it overinto the perfection that was my bassoon’s? Inthat way I could both avoid tampering with aperfect instrument and make several conductorsquite happy, not to mention the ex-wife.

I tried to imagine buying a car, paying for it,and pushing it out of the showroom over to theservice bay to have it repaired so that I coulddrive it home. I tried to imagine getting themoney back that I had paid for the bassoon.Pushing the car was easier to imagine. The bill torepair the bassoon was $1,000.00. But what ismoney when dealing with a work of art. So itcost a few bucks to get going. The importantthing is to keep your perspective. Art. Music.This is the important thing. Not money. Money isa means to an end. Unfortunately for me, I couldno longer be certain of which end we were nowlooking at. It was time to take the Fickle down tothe concert hall and make glorious music. Sothere I was. Yes sir. It was black. It was beautiful.It was expensive. It was repaired. It was a perfectFickle. It was … flat. How flat? Perhaps as flat asa pancake hiding under a five pound frying pan.It tuned to a perfect “A” 436. The orchestratuned to an “A” 442. Logic suggested that boththe orchestra and the Fickle couldn’t both beperfect and yet these two entities were 6 vibra-tions apart. Fortunately I had my recent letterfrom the Schmendricks an der Danube indicat-ing in no uncertain terms who it was who wastruly perfect. In an effort to accommodate 104other misguided souls of the orchestra who, likemyself were apparently also not perfect, I stuckbocals in that instrument that were so shortthey could have passed for bicycle pump nee-dles. Still the Fickle remained stubbornly per-

fect, playing at a solid imperturbable perfect “A”436.

I realized only too late that my mistake was insending the personal letter explaining how Ineeded a good instrument because I played theprincipal bassoon in the Los AngelesPhilharmonic. Actually, I should have sent a let-ter explaining how this was an instrument Ineeded for my pet chimpanzee to play in thelocal zoo band. Then the Schmendricks atFickle’s would have made me a less than perfectinstrument that I could have played in theorchestra. I had the instrument for several yearsduring which time I happened to tour throughSchmendrick an der Danube and dropped intothe Fickle factory to complain once again aboutmy jet black pancake. No problemmo with thelocal Schmendricks. They suggested that I leavethe instrument with them while they drill thebore out and maybe, just maybe, somethinggood would come of it. Of course, for the privi-lege of playing Russian roulette with the blackbassoon the charge would be nominal. I figureda flat bassoon was better than no bassoon at all,and so when I returned home I sold the instru-ment to the chimpanzee in the local zoo band. Ilater heard that he in turn traded it to a gullibleflamingo for an instrument made by Lox ofElkhorn und Hardart an eder Mississippi thatplayed an “A” 442. Rumor has it that the flamin-go in a fit of disgust flew south to Miami drop-ping it into the Atlantic Ocean where it wasrecently reported by a school of dolphins to stillbe emitting bubbles tuned to a perfect “A” 436.

“My Dear Ivana,

Darling! You have my deepest sympathy. I toohave suffered the undermining of my internation-ally recognized persona. Did by any chance yourlemon come with an extremely short bocal withwhich you might be willing to part …” ❖

IDRS JOURNAL

Stan “The Man”

121

he man stood. Alone. His eyes wereclosed. He was a study in concentration.A tenor saxophone hung from a straplooped around the man’s neck. His back

was slightly hunched over, as if he was trying toprotect the instrument from insult by curling asmuch of his body around it as was possible.Beads of sweat formed on his brow as he stoodbefore sheets of music spread, unseen, on themusic stand in front of him. His facial muscleswere contorted with his effort to bring out themood and nuance of the music he was hearingin his mind’s eye. He had been at it for at least ahalf hour now, and he felt that the expression hewas after was just starting to flow. The phonerang. It broke the mood he had worked so hardto get … “Hello …”

“Hello … May I speak to Alan Goodman,please?” The voice at the other end of the linebelonged to a woman. His mind quickly flippedthrough the repertoire of women’s voices heknew. It didn’t register. Someone he didn’t know.Older. Maybe wants a donation for something orother. “Alan Goodman??”

“Yes. This is Arleen Finch from the Los AngelesPhilharmonic. I’m calling to remind Mr. Goodmanthat the first rehearsal next month … that wouldbe July 7th, has been moved up to July 6th. If heis there, may I speak to him please?”

“I’m afraid that won’t be possible MissFinch.”

“Oh … I do have the correct phone number,do I not. Mr. Goodman lives at this number???”

“Well … yeah. You have the right number, buthe’s not here …”

“Oh, I see. Well then, can you have him callme at the Philharmonic offices when he gets in?”

“I’m afraid not, Miss Finch. I’d like to, but Ican’t do that.”

“I’m afraid I’m somewhat confused. Whycan’t I just leave a message for him? You did saythis is his home. Didn’t you?”

“Yes, yes … it’s easy to explain, Miss Finch.You see, Alan Goodman is dead. He died on thefirst day of the Philharmonic’s summer vaca-tion. June 1st.”

“OH MY GOD!!! How awful! I’m soooo sorry!!And he was such a nice man too. Oh I can’tbelieve it … such a relatively young man. I don’tknow what to say …”

“… Well Miss Finch, I guess there’s not muchto be said. But its not as tragic as you mightthink. In a way, it’s kind of funny, if you knowwhat I mean.”

“Funny? FUNNY??? A man dies and you call itFUNNY?! Alan Goodman played principal bas-soon for the Philharmonic for the last twenty-six years, and you have the audacity to call histragic passing Funny??? Say, who am I talkingto? Who are you? Are you a member of thedeceased’s family???”

“Oh me?? Yeah, I guess you could say that.My name is Stan Getz. I’m a very well known andrespected jazz tenor saxophone player. I’ve gothundreds of recordings out with every groupyou could imagine. I recorded, as a matter offact, right up until I died in 1993. Or was it 1994… hard to remember these details, but some-where in there …”

“This is outrageous. Is this some kind of sickjoke, or have you been smoking some bad hemp… I must say I don’t appreciate this whole sadconversation…”

“…Oh this is no joke, Miss Finch. You see, IUSED to be Alan Goodman, but that was up untilJune 1st, when I put my bassoon away for thewhole month. It’s easy really. Alan Goodmandies every year around this time. That’s whenStan Getz is reborn. On June 1st Stan “The Man”Getz takes his tenor sax out of storage and BAM… Mr. Super Sax!! You see, Miss Finch, June isTenor Month. If you wish to call back in July, I’msure Alan Goodman would be happy to talk toyou, but right now … well, I’m afraid he’s dead… at least until July.”

The Sax Man held the phone to his ear for afew moments before he realized the line hadgone dead. He shrugged his shoulders andreturned the phone to its receiver. In shortorder he was back to his place in front of themusic stand. He closed his eyes, curled hisbody around the saxophone as if he was pro-tecting it from harm, and imagined himself onthe bandstand in front of a swinging trio …piano, drums, bass. He took a deep breath andswung into his first chorus of Funny Valentine inB flat. The face of every single patron in thesmoke filled club turned to take in the warm,mellow tones of his soul filled solo. He was intoit now. Really, really into it. So much so, that hedidn’t even notice the dog slink out of the roomand head down to the basement in search of anice quiet, cool corner. ❖

About the Author …Alan Goodman is co-principal bassoon of the

Los Angeles Philharmonic.

T

122 REGRESSION ANALYSIS AS AN AID IN MAKING OBOE REEDS

Regression Analysis as an Aid in Making Oboe Reeds

By Katherine Ceasar-SpallJames C. Spall

Ellicott City, MD

ABSTRACTProfessional oboe players almost always have to

make their own reeds, which involves a time-consum-ing process often fraught with wasted effort and dis-carded results. About one fourth of the total timespent on a reed involves getting it to a stage where itcan be tried out on the oboe. We have used regressionanalysis to aid in making predictions about the ulti-mate quality of a finished reed based on data availableat the initial try-out. The inputs to the regression modelare several different characteristics of the cane used inmaking the reeds, and an assessment of the reed in itsearly stages through this initial try-out on the oboe. Wehope to be able to decide whether or not to continueto work on the reed past this stage, based on the pre-dictions of the regression. Thus far, the outcomes pre-dicted by the regression have coincided reasonablyclosely with the actual outcomes in our trials. Severalregression models were tried, ranging from pure linearto curvilinear models that include interaction termsand/or squared terms, and a particular curvilinearmodel was deemed the most appropriate.

Key words: Oboe reed quality, Statistical analysis,Multivariate regression

[Reprinted, with permission, from the Journal ofTesting and Evaluation, July 1997, copyright AmericanSociety for Testing and Materials, 100 Barr Harbor Drive,West Conshohocken, PA 19428-2959.]

1. INTRODUCTIONThe average concert-goer has little idea of what is

behind the beautiful (one hopes) oboe sound heardemanating from the stage. In addition to the years oftraining and hours of practice that all professionalmusicians undergo, the oboist has a whole otherunique set of problems centered around the making ofthe reeds that are used to produce a sound throughthe instrument. The oboist’s livelihood is thus utterlydependent upon the few square centimeters of vibrat-ing cane in the reed. These reeds require a consider-able amount of skill and time (easily one or morehours) to make, and are by no means always success-ful. Further, they often wear out after only one practicesession, rehearsal, or concert, calling for a constantreplenishment of the supply. Temperature and humid-ity changes can also render a previously good reedunusable. (Bassoonists and clarinetists must alsodeal with making reeds, but their problems are fewer.Their larger reeds last longer and do not require thesame degree of delicate workmanship to produce.)

Needless to say, any new insights into making the pro-duction process more efficient and less time-consum-ing are always welcomed by the oboist.

Specifically addressed in this paper is a means ofusing regression to make faster and more accuratedecisions about which reeds will or will not be suc-cessful. Our aim is to use regression analysis to pre-dict the ultimate quality of a reed before much timehas been spent in making the reed. The ability to accu-rately predict if a reed will be unsuccessful wouldallow the oboist to discard the partially made reedbefore additional fruitless time is spent.

Since most oboists do not have formal statisticaltraining, the authors are unaware of any previousstudy using a regression model for this purpose. A sta-tistical study using regression has been conducted,however, for use in evaluating the quality of oboereeds produced by commercial sources (Vernier andShorter [1]). The professional oboist almost neveruses these commercial reeds because they are quiteexpensive and are usually of inferior quality to theones produced by the oboist for his/her own play.They are mostly bought by students and amateurplayers. The study in [1] differs from this one in thatVernier and Shorter were rating already-finishedreeds, while we are interested in making predictionsabout the quality of the finished reed, using data col-lected from unfinished reeds.

The layout of the remainder of this paper is as fol-lows: Section 2 presents an overview of the reedmak-ing process, including a discussion of the variablesused to construct the regression models. Section 3presents the basic regression models. Section 4 pre-sents a comparison of the actual outcomes of finishedreeds (using new data) to predicted outcomes fromthe regression models. These comparisons were usedto evaluate the validity of the standard regressionassumptions and to compare the relative perfor-mance of the models developed in Section 3.Conclusions and recommendations are made inSection 5.

2. OVERVIEW OF REEDMAKING PROCESSCane for making oboe reeds is usually purchased in

tubes by the pound from France (its scientific name isArundo donax and it is a relative of bamboo). The reed-making process then begins with the splitting of one ofthese tubes. Much cane is discarded at this point forbeing too soft or hard, not straight, not the “right”color, or for being generally of substandard quality.

IDRS JOURNAL 123

After a tube is selected to be made into a reed, thestraightest section is chopped to a usable length andthe inside is gouged out. Again cane can be discardedat this stage for any number of reasons: too soft, does-n’t gouge well, appearance , etc. Then the soakedcane is folded over a metal form and shaped, tied ontoa metal tube, and scraped until it plays. This is thepoint at which we would like the regression to predictwhether or not to continue, because this is by nomeans the end of the reedmaking process. The refin-ing of the scraped reed is usually the most time-con-suming part, as the refining is critical to having thereed meet the stringent requirements for a successfulperformance, i.e., ability to play both loud and softpassages, easy articulation of notes, and overall bal-ance of intonation (playing in tune). It is just this timeperiod, about three fourths of the total time spent perreed, that we wish to avoid if the finished reed is notdestined for success.

Thus far, the variables that have been selected forthe regression models have been referred to only inpassing. Table 1 lists the variables and describes theconditions that produce each rating. It must also benoted that some of the measurements are based onsubjective impressions rather than exact calibrations,which seems to be an inherent limitation of a processoriented to producing music. The authors have, how-ever, made every attempt to keep the ratings (whichrange from 0 to 2, in increments of 0.1 for all input andoutput variables) as consistent as possible within thissubjective context (see also Section 5).

The “TOP CLOSE” category refers to whether the

sides of the reed close and seal all the way to the topof the reed. This greatly influences the reed’s stabili-ty. “APPEARANCE” refers to the inner side of thegouged cane (before it has been made into a reed)and it deals basically with the amount of graininess inthe texture and whether the lines seen in the textureare straight and unbroken. “EASE OF GOUGE” rateshow easily a hand-operated, non-power gougingmachine gouges the cane. “1ST BLOW” rates the play-er’s overall impression of the reed after trying it outon the oboe (and adjusting it) for about five minutes.For the first author, this try-out occurs after approxi-mately a half hour of work (gouging, shaping, tying,scraping). “VASCULAR BUNDLES” refers to the defi-nition of the organic structures, which can look likerails, that one sees on the inside of a split, ungougedtube of cane. “SHININESS” likewise deals with theappearance of an ungouged, split tube of cane. “OUT-COME” is the dependent variable and its rating sys-tem on the table is self-explanatory. When the aboveindependent variables are used in the models, theywill henceforth be abbreviated to T,A,E,F,V, and Srespectively. The reed outcome will be shown as y.See Table 1.

3. THE REGRESSION MODELSWe examined many models built from different

combinations of the above six independent variables.These ranged from the use of all six variables in a lin-ear model, to linear models using fewer than six vari-ables, to different combinations of interactive vari-ables and squared variables. The models were esti-

QUANTIFICATION OF INPUT AND OUTCOME VARIABLESTABLE 1

RATINGTOP CLOSE

(T)APPEARANCE

(A)

EASE OFGOUGE

(E)

1ST BLOW(F)

VASCULARBUNDLES

(V)

SHININESS(S)

OUTCOME(y)

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

Opensbelow 1mm

below tip

Opens to1mm below

tip

Somegraininess, not

continuous lines

Still someforcing,

shavings notuniform

Feels poor, butmaybe a fast, bigadjustment could

improve

Unacceptable butcould practice on itand then discard

Tip opens A few breaksin lines

Not every strokeproduces shavings,

some pressureneeded

Pitch and tone notgreat, but core is

present, suggestingpotential

Some definition Moderate degreeof shininess

Student quality;maybe play

one rehearsal

Closes halfwayup tip

Slight curve indefined,

continuous lines

Gouges easilywith few misses

of the blade

In tune,nice tone,

hard to play

In tune, fairlyresponsive, nearconcert quality

Perfect closeto top

Straight,defined,

continuous lines

Very littlepressure; even,

smooth shavings

In tune;beautiful tone,good response

Almostinvisible Very dull

Great in everyway; concer

quality

No lines,grainy

Much pressureneeded, smalldusty shavings

Out of tune,ugly sound,

no core

Very defined,ribbed

Veryshiny

Terrible;wild, ugly,out of tune

REGRESSION ANALYSIS AS AN AID IN MAKING OBOE REEDS124

mated from 115 finished reeds that were made by thefirst author over a period of several months. Four ofthe more interesting models were selected for furtherstudy. Subsections 3.A to 3.D below each describe oneof the four models we are considering. In Section 4, aprediction analysis is described using new data tocompare outcomes predicted by these models (y) toactual outcomes (y).

Recall that all of the input variables in the modelsthat will be presented in this section are on the same0 to 2 scale so that the relative magnitude of theregression coefficients in the linear models is adirect indicator as to the relative importance of thatinput. The p-values computed will be relative to thenull hypothesis that each indicated coefficient isequal to zero. All p-values in this study are based ona normal distribution of the model error term andcan thus only represent approximations (seeSection 5). They have been computed using the for-mula in Abramowitz and Stegun [2, p.949] forapproximation of a t-distribution based on a largenumber of degrees of freedom (in our case, 108 to111, depending on the number of coefficients beingestimated).

In the linear models, the coefficients for variablesT,A,E and F will be tested using a one-tailed test for sig-nificance because it is almost certain that higher rat-ings for these variables positively affect a reed’s out-come. For V and S, this assumption cannot be madeso easily, so a two-tailed test must be used. For curvi-linear models, where one variable is used more thanonce (by itself and as part of an interactive variable),a two-tailed test is also necessary to account for thepossibility of a negative coefficient appearing witheither the single or the combined variable. (This willapply to the models discussed in Subsections 3.C and3.D for the variables T and F.)

Quattro Pro® spreadsheet software was used for thevarious regression computations in this study.

3. A. The basic linear model with estimated constant

The basic linear model involving the six input vari-ables of Table 1 and an estimated constant producedthe estimated regression equation

y = -0.605 + 0.103T + 0.153A(0.420) (0.065) (0.107)

+ 0.137E + 0.552F + 0.176V + 0.119S .(0.112) (0.096) (0.096) (0.079)

(The numbers in parenthesis represent the estimat-ed standard error of the y and each coefficient.) Thecustomary R2 measure of proportion of variabilityexplained by the model was 0.335. The most signifi-cant variable by far (and not surprisingly) appears to

be “1ST BLOW” with its coefficient of 0.552 and a p-value of less than 0.001. The other p-values in thismodel ranged from 0.059 (for T) to 0.131 (for S.)

This basic linear model is shown here mostly to useas a reference, a necessary starting point for buildingother, more powerful versions of the regression. Theconstant has been computed, as is the convention.However, it was decided to set the constant to zero inthe remaining models that have been selected for pos-sible utilization. The reason for this is that theoretical-ly, if there was an observation in which every inputvariable were given a zero rating, it is expected that theoutcome should also be zero. This could not happenwith a non-zero constant. In fact, in this particularmodel the constant is negative, so if every variable hadbeen given a zero rating, the outcome would have hada negative rating, which would be outside of the estab-lished 0 to 2 rating scale.

3.B. Basic linear model with constant set to zeroThe estimated regression equation for this model

wasy = 0.073T + 0.089A + 0.022E + 0.512F + 0.080V + 0.079S .(0.426) (0.065) (0.104) (0.098) (0.095) (0.084) (0.078)

The R2 (=0.310) and estimated standard errors forall coefficients in this model were lower than in themodel of Subsection 3.A, as expected [3, Sect. 11-2].Although the “1ST BLOW” retains its original signifi-cance, the others become even less significant, asseen by their lowered t-ratios (e.g., the t-ratio for Edrops from 1.22 to 0.22, that for A drops from 1.42 to0.85, and for V it drops from 1.83 to 0.95, giving themall p-values greater than 0.19.) The magnitudes of theindividual coefficients for this model are also smaller.

3.C. Model with two single variables and three interactive variables with constant set to zero

The estimated regression equation wasy = -0.094T + 0.328F + 0.108AE + 0.207TF + 0.091VS .(0.408) (0.095) (0.113) (0.033) (0.087) (0.037)

The three interactive terms (AE, TF, and VS) werechosen based on the nature of the reedmaking process.A and E were combined because it was reasonable toassume that a piece of cane that is hard to gouge willprobably yield a rougher and less desirable appearance.T and F are considered by the author (and otheroboists) to be the most important variables, eventhough F yields much higher coefficients and lower p-values than T thus far. They are further interrelatedbecause, in the first author’s experience, the stability ofsides that close is essential to a good “first blow”. V andSare considered related by virtue of both describing the

IDRS JOURNAL 125

appearance of ungouged cane. With AE and VS it washoped that relatively insignificant variables (as indicat-ed in the linear models above) would combine to formmore significant interactive variables. By placing thealready quite significant F with T (which has alwaysbeen considered a vital variable by reedmakers, despiteits relatively low magnitude coefficients and higher p-values in the previous models), it was hoped that theywould combine to form an extremely powerful interac-tive variable. T and F were the only two variables alsoplaced in this model in a non-interactive fashionbecause of their relative importance.

Some of the hoped-for changes occurred. The R2increased to 0.361. However, T by itself yielded a neg-ative coefficient, undoubtedly as a result of its alsobeing used in the interactive TF. (The overall effect ofT plus TF should always be positive, but it is possiblefor one or the other to come out negative when bothare used in the same model.) The F was so strong onits own that it maintained a positive value (0.328; stillthe largest of the five coefficients in the model)despite the presence of the interactive variable TF.The coefficients of the three interactive variables arenot very high (ranging from 0.091 to 0.207), but their t-ratios range from 2.37 (for TF) to 3.27 (for AE), and allyield p-values of less than 0.02 (a two-sided test for TFand VS and a one-sided test for AE, as discussedabove.) Based on all of these observations, it wasdecided to build another model with the only changebeing to omit the single T variable.

3.D. Model with one single variable and three interactive variables with constant set to zero

This model produced the estimated regressionequationy = 0.378F + 0.091AE + 0.138TF + 0.080VS .(0.408) (0.101) (0.029) (0.053) (0.035)

Thus far, Model 3.D seems to be the most promisingof all that have been examined. The R2 is 0.356. Thet-ratios are quite large for each variable or variablecombination (3.75 for F, 3.14 for AE, 2.62 for TF and2.25 for VS). The p-values were all less than 0.03.There are no negative coefficients. Further, as anexperiment, we ran the regression analysis for thissame model, with the exception of allowing for a non-zero additive constant. The constant in this case wasestimated to be very small (0.055), and the other coef-ficients changed very little from those shown above.This was much lower in magnitude than the constantsin the linear model of Subsection 3.A (-0.605) or in aversion of the model with three interactive variablesin Subsection 3.C where the constant was computed(0.693.) This is a positive indicator as to the ability ofthis model form to describe the underlying process.

Further tests on the relative performance of Model3.D (to the other models) is presented in Subsection4.2.

4. EVALUATION AND COMPARISON OF MODELS 4.A Evaluation of Regression Assumptions

This subsection reports on tests of whether themodels in Section 3 and the reed-data-generatingprocess are consistent with the standard regressionmodeling assumptions. These assumptions are thatthe residual error terms (yi-yi) have mean 0 and con-stant variance across i and are statistically indepen-dent and normally distributed (the subscript idenotes the i th reed). The violation of any of theseassumptions does not preclude the idea of buildingregression models for reed prediction (since that issimply a least squares fit to the data); rather, violationwould provide a basis for caution in interpreting the t-ratios and standard errors reported in Section 3 andmay suggest that alternatives to the standard regres-sion framework of Section 3 (see Section 5) may yieldimproved results.

For this subsection, an additional 46 reeds weremade by the first author. This test set is independent ofthe data set used to build the models, providing anobjective evaluation of the performance of the models.

Let us first test for (sequential) independence of theresiduals (yi-yi) because the other tests are based onthis independence being true. Since we cannot a pri-ori assume that the residuals are normally distributed,we use the nonparametric (distribution-free) runs testdescribed in Lehmann [4, pp. 313-315] (this test isbased on the number of sign changes in the residualssequence). Using the test statistic in [4, p. 314], the p-values for all models are never less than 0.39, provid-ing no evidence to reject the independence assump-tion.

Given the above independence hypothesis for allthe models, we can now test the hypothesis that theprediction residuals have mean 0. Once again, sincewe cannot assume that the residuals are normally dis-tributed, the central limit theorem can be invoked toargue that the sample mean (normalized by the sam-ple standard deviation for the mean) is approximatelyN(0,1) distributed. Then, the associated p-values forModels 3.A-3.D are, respectively, 0.003, 0.039, 0.050,and 0.066. These provide evidence that the mean zerohypothesis is false (especially for Model 3.A).

We now test the normality assumption for the resid-uals by using the well-known chi-squared test forgoodness-of-fit (e.g., Bickel and Doksum [5, pp. 314-316]). This test focuses on only Model 3.D, as that isthe model of primary interest (see Subsection 4.B andcomment at end of this paragraph). Using the samplemean and variance for the Model 3.D residuals as the

REGRESSION ANALYSIS AS AN AID IN MAKING OBOE REEDS126

true mean and variance, we tested whether the quar-tiles based on a normal distribution contained approx-imately 1/4 of the 46 residuals. From Bickel andDoksum [5, p. 315], we produce a chi-squared statistic(three degrees of freedom) of 3.565, providing a p-value of 0.31 (no evidence to reject normality).(Incidentally, by the Cramer-Levy Theorem [6, pp. 525-526] and linearity of operations on the 46 test data yi,the normality of residuals for any one model impliesthe normality of residuals for the other models.)

The final evaluation of the applicability of the stan-dard regression assumptions is to determine whetherthe residual variance varies from measurement tomeasurement (the standard assumption—homoskedasticity—is of no variation). Again, we onlytest Model 3.D here. We test for a relationship between(yi-yi)2 and yi, where the output yi is a proxy for asimultaneous test of all input variables. We found asample correlation coefficient of 0.11. Using the teststatistic in Bickel and Doksum [5, p.221], this corre-sponds to a p-value of 0.46, providing no evidence toreject the hypothesis of zero correlation between (yi-yi)2 and yi (this p-value is an approximation, as thetest statistic is based on both variables being normal-ly distributed, and (yi-yi)2 is obviously not).

To summarize, the residuals derived from the 46 testreeds appear consistent with the standard regressionassumptions, with the exception of the assumption ofmean zero for the residuals. The mean-zero hypothe-sis is rejected with p-values ranging from 0.003 (Model3.A) to 0.066 (Model 3.D). In the case of Model 3.D (themain model of interest), the residual sample mean was0.095. Taking this as the true mean value and the pre-diction standard error in Section 3 (0.408) as the truestandard deviation, the root-mean-square predictionerror is (0.4082 + 0.0952)1/2 = 0.419; this representsonly a small increase over the value 0.408 derived inthe original (model-building) data set, which is basedon the mean 0 hypothesis. (Similar arguments can bemade for Models 3.A-3.C since their sample meanswere also relatively small compared to the estimatedstandard deviations in Section 3.) Hence, we concludethat the standard regression framework provides ameaningful basis for understanding the statistical per-formance of the models. Section 5 will discuss somemore advanced approaches to deal with potentialshortcomings of the standard approach.

4.B Comparison of ModelsThis subsection uses the 46 reeds of Subsection 4.A

to evaluate the relative performance of the models.We were interested in comparing the sample means ofthe absolute prediction residuals, lyi-yil, where yicomes from one of the Models 3.A. 3.B, 3.C and 3.D. Inthis way, we test for the model that gives us the bestpredictions.

We used a standard test for inferences about the dif-ference between the means of two populations withmatched samples [7, pp.345-347] to compare theabsolute residuals from Model 3.D to those of theother three models. Each model was in turn pairedwith 3.D because 3.D had thus far exhibited the mostfavorable characteristics of the four models (for rea-sons discussed in Section 3). For each model (3.A, 3.Band 3.C), the absolute residual for each observationwas subtracted from the corresponding absoluteresidual from Model 3.D and from these differences asample mean and sample standard deviation werecomputed; we then applied the standard test of amean being 0 using a normal approximation to the dis-tribution of the test statistic (the standard “z-statistic,”which is N(0,1) distributed under the null hypothesis).This is a one-sided test since the alternative hypothe-sis is that Model 3.D has a lower mean residual (i.e.,the sample mean in the test statistic is statistically sig-nificantly less than zero).

The comparison of Model 3.D to Models 3.A-3.C pro-duced z-statistics (and associated p-values) of 2.93(0.0018), 0.62 (0.23), and 1.41 (0.08), respectively.These values provide strong evidence of a significantdifference between Models 3.D and 3.A and suggestthe possibility of a significant difference betweenModel 3.D and Models 3.B and 3.C. The mean absoluteprediction residual for Model 3.D was 0.28.

In addition to the analysis based on the 46 test mea-surements, there are several additional reasons tofavor Model 3.D, which follow from the model-fittingnumbers in Section 3:

1) The computed constant of Model 3.D was closeto zero (0.055), in contrast to that of 3.C (which hadbeen computed to be 0.69) and that of the basic linear3.A (-0.605).

2) Model 3.D had the fewest (four) parameters andits R2 was only slightly lower (0.356 compared to0.362) than Model 3.C, which had five parameters. (Ingeneral, it is best to seek the most parsimoniousdescription of the regression process, all other thingsbeing essentially equal, and one would expect the R2to increase as more parameters are added.) Model 3.Awas rejected because of the large (negative) magni-tude of its constant and its poor performance in theprediction analysis.

3) All the coefficients in Model 3.D were significantand this cannot be said for any of the other three mod-els.

5. CONCLUSIONS AND EXTENSIONSThe process of model selection above is intended to

be illustrative of the steps an oboist might go throughin determining a mathematical model related to thereed-making process. Clearly, however, it cannot beexpected that a mathematical model can fully repre-

IDRS JOURNAL 127

sent such an artistic process with its high degree ofsubjectivity. Nevertheless, an R2 of 0.30-0.40 is a pos-itive indicator that some of the reedmaking processcan be explained with a regression model. Further,based on the test set of data, the mean absolute pre-diction error for the favored model (3.D) was only 14%of the allowable outcome range (0-2), providing evi-dence that a model can capture a large amount of thepotential variability. The authors certainly do notexpect other oboists to draw the same quantitative(or even qualitative) conclusions as above, since thereed-making process is highly individualized.However, we do expect that other oboists might findregression analysis useful in prediction and/or inunderstanding the relative importance of the variousinput variables.

A standard regression approach such as above hasthe advantage of being familiar to a broad audienceand being implementable with standard spreadsheetor other software existing on almost any modern per-sonal computer. However, the authors recognize thatpossibilities exist for improving and extending the ini-tial approach as described above.

One potentially valuable extension to the currentapproach would be to account for the subjectivity inassessing the input and output variable values. A ran-dom coefficient regression approach, which includesmeasurement error in the input and output variablesas one aspect to be considered, would be one way totreat this problem [8,9]. Perhaps the most well-knownapproach is the Kalman filter, where the regressioncoefficients (T, A, etc. here) would be treated as statevariables that evolve in time (e.g., [10] or [11]). TheKalman filter also has the advantage of accommodat-ing possible correlations from one reed to the next.Such correlations might follow from correlated cli-mate and cane conditions and trends in the oboist’sreed-making technique and condition of his/her reed-making equipment.

Another approach worth possible examination is toreplace the standard linear/curvilinear regressionmodel with a neural network (see, e.g., [12] for areview with many references). This has the possibleadvantage of uncovering subtle nonlinear relation-ships that might not otherwise be anticipated. A dis-advantage, however, is that the trained neural net-work does not have the same relatively easy inter-pretability of a conventional regression model (i.e., theneural network weights cannot be readily associatedwith statistically significant/ insignificant contribu-tions as can the estimated regression coefficients). Inparticular, the values of the estimated neural networkweights do not provide the same direct insight intothe process as do the estimated regression coeffi-cients (where it is straightforward to test for statisticalsignificance and to compare the relative strengths of

the different variable contributions to the outcomeranking).

Further extensions to the existing approach mightbe possible by properly accounting for the non-nor-mal distribution of the observations (due to the [0,2]truncation of output) or by including additional inputvariables (one such possibility would be the ease withwhich the knife works the cane). Despite the possibleenhancements of these and other extensions, we feelthat the current relatively straightforward regressionapproach is able to provide considerable insight intothe reedmaking process. ❖

REFERENCES[1] Vernier, V.G. and Shorter, L.C., “Oboe Reed Survey,” The Double

Reed (the journal of the International Double Reed Society), vol. 13, no.3, 1991, pp. 27-40.

[2] Abramowitz, M. and Stegun, A. (eds.), Handbook of MathematicalFunctions, National Bureau of Standards, Applied Mathematics Series 55,1972.

[3] Kmenta, J., Elements of Econometrics, Macmillan Publishing Co.,Inc., New York, 1971,

[4] Lehmann, E.L., Nonparametrics: Statistical Methods Based onRanks, Holden-Day, Inc., San Francisco, 1975.

[5] Bickel, P.J. and Doksum, K.A., Mathematical Statistics: Basic Ideasand Selected Topics, Holden-Day, Inc., San Francisco, 1977.

[6] Feller, W., An Introduction to Probability Theory and Its Application(Vol.II), Wiley, San Francisco, 1971.

[7] Anderson, D.R., Sweeny, D.J. and Williams, T.A. Introduction toStatistics, West Publishing Company, St. Paul, MN, 1991.

[8] Johnson, L.W., “Stochastic Parameter Regression: An AnnotatedBibliography,” International Statistical Review, vol. 45, 1977, pp. 257-272.

[9] Johnson, L.W., “Stochastic Parameter Regression: an AdditionalAnnotated Bibliography,” International Statistical Review, vol.48, 1980,pp. 95-102.

[10] Anderson, B.D.O. and Moore, J.B., Optimal Filtering, PrenticeHall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1979.

[11] Spall, J.C. (ed.), Bayesian Analysis of Time Series and DynamicModels, Marcel Dekker, New York, 1988.

[12] Cheng, B. and Titterington, D.M., “Neural Networks: A Review From a Statistical Perspective (with discussion),” Statistical Science, vol.9, 1994, pp. 2-54.

[13] Van Monfort, K., Estimating in Structural Models With Non-NormalDistributed Variables: Some Alternative Approaches, M & T Series 12.Leiden, Holland: DSWO Press, 1988.

[14] Spall, J.C., “The Kantorovich Inequality for Error Analysis of theKalman Filter with Unknown Noise Distributions,” Automatica, vol. 31,1995, pp. 1513-1517.

About the Authors...Katherine Ceasar-Spall played oboe and English horn with The

Richmond Symphony (Virginia) from 1986 to 1991. She currently playsPrincipal Oboe for the Alexandria Symphony and performs as a regularmember of the National Chamber Orchestra and The Washington ChamberSymphony. This project was conceived while she was pursuing part-timestudies in math and statistics in the mid 1990’s. It also addresses the ques-tion of what happens when you cross an oboe player with a statistician, asshe is married to the second author of this paper. Her email address is:[email protected].

Jim Spall joined The Johns Hopkins University, Applied PhysicsLaboratory in 1983 and was appointed to the Principal Professional Staff in1991. He also serves as an instructor in the Johns Hopkins School ofEngineering. Dr. Spall has published over 70 articles in the areas of statis-tics and control and holds two U.S. patents. For the year 1990, he receivedthe Hart Prize as principal investigator of the most outstanding IndependentResearch and Development project at JHU/APL. He is an Associate Editorfor the IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, a Contributing Editor forthe Current Index to Statistics, and he served as editor and coauthor for thebook Bayesian Analysis of Time Series and Dynamic Models. Dr. Spall is asenior member of IEEE, a member of the American Statistical Association,and a Fellow of the engineering honor society Tau Beta Pi.

REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE SECRETARY/TREASURER128

Report of the Executive Secretary/Treasurerby Lowry Riggins

E-MAIL ADDRESSES

Fairly frequently I try to e-mail something andit returns as “undeliverable”. Some of you arenew to computers and e-mail. Please be awarethat a computer is just a big, fast, dumb machine.An address which is slightly off may stand achance of being delivered through the US PostalService. But an e-mail which is off by just onecharacter will not get through. Some of you sendme “e-mail addresses” which look much like amouse walked across an ink pad and then on toyour paper. If I can not read it, I just toss it asuseless. If you want your e-mail address on file,TYPE or print it carefully. Remember that to acomputer everything is a specific character.Ones are ones, “l’s” are l’s, and ne’r the twainshall meet. A colon is not a semi-colon and an“O” is not a “0”.

IDRS OFFICEAnother frequent occurrence happens with

phone calls. First remember that the FAX num-ber is a dedicated FAX and is always answered bythe machine while the PHONE is actually aphone, not a FAX, and is answered only by a“human”. The FAX machine picks up after thefirst ring and beeps. It will only talk to anotherFAX machine since it firmly believes machinesare somehow superior.

Your office is not a brilliantly lit, tile floored,room full of machines and people. It is, rather,the former “girl’s room” in my home. Since thephone is mainly my home phone, I answer with asimple “Hello”, not with “Office of theInternational Double Reed Society.” After myhello, there is often a moment of silent confusionfollowed by an inquiry as to whether this is theIDRS. I do not have an answering machine sowhen you call, you either reach me or you don’tget an answer. If you must reach me send a FAXor use e-mail.

COMPUTERS ET ALDon’t believe for a minute that computers do

not make mistakes. Anyone who has used a com-puter for any time can tell of “loops” that will notstop, of re-booting to exit some program, andother “learned” responses from the computer.The computer may even be doing what it wastold to do and still make a mistake as far as yourdesire is concerned. Take “diacritics” as anexample. A macron such as “a” may go througha given program without any trouble, but just trya cedilla such as “Ç” or an umlaut such as “ö” andsee what happens. Programs such as Windows’Notepad will give you some strange results. Thisall leads to a problem for members whose namesor addresses contain diacritical marks. I try touse these in the computer since I feel that weshould acknowledge a person’s name correctly.BUT, sometimes, a program steps in and doesweird things to characters when I am trying to dosomething simple like print a label. This alsocreates occasional problems when I send anupdated list to Yoshi for use at the IDRS web site.So if you have a diacritical mark in your name oraddress, please let me know if there are prob-lems. I don’t guarantee a solution, but at least I’llknow about it! And this segues nicely into - - -

LABELSI have tried to make the labels used for our

issues conform as much as possible to the stan-dard usage in the countries of the IDRS. If yourlabel is not “according to your customs” pleasesend me a correction. I can not always do it rightbecause of limitations in the various programs,but I will try.

WHO WAS THAT MASKED MAN?Out of plain curiosity, does anyone know who

the fine looking bassoonists are in the CreativeSoundblaster ad for the AWE 64?

IDRS JOURNAL 129

Lost Sheep

Achram, Denise L.28378 Elba DriveGrosse Ile, MI 48138-1925USA

Banghart, Hannah L.10025 Governor Warfield ParkwayColumbia, MD 21044USA

Bassett, JulieEastman Commons; Box 198100 Gibbs StreetRochester, NY 14605USA

Bellon, Dominique740 West Chimes Street; Apt. # 25Baton Rouge, LA 70802USA

Brass, Lauren2141 Maple AvenueEvanston, IL 60201USA

Buck, Pfc Allison1420 Gator Blvd.; USMC/SOMNorfolk, VA 23521USA

Cameron, BrandonWTAMU Box 1478Canyon, TX 75088USA

Carlson, Margaret L.P.O. Box 12626; UNTDenton, TX 76203USA

Cobbs, Matthew1913 North Blackwelder AvenueOklahoma City, OK 73106-4253USA

Davis, KathrynHartwick College Box 411Oneonta, NY 13820USA

Denize, MichelEns.Instr.Hav-10Rue Marcel Royer S9Le Havre, PPAL 76600FRANCE

Dickey, Marion E.1000 Marjean Lane; Apt. Q-21Grants Pass, OR 97526USA

Drummond, Jayne4th Avenue SouthwestSeattle, WA 98136USA

Erlandson, Carrie1523 N.W. Spruce Ridge DriveStuart, FL 34994USA

Feves, Julie A.18409 Hiawatha StreetNorthridge, CA 91324USA

Heersche, Kimberly K.P.O. Box 84589 USCColumbia, SC 29225-0112USA

Helmer, Carl6401 North Christmas Tree Lane, Apt. # 22Flagstaff, AZ 86004USA

Houle, Victor G.#106 9950-90 AvenueEdmonton, Alberta T6E 5A4CANADA

Johnson, David171 Stalnaker Hall; West Virginia Univ.Morgantown, WV 26506USA

Johnson, Christopher11071 East Blvd.;Cleveland Instit. MusicCleveland, OH 44106-1776USA

Kayser, Jennifer2218 West ArborGlendale, WI 53209USA

Kwak, Jung-sunAM Kochenhof 9270192 StuttgartGERMANY

Leonard, Wilbert L.7001 Chance StreetPittsburgh, PA 15208USA

LeVasseur, Andrew P.515 Monroe StreetDenver, CO 80206USA

Lin, Hung-Chu5908 North Penn Avenue # 217AOklahoma City, OK 73112USA

Martin, Heather E.301 Helen Keller Blvd. Apt. # 307Tuscaloosa, AL 35404USA

Melia, EmilyEaton Res. Col. Rm.2081211 Dickinson Dr.Coral Gables, FL 33146USA

Moore, Richard J.Stockleigh, Catherington HillWaterlooville, PO8 0TUENGLAND, UK

Morse, Julie S.9707 Kingsley Road #237Dallas, TX 75238USA

Nicometo, Seth926 Brophy Cir.Fayetteville, AR 72703USA

Nix, Lori Ann812 Shamrock StreetOpelika, AL 36801-3832USA

Oster, AprilBox 486; 606 St. Paul StreetBaltimore, MD 21202-2355USA

Pelkey, Melissa245 Heather Hill DriveWest Seneca, NY 14224USA

Pfeil, Lou AnnP.O. Box 510973Salt Lake City, UT 84151-0973USA

Pinzon, JorgeCalle 39 N; 19-45; Apto. 501BBogot , Cundina marcaCOLOMBIA, S.A.

Rochell, Thomas: 445 South WrightStreet; Apt. # 119Lakewood, CO 80228-2603USA

Sasaki, Takehiro2959 Any LaneBloomington, IN 47408USA

Schumann, Shannon1048 Centurion RoadLexington, KY 40517USA

Smith, Sara2124 South Oak Grove AvenueSpringfield, MO 65804USA

Stack, Judy716 Drummond StreetNorth Carlton, Victoria 3054AUSTRALIA

Symonik, Susan30 St. Vital RoadWinnipeg, Manitoba R2M 1Z3CANADA

Teles, Elen M. C.Rua dos Vanzeleres 3014100 PortoPORTUGAL

Telford, Melissa2/348 Crown StreetSurry Hills, NSW 2010AUSTRALIA

Torsten, SandinOvre Bergsgatan 14S-80251 GvleSWEDEN

Tune, Juanita650 Sierra Vista Drive; Apt. # 209Las Vegas, NV 89109USA

Turpen, Scott2360 West Broad Street B6Athens, GA 30606USA

Utkin, AlexeiKutusov St. 35/30Moscow RUSSIA

Warman, Ian R.504-1235 Comox StreetVancouver, BC V6E 1K6CANADA

Weeks, Jennifer494 Oxford Street E #2London, Ontario N54 3H7CANADA

Weinshenker, Lisa AnnBox 767 - Bates CollegeLewiston, ME 04240USA

White, Andra K.1849 North 200 West; Apt. # 134Provo, UT 84604USA

Wike, LoriBox 130 - 100 Gibbs StreetRochester, NY 14605USA

Williams, Gwendolyn292 Oxford Street Apt. #23Rochester, NY 14607-2773USA

Wright, Michael B.412 Chestnut DriveTallahassee, FL 32301-2715USA

Wynn, Jr., Walter D.1459 Willow Lake Drive; Apt. EAtlanta, GA 30329-2811USA

Yamada, Erika3101 Port Royale Blvd. # 338Fort Lauderdale, FL 33308USA

Yumoto, Hisao2500-1-30D, NakanogohFujikawa, Shizuoka 421-33JAPAN

Members are classified as “LOST” when first class mail is returned as undeliverable. Your assistance inlocating these members will be appreciated. If you live close to one of these members please consult thephone book and call them. After a years or so, lost members are placed in the archives.

130 CONTRIBUTING MEMBERS

PatronsAmerican Bassoon Co., Inc. Franck BichonPeggy J. BrownMark Chudnow WoodwindsLewis Hugh CooperForrests Music - Peter KlattFox Products CorporationRobert D. Gilbert - RDG Inc.A. GlotinT. W. Howarth & Co.Jones Double Reed ProductsHans J. Kreul Ltd.Anna LampidisDe Gourdon - LoreeMcFarland Double Reed ShopFrank A. Morelli, Jr.Yoshiyuki NakanishiEdmund Nielsen Woodwinds, Inc. Lawrence M. Probes, M.D.Lowry & Carolyn RigginsPhilippe Rigoutat & FilsW. Schreiber & Söhne Christopher WeaitMarcus Wieler Bassoon WorkshopYamaha Corporation of America

DonorsAccurate Double Reed - Mark FrankoThe USAF Band of the RockiesAltieri Instrument BagsL’Atelier du HautboisArundo Research CompanyArundo Reeds and CaneRobert Hart BakerSue Schrier BancroftRobert BarrisBass Bags - Anthony MorganBassoon Heritage Edition, Inc.Charles BellWaldemar BhosysSara Lambert BloomBocal Music - Alan R. HawkinsEdward T. Bowe, M.D.Bradford D. BuckleyFratelli Bulgheroni SNCBilly H. & Nancy BurdineJohn CampbellFerald B. CappsCascade Oboe ReedsCharles Double Reed CompanyPeter ChristChristlieb ProductsGerald E. CoreyPaul Covey OboesCustom Music CompanyGlen R. Danielson

William J. Dawson, M.D.Heiko DechertJohn J. DeeMichael H. DickerRaymond H. DustéB & D Publications - David E. DuttonHaskell EdelsteinEvanston Band and Orchestra CompanyMichael W. FayMarc D. FinkLudwig Frank & Frank MeyerGEM Woodwind Products - Gary MoodyMargaret A. Gilinsky Oboe WorksNancy E. GoeresArthur L. Gudwin, M.D.Bela B. HackmanThe Proboe Shop - Guy M. HardyHigh Notes - James SchaefferSally Jo Hinkle-TeegardenAnn E. HodgeNorma R. HooksRobin Howell BocalsInternational Opus - Adam LesnickYoshiyuki Ishikawa, D.M.A.Japan Double Reed Inc.Jeanné Inc.Donald J. JohannessenMary C. KemenRichard E. KillmerCharles B. King, IIIRobert King Musical Sales, Inc.G. Leblanc CorporationStephan LeitzingerMarlin Lesher Reed CompanyDr. George LongazoHumbert J. LucarelliDonald V. Mac CourtStephen Margolis, M.D.Juliet C. MarkovichMidwest Musical ImportRoger O. MillerJohn W. Miller, Jr.The Miller Marketing Co., Inc.Nagamatsu Woodwind LaboratoriesRyohei NakagawaNew England Sheet Music ServiceRobert G. PajerJonathan R. ParkesFratelli PatricolaJennifer PaullDonald PlesnicarJames M. PoeJanet PolkSeth M. PowsnerJames C. ProdanPuffit Greeting CardsRobert P. Raker, M.D.

Wayne RapierClaude F. Reynolds Oboe ShoppeRobinson and Ross WoodwindsDan RossIchiro SasajiScott W. Snyder, M.D.Robert & Bailey SortonJack Spratt Woodwind ShopVirginia K. StittHitomi SugawaraCharles O. VeazeyDr. Vernon G. VernierGail Warnaar Double ReedsDavid Weber

- The Reed Maker’s ManualAlan J. Werner, Jr.Westwind Precision MachiningHolly V. WhiteKristin Hogan WhiteRichard O. WhiteWichita Band Instrument Co.William WielgusHoward WisemanWomble/Williams Double ReedsWilliam E. Wright, M.D.

SustainingJohn W. AbbottHelen Mendell AckleyRodney F. AckmannNicola A. AdamoCarol Padgham AlbrechtMeyrick AlexanderBrenda L. AlonyBarbara J. AndersonKaryl ArnoldRichard AronsonKeith C. AtkinsonWilliam R. BaddeleyWilliam P. BakerAlexander BakkerJanet Elizabeth BalejCheryl M. BankerPaul H. BarrettJames W. Bartee, Ph.D.Theodore R. BaskinJohn H. BaxleySuzane B. BaznerJon P. BeebeJohn E. BentleyBerdon CompanyJames T. BerkenstockReuben Berman, M.D.Carol A. BernhardtSteven BernsteinDonald BeyerKelly Bickford

Contributing MembersThe Society thanks those who have given additional financial support by becoming contribu-

tors. Their additional support is vital to the accomplishment of our goals.

IDRS JOURNAL 131

E. Edwin BloedowDavid BournsThomas G. BoydMindy BraithwaiteJames M. BrodyDr. Andrew F. D. BrownWesley A. BrownCelia Dugan BryanWilliam F. BuchmanJohn H. BurkhalterJames ButterfieldJudith L. ButteryMichael K. ByrneLori CaccavoSandro CaldiniCharles F. Call, D.P.M.William J. CannawayStefano CanutiGwendolyn E. CarltonMarianne E. CarrelGene C. CarterMarilyn A. ChappellFrederic T. CohenLynette Diers CohenDon J. CohnStephen ColburnJack ColeRoger ColeCedric ColemanJulia C. CombsGeorge W. Comstock, M.D.Donna Conaty-CooleyDavid P. CoombsPeter W. CooperPiroozi CooperSilvia Fanny CoricelliJohn H. CorinaJosé CoronadoJennifer Craig

Memorial Fund for the ArtsTrevor Cramer - TrevCo MusicTimothy H. CroninCustom Music CompanyJerry A. DaggCecil F. DamKevin DamonLewis DannWilliam D. DavisBruno De RosaDavid A. DeBoltRenee Anthony DeeGilbert DeJeanDoris A. DeLoachJohn William DentonSteven A. DibnerThomas W. DienerWilliam D. DietzLaura J. von Doenhoff, M.D.Nik DongesElaine DouvasPeggy DudleyBarbara Jackson Duke

Dan J. DuncanDaryl W. DurranTheodore J. EckbergArtemus EdwardsOtto EifertJan EkstedtMichael A. EllertHarold Stephen EmertKeiichiro EnomotoIan FalloonNancy Greene FarnetaniHerbert W. Fawcett, D.D.S.James C. FerraiuoloPeter FinchLewis T. FitchA. Irving ForbesDr. Nancy FowlerFox Winds Corporation of JapanJonathan FriedmanJuan Vicente Gil FuentesIvan Volodymyr Furgal’Masahiko Furukawa, M.D.Vitaliano GalloK. Edward GantLawrence A. GardnerBert GassmanDr. Edward L. Gaudet, D.D.S.Edward A. GellerOscar GhebelianJulie Ann GiacobassiMark D. GigliottiDr. Linda M. GilbertAlain GirardPhyllis GlassIrving W. GlazerBen GlovinskyHarold M. GoldnerMaryll R. GoldsmithDoris D. GoltzerLauren Green GombolayLouise Cavalieri GoniJames A. GortonJulie A. GregorianPeter GrenierH. Gene GriswoldHafsteinn GudmundssonArnie GundersonPatricia L. GunterHoward B. Gutstein, M.D.Charles W. HamannJoseph H. HandlonPer HannevoldPaul Michael HarrisDarryl E. Harris, Sr.William V. HarrodJonathan H. HawesJohn R. HeardWilhelm Heckel GmbHTheodore C. HegerThomas C. HeinzeRebecca HendersonMichael L. Henoch

David HerbertStevens HewittLeonard W. HindellAlan Hollander OboesKenneth L. HolmCarolyn M. HoveCharles G. HuebnerTimothy R. HughesWilliam F. HulskerRobert G. HumistonJohn S. HusserDaniel L. IjamsUnited Musical Instruments, Inc.Noritsugu IshinoHans Georg JacobiJames Y. JeterGiung-Hyun JoRonald L. JohnsonMichel Jolivet, D.V.M.Andrea & Stephen JonesMichael L. JonesDr. Gunther JoppigJohn Walter Faure JuritzSatoshi KanesakaNoburu Katayama, M.D.Andrew J. KingBruce P. KingNancy Ambrose KingStanley E. KingAlex KleinJay C. KlemmeMerilee I. KlempEdward A. KnobHarold W. KohnPhillip A. M. KolkerLisa A. KozenkoFelix G. KrausPaul A. Krieger, M.D.Seth KrimskyArthur KubeyMarion Arthur KuszykEdwin V. LacyCecile LagarennePeter LambertLandy Bassoon RepairRobert A. Lapkin, M.D.Antoine LazennecRichard H. LeaDonald Leake, M.D.Peter C. LembergStéphane LévesqueJudith Zunamon LewisHung-Chu LinLinton Oboe/Bassoon - Jack LintonMartin S. Lipnick, D.D.S.Robert LohrRichard W. LottridgeJohn W. MackJan Irma Maria de MaeyerAlice H. MagosSteve Malarskey WoodwindsDr. Kenneth Malhoit

CONTRIBUTING MEMBERS132

Marco Le MannaDwight C. ManningKiyoshi MatsubaraDonald C. MattisonSusan A. MausolfPaul B. McCandless, Jr.Evelyn McCartyD. Keith McCellandCharles McCracken, Jr.Donald J. McGeenTimothy S. McGovernMelinda McKenzieRichard MeekEugen MeierAndrea MerenzonKristy L. MerettaDennis P. MichelMarcos MincovJames R. MitchellW. Stuart Mitchell, Jr.Moeck VerlagCarol MoffettAdriano MondiniGene E. MontoothRobert J. MooreBernd Moosmann, Ltd.Laurence S. MorganRalph William MorganRobert E. MorganJames H. MoseleyDorothy E. MosherRobert MottlFranklin Pieter MulderJames W. Mullins, Jr.Rev. Greg W. NetelerAmelia Russo-Neustadt, Ph.D.Jan Joris NieuwenhuisDaina L. NishimotoCoreen L. NordlingRebecca NoreenEarl C. NorthDirk NoyenJames N. O’DonnellRosemary Ruth O’FarrellLeslie S. OdomEric P. OhlssonAntero OjantoRobert L. OlsonGustavo E. Oroza-HennersMark S. OstoichMiguel PakalnsHavner H. Parish, M.D.Josep Julia PascualKenneth PasmanickSandra E. PearsonHomer C. PenceTedrow L. PerkinsKermit C. PetersEric J. PetersenRobert J. PfeufferChristopher PhilpottsEnzo Pizzi, Inc.

Gina PontoniRichard Porter, M.D.Prestini Reed CorporationJames F. PrestonJohn F. PriceGerald & Patricia PruntyGregory QuickJerome L. RabinowitzCarl RathRichard RathVernon Berry ReadJames F. ReiterScott E. ReynoldsAndrea J. RidillaGeorge T. RiordanJoseph Lee RobinsonTonyia R. RobinsonJames R. RoeJohn RojasMark L. RomatzRonald RosemanD. Hugh RosenbaumRosslyn Woodwind Supplies Ltd.Steven J. RovelstadHarrison E. RoweFrank RuggieriJames M. RyonPamela S. SaccoGeorge J. Sakakeeny, IIBruce M. SaladWalter Hermann SallagarDean H. SaylesSchilling Reeds - Kevin SchillingGeorge S. SchlazerDr. John H. SchnabelPeter J. SchoenbachClare ScholtzDavid SchreinerElizabeth A. SchulpMartin SchuringWilliam J. ScribnerMark S. SeerupThe Selmer CompanyScott M. ShevyAndrew M. ShreevesCarolyn I. ShullIvan A. Shulman, M.D.Joyce SidorfskyKeith SklowerJoseph Lawton SmithMalcolm W. SmithRheta R. SmithMichelle Jo SnyderDavid SolterRoger C. SorenDouglas E. SpaniolThomas J. StacyFrank S. StalzerSylvia StarkmanBob Stevens & SonEugene E. StickleyJim R. Stockigt

Daniel J. StolperMaureen C. StoneSherry L. SylarDavid E. TaylorJane TaylorJohn F. ThompsonRobert K. ThompsonMrs. Grace S. TracyMilan TurkovicJohn J. UrbanGerhard VeithVigder’s Bassoon SuppliesAllan VogelErik WaldejerStephen J. WaltDavid B. WardSara WatkinsWolfgang R. WawersikArthur WeisbergAbraham M. WeissDavid E. WeissKarl-Friedrich WentzelAndrea WhitcombCharles C. WickerIsle of Wight International OboeCompetitionDavid A. Wild, M.D.Paul A. WilleDr. Jack D. WilliamsKerry M. WillinghamPeter J. WolfRichard C. WoodhamsWilliam S. WoodwardThe Woodwind and The BrasswindBrian WoodworthDeborah W. WrightMalcolm John WrightHiroshi YoshimizuDavid ZarMS Bernadette ZirkuliMarilyn J. Zupnik

IDRS JOURNAL 133

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C L A S S I F I E D A D S

The Use of theIDRS Trade Marks

FOR SALE: Heckel Bassoon No. 4328.Recently completely restored by BerndMoosmann. Silver plated keys, excellent finishand beautiful sound. High D and E keys. US$13,000. Fax: (54-1) 961 8223 (Argentina) orEmail: [email protected]

BASSOONS FOR SALE: 4 Fox RenardBassoons Model #51 (short reach), BrandNew!: 2 still in box/2 played for about 3 months;complete with new Altieri custom-fitted back-pack case covers and all originaL Fox acces-sories. $2000/$1900 John Ruze 804-883-7441.

If you wouldlike to advertise

in theDOUBLE REED

contact:

Peter Klatt

510-845-7178

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JNL25.1997.pdf

Documents

Transcript of JNL25.1997.pdf