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Bassoon Contrabassoon Contraforte French Bassoon Basson Baroque Fagott

“The bassoon family” is a bassoon lesson that I teach when a student is in a slump. Too many weeks on etudes or a concerto often makes high schoolers lose interest. So I give them a contra lesson, or for the students that have lessons in my home, an introduction to the bassoon family. I have two high school seniors this year, and contrabassoon will definitely be a part of college orchestra playing.

The start of each lesson is playing through the circle of fifths, 12 major scales. This is a nice way to get into contrabassoon and introduce the vent keys and the Eb keys. The student can get a small taste of standard orchestra excerpts like the Contrabassoon solos written by Ravel in his Piano Concerto in G, and Ma Mère l’Oye. Contrabassoon comes quickly to many bassoonists, and Contraforte come quickly to bassoonists who also play sax. The simple octave keys on the Contraforte make it a closer match to high woodwinds.

It’s also interesting to introduce students to the Baroque bassoon. I make a point to have students learn a baroque piece every year, since honor orchestras and college auditions ask for pieces from contrasting eras. The basic scale of the baroque bassoon is the same as modern bassoon, so a few Vivaldi concertos translate well to the baroque bassoon. This also provides a useful insight into the instrument that the piece was written for, and how lucky we are to have a modernized bassoon.

The french bassoon is mostly for informational use. To learn the lowest octave chromatically and play a few scales. I don’t teach much French repertoire to high schoolers so it’s an instrument with no direct connection to their experiences. But I Play a few recordings of french bassoon players, explain the Paris Conservatory, and the school of French players that still exist throughout the world.

Baroque Bassoon, French Bassoon, German Bassoon, Contrabassoon, Contraforte
Baroque Bassoon, French Bassoon, German Bassoon, Contrabassoon, Contraforte

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Bassoon lesson

It’s a documented fact that children respond better to structure and consistency. By knowing what to expect, a student is able to practice in a successful way for the next lesson. Music teachers don’t really talk about their methods very much and musicians aren’t taught how to teach. But we all remember our favorite teachers, how they helped us improve, and how they did it.

When I first started teaching, it was in Los Angeles and I was still in high school. I was teaching middle school low brass players (I was a tuba player at the time) and I had no idea what to do. I was self taught and just “got it” so to help kids who were starting from the beginning was frustrating. I needed to find a way to relate to them without sounding belittling or that I was talking down to them. This came down to developing the demeanor that I have when I teach. When you are starting with a new student, you may have to remind them that C major starts C-D. Which seems basic to many players but is a new concept for them.

I began to notice holes in their education, they would sound good in their solo piece and then couldn’t play scales. Or that the pieces they played in band sounded fine but they wouldn’t work on music outside of required pieces. So I started a lesson structure that uses the entire hour in a useful way, without any dead time.

1) Major Scales to start, C major is a non threatening warmup. Students play the circle of fifths at the tempo they are able to, and the tempo bumps up one notch every other week. Depending on the level of the student scales might take more than half of the lesson. But scales are so important in being a woodwind player that it’s worth taking the time to fix any bad note connections or bad embouchure habits when going into different registers.

2) Required music is something I touch on quickly if they have a difficult passage for an upcoming band or orchestra concert. Students play this music everyday in band so most of it get sorted out by itself. Working out any problems in this is an easy way to show results to any music program that you are employed by. They hire you to make their students play well in the concert, so you need to make sure that they can play their parts.

3) Etudes and solo literature is the real hurdle in the lesson, this divides my good students from my bad students. Good students play through their piece everyday and I hear improvement. Bad students just say that they do! The real defining element to make a good student is the interest in playing. Which sounds obvious but some people think that they like playing bassoon, when they really just like blasting low notes. It is hard to engage younger students in more stylized pieces from the baroque. But the trick for young players with short attention spans is to play something in minor key, very fast, and loud. So Vivaldi Bassoon Concertos have been a nice way to teach standard repertoire but cater to young players. They want to show off fast notes and runs when they warm up in band class, so they learn the notes themselves, then all I have to do is tell them where the emphasis of the phrase is.

It can be helpful to use a Lesson Journal if, like me, you have a poor memory and your students’ lessons blur together. Basic things to keep track of are the tempo that they are playing scales that week, so that you can increase it accordingly. What they played that week, and how many weeks they have been on it. Who got a reed that week.

Here are some things that I have noticed over the years, mostly from trial and error…

There is no need to yell or be nasty. Bassoon is difficult and scary and some people suffer from stage nerves especially in an exposed one-on-one setting, so don’t make it worse.

Don’t let students know that a note is a “high note” act as if every note that you teach them is in the standard range and they are responsible for playing it.

They are responsible for their own reeds.

 It’s impossible not to have favorites in your studio. Just don’t show any favoritism.

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Contraforte Rainbow

December 2013 was a very important month for me because of the purchase of a Contraforte. This horn was owned by Lewis Lipnick of the National Symphony in Washington D.C. (who is an amazing person and an amazing player) When I bought it, I drove my little Prius from San Francisco to Washington DC to pick it up and drive it back. Now that I have had it for a year I think I am in a better place to talk about my experience with this instrument. My reason for writing this is the same reason for this entire website, basically consumer reports. So many cool new gadgets have been coming out in the woodwind world recently without much user reviews. When I spend money on new equipment I do research to see how it is received by players before I decide to purchase it.

Origin Story (skip this)

In my undergraduate studies at the San Francisco Conservatory I played a little contrabassoon here and there as needed but it never stuck with me. Then after graduating I went and played contra with the San Luis Obispo Symphony for a year. The symphony had an Amati contrabassoon that I was allowed to borrow and keep in my possession full time and this is when I started getting into contra. By having a contra at my house that I didn’t have to share, I put in some practice hours and messed around with reeds. I ended up really liking contrabassoon and decided to go back to the conservatory to study contra with Steve Braunstein of the San Francisco Symphony (another amazing person and amazing player) I was using the SFCM Fox contra which is in need of service and a better bocal so I was frustrated. I was looking around the used contrabassoon market all summer and fall looking for anything worthwhile, but the contra market is slow/limited, very difficult to play test without committing to buy. My thought at the time was that many people have middle range contras with the intention of upgrading sometime in the future, but I would rather just spend some money on a nice contra now and have it for the rest of my life. So I contacted a few big players all around America to see if they new of any contras for sale. Lew got back to me and said that he was selling his current Wolf Contraforte (#35 circa 2009) and replacing it with a new CF which had a few updated acoustics.

January-March

For the last year or so I had been playing contrabassoon for at least an hour a day so I was used to the fingerings, air pressure, and reeds. I am the kind of person who takes a while to adjust to new instruments, even to the point that play testing instruments for a few minutes is a waste on me. So when I first had the Contraforte I really didn’t like it. I was able to play low notes slowly and sort of go through the fingering chart and play the full range. There were huge problems immediately; I was very sharp, I only had one reed, and I could only play forte and louder. I new that the contraforte needed reeds that were larger than the contrabassoon but I didn’t realize that I needed special machines. So I was going to be completely reliant on Hank Skolnick to make all of my reeds for me. I decided within the first month of having the CF that I needed to have my own gouger and profiler if I was going to make this instrument play correctly for me. So with a little student loan money and the help of Steve B and Chris van Os I got a pair of machines. I tried all sorts of dimensions and shapes but 160mm cane with the Reiger contraforte shaper was always the best result, and still what I use. I should mention that the CF comes with an adaptor to fit regular contrabassoon reeds but middle F# cracks nonstop and so does tenor Db. I read somewhere that they also can make a bocal which is slightly longer and fit a regular contrabassoon reed, which might be better than the adaptor (which creates a dramatic flare in the bore right at the beginning) The CF does not have a tuning slide and is built closer to 442 than 440. Compared to a CB this is strange, but similar to bassoon you just learn to make a reed that plays in tune since there are no moving parts for tuning. I was at this time very primitive in the reed stuff and experimenting with the gouge, profile, thick/thin rails, think/thin heart, think/thin tip. Each reed in the reed case was individual and I wasn’t able to duplicate the same reed, the tones possible with those reeds ranged from distant muted tuba to amplified chainsaw.

April-June

I needed to have a recital to graduate and I had been spending way too much time on contra and not enough on bassoon. So I put a contraforte show together with the Mozart oboe concerto, a Mignone Waltz and Sonatina d’Amore which is a contrabassoon duet. The contraforte played great despite a few operator errors, and was received very well. I was experimenting with narrower shapes at this point using a Rieger K1 with 160mm cane. This created a simpler reedier sound a lot like a contrabassoon. The SFCM orchestra was playing Don Juan, the big oboe solo in the middle is accompanied by a drone low G in the contra. At the time, this narrower shape was the only way that I was able to play quiet enough. I always had a few of these narrower reeds in my reed case, the issue was that the internal volume of the reed was not enough for the entire range of the instrument. It seemed that I could make a reed with a resonant low register but too thin in the higher register; or a high note reed that was sharp in the low register.

July-September

Over the summer I bought a few more gadgets, with the help of Trent at Midwest Musical Imports. I bought the contraforte stand and gigbag from Wolf. The stand is huge asset, since the horn doesn’t come apart it isn’t possible to clean it out very much. Leaving it out on the stand is essential so that it is able to dry out. For reeds I was completely on the Rieger C2 which is the contraforte shape, this is the shape I have used full time since. The San Francisco Opera was auditioning utility bassoon and contrabassoon and I took the audition along with everyone else from the Bay Area. It seems like the CF is something that people invest in after they hold a contra position, so not many contrafortes have been in auditions. I played alright but nothing special and I didn’t pass into the finals. This was a good hurdle for me to audition on a new horn and it made me more comfortable playing in public. The end of the summer was mostly playing contra duets with people, not so much to show the instrument but to work on blending with other contras and finish sorting out pitch issues.

October-December

Recently I have been continuing my quest for stealing repertoire from other instruments. The range of the contraforte allows me to borrow cello music and the quick response lets me play high woodwind pieces. My last recital had the Brahms Cello Sonata no.1, the Hindemith english horn Sonata, and Syrinx. The contraforte performs great with piano, since I didn’t change the piano parts some of the voicing clashes with the range of the contra. However the tone of the CF is still clear over the piano. I have settled on a reed design which uses the wider reed shaper, Rieger C2, and I leave the blade quite thick. I clean up the collar area and even out the tip but the profiler from Chris van Os is adjusted in such a way that I need to do very little. Having a heavier tip creates a darker sound with easy high notes and the reed doesn’t warp as much in humidity/temperature changes.

Contraforte Reed

Things to Remember about Contraforte

*It’s heavier than a contrabassoon

*Contraforte cane cannot be processed on contrabassoon machines

*Most parts and pieces can only be replaced by Wolf

*Larger dynamic and notation range

*Stable intonation and timbre

Contraforte Kontraforte

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For most freeway philharmonic players the job is in a different venue each week and students are spread over a few cities. So everyone needs a good bag to hold their tools and equipment in. The bags that I use have to be able to hold a bag of reed tools, three reed cases, a bassoon stand and a contra stand, sheet music (without bending) and random small tuner/metronome stuff. Here are a few awesome gig bags that I recommend.

Timbuk 2

Timbuk 2

These bags are customizable by size and color. I have the large messenger bag and it fits everything I need. It’s pretty cheap so I use it for everyday stuff. The only drawback is that it isn’t always in the right style for an evening gig, with a tux or suit jacket.

 

Fred Perry

Fred Perry

 

Fred Perry bags are PVC (vinyl) so they are easier to clean. The style is also more professional looking so it’s more appropriate for gigging. In San Francisco drizzle this is water proof.

 

Marc Jacobs

Marc Jacobs

 

This is my regular teaching bag, I keep scale sheets, a reed case full of blanks and my old school metronome in it. It’s small but still fits a folding bassoon stand.

 

Louis Vuitton

Louis Vuitton

The keepall 55 is the best bag for when I double on bassoon and contra. This fits two instrument stands and all the stuff I need with them. It’s pricey, but they last for years and Louis Vuitton repairs them cheaply.

 

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I bought a Wiseman bassoon case three years ago to replace my Fox bassoon case. My Fox professional case was such a hassle to commute with and walk  around San Francisco with that I had to buy a replacement. The Wiseman case appealed to me on an esthetic level with the crushed velvet interior and the leather exterior. I have gotten so many compliments about this case since I’ve been using it, most people just don’t believe that a whole bassoon fits inside!

Wiseman Bassoon Case

 

My concern was that that the materials wouldn’t hold up for a few years. The case is made from wood, dense foam, crushed velvet, leather and velcro. For the most part it has all held up well, with the exception of the velcro on the handle. The Velcro that lines the edge of the case is doing fine after 3 years of continuous use, but the handles are falling apart.

Wiseman Case

After ripping off the first time I took heavy load thread and reattached the strips. It is falling apart again after about a year. This time around Im going to use a set of snaps.

All in all a great case, they have recently launched carbon fiber cases and a bassoon/contrabassoon combination case.

wiseman contrabassoon case

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San Francisco is a hub of new music and small ensembles. One of these newly formed groups, is a chamber orchestra called Elevate Ensemble. This is a unique ensemble in that they perform rare works that don’t receive enough attention. Their next show is on October 10 at 8pm at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.  Come to hear..

 

Hanns Eisler     Nonet no.1

Walter Piston     Divertimento

Danny Clay     Bethlehem Triptych

Richard Wagner     Siegfried Idyll

Tickets available for $15 at eventbrite.com

 

Elevate Ensemble

Tax deductible contributions with AWESOME PERKS can be made at hatchfund.org

 

 

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Heckel Bassoon

 

A few months ago I had my first correspondence with Heckel. I am looking for my next bassoon and I have play tested a few new Heckels that I really liked. After emailing back and forth to find out what options were possible, they sent me a mail packet with an order form. I thought that I knew the bassoon options that I wanted, but seeing all of the options layer out on a list was overwhelming!

I am going over the new instrument piece by piece to figure out how it will all look together. I don’t EVER want to buy another instrument after this so I need it to have everything on it that I would need for the rest of my career. Like how high E was a standard key for a while but in the past few years the high F key is becoming normal.  I haven been able to make decisions about most things, except for the bell options. The French and Italian bells look great and then the gentleman vs. regular bell lengths…

Italian Bell Gentleman (current favorite)

Italian Bell Heckel

German Bell Gentleman

German Bell Heckel

French Bell Regular

French Bell Heckel

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Large woodwind instruments have problems with water and condensation from regular playing. Not to mention the amount of playing that occurs in the lead in to a recital or audition. Contrabassoons are especially susceptible to water damage because they do not come apart to be swabbed, and most players cannot take their contras apart without damaging the seal when putting it back together.

Just last week I was talking to a woman who had bought a Mollenhauer contrabassoon in an estate sale. She bought half of it along with another bassoonist, and they shared it. But after a few months of playing and putting it back into the case one of them developed a cough, and through some sleuthing, found that the contrabassoon was full of mold! They brought it to a repairman who cleaned it out but it was never the same. We all heard about Trombone Lung a few years ago. This stuff can really cause respiratory ailments along the lines of Anthrax.

The best method for keeping a contrabassoon dry is to remove the tuning slide and leave it out on the stand for a few hours after playing. This won’t prevent all problems, on older contras water damage can even be seen on the outside of the instrument, through the lacquer.  The contra’s “wing joint” is the common problem, this is the first piece of wood after the first bend. The danger is mold, and that the mold can damage the seal of the instrument and eat away at the wood of the bore, changing the dimensions.

Contraforte has a bad side and a good side. The bad side is that there is no tuning slide, and so nothing can be opened to help it air out; the good side is the modular design which allows players to take apart their own instruments. I can safely loosen the C-clamps and remove a bend to clean out sections. Recently I removed the second bend for the first time to find that it was lined with mold. The first bore can air dry but after a certain point the circulation doesn’t dry out the entire bore. This means that I need to do regular checks and cleanings at least once every two months.

The best tools for preventing life in an instrument are rubbing alcohol and a dehumidifier. Find a small spray bottle capable of an extremely fine mist, as fine as an aerosol spray. fill it with rubbing alcohol and spray it down the bore when you finish playing and right before you swab (non-contra) The alcohol mist will sterilize the bore and the hard to reach tone holes with the added benefit of evaporating quickly. I even do this to my bassoon before I swab it and put it away. Having a dehumidifier drying out the air makes it difficult for mold and fungi to take hold.

Contraforte

 

Today I did a large scale cleaning by removing all bends and using a fine sprayer of rubbing alcohol. By spraying sections at a time and swabbing them I killed any mold spores and other microbes living inside.

Contraforte Contraforte Contraforte

I have recently invested in a great dehumidifier from Lowes which has improved the air quality. I highly recommend a dehumidifier for woodwind players or doublers. If you can imagine all of the moisture that accumulates in the air from playing multiple instruments and reed making, it makes it hard for things to dry out fully. Especially here in the San Francisco Bay Area there is constant fog and moisture from the sea. I have been keeping my instruments at 45% humidity, this has already stopped my problem of sticky pads.

Dehumidifier