Doublereed Archive - Posting 000036.txt from 2004/10

From: "Don Gerue" <don@-----.com>
Subj: [DR-L] Beginner Bassoon - Again - Reed Blues
Date: Tue, 5 Oct 2004 12:53:53 -0400

Good Morning List:

I tried the bassoon in Santa Barbara in 1962 and 1989 for about 6 months
each. In march I was contacted by the local Susanville Symphony group =
and
asked if I would please get going again as the Pony express does not =
deliver
many bassoonists to North Eastern California. So I got a new bassoon =
(Fox
240) and a good teacher in Reno ( Chris Hazlett-Stevens) and started
practicing again. I have now been at it for 6 months and I think for a
rather older student, (74) that I am doing pretty good ( Teacher says so
anyway) .

All of this being said, there is one thing that I hope to get more help
with. The subject is reed adjustment. If there is a sure way to make me =
sad
for the day, it is to get up in the morning. Sit down to practice and =
find
that my reed (reeds) don't seem to be as good as yesterday. I have read =
a
good variety of instruction materials and they all help but an area that
seems to be recurring and distressing is response in the low registers. =
The
first practice I do in the morning is the Long tones, Waite warm-up and =
then
Hertzberg patterns. The Hertzberg patterns start on contra B and most =
days
the notes just do not want to speak immediately. I then do what I can =
with
wires and scraping the reed at the top and slowly things start to =
improve.
I have been using several different types of reeds but the ones I am =
using
now are reasonably new and probably only have a few hours on them.=20

I am sure there must be a lot of people with equivalent problems. Could =
you
please give me some additional things to try or a strategy that will =
help me
cope with the morning "Reed Blues". I think I could write a poem on my
frustration with the contrariness of Bassoon Reeds.

Thank you.

Don Gerue

Don Gerue
718-000 Desert Pine Trail
Milford,CA 96121
530 253 3978
don@-----.net
www.Gerue.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Lacy, Edwin [mailto:el2@-----.edu]=20
Sent: Tuesday, October 05, 2004 9:29 AM
To: doublereed@-----.org
Subject: RE: [DR-L] I'm guilty... Re: [DR-L] beginner bassoon

From: Douglas Huff:

<<<I am the person who required eight doublereed technique students to
subscribe to the doublereed listserv and post a message.>>>

Ha! Busted! That's quite a coincidence, Doug, considering that you and =
I
spoke on the phone last night for the first time in a long time, about =
an
entirely different subject.
=20
I wasn't offended by the messages from your students. When I saw the =
first
few questions I had an almost irresistible urge to write about each one.
But then, when they kept appearing, I think I despaired about writing =
about
all of them.
=20
Still, I think you had a good idea. The doublereed list is a valuable
resource. The plan probably would have worked if the students had =
lurked a
while to get the "lay of the land," so to speak.
=20
In fact, I might steal parts of your idea and try something similar with =
my
woodwind techniques class next semester.
=20
Ed Lacy

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