| Brought to you this hour by |  | Advertising and Web Hosting on Woodwind.Org! |
Doublereed Archive - Posting 000069.txt from 2006/03
From: herb fawcett <herbgosia@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [DR-L] Re: doublereed Digest 23 Mar 2006 10:01:01 -0000 Issue
Date: Fri, 24 Mar 2006 19:25:21 -0500
And I suppose you can sound soft like a bass clarinet in the continuation of
the clarinet in bar #160 in the first movement of the Tchaik #6; such a reed
would be a great comfort to the second bassoonist from bar 321 to the end of
the movement. Pinching it should make all of that unacceptably sharp in that
register. With a reed that long, you must have to pinch a lot of the time.
That's a hell of a reed.
Herb
On 3/24/06 3:43 PM, "Lawrence Rhodes" <primobassoon@-----.net> wrote:
> Playing softly depends on the reed, school of playing & ability. Some
> schools of playing bassoon do not stress dynamics. All the better players I
> know that do opera can play soft. Symphonies don't seem to stress wide
> dynamics. From my experience those dynamics aren't heard or are rather
> drowned out by a big string section. Chamber music is different. The
> techniques I use seem to allow me to play softly. I use a reed with a 1 1/8
> inch blade. The tube is the same length. Using a narrow part of a
> Hertzberg shaper(cane about 5 inches long) I have spine measurements of
> .042" at the collar. .033" 3/4" in. .022" 1/8" from the tip. These three
> measurements can be gotten with most single profilers. The most important
> are the back & middle. Just finish the tip normally. Don't let the e or c#
> sag. This kind of reed though heavy is stable and plays well when pinched
> which is what you want when playing soft. It also opens up when playing
> loud for a wide dynamic range. It's my secret weapon for control of the
> instrument. Properly balanced a reed with these dimensions will last longer
> & give a very solid sound. All my notes regardless of the tendancies of the
> instrument are equaled out so a low F# is no more edgy than you want it to
> be. Did I mention I can attack any note on the instrument at ppp. When I
> give my reed to others they can instantly do the same thing. Another tip is
> to blow a little air through the reed with the fingered note you want to
> play. It give you feedback of how the horn will speak. I never use mutes
> or cheater fingerings. There is no need with reeds like this.
> Lawrence Rhodes
> Bassoon/Contrabassoon
> Reedmaker
> Book 4/5 doubler
> Electric Vehicle & Solar Power Advocate
> Vegetable Oil Car.
> 415-550-8585
> primobassoon@-----.net
>
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> For personal help: email doublereed-owner@-----.org
> Doublereed is a service of Woodwind.Org, Inc. http://www.woodwind.org
>
---------------------------------------------------------------------
For personal help: email doublereed-owner@-----.org
Doublereed is a service of Woodwind.Org, Inc. http://www.woodwind.org
