How a cleaned bassoon reed ages

The upper reed is my main reed at the moment. Actually, because I'm lazy, it's basically the only reed I've been using. I've been playing on it for months, probably at least hundred hours or so. I'm careful to sonicate my reeds after every use, so I can get away with this. In high school, before I cleaned reeds, I remember them going off much more quickly; going first stuffy and then dead. I think the usual aging mechanism is that the reed surface gets clogged with dead skin cells from the lips. This slimy stuff deadens the vibration, and maybe contributes to bugs growing which can eat away at the reed.

The lower reed is a new reed I'm working on finishing. The old reed is still working, but I'm getting worried about it. The color is getting darker, maybe the pitch is rising, and I'm feeling like some of my problems are the reed's fault. Having a new one on hand gives me a comparison, to see how the old one has aged. I arranged the light in the picture to try and demonstrate the difference in texture between the reeds. The old reed has developed grooves between the white cellulose fibers. I'm not sure what the material between the fibers is, maybe lignin, but whatever it is, it seems to be lost faster than the white fibers. I should check the interior of the old reed when I discard it, see if a similar effect is occurring on the interior.

The hard part

This is my hardest part in the concert coming up on Sunday. The piece is Beethoven's Egmont overture, and I've clipped out woodwind part (oboe, clarinets in Bb, and bassoons) from the score. In the fermata bar, the violins cut off the King's head, with a dramatic C-G! Then the woodwinds enter, with second clarinet and bassoon (that's me) on octave F's, then adding parts, in the shocked quiet after the decapitation. After this, there's a rousing finale, but I'm worried about the notes before.

That opening F is marked ppp, and it needs to be very quiet, mysterioso. There's no other sound in the hall. The clarinet I'm playing with can play with a subtone anywhere down to zero; the bassoon, not so much. The first rehearsals, he was playing really quiet, not only because it was ppp, and because the conductor wanted it quieter, less and less, but also because he felt insecure about the pitch, so he kindof wanted to sneak in and hear how it sounded. You'll bury me, I told him, and asked him to do what he could to help us match dynamic-wise. (Ie, play louder, please!) I'm doing what I can: tons of support from lips and diaphragm, slow air, muffled fingering (add low D and E). I think the conductor has gotten the idea after watching me struggle, and hearing the pops, cracks and dropouts when I get too soft: at the rehearsal last night he asked clarinet 1 to meet us on dynamic. It's sometimes described as a knife edge, playing a double reed as soft as possible, but a better metaphor is a cliff's edge. Things are fine a comfortable distance away from it, it's fine creeping up to it, it's even okay balanced right on it, but any jiggle, and down you fall, with no hope of recovery. I'm also slurring the whole thing. My part has each note rearticulated (even the Db, unlike the score here), but adding tongue is just too risky, and I don't think the articulation is needed.

Intonation is a struggle too. I've played this lots against a drone. The F I'm playing as low as I can, without it drooping, the Db needs to be up and supported, the Bb down, with open throat, and the C fully supported. If I'm reading the chords right, the harmonies are F, Db major, G half diminished, C major, making the key change to the final section. So I'm usually the root of the chord, except for the Bb, which is a third, and should therefore be a little extra low. I guess you could also call that G chord a Bbmin add 6, to emphasize the bass line and the descending thirds F-Db-Bb, but calling it G helps recognize it's relation to the C following.

Looking back, I see I've mentioned this passage twice before. Ah well. I guess it's a hard spot. But I'll say this: even though it's hard, and even though I still can't play it as perfectly as I can hear it in my head, I can say that practicing it has helped. It really works, practice. Imagine that.

Bocal brush!

About a year ago I picked up a bocal brush, figuring it was a standard piece of equipment, and I ought to have one. I didn't use it immediately, and somehow misplaced it. I figured I probably didn't need it too badly, since I'm careful to keep my mouth and reeds clean, so what gunk was there that could end up in the bocal? I'm well aware of what can end up in bocals, though. I remember the first bassoon I played, a student horn belonging to my junior high school. (Speaking of which, a junior high with an orchestra? And a bassoon to lend? We didn't know how good we had it.) Anyway, it was tough to make a sound. I didn't have a brush, didn't know special brushes existed, but I did run tap water through the bocal, and was astonished by the large chunks of crud that came out. Really, I was mostly surprised that I could get air through at all, given how packed it was with crud. And yeah, clearing it out helped that horn a lot. So brushing out bocals seems like a good idea, and I was annoyed that I'd lost my brush before ever using it. A month or two ago I even spent awhile searching, without success, and made do with running water through it.

Today, while tidying, I found my unused bocal brush! I immediately brushed out my main bocal, curious if there would be any gunk, though I didn't really expect anything. But lo, check this out:

Not huge hunks, but some substantial slime, to be sure. How exactly a slime coat would affect the acoustics isn't obvious to me, but it can't be good. Trying it out afterward, it felt like maybe it was a little more resonant, and a little easier to reach very high notes (D-D#-E), but I can't be sure if that isn't just psychological. Worthwhile in any case.

As an added bonus, I used the same principle to fix my dishwasher later in the evening. So: two wins for brushes in one day.

Intonation and temperment

Here's a master class video on intonation, for violinists but interesting for everyone I think. The violin presents an interesting case for discussion of temperament, because they have both melodic and harmonic use, and because pitch is completely under the player's control. The speaker advocates different temperament depending on the context: Pythagorean for melody, just for harmony, and figure out a workable compromise when it's more complicated. Examples mentioned include a melody with double stops, playing with an equal-tempered piano, and playing  as a soloist with an orchestra with a range of pitches to choose from.

For myself, I'm happy if I can tend to be in the general neighborhood of the right pitch, or should I say, a right pitch. I've added bending long tones against a loud drone to my routine practice, and while it's no panacea, I think I've become better as listening and adjusting.

Dealing with cold

I live in a cold place. Mostly this winter has been unbelievably mild, but we're now back to the arctic conditions that are more typical for January. This is the kind of place where the hockey rinks get put indoors, so the ice is warm enough for the skates to work. Last night it was -26 C when I was coming home from rehearsal, and the low tonight is supposed to be -31, or -47 with the wind chill. Not pleasant for the people, even with appropriate clothing, but what about the instruments?

Indoors, while playing, winter is not that big of a deal. Mostly things are just dry. The outside air is bone dry, so everyone has a humidifier, but these are set on the dry side to keep condensation off the windows. Barry Stees blogged recently about humidifying cases and reeds. I'm constantly redipping my reed, so keeping the reed wet isn't a huge problem for me. I have noticed that the bassoon joints fit a bit looser, particularly the long joint. It doesn't seem that big of a deal, but maybe I should keep my case closed, with the swab in the case, just to up the humidity a bit. I have been leaving it open to help with a sticky pad problem I once had.

But what about outside, while traveling to rehearsal? There are horror stories of woodwinds cracking, particularly oboes, due to exposure to cold. Ed Neilsen has a great article about the causes and solutions. The short story is to avoid sudden changes in temperature. I have had to cart my bassoon around in cold weather, but I've never been happy about it. This Christmas, my lovely wife bought me an insulated Altieri case cover from Miller Marketing. It's robust, with tough looking nylon, big straps, and a music pocket big enough for a large folder, a bassoon stand, a music stand, reed tools, and a laptop. It gets pretty heavy and unbalanced with all that stuff in it, but it's nice to have the option. Last night was my first chance to see how well it did with serious cold. From the bus stop back to my house was maybe 10 minutes, at -26C. Since it wasn't outside long, I figured I wasn't risking much to open it quickly to see how cold it had gotten inside. The outside of my case, inside the cover, was cool to the touch, maybe fridge temperature. Inside my case, the horn was at room temperature. So yeah, looks like an insulating case cover helps. For really serious conditions, eg shipping oboes in winter, I guess I'd add room temperature gel packs outside the case. These would freeze slowly, slowing the shift to deep cold, then melt slowly, slowing the shift back to room temperature.

Back from winter break

Over Christmas, and almost to New Year's, I was down at my parent's place. It was really nice, a very good trip. I brought my horn, in the hopes of practicing, having my parents hear me play, and seeing my old teacher. Some of that worked out: I played for a bit, almost every day. But I did discover that it was essentially impossible to practice in the usual sense. There were always people around, so of course they would listen. And if they are your aged parents, they don't want to listen to you work on your scales, even if that's what you would normally do. So I could play, as long as that playing was a performance. Okay, out comes the pieces I've been working on; out comes the Bach cello suites, I can try and sightread my way through. And out comes the book of Christmas carols. My wife played on the piano and her melodica, my son played some clarinet, and Tim, one of their caregivers, played my mom's guitar. He was amazing, actually. Turns out he led a church choir for 20 years back in the Philippines, and nearly went to a conservatory in Manila, in composition, before his scholarship fell through.

I did get a chance to take my horn to my old teacher. He put it on his machine, checked the seals, and adjusted a few pads. A touch-up is usually required after an overhaul, which we did in May, which is one of the reasons I wanted to see him. It's sealing better now, and I feel like it's helping the low register. We also put my son's clarinet on the machine. It has issues, to be sure, and my son and his teacher have started to make noises about it. The leak tester showed some of the problems, but there's no way to tell how much the work it needs (a full repad/overhaul) would help it without investing in the instrument. And the clarinet, labelled "La Sete", probably a stencil from German maker, likely has some inherent issues unrelated to its seal and setup. I guess we're in the market for a decent Buffet R13 at a decent price. We also sat down and read some music. We did the first Mozart divertimento for two clarinets and a bassoon, with my son on clarinet 1 and my teacher transposing the clarinet 2 part. That was really wonderful. I haven't played with him since, hm, must be 1987. He's got a gorgeous sound, and I learn a lot just playing in the same room as him.


My first rehearsals are next week. I want to be ready, particularly for the university symphony, which has been a challenge for me. I guess I'm doing okay, though, since I got seated for the next block too. Haydn 104 (2nd) and something called Legend (1st). Not sure what that one is, I guess I'll find out.