The Contrabassoon As a Pedagogical Tool

118 IHE CONTRAEASSOONA5 A PEDAGOGICALTOOL The Contrabassoonas a PedagogicalTool MichaelBurns Creensboro,North Carolina n my position as a collegebassoon professor I jump up into harmonic partials instead of the offer not only lessonson the bassoonbut also fundamental. This also is more pronounced on the on the contrabassoonto mv students.Over the contra. As the contra'srole is usually to play as the yearsI havefound that studentstaking lessonson the bassand lowest voice ofthe woodwinds (and often contra havehad some areasof their bassoonplaying of the entire ensemble)this ability to truly tenter' improve as a result and wanted to offer this article as the low notes is crucial. a documentationof my observations. Flicking/Venting on the bassoon is considered As anyone who has played both contra and by many to be an extremely important element of bassoon can attest, while the two share a family technique to clarify the notes at the top ofthe bass- background and many similarities, the contra is not clefstaff. As the contra does not have a hole in the merely an oversizedbassoon. I advocateto my students Bocal and a whisper key to help faciiitate these that they approach it foremost as a totally new and notes the keys on the wing joint above the Cf key different instrument and then celebrateas a bonus any are not for flicking or venting but actually become similarities when those are found. At the end of this true octave keys, often referred to as octave keys article I have included a listing ofwhat I consider to be one and two (OKl and OK2-with OKl being the the most essentialdifferences for a bassoonistto note lower one immediately above the C# key and OK2 betweenthe bassoonand contra. aboveit.) TheseMUST be held down for thosenotes In many regards the contrabassoon exaggerates to function (vented) as opposed to just touching issuesalso found on the bass<-ron: and releasing(flicking.) ofcourse, neglecting to do anlthing with the octavekeys will almost certainly Pitch/Tuning is variable on the bassoonand must not producethe desiredresponse for thesenotes. be accounted for to play in tune but the contra Incidentally, just as the flickingiventing system is takes pitch variability to a much higher level with under further investigation on the bassoon with many fingerings able to produce notes within such innovations as the Weisberg no-flick system, a range of a minor third or more! AIso, because the contra has also been investigated in a similar the sounding pitches of the contra are so low way with systemsto address the issue by Arlen they often go well beyond a players' singing range Fast, contra player in the New York Philharmonic so they need to learn to still mentally'sing' the and by Allen Savedoff in California. notes they wish to play (in fact it is perhaps even Counting! Contra parts are often less active and more crucial than on the bassoon)but thev have more sparsethan bassoonparts so counting rests to employ displacement of an octave or perhaps and being aware of what the parts surrounding severaloctaves above where the contra wili sound. the player are doing also becomesmore crucial. I find this to be a rea1lyimportant skill and also Contra players also iearn that bringing a good one that I employon the bassoondespite my own book to rehearsalcan be advisable! voice matching the range of the bassoon fairly Alternate fingerings. On the contra, many notes well. need to have altered fingerings to facilitate tuning, Voicingl is important on the bassoon (in my responseand stability (seebelow.) These changes opinion) to heip focus pitch and tone, to facilitate can alter with different reeds,bocals, instruments, slurs and leaps, and to differentiate registers.All etc. and a contra player needs to become quite of theseissues become amplified, larger and more flexible and even sometimes creative in their critical on the contra. fingering choicesto suit the conditions present at Low Register plapng on the bassoon requires anypoint in timein the music. the player to have an bpen setup in their voicing, The bassoon has a big bore. The bore of the embouchure, etc. in order to not accidentaliy bassoonis largeand it requiresa lot ofair to play- THEDOUBLEREED particularly to play loudly in the low register.The Eb in the staffwould be a forked fingering on the a Contra bore is even larger and longer and requires bassoon,on the contra you finger D and add ALUI OIA1I. special Eb key. Likewise E and F above the staff you play a forked 1efthand on the bassoonbut do A11of theseelements listed abovecombine to make not on the contra. The simplest contra fingerings bperi f the contrabassoona challenginginstrument to play and are just to finger a first finger LH e and especiallyto master,yet, it can alsobe a lot of fun. I see (like an octave lower) but with the OK2 held again and again that when a bassoonisttakes on these down. challengesthat on the contra are so pronounced and Becausethere are no open holes it is impossible you off obvious that there is a corresponding improvement in to 1/2 hole, therefore on the contra leave those areason the bassoonwhere they may have been the first finger for FflGb and for G natural' For somewhat more subtle. Their sensitivity to pitch is C*/ab you may also leave off the first finger but you first often improved and sometimesthey have had to learn it is often more stableif instead closethe (see new strategiesto deal with pitch issueson the contra finger and hold down the first octave key that they then find they can apply on the bassoon (the below) octave-displacementmentioned above as a possible Because there is no whisper key you have to example.) Their level of voicing usage and control remember NOT to hold down the bottom key for is also often enhanced on the bassoon after dealing the left-handthumb--it is the Cf key!!!! the with the more critical issueson the contra. Their low Also you cant open the whisper key for registerclarity is usually improved. They often become register above the staff so you must hold down (equivalent better and more consistent about flicking and venting the appropriate octave key to the on the bassoon after the necessity of holding down bassoonflick keys) the first octave key abovethe the octavekeys on the contra. They learn to count and C# key is held down to play Ab, A, Bb,B, and C. listen more actively and can alsobecome more flexible The second octave key is held down for D, Eb' if alternate fingerings need to be employed on the E, F. On some contras there is an optional little bassoonfor some reason.Finally, the air management button above the C# key which operates the skills required on the contra for its large bore can also second octave key to enableyou to play the high be reallybeneficial on the bassoon. C# more securely. All of these benefits were side-effectsof learning to play the contra but all of them also enhance the The contra is notorious for sounding out of tune students'bassoonplaying in my experience.I have and ugly. Contra players have learned some tricks reachedthe point that I may introduce contra playing to try and combat this. One is to find alternate to students that exhibit any of problems listed above fingerings that improve intonation, tone, or stability on the bassoonso that by experiencing the issuein its on certain notes. One of the more commonly used more exaggeratedform they can become more aware techniquesis to use the low D key asa kind ofwhisper of it, learn to deal with and overcome it and then key replacement. On many instruments this will help reapply this sameknowledge to the bassoon. stability of pitch and tone on many notes--be carefut Below are my ContrabassoonNotes, a handout I not to add it when playing a low E thoughll Adding have developedfor bassoonistswhen they are askedto low C, B or Bb is also possibleand especiallyhelps with play contra for the first time covering what I consider playing at softer dlnamics or when needing to leap to to be some ofthe essentiaidifferences to note: or from thesenotes. Another common changeis to add What are the difierences between bassoon and fingers of the right hand to notes that normally only contra? require the left (e.g.D, Eb,E, F in both middle octaves) different combinations of fingers may have better The contra has no whisper key results on diferent notes on different instruments The contra has no open finger holes and with different reeds--experiment a littie. A good (tone holes) starting point with these notes is to try adding the 3. The contra has no fork fingerings2 2nd,3rd, and 4th fingers ofthe right hand, and also the thumb on the Bb key. The majority of diferences in fingerings stem from Just iike on the bassoon the lower jaw has to be thesethree factse.g.: really low and relaxed in order to get the contra low notes to come out cleanly.Most people underestimate rHE CONTRABASSOON AS A PEDAGOGICALTOOL how low they need to make the jaw. Really drop it (the journal of the Music Library down and iower Association) and your tongue position as much as on the Yamaha Educator Series online. possible but you must His mentors also really focus the airstream inciude William Winstead, Sherman Walt, Leonard or rt may come out flat and flabby. Sharrow, and Colin Hemmingsen. Contra He is archivist for has the ability to play with a very . wide the International Double Reed dynamic range-much Society and was co_ iarger than the bassoons.

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