On Friday January 16, 1987, a doctoral thesis entitled "Contribution & l'etude de l'anche du basson" was submitted for examination at the University of Paris by Jean-Marie Heinrich (b 1942) of Mulhouse. This study of the botany, mechanics, history and manufacture of the bassoon reed had for many years occupied the spare time of the author, who works professionally in a medical laboratory and is a keen amateur player of the "fagott", "basson" and baroque bassoon. He prepared first a study of the botany of arundo donax in 1973; this was followed in 1978 by a study of practical reedmaking techniques (which appeared in translation in the 1979 I.D.R.S. Journal) and in 1981 by a study of early theories of proportion as applied to instrument making. The concluding 4th part contains an exhaustive survey of historical reed- making techniques in which he re-affirms the validity of the methods of Cugnier and Ozi, an description of his newly designed gouging machine (which will not only gouge internally "downhill" but profile as well), and most significantly the presentation of important evidence regarding the structure and behaviour of "canne de Provence". He describes this as a "bilame hydrique" - a hydrous bi-laminate whose twin components of bark and pith each have differing properties.
He presented this impressive corpus of work comprising some 528 pages before a specially convened panel consisting of a botanist, two physicists, two acousticians and a bassoonist (myself). After discussions with the candidate in public and deliberations in private, his thesis was duly accepted and the degree conferred.
Heinrich's work is important for a number of reasons. So far
comparatively little high-level study of this kind has been devoted
to double reeds; his research, which is remarkably comprehensive
at both a scientific and a practical level, brings a degree of
order and understanding to an area that has been imperfectly comprehended
hitherto by acousticians and players alike. It is to be hoped
that he will have succeeded in laying a foundation which will
facilitate and stimulate further work in this maddeningly complex
field which is of concern to so many of us.