Reed Design for Early Woodwinds, by
David Hogan Smith
Helge Bartholomaus: Das Fagottensemble:
Kleines Handbuch zur Musikpraxis
Reed Design for Early Woodwinds,
by David Hogan Smith. Indiana University Press, 601 North Morton
Street, Bloomington, IN 47404-3797. Orders (800) 842-6796. $17.95,
176 pp.
David Hogan Smith, founder and director of San Francisco's the
King's Trumpetts and Shalmes, has just brought out an exhaustive
and well-researched reed handbook for Renaissance wind instruments.
He analyzes every aspect of the reed and its function in tone
production, beginning with a technical overview of reed instruments
and their acoustic properties. He then deals with the role of
the embouchure and gives detailed explanations of how to make
reeds for shawms, curtals, crumhorns and other double reed instruments
of the period.
The book is handsomely illustrated with reproductions of iconography
from the Renaissance (Mersenne, Praetorius, et al.) and the author's
own diagrams of every reed from treble shawm to great bass sordun.
My one disappointment with his reed diagrams is that they are
not life-size. I have found that an easy method for making templates
for shaper tips is to xerox the diagram, glue it onto a thin piece
of metal (a Twinings tea box, for example) and cut it out with
a pair of heavy scissors. Experimenting on a photocopier with
enlarging capability would probably yield an acceptable result.
The author devotes several pages to a fascinating explanation
of underblowing on the bass crumhorn, a technique which results
in producing pitches a fifth below the normal range of the instrument.
Smith helpfully provides the historical basis for this technique
in reproducing Agricola's 1528 bass crumhorn fingering chart.
Of course, the player needs the right reed to be able to achieve
this effect, and Smith answers this question in depth.
Reed Design for Early Woodwinds is full of all kinds of practical
information, tables and diagrams, as well as having a generous
collection of footnotes, a bibliography and useful list of suppliers.
by Philip Gottling Honolulu, Hawaii
Helge Bartholomaus: Das Fagottensemble:
Kleines Handbuch zur Musikpraxis. Musikund Buchverlag Werner Feja
(An der Dorfkirche ID, D-1000 Berlin 48, Germany, Tel: (030) 7217541]
1992. ISBN 3-929355-00-0 (Order number: MB 01) DM 31, 50.
Berlin bassoonist, Helge Bartholomaus, has written this labor
of love, a marvelous handbook devoted entirely to the history
and literature of the bassoon ensemble. As a member of one of
Germany's finest bassoon ensemble, the Berliner Fagottquartett,
he has been directly involved in the evolution of this media which
has virtually mushroomed in the last twenty years.
The 104 page book discusses the history and development of bassoon
ensembles, gives brief histories of some important groups from
around the world, and, most important, a very complete bibliography
and discography. The bibliography is divided into original compositions
for bassoon ensembles - arranged from 2 bassoons to multibassoons,
and arrangements for the various sized ensembles as well. The
source for these works is clearly shown, so many of them can be
obtained by the reader. There is also a brief biography of all
the composers.
The book is illustrated with photos of ensembles, facsimile pages
of manuscripts, reprints, and even a few concert programs. The
text is in German, but very understandable even if one doesn't
read German. The excellent foreward by William Waterhouse is in
both English and German.
To summarize, every bassoonist will want to buy this book. Besides
the obvious pedagogical value of bassoon ensemble playing, we
bassoonists have long thrilled to the lovely, silky sound of massed
bassoons playing together. Here finally is a comprehensive work
that pulls together all the loose ends of this beautiful, but
relatively new art form into one succinct and relatively complete
source. Thank you, Helge, for giving us this excellent work!
Ronald Klimko, Moscow, Idaho