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Down
under - well, almost "down under"! South Africa is a
land of many people, interests and differences. Beautiful, rugged
landscape is mixed with vast expanses of desert and then matched
with tropical, lush forests and some of the most breath-taking
coastline in the world.
Musically, South Africa has five fulltime orchestras, two of which are opera orchestras. In the fall of 1983, I arrived in South Africa to fill the "Principal B" position in the National Symphony Orchestra of the South African Broadcasting Corporation based in Johannesburg. Having been in the country for a year now, I would like to inform IDRS bassoonists and readers what is happening here.
South Africa is a very cosmopolitan country and the members of the orchestras hail from many lands such as Eastern and Western Europe, Israel, Australia, the USA and Canada. The mild degree of turnover consequently infuses new approaches and ideas. Nationalities and the resulting various schools of playing have also shifted and changed in the bassoon sections. For example, ten years ago the SABC orchestra was filled by a German/Dutch section - josh de Groen, Sr., Dieter Morshel and Inger Holland. Today it is British/American/ Canadian, while the European school reigns in Durban and German/American in Cape Town.
Canadian Esther Forese, the SABC's 3rd/ Contra Bassoonist and a student of Gerry Corey, feels that although there are several nationalities in our midst, Beethoven, Mozart and Brahms are played in the basically same style as in Canada or anywhere else. Having played with the Durban and the Performing Arts Council of the Transvaal orchestras she also hasn't found that she disagrees with the stylistic expression of the various other bassoonists.
Paul Rodgers, "Principal A" bassoonist with the SABC since September 1983, has been in South Africa off and on since 1973 and then fulltime from 1978, when he accepted the principal position with PACT. Paul, an Irishman who studied in London with Gywdion Brooke, had an especially interesting experience in the PACT orchestra because the principal winds consisted of an English flautist, French oboist, Swiss clarinetist and himself. Trying to agree on certain styles and other issues could be quite an "exciting" enterprise, and Paul felt that the final decisions tended to be a bit too ponderous and straight for his taste. The alternative approaches which accompany the changes in the musical tides in South Africa seem, however, to shed new light and broaden the musical taste and knowledge rather than do damage.
With Cape Town and Durban on the sea, one can quickly find a good reed scrape. In Jo' Berg and Pretoria, reeds can and do present challenges. Johannesburg is 5700' above sea level, and reeds must naturally be scraped thinner. The biggest hurdle is when one plays one month in Pretoria, which is 1000 meters lower and only 30 kilometers away, and the next in Jo' Burg! Such is the life of the PACT bassoon section. Principal Retha Cilliers buys her reeds from Hombach, and has found that she must have two sets of reeds, one for performing in Pretoria and one for Jo' Burg. A reed that works well in Jo' Burg suffers from sinking "E" and "C#- sickness if played in Pretoria. The newest addition to the PACT section is Judy Wood, an Australian from Brisbane, who travelled to South Africa to play in Durban and later made the move to Pretoria. Judy found in the beginning after the move that her reeds were unbearably hard and needed to experiment with thinner scrapes. The National Symphony tours the country as well and just finished performing in Wilderness, George, Port Elizabeth, and East London, all of which lie on the coast or very near. My answer - take blanks and make reeds when you arrive!
The instruments played in South Africa are Heckel, Puchner and Mollenhauer, in that order. One must, however, become self-sufficient in minor repair work.
Teaching opportunities are available here as well as extra work recording background tracks for TV and radio. The orchestras offer a fine selection of repertoire as well. In the National Symphony alone we have performed such works as Bolero, Rhapsodie Espagnol, the Shostakovitch 9th, Scheherezade, the Tchaikovsky 5th and the Mahler 1st. Recital opportunities can also be found, and, as a member of SABC's "Artist List", one can record solo works for broadcast over the radio.
Coming to South Africa has been a decisively good step for me to take in my career as a bassoonist, and I am indeed quite happy. I am learning more orchestral literature than I ever knew existed and am enjoying that aspect of the job immensely. The orchestras in South Africa should be a serious consideration to any careerminded musician, and if one is a bassoonist, one will find that the challenges presented to you with reeds, the stylistic discussions with colleagues, the learning of vast amounts of the orchestral literature; and other musician outlets can prepare one well for the next bigger step, wherever that might be.