(The following lecture was presented at the I. D. R. S. Congress in Graz on August 14, 1984. It is followed by two more etudes by Cuciureanu showing the simplicity of his new system. Ed.)
Dear Colleagues,
We are deeply attached to the bassoon owing to its wonderful music
that delights our ears and souls. When I hear the sound of the
bassoon, my heart leaps up with joy and makes my life longer.
But all my life I was uneasy because of certain imperfect things
in our instrument.
After long-lasting search and numerous persevering attempts I managed to remove many of those imperfect things.
After being perfected, the Heckel-bassoon has the following qualities as compared to the German classical instrument:
· The structure and possibilities
of the classical bassoon fingering have not been altered.
· By well thought-out changes one can couple the B/C sharp
and C/E-flat keys on the long joint, and E/F-sharp B-flat/G keys
on the butt joint.
· A second possibility of movement was created for the grave D and C keys which are operated with the thumb of the right hand on the butt joint.
· Thus, in the lower register three C positions, six C-sharp positions, two D positions and four D-sharp positions have been obtained. This way the lower register of the instrument became mobile.
· The constructive correction of the E/F-sharp trill key on the wing joint by correspondingly moving the hole to the resounding tube surprisingly facilitates the technique of the upper register.
· Using the same axle and supports of the preceding key, in May this year I built the socalled high E key (as the Americans put it), but the hole in the resounding tube is 1 cm. higher. Thus, besides the high E sound, I have obtained the high E/F and E-flat/F trills and the high D/F tremolo, which cannot possibly be performed by the classical instrument.
· The correction and rationalization of the D/E-flat trill key on the wing joint gives a more obvious fluent character to some keys with flats.
· The rationalization with improved functionality of the second possibility of movement of the A-flat key on the butt joint.
· The achievement of' a more silent
and efficient system of stopping the S key.
· However, the weight of the instrument is still within
the classical limits: 2.8 kg. Recently produced instruments sometimes
exceed 3.3 kg.
· Using the flowing fingering, scales in all keys can be performed in an equally easy manner after these changes of the perfected bassoon.
· On the whole range of the instrument all trills at the step and half step and all tremolos from the minor third to the perfect fourth can be performed.
· Using images speaking for themselves in the chromatic scale I have compiled the catalogue of the bassoon sounds numbered from I to n positions (267 positions for sounds). The Heckel catalogue compiled by Enzo Mucetti contained about 90 positions.
· Using images speaking for themselves, in the chromatic scale too I compiled the catalogue of all trills and tremolos (172 positions for trills and 172 positions for tremolos).
· For the upper half of the musical scale I have drawn up the list of the bassoon flageolets marked by 0. This has been done chromatically and by means of images too.
· Finally it was possible to create
the numbered system of the bassoon fingering.
Using the possibilities of the perfected bassoon and applying
the principle of the crossed
movements, I have extended the flowing fingering of the first
G Major octave to all keys and the whole range of the instrument.
Thus, all major and minor keys - irrespective of the number of
sharps and flats - can be performed in the same easy manner as
G Major in the first octave.
The numbered system ensures the flowing succession of the finer movements without crossing.
Thus, one laid the foundation of a modern scientific instrumental pedagogy which makes the bassoon student be sure when playing. It protects him from failures producing violent emotions and stage fright.
The future qualification of the bassoonist will be conditioned by several factors: first, he has to have a bassoon which was built in the most advanced stage of perfecting. Fox Products Corporation, South Whitley, Indiana, USA, produces such instruments. Second, he has to know perfectly how to handle and use such an instrument. Finally, he has to use perfectly systematized fingering books in keeping with the superior possibilities of such a perfected bassoon. Here is such a book.
The perfected bassoon entailed the considerable
increase in number of the fingering positions in the catalogue:
90 positions in Enzo Mucetti's catalogue, 611 positions in the
present catalogue.
Hence, boredom when looking something up in the catalogue, waste of time, discouragement, etc.
Present-day technology enables us to remove such obstacles. A figure, a number above the note and in a few seconds the computer will let us know the fingering position we were looking for. The computer will spare the bassoonist the boredom of looking up fingering positions in the catalogue, will save the time that was wasted in such a search, will be an incentive of his daily activity, will be the main help in the bassoonist's work.
The computer will store all the 620 positions in the catalogue of the fingering positions and in a few seconds the display will show the position in question. The draft of such a computer has already been prepared by me.
Dear colleagues, the perfected bassoon, the systematizing fingering book and the computer I have talked about will soon be a superior help to bassoon pedagogy. I present them as my revenge for the insufficient pedagogical means in my student days.
The future bassoon students will have better conditions to learn and will play with the computer by learning to play the bassoon.
In the end I would like to thank all those people who support my ideas aimed at the progress of our profession.
CAPRICE 8 Fingering Chart [click to enlarge]
CAPRICE 7 A Fingering Chart
CAPRICE 7 A
CAPRICE 8
