In our North American Professional orchestras we usually hear flutists doubling on piccolos, clarinetists on bass clarinet, e-flat clarinet or saxophones, English hornists on oboe and bassoonists on contrabassoon with equally beautiful tone, precision of intonation, and successful over-all effectiveness as they achieve when playing their primary instrument. On the other hand, some sound awkward, out of tune and musically "crippled" as they perform on another instrument in their same "family" of like woodwinds.
The difference, I believe, is often more one of wrong attitude rather than adaptation or ability. Rarely will a good woodwind player sound bad or fail to achieve excellent musical results when playing a doubling instrument if he seriously respects the nature of that instrument. But a player who feels the doubling instrument - piccolo, deep or high clarinets, oboe (from English Horn specialty) or contra-bassoon--is "easy" or is "just the same" as the standard woodwind is making a grave mistake and facing certain trouble.
No instrument of independent design, size of bore, individuality of fingering and intonation tendency is going to produce graceful sounds unless the player has studied and learned to control its nature in every detail: the particular embouchure required, the proper breath support needed for every note, the nature of the tone (in terms of attack, duration and decay), individual characteristics of nuance and expression, technique of fingering and its inherent acoustical problems.
If this is true in the case of the usual orchestral doubles, it is certainly true for the rarely-heard and unusual-sounding French bassoon--but no more so.
I have been interested in the possibilities of playing the Buffet bassoon since 1953 when I heard Raymond Allard perform the beautiful "Berceuse" from Stravinsky's "Firebird Suite" with the Boston Symphony in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I was convinced from that moment that certain music written for "bassoon" really sounds "ideal" only on the French bassoon. Of course the same is true for much music and the German-type instrument. I am not in particular a protagonist for the French instrument over the Heckel; I admire each instrument for its best capabilities and now enjoy playing both.
In 1960 I bought my first Buffet in New York City, as many U.S. bassoonists have done, if only out of curiosity and the generally low price; the instrument in one music store and a "French bocal" in another store across the street
I was lucky in finding no cracks and that all the keys were still intact, that the instrument had been lightly played in its former years (probably it was used at the Juilliard School of Music in the 1920's when Letellier taught the French bassoon there). From "official" charts for the French-system bassoon I learned the "basic" fingering and many fingerings which were of no help at all, especially for the most out-of-tune notes. My first reed was almost identical to a Heckel-style reed and was hardly suitable for the demands of the smaller French bore.
After communicating with both Raymond Allard and his nephew Maurice Allard in Paris, I received a few really nice reeds and a better bocal. After several years of limited work on the instrument, my interest received a great impetus when I was able to buy a new Buffet just two years ago.
Since then, and with the major help of many generous bassoonists in France, England and Switzerland and most particularly Maurice Allard of the Paris Opera and Conservatory, I am now playing the Buffet in all French music, Spanish music and some early music -- in orchestra, chamber music and solo performance. I hope now that the information which has served me so well can be utilized by other bassoonists in North America and elsewhere in the world to achieve the beautiful effects possible with the Buffet/Crampon French-system bassoon.
The reeds now commonly used by bassoonists in France are generally larger than they were a few years ago, longer and wider, and also closer to round in shape under the first wire (formerly the tube section was quite flat). Dimensions of a very good model reed sometimes used by Maurice Allard and often by his conservatory students are given below:
Reed trimming and preparation for excellent performance on the French bassoon requires more time and patience than for German bassoon reeds, without question. I would compare it to the exact requirements of U.S. clarinetists playing the Buffet clarinet and selecting from thousands of Van Doren clarinet reeds each year the several dozen (if lucky) "good ones." Maurice Allard told me that he finishes over 2000 reeds each year to prepare for his own performance! Keeping this in mind, you will not be frustrated when fewer of your reeds result in "successes" than reeds made for the Heckel. With careful balancing, however, you will soon learn how to make each reed do a little more until you finally achieve success.
The model reed which I most frequently use now is a slight compromise from the reed described above and a bit closer in tonal concept to perhaps the playing of Cecil James of London, England. It can be trimmed for a more nasal or less nasal tone, depending on the result wanted. And, very importantly for me, it enables me to use an embouchure which is very nearly the same as I have used when playing the Heckel. Maurice Allard, for example, adjusts the tip opening of his reed quite a bit more open than I would for the Heckel. He then rotates the reed on the bocal to the position of "clock hands" - 20 minutes past 10. This tip opening and reed angle requires a rather firm amount of lip pressure to control - but Maurice Allard has no trouble playing ultimate pianissimi or full fortissimo in any part of the register, and always with a superlatively refined tone quality - never forced, harsh or nasal. The dimensions of my usual reed for the Buffet are given below:
1. Use soft to medium resistant cane of the best quality you can locate.
2. Gouge the cane to either 1.35 mm or 1.45 mm center line thickness. Sandpaper the inside gouge several times with fine wet-or-dry sandpaper (grade 400); moisten cane with saliva after each sanding and allow to dry--this decreases the chance of the inside "grain" rising in burrs after the reed has been played.
3. In forming the tube, a current PRESTINI "bassoon mandrel" is exactly the right taper to match the Buffet/ Crampon bocal. (If any readers are using this tool for Heckel bocals, be advised accordingly!)
4. Center-line measurements of the profiled reed blades in the cocoon or "blank" stage should be .90 to .95 mm at the collar or 1st wire point (if collar is absent)-- taper, after 1 cm of parallel fibers at the back, evenly to .45 mm at the center point 8 mm back from the tip (this spot is the "heart-land;" if the reed becomes too weak here, it is finished).
5. Leave the side edges of the reed quite thick down to the tip area of the reed blades. This sets the reed up to throw the very active tip vibrations directly into the bocal and instrument with minimal side-of-reed vibration. This is a key factor in achieving a clear tone on the Buffet bassoon.
6. In the very tip area (including the corners and a little way back on the side edges) trim with utmost precision and beauty of taper. Corners are thinnest and should close first when you make a thumb test pushing up each blade manually with your thumb at the tip of the reed. A reed I received from Cecil James of London has a rather thick tip and makes a decidedly "German" type of tone. The reeds I tried in Paris had quite thin tips (like a clarinet reed) - and they can sound overly nasal if the trim is not balanced just right. I am currently aiming for a tip thickness between these two for my reeds.
7. The finished reed should "crow" quite a low fundamental. With lips in normal embouchure position but with less than any up and down pressure, blow lightly until you achieve a steady tone, the lowest naturally possible. This is your fundamental. It usually should not be higher than c'.
8. However, the reed must not be all lows. As you increase the speed of air through the reed the "crow" should have a nice mixture and blend of low pitches, midrange and high frequency sounds. With this "formula" fed into the bassoon, the high register will have stability and brilliance. If, for instance, e' a major third above piano middle c', is very flat with the correct fingering (added C# key or low F# key)--the reed is too weak and will be no good for the high register, even if it sounds smooth as a dream in the low and middle ranges.
9. As on the Heckel-system, the one-fingered e is a good test note (remember that the correct French fingering for this note must contain either the right thumb hole or R.H. 2 and 3 with any reed). If it is too flat, the reed is too soft.
10. Other important testing notes are c' and d' with just the low A-flat key added to the simple fingering. The higher the pitch of these two weak notes, the better are the chances for the reed. And, you should be able to make this test with the note f#, one-half step above "open f": First play, with the fingering: O O O 'w' | * * * F; then, while still playing the note, add left hand 3 to the fingering. This fingering is used when you want to play a little softer. If the pitch drops more than just a little the reed is dangerously weak.
11. Good luck with your reed trimming. If I can be of any further assistance regarding other problems, please write to me at my Ottawa address. I will be happy to communicate personally with anyone working on the Buffet instrument.
These fingerings are ones I am now using with good results. They work with all French bassoons (with some exceptions for the Jancourt model Buffet, which has two open standing vent keys allowing some simpler fingerings.) I hope they will prove helpful to others, and I wish to thank once again the several generous European and English bassoonists who have contributed important fingerings to this chart.
