Editorial -- A Year Later


Here is your third issue, closing Volume I of the Bassoon Newsletter. I hope you will be continually pleased with the material as more and more excellent and enthusiastic bassoonists and scholars of the bassoon are represented.

I have learned a lesson as a one-man publisher (part-time): I cannot promise you exact delivery dates. Let's just say three issues a year, and I will try to space them out as regularly as- material and time will permit.

Among many other, I've received greetings to all of us in the Bassoon World from: Fernand Oubradous of Paris, wishing the publication much success - Ralph Lorr of Mineola, New York, editor of the former publication! WOODWIND, which was my inspiration for this newsletter. Mr. Lorr mentioned that the cause of WOODWIND's demise was principally a diminished flow of ideas from the professional players and other woodwind experts. This resulted in the editor having to write too much of the material himself. (since he had the entire woodwind field and an excellent quality paper, you can see how important your continued contributions to this newsletter mean to its growth and survival) - and from Yuri Nekliudov of Moscow (from tour in Argentina), thanking me for reprinting the translation of his article on stapled bassoon reeds (No. 2, March, 1970. A sketch of the staple appears in this issue.) Mr. Nekliudov asks for a mention of his article on a special mute of his design, permanently inserted in the long joint and adjustable. It will be described in a coming issue when we discuss super-quiet playing in general. If you wish to hear a recording of Nekliudov and the stapled reed, hear the cadenza from Shostakovitch's Ninth Symphony on Melodia/Angel record, Stereo SR 40000.

I will keep the subscription rate at U.S. $2.50 again for the second year, fighting the trend towards everything costing more. There will soon be available a German translation of each newsletter starting with Vol. I, No. 1. This is with great appreciation to Mr. Val Kennedy, who is contra-bassoonist with the London Philharmonic. Each translated issue will be $.50 additional (or a total of U.S. $4.00 for three issues, English and German). If a French translation also becomes available, I will do my best to maintain the same low price.

Please keep up the flow of information, recordings, music, articles, et al. for our combined benefit. At present, I would appreciate some black and #ffffff photographs of former and current players, unusual bassoons, or other. I with you all well and Good Bassooning!


Bassoon Tone Frequency Measurement


In the laboratory of Delft Technical University, Dr. Ir. C. J. Nederveen (left) checks frequency measuring results while Will Jansen plays the bassoon. The instruments are, right to left: oscilloscope with amplifier, microphone amplifier with narrow band filter and zero transition computer. Behind Dr. Nederveen are a digital direct-reading indicator and a typewriter that types out automatically the measured values every two seconds on a paper strip.


Table of Contents