At the close of Vol. II, No. 3, I gave a brief account of my recent adopting of the French bassoon for music by French, Spanish, and certain baroque period composers while maintaining performance on the Heckel for other music. After only one and one-half years with the new instrument I can say that the result is very nice, not too difficult and well worth the effort for anyone who tries it.

In April 1971, I bought a practically new Buffet/Crampon bassoon from Norman Tobias, a good friend and member of the Toronto Symphony bassoon section. The instrument is one of (only) 2 models available from Buffet in Paris. It is the Model 35K and has Buffet's F#-G# trill mechanism for the right thumb. Model 3 SL, which is the one preferred by the Paris Conservatoire, is identical but lacks this trilling device.

I began studying the instrument immediately, doing as well as possible with no one nearby to help with the problems of the bassoon itself or to guide the types of reed best suited to the smaller bore.

My first few weeks were pretty disappointing because the reeds I began with gave either a very nasal "honking" sound or (if scraped in the Heckel manner) an overly-damped and dull sound. I very quickly sensed the point of Anthony Baines' comment in Woodwind Instruments and Their History (Faber and Faber. London), " . . the French instrument . . is the more sensitive to the vagaries of reeds, and has weak spots in each register which a reed that falls short of the optimum will show up." But after receiving sample reeds from several fine European players and comparing their common features, I could settle upon a quite successful reed model for myself. Invaluable to these efforts were the reeds given me by Raymond Allard who played the Buffet for so many seasons as solo bassoon in the Boston Symphony. His reeds were already a compromise in tone from the Paris concept, made to blend with the other woodwind players of the Boston Symphony. I did not want either to make the Buffet sound "just like a Heckel" nor to be too outspokenly different from the rest of my (Heckel) section in Baltimore. So a reed partly based on European models and partly on Raymond Allard's reeds was the type I chose.

I also received from my European correspondents a multitude of excellent fingerings for the instrument invariably superior to those given in the various French bassoon charts I have seen. In the first issue of our International Double Reed Society Journal where more space is available, I will give a compilation of the best fingerings I have used so far plus a careful description of the reeds that work best for me.

To briefly describe the "feel" of the Buffet bassoon to a player of the German instrument: the range of notes from low F to high g' is most like the Heckel; that is, the same wind support and embouchure I use for the Heckel produces healthy tones from the Buffet in this range. However, the sensation of uniformity of tone color graduating evenly from the rich resonant low F to the clear and ringing high g' is not present. When Ryohei Nakagawa, solo bassoonist of the San Francisco orchestra, tried my Buffet in Baltimore his comment was, "It's much like a recorder - different breath pressures for different notes." This is quite true of the Buffet instrument and is not necessarily a disadvantage. It is part of the reason the French have maintained so much of the "old" bassoon in their bore, and it allows a possibility for a beautiful nuance of expression which is not as easy to achieve, I find, with the Heckel.

The tones downward from low F to B-flat1 are, advantageously, never sharp in pitch, but unfortunately subject to some instability, being sensitive both to slight air leaks (which are hard to completely seal - a subject for later discussion) and the size of the air space inside the reed at the point of the first wire. Low B1 does not "blurt" out as it sometimes does on the German bassoon, a nice feature in quiet playing.

The highest register is both a free-blowing "dream" to a Heckel player and also a potential hazard. The notes to top f'' speak easily and freely, with a clear strong tone and penetrate beautifully through the orchestra. But the fingerings are so different from Heckel fingerings that much care must be taken not to mix them up (for example: high b' is played with the assistance of the "a" speaker key on the wing, not the "c" key, and high c 2 is fingered: , or several other ways, none of which relate to the Heckel fingering.)

My study with Maurice Allard in France for 6 weeks during June and July, 1972, was my first real introduction to the possibilities of the Buffet bassoon, however. Mr. Allard is as gifted a teacher of his playing principles as we know him to be a unique performer of this difficult instrument. He was able to quickly assess my progress to that point, encourage a more expansive and free style of playing which the French bassoon allows and correct many of my early faults, all in a most natural manner.

In the brief time we worked together we covered most of the well-known orchestral and opera solos of the French repertoire, several other problematical orchestra solos and a deep survey of the Mozart concerto, 2 Vivaldi concerti and the demanding Jolivet concerto. A good part of our work covered the all important balancing of the reed trim and learning the many special fingerings for trills. Again, Mr. Allard's solutions to many of the awkward trills are logical, balanced, and in tune, but they have yet to appear in any charts I have seen. I hope we will one day see a new bassoon method by Maurice Allard.

Two visits in the Buffet/Crampon plant in Mantes outside of Paris gave me a chance to become acquainted with Mr. Robert Carr@e, who directs technical development for the firm. I learned from him that oboes and bassoons account for only 1% of Buffet's total production. But in observing the careful boring of tone holes in several joints of new bassoons I saw evidence of the very great importance always placed on the quality of each instrument under construction. Hans Moenning of Philadelphia has admired the graceful and practical construction of my instrument.

As a player "doubling" on both bassoon types I find it a bit challenging to go between the two on the same program, although I have now done it often. I do not feel that the feat is more difficult than changing from clarinet to saxophone, for example. Good time, of course must be allotted for practice on both instruments, so I'm a bit busier than usual.

I learned this summer that I was not the first to "double" on bassoons. Mr. Henry Mayer of Petite Rosselle, France, has played both French and German systems for some time. And in Ottawa, my colleague Michael Namer is working with me on the Buffet and making good progress. We soon plan to play Heckels or Buffets together as the music calls for each instrument. For anyone curious to try for themselves the possibilities of the fine Buffet bassoon, I offer all assistance and encouragement, based on my own continuing pleasure with the instrument.

Table of Contents