I had searched for a comfortable way to stand while playing the bassoon. This is not to say that I ever seriously considered sitting down to play a concerto or a solo recital performance - I felt that it was a little insulting to the audience to appear to take it so easy on stage, and besides I could breathe so much better in an upright position. But as other bassoonists who regularly or occasionally stand in performance, I encountered the usual problems: moderate to severe cramping of the right hand and arm as the instrument slides around further and further to the right, and the usual "let's see how many keys can get caught in the clothing this time."

I first decided to investigate more and better key guards to handle the latter problem. In fact, I encountered a bassoon that had cut-up sardine tins fastened all around it to deflect clothing from the keywork (and which almost defied the entry of fingers to play it.) After pondering its humorous nature and appearance, I decided that the ample key guards provided on my Heckel were more than enough to take care of the everyday problems, and so I proceeded to look for a way to keep the bassoon away from the clothing as well as to prevent arm cramps.

The various instrumentalists who had solved problems for other instruments seemed an inspiration: the between -the - knees bell support for the clarinet and the "foot box" to elevate the knees to a comfortable height on which to rest the clarinet bell, the curved neck on the Yamaha soprano saxophone which allows the assistance of a neck strap to support that awkward instrument, and the "grasshopper peg" for cellists to make the playing approach to the strings with the bow more like that of the violin. I began to experiment with various possibilities of support and comfort, and decided not to redesign the entire bassoon just yet.

One of my first tries employed a floor support peg, much like some bassoonists (such as William Waterhouse) use for playing in a seated position. This worked reasonably well, except that the bocal shape needed to be bent in a different curve - in fact, more like a right angle. Another problem came when trying to get out on stage with a long spike without stabbing or scratching someone else's instrument or person (and thereby risking my own personal damage by fist-fight.) I suppose I abandoned this fairly quickly simply because I like to move a bit naturally when I play and this peg/spike kept me firmly rooted to one position.

I next tried the "balance hanger," which is a device that many are familiar with and is commercially available. This extends upward from the usual balance/contact point in order to create a much better balance for the bassoon. I found this to be almost satisfactory, except that it still seemed to hold the instrument too closely to my body, unlike the customary seated position (with a seat strap) which has the instrument slightly removed from the torso. This still felt uncomfortable to me, enough so that I decided to continue my search.

My next try was perhaps the most amusing one in appearance. This used a neck strap - I tried this both with the balance hanger and without it. It also involved a couple of thin metal rods that were strapped to my right leg above the knee with a cup on the end like that on a seat strap. This arrangement allowed me to support the weight of the bassoon with the neck strap and to hold the boot of the instrument (and hence the rest of the instrument) away from my body. This was a most comfortable device for performance, I could move naturally as I played and I never had a cramp or a caught key. However, I had to abandon it after one performance because I had never thought of walking out on stage with it before that performance. The bassoon needed to be fastened to the cup (and therefore to my knee) in order to stay in place during the minor motions of playing. It was not until I was half-way across the stage that I realized the snickers and chuckles in the audience were because of my unknowing imitation of "Peg-leg Pete."

I suppose that I might have considered making improvements to this basic design except that shortly afterward I saw an unassuming gadget on Milan Turkovic's bassoon when I went to hear him play in a live performance. I had to go backstage to meet him and to get a closer look at his device, and I have been working with that basic design ever since. I do not know if he created this device himself or if perhaps it is even prevalent in his part of the world (I should have asked but ... ). This device certainly seemed the answer to my prayers.

The device is very simple and, with the neck strap hooked to the normal position on the instrument (no "balance - hanger"), it works beautifully to help support the instrument in a stable and balanced fashion, and to hold it slightly away from the body. You can see in the photographs the relaxed and comfortable attitude possible.

[Click to enlarge picture]

The device itself is a flat disk just a little over 50 mm (about 2 inches) across, that I made with polyester casting resin and into which I set a metal pin perpendicular to the flat surface. The surface of my disk stands about 50 mm (about 2 inches) from the boot joint of the instrument. To attach the device to my instrument, I use the hand rest bracket that was supplied with my bassoon. There are many players in the world, myself included, who do not use a handrest since it tends to straighten and tense the fingers of the right hand and does nothing really to support the instrument. This bracket is mounted on the bassoon to the left of the low " E " key. A little experimentation before it is screwed into place will suffice to find the best position for each player, although it has proved to be roughly the same for a number of players who have tried it.

The device I had seen on Milan Turkovic's bassoon was fairly small and had a curved top. I decided to make a disk much larger than his and I wanted a flat surface on top to rest against my hip. This distributes the pressure of the instrument's weight, is very comfortable, and does not slip around. In order to put the instrument in the case, the disk-and-pin arrangement slips out of the thumb-screw fastener and easily fits into any compartment.

I have shown this to a number of bassoonists over the past ten years and I have known several to use the device with success. I recommend it to all of you who, like me, prefer to stand to perform solo works - or even to march with the Boulder Bassoon Band.

About the writer...

Alan Leech has taught at Montana State University in Bozeman since 1972. He is a solo and chamber music performer and is also a member of the Montana Consort, a unique mixed ensemble that performs classical, jazz, and world musics, in which he performs on a variety of instruments. The group has become well known throughout the Northwest U.S. for its delightfully innovative programming.

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