A demonstration of sorts was given by me on this subject on the occasion of the fourteenth conference of I.D.R.S. in Boulder, Colorado, in August 1985. A follow-up publication in depth in the I.D.R.S. Double Reed has been agreed upon for closer understanding.
I am now offering my system of alternate fingerings which I have successfully tried out and adopted throughout the latter part of my career as a bassoonist. The purpose of this new system of fingerings is to simplify some of the technical problems in that upper register of our instrument, relieving some fingers of an overload of work in cross-fingerings as has been the case with the old fingerings of high C and B natural. They were often real handicaps to a naturally flowing technical performance on solos like the Rite of Spring and Bolero. The fingerings I have selected for this purpose will perform well on my Heckel and hopefully will do as well on all other Heckel-type bassoons. Considerable time and effort will, of course, be required for a gradual adoption of this technic. But the end result will be very gratifying.
When I used the term "alternate fingerings, " I meant to imply that it may in effect mean a double standard of fingerings with the notes it applies to. But in the case of my new fingering for high C, the term "alternate" does not apply because the new fingerings has become, for me, the standard without an alternate for many years. But the B natural next to it does have some alternates as my fingering chart for the Rite of Spring solo will disclose.
Next in line of simplifications are the fingerings for high A and A-flat. Sol Schoenbach suggested a nice solution for that one in an article in Woodwind Magazine, a periodical no longer published. Sol had in mind simplifying the fingerings for high A and A-flat by making it possible to use the low F key instead of the customary G key on the fingerings for these two notes. This would involve the installation of a new key on the boot joint which could be attached to the G ring assembly, and a key hole to be above the first finger-hole of the boot joint It was about from here that Horst Moenig, the master mechanic of Baxter-Northrup Music Co. in Los Angeles, and I took over and installed the new creation onto one of my 6000 series Heckels. The many technical advantages to be derived from it could only be surmised at that point. But in the end it was a perfect success, and we called it the G-sharp ring, because of its vicinity to the G ring. The key hole referred to above with the key on top we placed about one inch above the first fingerhole. The key would open up, together with the G ring assembly, by depressing the low F key, and therein lies the realization of the new alternate fingerings for high A and A-flat. The Heckel factory took it over and made many perfect installations on new instruments upon request. But it deserves to be standard equipment for its great usefulness to simplification. Unfortunately, it is not yet well known among bassoonists of the world. Therefore, it is to my great satisfaction to announce it on this occasion with my fondest recommendation.
If you do not have this G-sharp ring now, but are sufficiently interested, you may try the solo of Bolero fingering-wise by using the copy of my fingering chart which is marked with G-sharp ring. You can test its usefulness to a certain extent in this manner; however, it will be out-of-tune without the G-sharp ring.
For interested parties: it may be installed on any bassoon by a first class mechanic. Specifications and parts should be available from the Heckel factory. At least, I suppose so at this point. The tone-hole size should be no less than 5 mm in diameter. The tone-hole size for the simplified high C should be 2 1/2 min at least.
And now, dear readers, with all this information in mind, we shall return to the real focus of my dissertation: my alternate fingerings. I shall begin with my new fingering for high C as it occurs in the opening solo of the Rite of Spring - Le Sacre Du Printemps, and later in the solo of Ravel's Bolero. I have chosen these two solos for a technical examination in depth on a chart which shows the solo written on the right side of the page, and a fingering chart on the left side of the page. All notes with other than standard fingerings will have a number marked underneath them, and the new fingering can be found over the same number on the left side of the page. The number of notes with new fingerings in the Rite of Spring solo are 16. These are the ones I used on my last performances and recordings of the Rite with Zubin Mehta and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra.
I played the Rite, - Le Sacre, for the first time when I was still with the Berlin Philharmonic with Ernest Ansermet conducting. It was one of the earliest performances of Le Sacre anywhere outside of Paris. I remember Ansermet coming to me at my stand minutes before the start of the rehearsal to acquaint me with the solo which I had never seen before. "You will need a special reed for this solo," he said, and kind of sang a few notes. Anyway, I had to play the solo on first sight at this rehearsal, right or wrong. The high C's and D's were no problem on my old narrow bore Heckel, but the figurations in the high register required careful study. This solo was definitely a far cry from the old repertoire solos. In those days we thought that on the French bassoon this solo may have been easier. But I do not think so anymore.
This solo has since lost its original terror by the introduction of my simplified fingerings. And there may be other players using some choice fingerings. My second performance of the Rite was at the Hollywood Bowl after I had joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic. The conductor was Eugene Goossens. I got an ovation on that one from the conductor and orchestra.
As time went on, Bolero came along with some more of the same problems. I was still using the same old fingerings. But at some later performances of this often-performed piece, I experimented with my new simplified fingering for high C which I successfully used on Le Sacre. This new fingering came to be very handy for both solos, and I used it from then on exclusively, along with many other new fingerings.
Since my presentation at the I.D.R.S. Congress in Boulder in August, an exciting new invention in bassoon mechanism has been brought to my attention. This invention can have a very favorable effect on the work I am doing with my system of alternate fingerings for the high register of the bassoon, because the use of it will enhance greatly the response of those high register notes. I have tried it out with the bassoon of David Breidenthal and found it exciting. The Marcus Bassoon Repair firm in Toronto, Ontario, Canada is apparently the originator of this little invention, which needs to have a tiny, little vent hole drilled a little over 3/4 inch from the point of the bocal and with a small fitting to where the reed is seated to inactivate the hole, I suppose, when it is not needed. This novel invention is available now from:
FIGURES [Click on figure to enlarge]
