Salzburg

Next we took a train to Salzburg.  The Cleveland Orchestra was booked for two concerts at the Salzburg Festival. 

Salzburg is known as the town where Mozart was born and where he spent his early years when he wasn't on the road with his family playing for the crowned heads of Europe.  We played in the Grosses Festspielhaus, just a few streets away from his house.

Featured on the two concerts were movements from Smetana's Ma Vlast, Shostakovich Symphony #6 and Lutoslawksi's Concerto for Orchestra.

We had a surprise when Krystian Zimmerman, the piano soloist for the Lutoslawski Piano Concerto cancelled at the last minute.  After much frantic phone calling to find a replacement, the piece's performance was cancelled. 

In its place we scheduled a repeat of the piece we commissioned and premiered a few days ago in Lucerne, Matthias Pintscher's Chute d'Etoiles for Two Trumpets and Orchestra.  Mike Sachs and Jack Sutte, Principal Trumpet and Second Trumpet were called back into action for this performance.

The Salzburg Festival is one of the most exclusive music festivals in the world. It was started in between the World Wars by prominent German artists such as Max Rheinhardt and Richard Strauss.

Along with us, the lineup for this year's Festival included a production of Handel's "Julius Caesar" with an all-star cast.  An old friend of mine, Ed Deskur, was playing horn in the Handel orchestra. 

On one night we both had concerts (the Festival has several concert venues in the same complex).  However, Ed only played at the beginning and end of the opera.  Julius Caesar is a FIVE HOUR opera, so he had lots of free time in between.  He snuck backstage at our hall and met up with me during my intermission. He ended up staying to hear the rest of our concert and then went back to play the last few minutes of his!

The next day, we got together and hiked up to the castle on the mountain overlooking Salzburg.

During our stay in Salzburg, I also had a chance to see another friend, Stanley Hale.  Stan lives outside of Vienna and caught a train to come up and spend an afternoon with me. We hiked up the Kapuzinerberg and then had dinner.

The orchestra left the next morning for Linz.  Since it was a day off, I stayed an extra day and went for a long run on the path by the Salzach river that morning.

After the run I went to my favorite coffee bar for an espresso and some breakfast. 

The Salzburg Cafe Primadonna is not the fanciest coffee bar in Salzburg, but it is quick and the coffee is expertly made. The espresso is complex, rich, but not burned tasting like many places.  It doesn't adhere to the Starbucks trend of extreme dark roast.  Therefore, you don't need milk of any kind to cover the burned taste.

It is centrally located just off the Linzergasse just across the bridge from the western part of the Old City.

Later that evening I boarded a train for Linz, our next stop on the tour.

Stuttgart

Our next stop was Stuttgart.  We had a beautiful train ride here from Lucerne -- through the Alps and into Southwestern Germany in the region of Baden-Württemberg. 

Our program that night was all-Smetana -- the six movements of Ma Vlast.  Since the Smetana pieces only call for two bassoons, I had the evening off.  After checking in to make sure no one had eaten a rancid bratwurst or tripped and fell on a cobblestone path, I headed out for a nice dinner.

As an assistant principal player, touring can be a mix of activities.  You can have a work load that is a bit lighter than some of the other musicians, but you can also be called upon at the last minute to step in and play a part you weren't assigned in a very high-pressure situation.

Thus, I always understudy all principal bassoon parts for tour repertoire and keep my practicing and reed making up in the event that something happens.  And it has from time to time. . .

In this case, nothing went awry and I had some extra time to see the city.

Stuttgart is a city of contrasts.  It is a big automobile manufacturing center with Mercedes-Benz and Porsche in town.  Some of our members went to the auto museums while there.  However, it also has an impressive palace, opera house and theater in its middle along with a huge park.

The Schlosspark has several miles of paved paths for running.  I was able to take advantage of these and shake out the travel-induced lethargy in my legs here.

The city also has a large pedestrian shopping zone on the Königstrasse and the Kronprinzstrasse.

However, perhaps my most memorable experience in Stuttgart was the discovery of the Hoppenlau cemetery just a few steps away from our hotel.  Along with many Christian burial sites there was a walled-off section of Jewish graves with headstones.

Most remarkable was the fact that this Jewish cemetery dated from the 19th century and that there were no new burials in there since 1888.  The masonry was weathered and some inscriptions worn away. This was not a renovated cemetery. It had survived the Nazi period intact!  I mentioned the cemetery to another orchestra member who is Israeli and he expressed interest in seeing it.

He, too was surprised that it had survived.  He noted the pebbles and small stones that people had put on many of the headstones (a Jewish custom).  All of the headstones face east (towards Jerusalem).  He noted the Hebrew on the headstones contained a word order and syntax that is not standard today.

Born in Israel, he had never seen Jewish graves older than 1948!

Lucerne

Next we traveled to Lucerne.  This is certainly one of the world's most beautiful cities. Here is a photo from my hotel room window!  You see the Reuss river, the old wooden bridge and, in the background is Mount Pilatus, the closest mountain to the city.

We played two concerts in the Kultur and Kongresszentrum Luzern (KKL).  The concert hall is new and beautiful, very similar to Miami's Arsht Center.

Like the Edinburgh Festival, the list of performers in Lucerne is like a Who's Who of Classical music.  It's easy to run into famous people on the street.  I've greeted Vladimir Ashkenazy on a street corner and run into Pierre Boulez in a subway passage.

This time I met up with a recent acquaintance with a Cleveland connection. 

Tom Miller is a bassoonist who was raised in Cleveland Heights.  He is in the center of this photo.  Jonathan Sherwin is on the left.

He studied bassoon with members of the Orchestra bassoon section.  Shortly after college he went to Europe where he won a position in Winterthur, Switzerland.  He and his wife raised their children in Scotland, so he maintains two residences.  They manage a bed and breakfast in Scotland and Tom plays in Switzerland during the season!

I went on some nice runs in Lucerne.  My favorite route skirts the lake, going by Wagner's house, Triebchen, then through a park and into a little village also on the lake.

Scotland

We started our tour in Edinburgh, Scotland.  As usual, we have a free day prior to travel to get organized.  Since Melinda was joining me for the week, we decided to use the day to travel, giving us some free time in Scotland.  We rented a room in the Glengarry Castle Hotel for a couple of nights.

It is on Loch Oich in the middle of the Highlands.  The Hotel is a former Victorian era manor house with all of the grace and charm of that time still intact.  Above is a view of Loch Oich at sunset.

We did some really fun things during those two days off including touring the Dalwhinnie Distillery, walking around the ruins of Urquhart Castle

 and cruising on Loch Ness.

No, there wasn't a real sighting. . . .

After two days it was time to return the rental car to Edinburgh airport.  I really enjoyed driving on the "wrong side" of the street on those narrow, twisting country roads. The rotaries were especially challenging.

We checked into our Edinburgh hotel right across from Usher Hall where we played two concerts as part of the Edinburgh Festival.

We made a special trip to Canongate Kirk which is a small church at the bottom of the Royal Mile.  A trip to this church is of special interest to bassoonists because two bassoon players are buried and memorialized for their bassoon playing in the church's cemetery.

One, John Frederick Lampe, was known as Handel's favorite bassoonist.  Here is what the church's guidebook has to say about him:

Next to him is a more recent memorial to a bassoonist who died in 2003.  His name was Christopher Robson.  He performed frequently in the church.  He must have been very special for they buried him right next to Lampe in the old cemetary.

Here are the two together.

Seeing the Sound

The concert is over. My bassoon is silent now.  I swab and put it away for the night. Tomorrow I will continue my search for resonance. 

Every night my sound disappears. I must search it out every time I put a reed on my bocal and begin to play.  Will I find the sound I’m looking for?

“Mastery of the bassoon is transitory and must be renewed daily.” – Norman Herzberg 

The bassoon makes no sound on its own. It is my responsibility to coax the sound I imagine into life.

In this post, I'll show you some pictures of my sound!  These are called spectrographs.  They are a visual realization in the form of a graph of the different parts of an individual pitch.

I recorded samples of various pitches after finishing the recording session for "Curly Maple Rag" and "Lancashire Rag" for Bryan Dykstra's "Neo Ragtime" CD.  

Since I'll be showing you several spectrographs, a short introduction is in order.

The horizontal axis of the graph shows the number of Hertz (or cycles per second) for every part of the sound.

The vertical axis shows the relative amplitude of the sound throughout its spectrum as measured in decibels.  Roughly speaking, this axis shows the strengths and weaknesses in a given pitch.

Resonance peaks or harmonics in the sound are represented by the peaks of the red "mountain range" in the graph.

Why is knowing about the strength of the harmonics in an individual pitch important?
Having at least a passing understanding of this is important because the timbre, focus, projection of your sound is directly related to the strength or weakness of the harmonic series for each pitch you play.

In this post I'm going to show you what the sound spectrum of a pitch played on a good reed looks like versus that played on a bad reed, loud dynamic, soft dynamic, sharp pitch versus in tune, etc.  I'm sure you'll find this interesting.

A couple of disclaimers before I start.

1.  I don't know how easy the graphs will be to read.  I'll try to crop, enlarge, label for easier reading.

2. I'm wading into deep waters with this subject and feel a little out of my league.  If I'm throwing around terms that any of you know more about than I do, please comment and help correct/amend my arguments!

Seeing My Sound

Words used by one person to describe sound may not mean the same thing to another.  While it is important to focus one’s thoughts when describing sound, I wondered if there was a way to present qualities in bassoon sound objectively.

The answer, as it turns out, is yes and no. 

In 1962, Paul Lehman recorded bassoonists from orchestras in Detroit, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Boston and Berlin in an attempt to discover what physical qualities characterize bassoon sound.  (The Structure of the Tone of theBassoon, Paul Robert Lehman, University of Michigan, 1962). His study recorded individual notes covering the full range of the bassoon at soft, medium and loud dynamics for all 11 bassoonists. The charts in the study show the strength of each partial for each note recorded. The results make fascinating reading.

      Below are some of the conclusions Lehman drew from the data in his study. 

•         There is a strong formant in the tone of the bassoon extending approximately from 440-494 cycles per second.

• There is also a weaker formant extending approximately 1220 to 1280 cycles.                                     
• The strongest partial in the spectrum is normally the one that lies closest to the center of the first formant.                                                                                                                                     
• The fundamental, except when it lies in the formant, tends to be relatively weak.

• Although there are significant variations in the pattern from one register to another and from one dynamic level to another, the envelope of the bassoon spectrum tends to rise steadily from the fundamental to the peak of the first formant and then descend slowly in a strongly skewed manner.       
• In general, fewer partials are present in a pianissimo tone than in the same tone played fortissimo. Also, fewer partials are present in a high tone than in a low tone of the same dynamic level.                  
• There is a marked drop in the relative energy of the partials above the first formant in the pianissimo tones as compared with the fortissimo tones. However, the partials below the first formant including the fundamental, tend to be somewhat stronger, relatively, at the pianissimo level.                                                                                                                                                   
  

In the summer of 2009 I recorded some music at SoundEngineers studio in Bentleyville, OH.  After one of the sessions, the engineer, Bruce Gigax, spent a few minutes with me recording individual notes in isolation.

I started with a very resonant note on the bassoon, c (Using Helmholtz’ system the C one octave below middle C on the piano). 

In these graphs, the high points are resonance peaks, corresponding with the frequency of each partial in the sound. Areas of solid color below the peaks can be described as “noise” in the sound that does not contribute directly to the recognition of the pitch in question.

As noted by Lehman, the fundamental is relatively weak with the second and third partials progressively stronger, rising to the peak of the fourth partial in the range of the first formant.

Compare this spectrum with my next sample, the same c played on a bad reed.   

This was a very dull and unresponsive reed. In this spectrum, the resonance peaks are particularly weak above the formant, whereas in the first spectrum they remain strong well into the 3000Hz range.

Here is a graph of both spectra.  The good reed is graphed in green, the bad in purple


Good reed = green
Bad reed = purple

You can see that after the first few harmonics, the bad reed loses resonance quickly with the peaks much lower than the good reed.  The good reed also keeps a much wider variance in peaks and valleys throughout. Perhaps this accounts for its clarity and focus?  

The next graph shows a “pp” c.

In the “pp” c, the resonance peaks and valleys are less stark than in the first c spectrum. This is especially true above the formant where the peaks appear as though they have been planed off. 

Below I plotted the spectrum for the c played at three different dynamics -- "pp", "mf" and "ff"

"pp" c = green
"ff" c = red
"mf" c = purple 

The big differences again come with the higher partials with the "pp" reed "flat lining" and the others maintaining more contrast in peaks and valleys.  Perhaps the fortissimo peaks a little higher in places than the mf. 

Next I sampled the same note c, but played it very sharp by squeezing the reed.

This spectrum looks very similar to the “pp” c, with a higher amount of “noise” in the sound and smaller resonance peaks, especially above the formant range.

Here's the sharp c compared with the regular c from the top of the blog.

sharp c = red
regular c = blue 

Following is the spectrum for c₁ or middle C on the piano.

Comparison to the lower C will show that the odd number partials are missing – appropriate because this note is played by fingering the lower C but leaving the bocal vent open, thus eliminating the fundamental.  Thus all harmonics for this note are based upon the first harmonic of the lower C.

Compare this c₁ to a vented c₁, played by opening the high C vent on the wing joint while closing the three tone holes on this joint.

Vented upper c = orange
upper c - blue

The vented c₁ loses contrast in the peaks and valleys in the higher partials, much as the “pp”  C and “sharp” C do when compared with the full C. There appears to be more “noise” in the sound in the higher partials. The resonance peaks in the vented C appear higher, though.

Moving on to other pitches, I chose a d-flat.  Known for its unfocused, stuffy and unstable quality, the resonance peaks are much more inconsistent in strength in this spectrum than in the “full” C.

The spectrum for B (low B) shows resonance peaks with very even strengths (only a little stronger in the formant range than the fundamental).  There is quite a lot of noise in the sound on this note. It is interesting to note that the harmonics of this note are so confusing that tuners often register this note as an F#!

Last is open F.  The open note on any instrument is always difficult to match with the tone of other notes on the instrument and open F on the bassoon is no exception.  It tends to have a simple, blaring tone.   

Double Tonguing

A few weeks ago we played an all-Mozart concert.  Comprised of The Overture to the Abduction from the Seraglio, the Clarinet Concerto and Symphonies #35 and #41, all pieces contained passages that required double tonguing. 

After the concert I felt as though I had used up my quota of double tongues for the summer! 

The Old Days

The ability to double tongue has become a necessity for the bassoonist.  According to Sol Schoenbach, it was a common practice in earlier days, but fell out of usage in the 20th century.  This seems odd to me because multiple tonguing has been part of brass playing consistently for centuries. 

For some reason (perhaps because it's more difficult to learn for reed players than for brass) it wasn't standard practice on the bassoon until the past few decades.  I know when I was studying, no one impressed upon me its importance.  Former Cleveland Orchestra bassoonists, George Goslee and Ron Phillips never learned to double tongue.

You can listen to old recordings of Beethoven's 4th and hear the bassoonist using slurs in the articulated passages in the last movement (e.g., Toscanini/NBC Symphony).  Bassoonists of this time period simply put in slurs or modified the parts to make them workable. 

Stubbornness and Speed

My personal journey in learning to double tongue was slow and difficult.  I am blessed with a pretty fast single tongue.  I can tongue a series of 16th notes at between 138 and 144 for the quarter note.  This delayed my learning to double tongue because I could get by with moderate performance tempos for such pieces like Beethoven 4th and Marriage of Figaro.

However, if the tempo went a bit faster, I struggled.

In addition, I hated and still dislike the sound of my articulation when I double tongue. Very few people can double tongue with such finesse that you can't tell the difference between the two syllables used.

It took me 10 years before I felt comfortable using my double tongue in public.  If you haven't learned to double tongue, however, don't assume that it will take you this long!  Many others have learned this skill faster, so don't assume because it took me so long, that's just the way it is.  My stubbornness in committing to work on it and my fast single tongue speed made it take longer!

Why Double Tongue?

Double tonguing uses two syllables, one of which involves contacting the reed with the tongue, the other does not.  By giving the tongue a rest from contacting the reed on every other note, the articulation can be faster than normal tonguing in which the tongue contacts the reed for each note.

How to Double Tongue

There are many successful ways to learn to double tongue.  Here are some ways I teach it:

I think the best way to teach something is to impart the skill as simply as possible.  Playing the bassoon is hard enough without an overload of information. Analysis can lead to paralysis!

Method 1

Therefore, I start by asking the student to say the word "ticket" into the reed, immediately repeating the word over and over very quickly. "ticketicketicketicketicketicketicketicketicketicketicketicke"

Some students will pick this up right away, so don't ruin it by over-explaining!

Method 2

Most students, however, won't pick this up right away, so you need some more options.

• Learning to say and repeat the word, "ticket" quickly is essential for articulation and speech are closely related. The ability to say "ticket" over and over quickly without stuttering or tiring is extremely important.  I drove my mother crazy with this by saying this to myself as I walked around the house!  Use the car for this or do it while walking somewhere, taking a shower, etc.  Keep a reed or two in glove compartment of your car for practice                

• Repeating it on the reed is the next step.  Listen for the two syllables and make any adjustments necessary for them to start the same way and be at the same pitch. Often the "Ki" syllable comes out mushy and flat in pitch.  This, by the way, is why I say "ticket" instead of the often recommended "Da-ga" or "Ta-ka". To sharpen the "Ki" syllable, try to keep the middle of the tongue closer to the front of the mouth and raise it towards the upper palate.

 Method 3

Some students can make a good "ticket" but can't repeat it many times.  Start with baby steps. 

• Using just the reed, play the famous "Lone Ranger" motive from Rossini's William Tell Overture.  "Ticketah, ticketah, ticketah-tah-tah"
• Add beats of "ticketahs"
• Then try four 16ths and a quarter "ticke-ticke-tah, ticke-ticke-tah, etc."
• Continue adding parts until you're able to sustain a pattern of double tonguing for several measures of 4/4 time.

After learning to articulate in this manner clearly and consistently on the reed, add the bassoon.  The added resistance can cause difficulty.  If this is the case, do it with just reed and bocal for a while. 

With the reed on the assembled bassoon, choose a note in the bass clef staff on which to repeat articulation.  Open F or the C below it are good ones to start with. Try the exercises above with the reed on the bassoon.

Method 4

You may have noticed I teach double tonguing with a fast speed.  Some teach it first with a slow repetition.  This would be Method 4.  I feel that since double tonguing is used only for speedy passages it isn't absolutely essential to learn to do it slowly.  In fact, some students have trouble speeding it up after learning it slowly because they are so focused on feeling how their tongue is moving inside their mouth during the slow repetition. Believe me, no one thinks about this when they're double tonguing at a  fast tempo!  There's no time for that. This is an example of "analysis leads to paralysis"!

However, for those who don't pick up the skill using the above methods, it is helpful to slow things down.  The placement of the tongue and the airspeed during double tonguing are very different from normal bassoon articulation.  Sometimes it's helpful to focus on those changes.

With the reed --

• Repeat the "Ki" syllable slowly.  One for each quarter note at about quarter=72 or so.  Work for consistency in pitch and clear starts to the notes.
• Say "kitty, kitty" (reverse of "ticket"!) many times slowly.
• Add to bassoon as above, but keep it slow.

Other Tips

When I double tongue if I think about it,

• The sides of the back of my tongue contact my upper molars.  Like an old shoe the sole of which has come apart from the upper near the toe, but remains fastened at the instep and heel.
• I blow as though I'm playing notes a fifth or an octave higher in range.  I use a faster and more concentrated airspeed than usual for the range I'm playing in. Don't forget about breath support or airspeed when double tonguing!
• I try to use a lighter reed than usual.  Older reeds are more reliable than new ones.
• When playing a scale or anything that involves changing pitches while double tonguing, make sure that your finger technique is secure before double tonguing.  You don't want to have that to worry about when double tonguing.

Applying the Technique to the Music

The brass players use pages from the Arban Method for applying double tonguing to actual music.  Getting this book and putting the passages in range is helpful.  Making up your own studies is good, too.  Practicing your scales by double tonguing is also helpful.

We can use the Milde 25 Studies in All Keys for the application of double tonguing.  These are lengthy, however, and are best utilized after you've got some endurance.

Milde Concert Study #4 is excellent for double tonguing.

I don't find it profitable to practice double tonguing for more than 5 or 10 minutes in a practice session.  My tongue wears out and things just get worse from then on.  Let it go and pick it up the next day.

My double tongue skill withers quickly if I don't keep on it.  I've never felt like it's just "always there for me."

Make sure that you can double tongue slow enough to cover speeds just a little bit slower than your top single tongue speed so there's no "gap" in your ability to cover all articulation speeds.

There -- I've given you a lot information about double tonguing.  Maybe you won't need all of it!  Hopefully not.  I really do believe keeping it simple is the best way.  True for teaching in general, I think!

Lastly, I know there are readers of this who have other successful ways of double tonguing and ways of teaching double tonguing. 

Let's hear from you!!