In my search for reed cases from various double reed suppliers, I came across the web site of Roger Garrett, who is professor of both clarinet and instrumental conducting at Illinois Wesleyan University. On the side, Garrett is a skilled woodwright. He makes reed cases, batons, baton cases, pens, and a variety of other items. On his site, he provides a wealth of information about his reed cases — standard sizes and configurations, examples of bespoke cases he’s made, and photos of cases in a variety of common and exotic woods.

I corresponded with Garrett a bit before placing an order, asking about the prices of different woods and the possibilities of modifying his standard bassoon reed case design. His basic case has a foam strip that holds six bassoon reeds, but I have a similarly sized case that holds nine. I ended up having him send along one of his oboe reed strips, which with a little modification allowed me to fit eight bassoon reeds instead of six. He happened to have a curly maple contrabassoon case and a quilted maple bassoon case ready to go, so I bought them:

Bassoon and Contrabassoon Reed Cases

The Cases Opened

The prices were very reasonable (the same or less than I would’ve paid for less interesting cases from a double reed supplier), and as you can see, the cases are gorgeous. Someday when I’m rich and famous, I’ll order some African blackwood or cocobolo cases with a matching fountain pen.

Giant Double Reed Ensemble, Viewed From the Contrabassoon Chair

This past Saturday was UW-Madison’s annual Double Reed Day. We had two guest artists: Carol Cope Lowe (bassoon) and Anna Hendrickson (oboe), who in addition to currently teaching at SUNY-Potsdam are both UW-Madison alumnae. Most members of the UW double reed studios were there, and we had another 25 or so middle school, high, school, and community players as well. I arrived a little early so I could play some of the bassoons and bocals that Midwest Musical Imports had sent along. One instrument they sent was the twin of my Püchner 5000C. I was happy to find that it was both my favorite instrument out of the bunch, and roughly equivalent to my own. Also, its price tag was substantially higher than what I paid two years ago — woohoo!

The day officially started with a concert — all we UW students played an ensemble piece, then each professor (the two visitors, plus our own Marc Vallon and Marc Fink) performed a solo work. Following the concert, we split off into oboe and bassoon masterclasses. We all came back together for a big double reed ensemble (pictured above) to play Marc Vallon’s arrangements of “The Washington Post,” Hungarian Dance No. 5, and “Sabre Dance,” as well as the first movement of Handel’s Music for the Royal Fireworks.

I created this faux Monopoly card sometime while I was at FSU, printed a few of them, and handed them to friends who got stuck with contrabassoon duty in orchestra. Sometime last school year I showed one to my friend Brian, and he asked if I could make a few more for him to send to friends. I finally got around to printing up a new batch a week or so ago, and thought I’d post the image here as well.

Enjoy: Contrabassoon Audition (wma)

Yesterday was our ridiculous contrabassoon duo recital. It was a lot of fun, and I’m pretty pleased with how it went. Garry was nice enough to haul in his whole recording rig and record the recital, so I should eventually (pending his free time and mine) have a good recording to post here. We actually had a pretty good turnout — I guess having a gimmick helps with that. In any case, I’m no longer in hardcore recital prep mode, so I should finally be able to sort through my Brazil pictures and post them sometime this week.

Here’s the poster I created for my upcoming contrabassoon duo recital. It’s going to be completely ridiculous. We’re playing a number of things that were arranged for bassoon duos or trios: some arias from The Barber of Seville and some excerpts from Der Freischütz (with the help of our friend Katie Koralesky on double bass). We’re also playing a piece by Daniel Dorff called Sonata D’Amore, which was actually written for two contrabassoons. Each of us will play a solo piece with piano, as well. I’ll post recordings after the recital, for your listening pleasure (assuming you have a good subwoofer). Click the image for a larger version of the poster.

This weekend, I’m playing with the Dubuque Symphony, just across the Mississippi River from the Wisconsin/Illinois border. I’m playing contrabassoon (and a little bit of Bassoon III) on an all-Shostakovich concert — Festive Overture, Suite from The Gadfly, and Symphony No. 10. I drove over and back for rehearsals on Tuesday and Thursday, then came back Friday afternoon for the weekend. We have one concert tonight and another tomorrow afternoon.

My Room at Shalom

The symphony is putting me up for the weekend, in a place called the Shalom Retreat Center. It’s an interesting place. I’m not sure exactly what it is, but from what I can tell, it’s a Christian non-denominational meeting/spritual healing/retreat space. None of the interior doors lock. When I arrived last night after rehearsal, I punched in the code for the combination lock on the outer door, found a card with my room assignment on the front desk, and ventured out to find my room. I didn’t see a single person, even when I ventured out later to find an alarm clock that had been going off for quite awhile. I found the clock in the cafeteria in the basement of the building, turned off the alarm, and went exploring. There must have been people there somewhere — the parking lot was full. But, I saw no sign of any of them. Bizarre. Standing in my room, it was so quiet (after I found and silenced the alarm clock) that the sound of blood flowing through my ears seemed incredibly loud.

Star Brewing Company

Today after our morning rehearsal, I ventured out to explore the town a little bit. I bought a couple of classical records from a little thrift shop, then ventured down to the Mississippi. I passed the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium. I didn’t go in, but I walked around outside to look at some of the riverboats they have on display. I walked along the river for awhile, then ran into a cellist from the symphony who also happens to live a couple of blocks away from me in Madison. We continued up the river, and checked out a couple of historical buildings — the Star Brewing Company, and a Civil War-era shot tower. Shot towers were used to produce lead shot with the aid of gravity and surface tension.

After walking along the river, we parted ways and I then walked back up to the downtown area. I’ve been parked in the Mississippi Mug coffee shop for a couple of hours now, drinking tea, listening to live jazz, working on a travel grant proposal, and surfing the web. But, the shop closes soon, and I should get back to Shalom to don my tux, anyway. I didn’t bring my real camera, but I shot a few digital pics. Click the thumbnails above, or check out the rest of the gallery here.

One wonders what happened that made this a necessary clause…