Links
Nadine Mackie Jackson - Bassoonist extraordinaire A very fine player who has persisted with building a solo career as a bassoonist who is an inspiration. Lots of recordings of her as downloads on www.emusic.com too where you will find recordings of her with the Caliban Bassoon Quartet to amuse and amaze. Check out "Bassoonatics" and "Feast" and even "Caliban does Christmas". Quadriga Bassoon Ensemble Fantastic group of young German bassoonists. Their album of an arrangement of "Pictures at an Exhibition" for bassoons and contra (also featuring bassoon virtuoso Dag Jensen) is a revelation! June Emerson Wind Music The best supplier of wind music on the planet now has a smart Web site that you can actually FIND things on! Bassoon Light Plaque The best reed making present I have seen in ages! Very illuminating! Has already saved me ruining several reeds. A few words of caution - it is hard to work on the tip with a knife if doing anything but fine adjustments as the light and holder get in the way of the knife when doing one side (right side for me as I am left handed). Also unless the cane is flat onto the plaque you can get a slightly false picture of how thick it is (the plaque could do with being a little more convex to push against the middle of the reed). But used in conjunction with a normal metal plaque for doing the bulk of the scraping this is an invaluable tool. Finishing ReedsBernard Garfield's article from the International Double Reed Society site remains one of the most logical on how to scrape reeds. But this site requires membership so if you are not in the IDRS try this link where Jesse Reed has put the whole article up on his site: jessearead.blogspot.com/2009/01/garfield-finishing-reeds.html H Gene Griswold Reeds A fascinating bassoon teacher and player who is making reeds and is open to back and forth with bassoonists on what reeds they like to play on. Ultra Sonic Reed Cleaner This cleaner does indeed increase the life span of a reed. It also seems to make them play better! It is particularly impressive on contra reeds. It is available on ebay from David Crispin - Crispin Creations. Make sure you get one of the right voltage for your country as I fried my first one running it at 240 Volts when it was made for America. David Crispin is busy creating other gadgets to make life easier so worth checking out. Learn Music Theory This site is being added to each week and contains pearls of wisdom on the fundamentals of music. If you ever have to teach music to adults or children then read this site and watch this space! There is a glossary of basic musical terms that you can buy which is fantastic. This even has an RSS feed with strange and wondrous bits and pieces to amuse (that's really simple syndication or variations on that theme which means you can get the news pumped into your chosen reader - either on your email or on your google homepage. The opportunities are endless...) Bell Bassoons Reading this site makes me want to get on a plane to Canada. Unless someone in UK has one we can all try and be amazed? I have one of his pre war crooks that really livens up the older instruments but also works as a fabulous high note crook on the modern Heckel. Top F's anyone? How To Practice A great site pooling common sense with new ideas and resources to help both pupils and teachers get more out of their practice time. |