Review: Basic Reeding

Reviewed Work(s): Bassoon Reed-Making: A Basic Technique by Christopher Weait

Review by: William Waterhouse
Source: The Musical Times, Vol. 113, No. 1554 (Aug., 1972), p. 776
Published by: Musical Times Publications Ltd.
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/956906
Accessed: 30-09-2017 09:47 UTC

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Menuhin's originality of mind: violin playing, for price. Mr Langwill has now rocked the market by
example, is analysed in terms of the whole body's bringing out the third edition.
involvement in a series of circles and half circles; The considerable addenda and corrigenda of the
and on an entirely different tack, he recommends second edition have been incorporated together
that science should be taught from the old attractive with new material into the body of the book. The
books of a century and more ago, rather than from bibliography, list of collections, list of maker's
the dreary though more accurate products of today. marks and list of makers by towns in which they
The whole thing adds up to a lucky dip, where worked have all been enlarged. A fine new illustra-
you may come up with Ravi Shankar or the Com- tion has been added showing seven early oboes and
mon Market, Enesco or the abolition of the Arch- Deutsche Schalmneyen in the Hague Museum. These
way telephone exchange in favour of dehumanized latter are the later (c1700) Schalmneyen, rather than
figures. In spite of the vagueness of much of Menu- the older shawms and are described as such by
hin's theorizing, he emerges as one of the hard- Douwes (1699) who says it was loud and used out
pressed body of true liberals, with a total lack of of doors, and by Talbot (end of 17th century) who
conceit, exemplified by his definition of teaching as says it was used much in the German (Saxon)
'the readiness to educate an equal who may in fact Army and was sweeter than the old shawm. Douwes
turn out to be a superior'. KEITH SPENCE says that it was fingered like the recorder in C; it is
very informative to have this fine single photograph
showing two examples side by side with four con-
temporary oboes and that curious intermediate
Basic reeding instrument by Haka.
Bassoon Reed-making: a Basic Technique by Compressed information can sometimes be
Christopher Weait. McGinnis & Marx/Hinrich-puzzling until one has mastered the system. Mr
sen, ?1.75 Langwill's 4-keyed Cahusac bassoon of 1769 is
listed twice, once under Thomas, the elder, and
To the bassoonist, his reed is a fascinating but
again under William Maurice (a son). It seems that an
tantalizingly inconsistent object on which he and so instrument stamped with a surname only appears
much else seems to depend. In this country he has
under the particular member of the family who must
usually bought them ready-made, carrying out the have made it and also in a general list which is
final touches himself by inspired guesswork. How- added (without a break) immediately after the entry
ever, in America it has become traditional for relating to the last listed member of the family. This
economic and geographic reasons for professional is confusing at a first reading and the system could
and amateur alike to make his own reeds, and the
be improved in a later edition. I cannot really
advantages to be gained from being independent and
understand the entry under 'Willis'. GUY OLDHAM
able to build according to one's own preferred pat-
tern are obvious. Though brief accounts of reed-
making have appeared over here in reference books,
we must also look to America for specialist works on
the subject (though mention should be made of a Organized organology
recent paper by Thomas Palmer of Stafford). Gli Strumenti Musicali by Giampiero Tintori. 2
The latest to appear there is by a player and teacher vols., UTET, Turin
working in Toronto and describes clearly the suc- Organology, the pretentious name for the study of
cessive stages of making a reed, starting with the musical instruments, has a long history. As early as
piece of gouged cane and listing the tools required. the 16th and 17th centuries authors like Sebastian
While not as scientific as Christlieb, nor as detailed as Viraung (1511), Martin Agricola (1528 and later),
Popkin and Glickman, Mr Weait's well illustrated Michael Praetorius (1618) and Marin Mersenne
manual should enable anyone with some handicraft (1636) wrote books describing all the instruments
ability and plenty of patience to turn out reeds then in existence, as well as some that were obsolete
suitable for the German-type bassoon. He remarks or had never existed. The most substantial books by
that the method presented here is not by any means the founding fathers of modern organology have
the only method of bassoon reed-making; neither also been surveys. Victor Charles Mahillon cata-
the reed itself nor the method of making it is stand- loguea the extensive collection in Brussels; Curt
ardized anywhere and opinions will always differ Sachs wrote an extensive history of instruments
according to personal taste and habit. Through the and compiled a dictionary; and Canon Francis W.
adoption of modern tools and machines in the inter- Galpin systematically investigated old English
ests of speed and uniformity, many of the traditional instruments. Giampiero Tintori clearly aspires to a
techniques have had to be discarded and it is doubt- place within this charmed circle. In the two volumes
ful whether the results have been all gain. The modern of Gli Strumenti Musicali-comprising more than
player may envy Almenrdder who in 1829 claimed to 1100 pages in all-he sets himself the gigantic task
keep a reed, although in daily use, for up to two of describing the principal sorts of musical instru-
years! I WILLIAM WATERHOUSE ments used in all parts of the world from ancient
times to the present day. His is the first such book
in Italian, and one hopes that it may herald serious
work in this field by other Italian scholars.
Wind list The highly systematic way in which the volumes
are organized makes them extremely easy to consult.
An Index of Musical Wind-Instrument Makers by After an excellent opening essay on the various
Lyndesay G. Langwill (3rd edn. revised, enlarged classification schemes that have been devised and
and illustrated). Lyndesay G. Langwill (7 Dick their strengths and shortcomings-the best such
Place, Edinburgh, EH9 2JS), ?5 discussion I have ever seen in print-the author
I had the pleasure of reviewing the first two editions takes up in turn the instruments of primitive peoples,
of this now quite standard reference work some 10 Africa, Islam and the Near East, India, the Far
years ago (MT Jan 1961, p.32; Oct 1962, p.691). Both East, the Pacific Islands, the Americas, the ancient
were sold out in a matter of months, and in the world, and western Europe, and ends with a section
meantime the odd copy has commanded a high on folk instruments. In each chapter the author
776

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