788

788 Bl6w 58-41835

Baines, Anthony $6.50 las"
Woodwind instruments and their
Adrian
history. With a foreword by
BouLt. W.W. Norton [1957)
382p. illus., music.
.*
Woodwind Instruments

and their History

 Woodwind Instruments

and their
History

by

ANTHONY BAINES
\3

with a foreword by

SIR ADRIAN BOULT

W W NORTON & COMPANY INC

NEW YORK
COPYRIGHT 1957 BY W. W. NORTON & COMPANY, INC.

FIRST EDITION

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

4 wtJ
^ ie rneiilory f
*'

JASPER RIDLEY
I 943
 Foreword
by SIR ADRIAN BOULT

A nyone who pursues an artistic life often comes in

Zj\ contact with enthusiasts, and I always enjoy this when
-A. .jV.it happens to me. There are, of course, enthusiasts of
two kinds those whose enthusiasm throws their general judge
:

ment somewhat out of gear, and those who can keep their sense
of proportion with their enthusiasm.
Anthony Baines is emphatically of the latter group. His
knowledge as anyone can see on glancing at this book is
encyclopaedic, but he has been able to do sterling and successful
work as a conductor, not only of concerts, but also in the more
difficult and responsible field of ballet. He graduated to the

conductor's desk by the most thorough and complete route, a

seat in the orchestra. As a bassoonist he has occupied a pivotal

position (artistically as well as geographically) between the

woodwind and brass, and has also often carried a weightier and
even more responsible burden in the wind department when in
charge of the contrafagotto.
Wind instruments, however, have always been his particular
interest, and he has since turned his whole time to their study,
and practice. He is now occupied at Uppingham with seventy
pupils who
are learning wind instruments and so qualifying for

membership of the many orchestral societies which are stimulat

ing musical experience up and down the country. This book will,
I hope, appeal to a much larger public than his own pupils, for
orchestral music is becoming an interest for almost everyone,
and surely the fascinating story of the different instruments, as
told here, will be widely appreciated.
 Contents

FOREWORD by Sir Adrian Boult page 9

PREFACE by the Author 21

PART ONE THE WOODWIND TODAY

Chapter
I. GENERAL INTRODUCTION 25
The Woodwind Section 25
27
Fingering charts and diagrams
Basic woodwind acoustics 29
Generation of the sound 31
Harmonics 52
Stopped pipes and the clarinet 34
Reed instruments with conical bore 36
Overblowing 37
39
Tonguing and Breathing
General rules 39
41
Double-tonguing
Flutter-tonguing
42
Antiquarian double-tonguing
42
Vibrato 44
Woodwind transposition
45
Pitch 48
Flat Pitch 48
Sharp Pitch
50
'Old Pitch' 51

II. THE FLUTE

Introduction 52
General construction 52
Wood versus metal 54
11
 CONTENTS r

Chapter
II. Piccolo page 56
(cont,} Bass flutes 57
Flute bands and band flutes 59
Flute mechanisms 62
Boehm flute 62
Other cylindrical systems 67
Conical flutes 69
Recorders 71

III. REEDS AND REED-MAKING

Reed cane 76
Double reeds 77
Oboe reed from gouged cane 79
Cor anglais reed, etc. 83
Bassoon reed from gouged cane 83
Single reeds 86
Clarinet reed 86
Single reeds for oboe and bassoon 87
Plastic reeds 88
Bagpipe reeds 88

IV. THE OBOE

Introduction 91
Oboe designs and styles 92
Deep oboes 96
Cor anglais 96
Oboe d'amore 97
Bass oboe and heckelphones 98
Oboe mechanisms 100
Simple-system oboe 10O
Thumb-plate system 101
Conservatoire system 106
Other oboe systems ill
The Shawm today 1 1 3
Musette 115

V. THE CLARINET
Introduction 1 1 7
BJ7, A and C clarinets 118
 CONTENTS
Chapter
V. Mouthpiece, bore and tone page 120
(cont.} High
and deep clarinets 123
The small clarinets 123
Basset horn 125
Bass clarinet 127
Alto clarinet 129
Contrabass clarinet 130
Clarinet mechanisms 1 31
Boehm systems 131
*Non-Boehm* systems 136*

Saxophones 142
Saxophone mechanism 146
Tarogato 147

VI. THE BASSOON

Introduction 149
Assembling and sounding the bassoon 150
The Buffet and the Heckel 152
Bassoon mechanisms 158
French bassoon 158
German bassoon 159
Contrabassoon 163
Sarrusophdnes, etc,

PART TWO HISTORY

VII. THE PRIMITIVE FLVTE WORLD
Introduction 171
Flute typology shown in whistles 172
Flute music without finger-holes 174
'The Man' and 'The Woman' 174
Flute bands and panpipes 176
The harmonic flute as a solo instrument 179

Finger-holes 181
Some special exotic forms 184
Nose flutes 184
Central-embouchure flutes 185
Ringed flageolets, etc. 187
13
 CONTENTS
Chapter
VIII. EARLY REED INSTRUMENTS AND DOUBLE-PIPING
Introduction page 189
Reeds, single and double 190
Double pipes 194
Parallel pipes 196
Divergent pipes 198
Unequal pipes 203
Double flageolet 208

IX. MEDIEVAL WIND Music

Introduction 209
Short encyclopedia of medieval wind instruments 212
Loud and soft instruments (1300 onwards) 230
Loud music Oriental
: ; in Europe 23 1
Soft music: ditto 233

X. THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY AND THE CONSORTS

Introduction 237
The Instruments in general 241
Consort sizes 242
Technique and divisions 243
Recorders 246
Flutes 248
Crumhorns and other capped reed instruments 252
Cornetts 259
Mute cornett .
261
Revival of the cornett 262
Curtals 263
Reed instruments with doubled-back cylindrical
bores 265
The Shawm band 268

XL THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY AND THE

CLASSICAL WOODWIND
Introduction 273
Jean Hotteterre 275
14
 CONTENTS
Chapter
XL The Oboe page 277
(cont.} Tenor oboe 283
Deutsche Schalmey 285
The Bassoon 286
Small and large bassoons 289
The Flute 290
Six-keyed flute 29
Small flutes and fifes 294
Chalumeau and clarinet 295
Two-keyed clarinets 297
The classical clarinet 299
The d'amore instruments 302
' *
The woodwind horns 304
The Serpent 307
Performance 309

XII. MECHANIZATION
Introduction 312
Flute systems 316
The eight-keyed flute 316
Boehm 320
Oboe systems 325
The Trtebert oboe 325
Clarinet systems 330
Bassoon systems 334
The Heckel 338

Appendix l. ALPHABETICAL LIST OF OLD LONDON

MAKERS AND SUPPLIERS 343

Appendix 2. PARLOUR PIPES 348

Appendix 3. NOTES ON MAINTENANCE 354

BIBLIOGRAPHY 357

GLOSSARY OF TERMS 367

INDEX 371
16
 Illustrations

PLATES
Between pages 80 and 81.
I. Oboe reed-making
II. Orchestral set of modern Boehin flutes
III. Other models of flutes
IV. Set of band flutes, and F bass flute for flute
band
V. Reed-cane plantation near Cannes
VI. Double reeds; oboe, bassoon, etc.
VII. Clarinet reeds and mouthpieces
VIII. Orchestral set of modern Giilet-Conservatoire
oboes
IX. Other designs of oboes
X. Wide-bore conical reed instruments
XI. Orchestral set of modern Boehm-system
clarinets
XII. Other models of clarinets
XIII. Other models of clarinets (continued)
XIV. Other deep clarinets
XV. Bassoons
XVI. Contrabassoon, Sarrusophones and Contre-
basse i anche
Between pages 208 and 209.
XVII. Flute ancestors
XVIII. Reed instrument ancestors
XIX. Sixteenth-century Polish bagpipe, and reeds of
woodwind precursors
XX. Comettino, treble cornett, and X-ray photo
graph of treble cornett
XXL Sixteenth- to seventeenth-century instruments
at the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
17
 ILLUSTRATIONS
XXIL Original accessories belonging
to the six
teenth- to seventeenth-century instruments
from Schloss Ambras, at the Kunst-
historisches Museum, Vienna
XXIIL Other sixteenth- to seventeenth-century
instruments
XXIV. The classical oboe
XXV. The classical bassoon
XXVI. Six-keyed flute ( 1769), and conical Boehm flute

(c. 1832)
XXVII. The classical clarinet

XXVIIL Cor 1780), and basset horn (c.

anglais (c.
1800)
XXIX. X-ray photographs of eighteenth-century
woodwind
XXX. Other eighteenth-century woodwind types
XXXI. Other nineteenth-century woodwind types
XXXII. Wind players of the Vienna Philharmonic
Orchestra about to perform a Mozart
Serenade

LIST OF FIGURES
1 .
Designation of notes page 9,1

2. The harmonic series of middle C S3

3. Some tonal spectra 34
4. Harmonics in normal fingering 39
5. Transpositions 47
6. A page from a large flute-band score 62
7.
Diagram of Boehm flute mechanisms 64
8. Chart for Boehm flute 65
9. Diagram of Radcliff and 1867 mechanisms 69
10. Chart for treble recorder 73
1 1 . Oboe reed-making 81
12. Bassoon reed-making 84
13. Bagpipe reed-making 89
14. Diagram of simple system and thumb-plate oboes 102
18
 ILLUSTRATIONS

I5a. Chart for thumb-plate oboe page 107

156. Differences for Conservatoire system 108
16. Diagram of Conservatoire system mechanism 109
17. Diagram of Zuleger oboe mechanism 112
18. A characteristic motif for Ej; clarinet 124
19. Boehm-system clarinet mechanisms 132
20. Chart for Boehm-system clarinet 133
21. Simple system and Clinton clarinet mechanisms 138
22. Chart for simple system and other non-Boehm
clarinets 139
23. Diagram of Oehler-system clarinet 141
24. Diagram of saxophone mechanism 144
25. Chart for saxophone 145
26. Sling for bassoon, saxophone, etc. 151
27. Diagram of French bassoon keywork (Buffet) 156
28. Chart for French bassoon 157
29. Diagram of Heckel bassoon key work 160
30. Chart for German bassoon 161
31. A selection of primitive whistles 172
32. Duets with hole-less giant flutes 176
33. South African flute band: example of tune. A
panpipe tune from the Upper Orinoco 178
34. The harmonic flute scale and two examples of tunes 179
35. From hole-less flute to finger-hole flute, shown
diagrammatically 1 80
36. A selection of higher finger-hole flutes 182
37. Phrases from the nose-flute hula 185
38. Central-embouchure flute. Some exotic flageolets 187
39. Variants of the primitive single reed 191
40. Primitive reed horns 192
41 . Ancient double reeds ( Egypt ) 1 93
42. Scheme of double-pipes 195
43. Articulated drone effect on hornpipe 198
44. Monaulos and hichiriki. Launeddas. Zampogna
and ciaramella 202
45. Basic scale on unequal double-pipes; brelka tune 204
46. The opening of a siciliana on Sicilian bagpipe 205
19
 ILLUSTRATIONS

47. Two samples of zampognari music page 06

48. Technique of English double flageolet 07
49. Chronological scheme of European woodwind
Instruments and precursor* io
50. Detail of Spanish bagpipe 1 3
5 1 .
Gracing on the Highland bagpipe 1 5
52. Sketch-map of various folk instruments <219
53. Cornett precursors ; bladderpipe; panpipe 20
54. Tabor pipes 26
55. Generalized chart for sixteenth-century treble
instrument 44
56. Example of divisions, from Girolamo Delia Casa,
1584 45
57. Praetorius: recorders, flutes, etc. 49
58. Praetorius: crumhorns, mute cornetts, etc. 51
59. Crumhorn, detail of top end 5
60. A piece suitable for crumhorns, from Holbonie,
1599 55
61. Praetorius: curtals, rackets, etc. 64
6. Praetorius: bassanelli, schryari and sordoni 66
63. Praetorius: shawms and bagpipes 70
64. A ceremonial pavan for shawm band, 1610 7
65. An ornamented adagio, from Babell, 176 79
66. Chart for two-keyed oboe 28
67. The Queen's Farewell for oboe band, Paisible, 1694 84
68. Chart for four- to eight-keyed bassoon 88
69. Chart for one-keyed flute 293
70. An old reveille for the fife 295
71. Music and horns, Arne, 1760
for clarinets 298
72. Chart for or six-keyed clarinet
five- 301
73. Ornamentation exercises from Ozi's bassoon tutor 310
74. Two of Nicholson's flute solos 318
75. Eight-keyed flute; some special fingerings, etc. 319
76. Miscellaneous flutes, etc., as manufactured in
Germany c. 1890 324
77. Triebert oboes, etc., from advertisement c. 1865 327
78. Diagram of union-pipe 352
regulators
 Preface

""ore now learning to play

persons than ever before are
orchestral instruments. And no wonder, in view of
enormous stimulus given by broadcasting and the
J:he

gramophone not only to listen to music, but also to perform it.

And from this last aspect, the woodwind instruments have
perhaps proved an especial attraction, offering a choice of four
instruments of the first importance in music, all equally fascinat
ing to play, equally suitable for starting at any time of life and
equally quickly mastered up to a certain point by anyone with a
reasonably good ear and lively intelligence though as difficult
as any other kind of instrument to play really well. Their parts
in orchestral music provide an inexhaustible source of subtle
interest and exhilarating excitement, while in solo and chamber
music they have a rich share. The present book offers a general,
technical and historical background to the study of these instru
ments, whether practical or appreciative (a non-playing reader
will probably prefer to skip certain sections devoted entirely to

key work and fingering). For reasons of space, certain things,

including woodwind manufacture and woodwind in orchestra
tion, have been touched upon only very lightly, in order to deal
more fully with the nature of the instruments and the playing of
them. Nor are lists of solo and chamber music included, since
these could only be repetitions of excellent lists already available,
as those in F. B. Chapman, Flute Technique, Evelyn Rothwell,
Oboe Technique, and F. G. Kendall, The Clarinet. (A survey of
bassoon music, of which there is plenty, is, at the time of
writing, projected by the well-known player and authority
William Waterhouse. )
The book is composed of two Parts. Part One deals with the
 PREFACE
existing woodwind instruments (including many related species
found in bands of various kinds but not in orchestras). Part
Two (History) concerned with early forms of the woodwind
is

instruments and with their precursors, many of these being

described in considerable technical detail, though no finality is

claimed for the rules and conclusions given; practical musical

study is ancient, exotic and primitive wind instruments is still a
young branch of musicology in which fresh discoveries are
being made every year.
The names of all the friends and colleagues to whom acknow
ledgement is due for information and kindnesses during the
preparation of this book would make too long a list to give here,
though to Mr Philip Bate, Mr Thurston Dart, Mr Eric Half
penny, Mr Bernard Izen, Mr and Mrs J. A. MacGillivray,
Mr R. Morley Pegge and Mr Frank Rendell I feel particularly
indebted. But I must add this: if any person who loves wind
instruments has any query or difficulty in connection with them,
let him not hesitate to accost a professional
wind-player, no
matter how celebrated he may be nor from what part of the
world he may come, for there are no more kindly and under
standing people in the world.
ANTHONY BAINES
London, 1956
 PART ONE

The Woodwind Instruments

Today
 CHAPTER I

General Introduction

The Woodwind Section

As most readers of this book will already know, the
Zj\ woodwind is a small cluster of musicians in whom the
jL --^greatest virtuosity in the symphony or opera orchestra
is concentrated. It is the orchestra's principal solo section, con

taining, in relation to its small strength in numbers, the highest

proportion of star players of all the sections that make up the
orchestra. They are stars because composers for over two
hundred years have made them so, having entrusted to them
those passages and motifs of their music which, by their nature,
especially demand utterance by chosen solo voices raised above
the orchestra's time-honoured foundation of strings.

Befitting its role, the woodwind section has a unique type of

constitution, being basically composed of four unlike-sounding
wind instruments flute, oboe, clarinet and bassoon-l-with two
players of each, and the story of how this amazingly successful
and enduring alliance was arrived at makes an interesting
subject on its own. Very briefly (for the subject is fully dealt
with in Adam Carse's well-known works), it runs as follows.
The string section, which forms a homogeneous and logically
harmonious group of instruments, was born in the consort days
of the sixteenth century, when part-writing held first place in
music. The woodwind, by contrast, is a creation of the eighteenth

century, when the emphasis had shifted towards pure melody,

and it developed primarily as a kind of musical paintbox of
contrasted melodic tone-colours; not as a 'consort*. Its actual
birth had taken place just earlier, in Lully's time, when the oboe
26
 THE WOODWIND TODAY
was invented in France. The essence of the section had then been
a pair of oboists a pair was needed in order to accommodate the
;

old predilection for writing melodies in thirds for two identical

instruments, and the two players were known as the 'First' (or
titles which remain
'Principal') and the 'Second' respectively,
in use throughout the section today. When
a composer of those

early days required a fresh

woodwind colour in the course of an
or oratorio, the oboists laid down their oboes and took
opera
flutes, recorders or other instruments for
the number in question.

Completing this primitive woodwind section

were one or, more
often, two bassoonists, whose job was at first mainly
to supply it
with its own independent bass.
With the generation of Handel and Bach, the section began
to be expanded to include specialist flute-players (and during
this period the oboists and bassoonists were frequently doubled
in order to boost their contribution in choruses and tuttis, for
woodwind instruments then possessed nothing like the penetrat
ing power they possess now). Next followed
a stroke of genius
on the part of the eighteenth century, namely, blending into the
woodwind choir the formal supporting harmony of a pair
little

of horns, and the horn-players have ever since remained the

woodwind's closest associates under the hand of the composer.
Finally, by about 1780, most important
orchestras in Europe
had come to adopt a pair of clarinets, invented in Germany
about eighty years before. With this, the classical woodwind
section of eight musicians was completed.
The four main woodwind instruments oboe, clarinet
flute,
and bassoon are so well contrasted in colour, yet so perfectly
balanced in their tonal weight and expressive resources, that in
the great majority of orchestral compositions composers have
asked for no more. For special effects, however, and for richer
blends in works of large proportions, a composer can draw upon
a range of reserve colours. Four of these are permanently avail
able in a modern full-sized orchestra: piccolo, cor anglais (the

deep contralto oboe), bass clarinet and contrabassoon, these

often being referred to as the 'extra' instruments, while
specialist performers on each of them then bring the woodwind
personnel up to twelve. Often it approaches or reaches sixteen,
26
 GENERAL INTRODUCTION
as when a composer has written for more than three of each of the
main instruments with 'extras* as well; or when he has also
* '
included one or more of the rarely-demanded special instru
ments, as bass flute, oboe d'amore, heckelphone, small clarinet,
basset horn or saxophone.

Fingering charts and diagrams

The characteristic that all these woodwind instruments have
in common that they are all 'pipes', that is to say, wind
is

instruments on which the different notes are made primarily by

covering and uncovering holes in the side of the tube with the
fingers. Many non-woodwind people will understand this
principle through experience with the tin whistle, or with the

v~.-
<p-"
r r

A I?

pprn
CDEFGAB
FIG. l.
Designation of notes.

recorder (which is by rights a genuine woodwind instrument,

scored for by Purcell, Bach and Handel in many of their best-
known works).
Before discussing woodwind instruments and their technique
we therefore need to decide upon some concise method of

describing the fingerings of the various notes, and also upon a

distinctive symbol for every particular note. For the latter, more
and more musical writers today are adopting the ancient Ger
man system shown in fig. 1, and we shall do the same. (The
older way of this system, with lines above a letter instead of
ticks after it, and with double letters for the contrabass octave,

may be seen in figs. 57, etc., Chapter X.)

Next, a description of the fingerings. Down the front of
any woodwind instrument are the six symmetrically-positioned
holes (or sometimes finger-plates) for the application of the three
27
 THE WOODWIND TODAY
main fingers of each hand. The left hand takes the uppermost
three positions and the right hand the lowermost three. We
shall number these consecutively from I to VI; I to HI for the
lefthand, and IV to VI for the right hand. In fingering charts, a
black spot indicates that a finger is to close its hole or plate, and a
hollow circle that it is to be raised from it. As an example, the

fingering for e' on flute or oboe will appear thus:

'

/ // /// IV V VI

/ o
or, for short, ../.. o, meaning: put down fingers I to V but
not finger VI. With instruments that have a hole or plate for the
left thumb, the thumb (Th] is
generally assumed to be applied
unless indication is
given to the contrary; but on the bassoon,
both thumbs are raised except where it is otherwise indicated.
A key is named after the principal note for which it is provided,
and given in the charts in a position corresponding to that
this is
of the finger that actuates the key. For example, . . , G# / o o o
for flute etc. means: put down the three left hand fingers and

press the G# key, which, as the mechanism diagrams will show,

is for the little finger of the same hand. Again, . . o / B|j o o o
on Boehm clarinet means: put down fingers I and II, and press
the 6(7 key for finger IV a 'side key', operated by the middle

joint of that finger. Keys provided solely for trills are named
after the trill thus a V\c" tr key is for the semitone trill
;
making
on B.
The first thing for a beginner is to obtain a clear sound with
out covering more than one or two of the holes. Next, he will

progressively cover the holes in direct order putting the

fingers down
smartly, using the muscles well starting with
then adding finger II (or the thumb,
finger I,
according to the
instrument) and so on until all holes are covered. This gives the
instrument's basic series of notes. The direct order is, however,
98
 GENERAL INTRODUCTION
departed from in many instances in order to obtain other notes
(e.g. putting
down fingers I, II and III, and then VI instead
of IV to make F# on the Boehm flute). This is termed cross-

fingering.
The special term fork-fingering is used when only the
first and third fingers of a hand are put down, as in the 'forked F*

on the oboe and simple-system clarinet (.../. o .) and the

middle E[> on the bassoon (. o . /o o o). Fingering charts for
each of the main current designs are given in Chapters II to VI,
though there is no room to include all the alternative fingerings
for high notes and trills.

Basic woodwind acoustics

How does a woodwind instrument produce its sound? The

foundations of a scientific explanation were laid by Helmholtz in
his wave theory of 1862, and although modern research has

suggested a number of modifications to this theory, its basic

propositions remain in general acceptance today. There is no
space to go fully and scientifically into it here (full accounts are
given in books on musical acoustics); the following section is
intended only as an introduction to the subject and a short
explanation of important things like tone-colour and over
blowing.
For a wind instrument to sound a note, the column of air in
side its tube must somehow be set and maintained in vibration.

Merely blowing into a tube will not, of course, effect this. We

need, at the top end of the instrument, some contrivance or
4

generator' that will set up a fast, rhythmical beating under the

impact of the breath. This beating, the 'generating frequency',
then acts upon the head of the air-column, setting the air-
particles in oscillation. Each air-particle can (according to the
theory) oscillate a minute distance up and down the tube, and
the particles at one point pass on their motion to those at the
next, which causes waves of pressure to travel down the tube at
the speed of sound* (This explains, incidentally, why a wind-
instrumentmay have as many bends or loops in it as we care to
make, and yet perform satisfactorily. )
Having traversed the length of the air-column, i.e. having
reached the hole or key opened for the note in question, the
519
 THE WOODWIND TODAY
pressure-waves become reflected back upon themselves. The
effect of this is to modify the motion of the air-particles in a
characteristic way, building up nodes and antinodes at definite

points along the air-column. A

node is formed where inter
ference between opposite waves deprives the particles of their
motion while the to-and-fro motion of neighbouring particles
subjects the point to a regular pulsation of alternate high and
low pressure. At antinpdes, on the other hand, the particles
move with their maximum swing and the pressure remains
constant; there is an antinode, for instance, wherever the air-
column is open to the outer air. In this way, a regular, self-
* '
contained vibration of the air-column a stationary wave is

at once built up within the tube, and it is this that produces the

note. An
analogous thing happens with a violin string: reflec
tion of disturbances builds up a stationary wave in which the

string has a maximum side-to-side motion at the middle

(antinode) and none ends (nodes). In a flute, the
at the

phenomena are similar but opposite there is maximum to-and-

:

fro air-movement at the ends, where the air-column is open to

the outer air (antinodes, A, A) ; and a stationary layer half-way
between, where interference reaches its maximum (node, N);
thus: A-N-A.
The pitch of the note depends upon the frequency of the

stationary wave, i.e. upon the number of

pressure-pulsations per
second at the node (or of to-and-fro oscillations at an antinode).
This in turn depends upon the length of the air-column. When
this is increased by closing more holes, the pressure waves have
further to travel before reflection, and hence there are fewer
reflections per second. This means a slower pulsation-frequency
of the resulting stationary wave, i.e. a deeper note. However,

the frequency is always pretty fast, as one can sense in the ting
ling felt at the antinodewhen a finger is held just above the hole
from which a note is sounding, or close by the mouth-hole of a
flute. For middle C, the bottom note of the flute, the
frequency
is over two hundred vibrations
per second.
There is, of course, a bodily drift of the air down the tube
due to the player's blowing, but this has no acoustical
signifi
cance, being far too slow in comparison with the sonic speed of
SO
 GENERAL INTRODUCTION
pressure-wave transmission to have any bearing on the nature
of the stationary wave and the note
it
gives rise to. Harder
blowing does, however, produce more powerful generating
impulses, which in turn give a wider swing to the air-particles
and a more intense variation of pressure at the nodes, and hence
as we know, a louder note.

GENERATION OF THE SOUND. With the reed instruments (i.e.

all the main woodwind instruments except the flute) the

generating frequency that of the opening and closing of the

is

reed as it vibrates in the breath stream. With the flute, it is due

to the rapid fluttering of the whirlpools or eddies that form
in the air in quick succession as the player's breath leaves his

lips in a thin stream directed against the far edge of the

mouth-hole in the flute. These eddies have been shown to
follow one another alternately below and above the direction of
the stream, and hence to exert a kind of alternate pushing and

sucking effect on the head of the air-column, setting the air-

particles in oscillation and so dispatching pressure-waves down
the tube.
With any wind instrument, the generating frequency must
keep matched to that of the air-column as this changes when one
goes from note to note. For the most part, the generating
frequency is automatically kept in step through the powerful,
regulating back-effect of the air-column pulsation, though the
player assists to some extent by sub-conscious lip and breath
action. However, the player can also, within small limits,

deliberately the generator drag on the air-column, or

make
hasten it, forcing the frequency of the latter to drop or rise a
little below or above its natural value, i.e. flattening or sharpen

ing the note. He does this mainly with his lips, and it provides
him with his fine adjustment the means by which the playing
is kept in tune. For it is virtually impossible for a maker to
construct an instrument that will be automatically dead in tune
on every note whoever plays it and in whatever circumstances,
and in woodwind playing, practising included, the ears have to
be alert the whole time to detect any note that requires pulling
in tune with the lip. When this point is not realized, scales and
31
 THE WOODWIND TODAY
melodies are likely to be played with intervals that are anything
but the tones and semitones they should be.

HARMONICS. If one blows a deep note on an instrument

rich,
and listens to it
long and carefully, one soon begins to hear,
besides the note itself, some of its overtones or harmonics,
sounding at various intervals like octave and twelfth above it.

The explanation that the simple or fundamental mode of

is

stationary-wave vibration that we have so far described (and

have symbolized as A-N-A for flute) forms only part of the

picture while a note is

sounding, since numerous harmonic
vibrations proceed simultaneously with it. With these harmonics,
the air column subdivides into smaller sections,
introducing
two, three or many more fresh nodes, with corresponding fresh
antinodes between them.
For a simple picture of harmonics, we may write down their

ANA
nodes and antinodes in rows of symbols. The fundamental is
conventionally numbered as the first harmonic so that the
numbers match the sense as we go up the series :

Fundamental (1st
harmonic)
2nd harmonic A N A N A
A N A N A N
3rd harmonic
4th harmonic
etc.
ANANANANA A

Each harmonic has a definite frequency in relation to the

fundamental The 2nd harmonic pulsates at double the speed of
the fundamental (since its wave distance is
half), and in musical
sound a doubled frequency means an octave higher; i.e. the 2nd
harmonic is pitched an octave above the fundamental.
Tripled
frequency (3rd harmonic) means a twelfth higher in pitch (an
octave and a half), and so on. Fig. 2 shows the
pitches of the
first thirteen harmonics of middle C.
These harmonics are important in two ways. Firstly, they are
responsible for an instrument's
tone-colour. Secondly,
they
enable an instrument's compass to be extended
upwards through
several registers (overblowing). We
will briefly consider tone-
colour first.
32
 GENERAL INTRODUCTION
The presence of many superimposed harmonic modes of
vibration whilst a note is
sounding, naturally modifies the
motion of each individual air-particle and gives the sum vibra
tion a complex character. In books on musical acoustics, this

complexity is usually pictured by wave diagrams obtained with

an oscilloscope: an instrument's pressure-wave vibration is
electrically translated into interlooping wave lines visible on a
screen. There we see that the wave is full of kinks, indicating the
superimposition of harmonics upon the fundamental; and by
mathematical analysis of the kinks the harmonics can be identi
fied.

The human ear also sorts out the complex wave. It detects
the lowest harmonic present (the fundamental in the cases we
- .

6 9 JO 11 1Z 13

FIG. 2. The harmonic of middle C, up to number 13.

series

(The signs before notes 11 and 13 denote sharpness and

flatness respectively of about a quarter-tone. The 7th
harmonic is also a little fiat.
)

are now considering) however weakly it may be present and

reports it to the brain as the pitch-note, i.e. the actual note we
recognize. Simultaneously it reports the total mixture of
harmonics as tone-colour. Tone-colour, or tone-quality, is
almost entirely due to the proportionate strength and number of
thecomponent harmonics, and in fig. 3, adapted in a simple way
from specimen 'tonal spectra' published in scientific form by
Professor Bernard Hague, we can compare at a glance tone-
colour aswe hear it with tone-colour as the physicist analyses it.
White notes, large and small, indicate harmonics strongly
present in the note black notes, the fainter ones. All are
;
low-
in some cases we see that the funda
register examples (and
mental is only just present) and all of course concern only the
sustained tone, leaving out of consideration the various speeds
with which different harmonics may attain their peak strength
33
 THE WOODWIND TODAY
when the note is attacked a factor that makes the 'attack' of
each instrument so characteristic.
Spectrum 1 was obtained from a simple-system conical flute,
while from a Boehm flute, shows the more brilliant, reedy
,

tone of a note richer in high harmonics. We

see why the tone of
the oboe sounds yet more reedy (3), but that of the bassoon (4)
less markedly so. If their sounds are recorded and reproduced
in such a manner as to cut out their higher frequencies, they
become more flute-like. Of course, the above are only
single
examples; we know well enough how tone-quality can vary with

^
1 i 3 4 S
FIG. 3. The harmonic composition or tonal
spectrum of
various woodwind notes, adapted from Hague: 1 and 2 9

flute; 3, oboe; 4, bassoon; 5, clarinet.

different players and different

designs of instrument. Neverthe
less an oboe, say, almost always sounds
unmistakably an oboe,
and acousticians are now trying to pin down the basic causes
behind this the physical factors that determine an instrument's
characteristic type of tonal spectrum. Small
finger-holes tend
to impede the escape of high harmonics, thus
mellowing the
sound; narrow bores are said to favour the presence of high
harmonics; on reed instruments, harmonics that fall within
certainzones of pitch ('formants') tend to dominate the
spectrum as the c" is doing in the bassoon note in fig. 3.
Many such things have been investigated, but a comprehensive
explanation has not yet been reached.

STOPPED PIPES AND THE CLARINET. It will be noticed that the

tonal spectrum of the clarinet differs from the others in that
(5)
it is composed
principally of odd-numbered harmonics. This is
a well-known characteristic of a
stopped pipe.
34
 GENERAL INTRODUCTION
Straightforward examples of a stopped pipe are those instru
ments of the flute class that are stopped at the lower end, as

panpipe tubes and stopped organ pipes. The top end is open,
with a free antinode there as usual. But at the stopped end, where
the air cannot move to and fro, we have a node equivalent to the
node half-way along an open-ended pipe like the flute. If we make
a stopped pipe by placing a partition half-way down an open

pipe, we
obtain the same fundamental as we did without the

partition ; our half-pipe, A-N, really represents A-N A folded

back on a carpenter's rule. The pressure-waves'
itself like

journey-distance from antinode to antinode remains the same

although the tube-length is now but half as long. 12|-inch pan A

pipe tube gives the same note as a 25-inch flute. But the tone-
is different.
quality
This is because the harmonics are different. A 2nd harmonic,
subdividing a stopped pipe into two equal parts and having half
the fundamental's A-N distance, would require an antinode at
the stopped end (A-N-A), which is impossible. For the same
reason, all the other even-numbered harmonics are ruled out.
Only the odd-numbered fulfil the conditions, thus:

Fundamental (1st
harmonic)
5rd harmonic
5th harmonic
AN
A

A N A N
ANA
N

N
etc.

Except as organ pipes, stopped flutes have failed to become

advanced musical instruments since one cannot employ finger-
holes on them. An opened hole would at once un-stop the pipe.
Nevertheless, one of the class has appeared in the orchestra: the
Swannee whistle, a nineteenth-century bird-whistle now familiar
as a toy instrument (fig. 76) Ravel scores for it in Les Enfants et
.

' '

les under the name /*2te a coulisse ( slide flute )

and also ,
Sortileges
Gavin Gordon in his ballet The Rake's Progress. It is played by one
of the percussion players, like the siren in a theatre orchestra.
But another class of instruments also comes into the stopped
and
pipe category, namely reed instrutnents with cylindrical bore,

this group includes the clarinet.

35
 THE WOODWIND TODAY
If the clarinet air-column
is excited percussively, by
banging
the fingers down on the holes without putting the instrument to
the mouth, it will
give the same pitches, length for length, as a
flute, being in this condition an open pipe. If the experiment is

repeated, but with the reed pressed closed with the thumb, the
tube becomes a stopped pipe. It now gives pitches roughly an
octave lower than it did before, since every tube-length that
previously represented A N-A now
represents N A, i.e. the
waves' journey-distance has been doubled. (The pitches may in
fact be rather less than an octave lower, chiefly on account of
'end-correction': an air-column never terminates exactly at a
hole or an open end, but overflows a little beyond it; interfering
with one end, as by stopping, therefore gives an air-column
with a different total of end-corrections, hence a slightly
different pitch. )

Now when is being played, we

the clarinet again get these
deep fundamental pitches, showing that the top end is, in effect,

again stopped. The lips seal it from atmospheric pressure, while

the reed (as modern research has suggested) alternately holds
itselfbent inwards, virtually closing the aperture, and springs
open for a brief instant to communicate an energizing stab of
breath-pressure. Thus in a reed instrument of this class, we have
a stopped pipe in which, since it is excited at the stopped end,
finger-holes can be employed freely. The type of reed is im
material. Clarinet and the old Welsh pibcorn have single-
bladed reeds ('single reeds'); bagpipe practice-chanter,
sixteenth-century crumhorn, and the ancient Greek aulos have,
or had, twin-bladed reeds ('double reeds'). All have only
odd-numbered harmonics in their tonal spectrum save for some
even-numbered harmonics that may be weakly present since
stopped-pipe conditions are not quite perfectly reproduced
(e.g. the black notes in 5, fig. 3}.

REED INSTRUMENTS WITH CONICAL BORE (orperhaps better,

'expanding bore', to avoid confusion with the contracting
conical bore of the recorder and the old conical flute) form a
third major class of pipe, and include oboe, bassoon and saxo

phone, the first two having double reeds and the last a single
 GENERAL INTRODUCTION
reed. Their behaviour is
acoustically mysterious. Again, when
the fingers are banged down with the instrument out of the
mouth, we of course get normal open-pipe pitches as with a flute.
But when the reed is pressed closed, or when the instrument is
being played, we get fundamentals pitched about a third or a
fourth deeper, as if the air-column were projected back, in

imagination, to the true apex of the cone-bore, which is in most

cases several inches beyond the reed (down the player's throat,
as it were). Moreover, both sets of harmonics, odd and even,
are represented in the tonal spectrum. Mathematicians can

explain these things by means of formulae derived from the fact

that the wave-front in these bores is not but a segment of
flat,

the surface of a sphere. An explanation intelligible to the layman

seems yet to be worked out.

OVERBLOWING. If the fundamental vibration is completely

eliminated, the next-highest harmonic becomes the pitch-note
to the ear. It is commonly eliminated, when this is required, by

speeding up the generating frequency. This is how a bugler

plays his calls by tightening his lips, making their vibration
faster until one by one the lower harmonics of the tube have to

drop out, being too slow to respond. He employs thus harmonics

numbers two to six. On the flute, the fundamentals provide the
notes of the low register. Then, to sound the upper register, the

player accelerates the generating frequency (by means of his

lips and breathing) so that the fundamentals drop
out and the
second harmonics take over as the pitch-notes and the scale is
repeated an octave higher. A bassoonist obtains the same result
by slightly increased pressure on the reed. On both the instru
ments just mentioned, however, the lowest notes of the upper
register -are helped by opening or half opening hole I, which
admits atmospheric pressure to break up the fundamental's
mid-way node and strengthen the 2nd harmonic's mid-way
antinode. On
the other reed instruments the upper register is
obtained entirely, or (with the modern oboe) almost entirely,
after this second principle, through opening an 'octave key', or
'speaker key' (as it is called on the clarinet). On the clarinet,
the harmonic thereby established in command is not the 2nd, but
37
 THE WOODWIND TODAY
the 3rd sounding a twelfth above the fundamental on account
of the instrument's stopped-pipe nature already described.
To continue above the upper register into the high register,
appropriate finger-holes are uncovered to establish higher
harmonics as the basis of the notes: the 3rd, 4th and 5th
harmonics (on the clarinet, the 5th, 7th and 9th). On the Boehm
flute the only 3rd harmonic normally used is that of the low G,

giving d'" (and made by opening hole I); the succeeding 3rd
harmonics are too flat to be employed except in emergencies
(e.g. and so 4th harmonics (two octaves above the
trills),

fundamentals) are used instead. These last are obtained in a

way analogous to artificial harmonics on the violin: a hole is
uncovered three-quarters of the way down from the cork, i.e.
the A hole
" f
the G$ key is opened for e'"|?, for e
(finger III)
and so on. Above these, high A is made as a 5th harmonic of low
F by opening holes at four-fifths of the F tube-length (the G$
key) and at three-fifths (raising finger I) ; and high B similarly
as a 5th harmonic of low G, lifting finger II and opening the
second trill
key (fig. 4). Top C is made analogously as 6th
harmonic of low F.
In the clarinet high register, 5th harmonics are normally used
for six or seven notes, and above these, 7th and 9th harmonics

(fig. 4). To obtain most of these notes, hole I is opened as well

as the speaker key. The
oboe's high register is based mainly on
3rd harmonics, though the fingerings are rendered complex
through the need for securing good tuning and stabilizing
resonance in the lower parts of the tube. On some models
(e.g.
the Viennese and the older simple-system designs) one
brings
in 3rd harmonics earlier, namely from the a" or the
b"\> of the
upper register as one does on the recorder, where 6"b of the
descant made as a sharp-sounding 3rd harmonic of low D, and
is

also on the bassoon, where the corresponding note is e'fr. The

high register of the bassoon is obtained by sharp-sounding
harmonics that almost defy analysis. To give two of the less
mystifying examples, a' and <?"b on the German model are made
as 3rd and 4th harmonics of
low-register c% (theoretically g'$
and c"$ respectively).
On the flute and occasionally on the oboe,
special harmonic
38
 GENERAL INTRODUCTION
fingerings
not ordinarily employed are now and then used for
the sake of their ethereal tone-quality. Sometimes this is
for by a composer. For example, in Stravinsky's
especially asked
Rite of Spring at figure 87 in the score, three flutes play the
r
chord g", c'" 9 e" marked Flag., i.e. 'flageolet tone* and meaning
harmonics of low C made with the embouchure alone.

tel) * CO OJ>
re.
g* COO*
3 r2 * flf O OOO *

4-tk

5^
*
g" * .

O
^ OOO * TJl % c^bca
* jf)*" * OOO *

&- f-anatntntal * * O
3 rJi Ao.r/no/1/C: Q, O
5& C~# , O * .
7* *
g~ * o o . , o *

9^ * b* * o o *

FIG. 4. Examples illustrating the use of harmonics in normal

notes derived from the low G.
Jingering. Above, Boehm flute,
Below, Boehm-system clarinet, notes derived from the low A. (S:

open the speaker key; E\>: open the (7 key.}

Tonguing and Breathing

The tongue used in wind-playing to give a note or phrase
is

a clean start (tonguing, or articulation). The general rule is that

there is a
every note written in the music is to be tongued unless
slur to it from the preceding note 'tongued' meaning a
movement of the tongue similar to that made when pronouncing
the letter T. On it is done by placing the
the reed instruments

tip of the tongue lightly against

the reed, and then drawing it
back to release the reed in the breath pressure. It feels, on the
whole, more like N. On the flute, it is by a T against the palate,
behind the upper teeth. Besides T, some other tongue-move
ments of speech are made use of in wind-playing: (with the K
39
 THE WOODWIND TODAY
back of the tongue), occasionally L (with the sides of the
tongue) and trilled JR, all variously employed in the double and
flutter tonguing described further on. The flute can also be
sounded with a P
(with the lips alone) and
labial articulation
this has sometimes been recommended for beginners first
learning to produce the high notes gently. Yet another flute
tonguing utilizes a movement not found in speech though it is

common namely drawing the tip of the tongue

in brass playing,
backwards from the upper lip. Many flutists use this as well as,
or instead of, the more usual T described above.
There are various exceptions to the general rule for tonguing:
(
1
)
When
a long slur is placed over an entire phrase which
includes repeated notes (as for instance over the first six bars
of the National Anthem in some band editions) the slur is here ;

intended merely as a general indication of smoothness, and the

notes are lightly separated by tonguing. (2) When a slur occurs
in combination with dots or lines over the notes. Dots over the
under a slur indicate semi-staccato; each note is lightly
gotes
tongued, and the breath is made to fall away less suddenly on
each note than in plain staccato, giving the phrase a subtle
forward impetus. Lines over notes under a slur indicate semi-
sostenuto] the notes are tongued and well held, the breath being
even pushed a little on each note. Both these last indications are
really borrowed from violin writing, and it is of help to the
wind beginner to visualize a violinist's method of bowing them,
remembering that the true woodwind equivalent to the motion
of the fiddle bow, with its fine gradations of speed and pressure,
is the breath. The
tongue merely releases breath and generator
at the right instant, and the 'attack' too is as much a matter of
breathing as of tonguing.
Accents (arrow-heads) under a slur ('slurred
accents') are,
on the other hand, generally intended to be made entirely with
the breathing, without tonguing. Thus here the
general rule
applies, as it also does where two or more notes are slurred
together and there is a dot over the last only; the dot in this
case shows that the last note is to be cut off short (not
tongued).

Important above all in

wind-playing is the pure sustained
40
 GENERAL INTRODUCTION
sound of the Instrument, which learners have been taught to
develop ever since Mozart's time by practising long-held notes,
starting each softly, then swelling it, and finally dying away, all
the time watching that the note goes neither flat nor sharp, and

listening to its quality. In this simple exercise one can also pay
attention to proper intake and control of the breath.
Everybody
agrees that the correct way to breathe is to sit up naturally, with
the shoulders relaxed, and to breathe in and out mainly with the

diaphragm and lower ribs. This helps development of an

expressive, musical phrasing, like the finest singing the all-

important cantabile manner of playing, in which the model for
the instrumentalist is, word tells us, singing. In Vienna,
as the
the highest praise for a woodwind player is to be likened to a

great opera singer. Tight, shallow breathing from the top of

the chest, on the other hand, can lead to lifeless playing at a
monotonous mezzoforte, and also to poor control; for correct
breathing is of great help in overcoming tonguing, slurring and

pitching difficulties. The wide expressive range expected from a

well-played wind instrument is
very well conveyed on paper
by Mahler's scores. Mahler, who loved and understood instru
ments to a monumental degree, left little to chance. He marks in
the parts full and precise directions (e.g. fig. 18) where most
other composers would have left things to the player's musician
ship and experience, contenting themselves with a conventional
p or/, an espr., a dolce, or an en dehors.

DOUBLE-TON GUING. At fast speeds it may become difficult to

keep up the T strokes without flagging or stumbling. This is

where double-tonguing comes in. It is normally by TKT-K,
using the tip and back of the tongue alternately. In triplets, it
isT-K-T T-K-J^, or (better for dotted triplets) T-T-K
T-T-K-. With the flute, the K
stroke is so efficient that double-

tonguing in fast passagesforms part of everyday technique, and

composers sometimes even especially indicate it, e.g. by slur and
dots over every pair of notes, or by two dots above one single
note. K
On the reed instruments, the stroke, deprived of direct
contact with the reed, theoretically gives a less positive attack
than T, yet with practice the two become perfectly equalized and
41
 THE WOODWIND TODAY
hundreds of oboists, clarinettists and bassoonists learn T-~K-~
for the fastest tongued passages.
An older kind of flute double-tonguing, said to be still used by
a few players, is that which used to be described in England as

tootle-tootle (and in Germany as didd'l-dzdd'l), using the sides

of the tongue in alternation with the tip. But for triplets, tootle-
too.

When a reed player who does not double-tongue finds his

single-tonguing defeated by the speed of a passage, the normal

expedient is now and then to slur together a pair of notes the

first of which falls upon a strong beat; or to slur the first two in

every group of four, known as 'slur two, tongue two'.

FLUTTER-TONGUING, sometimes demanded from flute and

clarinet, is generally done by trilling the tip of the tongue (as
Italian R), but it can also be done by making the uvula vibrate

(as French JR; like a motor-bicycle starting up).

ANTIQUARIAN DOUBLE-TONGUING. Up to the early years of the

nineteenth century, double-tonguing was not only an expedient
for overcoming speed difficulties, but was introduced on medium-

rhythm or lilt of a passage. This makes

fast notes to bring out the
it a subject that people who specialize in playing early music

evidently should study, though it is no simple matter, because

the double-tonguing then employed was not our T-K-, but a
mysterious T-R-, which Drouet, the celebrated Beethoven-
period flute virtuoso, used to teach his English pupils by
means of the word 'territory'. During the earlier centuries,
T-K- had been barred as too crude and explosive; the only
possible reason for using it, wrote the great cornett-virtuoso
Delia Casa in 1584, could be to scare the audience. Its present
vogue appears to date from about the 1820s (when some
German flute and clarinet players were using it).
The T-jR- tonguing, often also described as di-ri di-ri, was
given for flute, recorder, cornett and trumpet, and even for oboe
(in Freillon-Poncein, 1700, and Quantz, 1752). Quantz,
describing flute-playing, says that the R
stroke is made by
pronouncing the letter R
clearly and distinctly. But since this
 GENERAL INTRODUCTION
letter is pronounced differently in every European country,
some practical investigation will be needed before we can feel
that we really understand how tonguing was done. Its
this

general intention, however, is clear: to distinguish between a

sharper attack T
and a weaker one R in order to phrase the
notes, most commonly in pairs.

At first, in the sixteenth century, the general rule seems to

have been to tongue every note. This is, for example, what our

earliest informant, Agricola (1528), expressly states; slurring

is not mentioned until a century later (by Mersenne) and then
only as a rather special effect. However, plain single-tonguing
was scarcely ever used for shorter notes than crotchets. For
quavers, even for an isolated pair of quavers among longer notes,
T-R- double-tonguing was advised, and for semiquavers it was
insisted upon. This means, to go by the estimated average

tempo of sixteenth-century common time at about crotchet =85

that double-tonguing was brought in at much slower speeds than

nowadays. Agricola stresses its importance in the following

lines:

Wiltu das dein pfeiffen besteh

Lern wol das diridiride,
Dans gehort zu den Noten klein
Drumb las dir nicht ein Spot sein.

(If a piper you'd live to be

learn you well your diridiridee
which belongs to the notes small,
lestyou look a fool before all. )
As time went on, instructions became more detailed, and by
the eighteenth century we find 'territory'
employed many in

subtle ways to add to the grace and liveliness of the playing. The

following are some of the chief ways:

fast runs of equal notes : T-R-T-R-
medium-fast runs of equal notes; also passages in dotted notes:
T-T-fl-T- JR-T-fl-T- (thus reversing the tonguing after
the first T). This is interesting since it was in medium-fast
runs that each pair of notes was so often played unevenly, or
of each pair.
'swung', with a prolongation of the first
43
 THE WOODWIND TODAY
'slur two, tongue two': T RT-
syncopated groups like crotchet-minim-crotchet in alia breve:
r~j?-r-
even triplets: T-R-T-
dotted triplets, also even triplets in which the first two notes are
the same: T-T-R-.

One can try these out best on the flute, preferably a con
temporary conical flute with small mouth-hole. But it is easy to
imagine that in large and noisy ensembles, the subtle impetus of
'territory' might become lost, and this is probably why it went
out during the first part of the last century.

VIBRATO. Vibrato on woodwind instruments forms a tricky

subject. For centuries it appears to have been practised much as
it is today (i.e. some players have used it more than
others), yet
it has seldom been introduced into the official curriculum as it is

in string-playing and singing. This is because a wind instrument

sounds well enough without it. Vibrato is therefore a thing that
a wind-playermay add at fitting points in the music, after he has
learnt to produce an effective and musical straight sound.
Flutists use it with most freedom, many making it with the
breath (diaphragm, starting to learn it with slow, rhythmical

pulsations) or, less often, with the lower lip. Vibrato suits the
flute best of all, and it is not surprising to find in history that
this is the first instrument for which it is recommended (by
Chapter X). On the oboe
Agricola in the sixteenth century; see
and the bassoon, while vibrato can have a magnificent effect,
there are dangerously many passages in orchestral works and

opera that are weakened or spoilt by it, so that the important

thing is not to let the vibrato become an unconscious habit ( which
it has a
tendency to do). It is generally made with the breath,
more players using the throat (like Ooh-ooh-ooh) than the
diaphragm. In England it is most heard on the oboe, but in
several other countries it is more prominent on the bassoon,
notably Russia, where it is so
pronounced that one wonders
whether it has any historical connection with those long vocal
bassoon solos in Tchaikovsky's symphonies and in other
Russian works.
44
 GENERAL INTRODUCTION
The clarinet is
traditionally played with no vibrato at all.
However, in dance bands a vibrato is made
by movement of the
lower jaw as on the saxophone, and a few players of recent
years have introduced touches of it into the orchestra. But a
clarinettist needs to have an
underlying tone of outstanding
quality for the sound to bear the vibrato successfully. 1
In former times a vibrato was also obtained on woodwind
instruments by trilling a finger on (or just some hole
above)
furtherdown than the actual note-hole. It has
gone entirely out
of fashion, and is indeed impossible on many instruments on
account of the mechanism. Many folk musicians, however, still
use it on bagpipes, etc.

Woodwind transposition
Although woodwind instruments vary so much in size,
compass and key, there are three ways only of naming and
writing the notes produced by given fingerings on them. Let us
take for example the note in the low register for which all six

fingers are put down (.../...):

1. On all flutes, of whatever size, all oboes, including cor
anglais, etc., and all saxophones, this note is called and written d',
no matter what it
actually sounds.
2. On all clarinets, small and large, it is
g.
3. On bassoons, including contra, it is G.

As for actual sound, let us consider group

1 first.
Only on the
ordinary and
flute oboe does .../... actually sound a d'. On
deeper-pitched instruments it
obviously sounds a deeper note,
as for example on soprano saxophone, c'; on oboe d'amore, 6;
G bass flute, a\ cor anglais, g*; alto saxophone,/; heckelphone, d.
Consequently a composer or arranger writing a part for one of
work backwards towards the same
these latter instruments has to
end, making whatever transposition that is necessary in order
1
As has Reginald one of the first orchestral clarinettists to use
Kell,
vibrato in England. This in the famous woodwind section of the pre
was
war London Philharmonic Orchestra under Sir Thomas Beecham, with
Geoffrey Gilbert, principal flute; Leon Goossens, principal oboe; Kell,
principal clarinet; and John Alexandra, principal bassoon. Their instru
ments were by Lot; Loree; Boosey & Hawkes; and Heckel, respectively.
45
 THE WOODWIND TODAY
that a d' written In the part shall always signify to the player:

put six fingers down; or an <?', put five down; and so on. Thus
every note that is to be sounded on a soprano saxophone must be
written in the part a tone higher; on an oboe d'amore, a minor
third higher, etc.. etc. Thanks to this system (which dates from
the eighteenth century) a flutist can change quickly to piccolo

(written an octave lower than it sounds), an oboist to cor

anglais, a variety-orchestra saxophonist
to flute or oboe, without
the written notes signifying entirely different fingerings and

holding up sight-reading.
To specify the pitch and transposition of an instrument

(except in flute bands; see Chapter II) the old German method
is used. This is based on an instrument's C (which, in the low
register of these 'group l* instruments, is made with six

fingers plus the C key for right little finger). The instrument is
described as being 'in' whatever note this C actually sounds.
On the cor anglais, for instance, it sounds F, and the cor anglais
may therefore be described as being 'in F',
though since every
one knows this anyway, nobody bothers to say 'in F' when
dealing with this instrument. But with a rarer instrument like
the orchestral bass flute, it is customary to jog the memory and
to avoid chance of misunderstanding by labelling the part
'Bass flute in G'.
Clarinets receive their pitch-names from their upper
register,
where, thanks to their overblow at the twelfth, they come into
line with flutes and oboes. The non-transposer among clarinets
is now little-used C clarinet. This is of such a length that
the

.../... C in the upper register actually sounds C (c"}. On

the three-inches-longer B[? clarinet, the ordinary clarinet of

today, it sounds a tone lower, B[?; on the little Eb clarinet, a

third higher than the C, it sounds E|j. On the bass clarinet
(today
assumed to be in B|?) sounds a tone plus an octave lower,
it

though some composers, as Wagner and Stravinsky, have

written its part in the bass clef, to sound only a tone below the
written note. By doing so, they certainly make the part look
more on paper, but they oblige the player to learn an
'bass'
octave transposition as well as a foreign clef, and the whole
object of woodwind transposed notation is to avoid such
things.
46
 GENERAL INTRODUCTION
The following excerpt (fig. 5} will enable a reader who is
totally unacquainted with wind transposition to see how all this
works out. It is a few bars from the wind parts of Stravinsky's
Rite of Spring just after figure 82 in the score. For the present

purpose the bass clarinet parts have been rewritten in con

formity with normal practice, and the two horns may be imagined

(Urgo)

effect

FIG. 5. Transpositions. Excerptfrom the windparts of Stravinsky's

Rite of Spring ( quoted by courtesy of Messrs Boosey &
Hawkes Ltd. ) .

to be two basset horns (large clarinets in F, with the same

transposition as the horn in F, i.e. sounding a fifth lower
than written).
A small drawback of woodwind transposition is met when it is
desired to play untransposed music on a transposing instrument,

e.g. C clarinet or oboe parts on the ordinary Bb clarinet, or from

vocal or piano copies on clarinet or saxophone. Every learner of
a transposing instrument should teach himself to be able to do
this.Some players manage it by thinking all the time of the
relevant interval, i.e. reading every note a tone higher, or a
third lower, as the case may be. Eventually this can be done
47
 THE WOODWIND TODAY
without continuous effort. Another method, which some will

find quicker to master, is to acquire two distinct ways of reading

music. First, the normal way as for a transposed part (written
d" for a clarinettist or saxophonist means put six fingers down),
and second, theway of reading the notes as they actually sound
(written d" means putting five fingers down on a B|j clarinet, or
one finger down on an alto saxophone). When reading from
as it were, for
untransposed music, one will put oneself in gear,
the second way.

Pitch
The
question of pitch bears importantly upon the purchase of
a woodwind instrument in the open second-hand market. The
safest way of obtaining a second-hand instrumentis to
keep
enquiring privately of professional or experienced amateur
players in the hopes of tracking down
a well-tried old instrument
of known individual history. Failing this, there remain the
s, from whom one may also make an excellent

as every precaution is taken against acquiring

an instrument built to the wrong pitch.

Playing pitch, usually referred to simply as pitch, signifies the

standard to which woodwind instruments are built and stringed
instruments tuned so that agreement reigns in performance. It
isdefined in terms of the frequency, in vibrations per second, of
the note a' , known as 'the A*. Piano tuners carry the A about
with them in the form of a tuning-fork. In orchestras, the A is

normally given out by the principal oboist, who often keeps a

fork in his case to forestall any argument. But unfortunately, the
standard pitch has always fluctuated over periods of time, with
the result that several different pitches may be met in woodwind
instruments today.

FLAT PITCH or LOW PITCH. These expressions cover the

following three pitches :

i. The
present International Standard Pitch of #'=440. This is
the A that
the B.B.C. has been relaying nightly just before the
Third Programme begins. It was agreed at a conference in
London in 1939, and woodwind instruments are today supposed
48
 GENERAL INTRODUCTION
to be built to it. In point of fact, however, orchestras in general

keep tending to creep sharper in actual performance, with the

result that some makers (e.g. some of the French oboe-makers)
are nowsaid to be building to around a' =444, which is not
to help matters.
going
ii. New Philharmonic Pitch, 0'=439, is the pre-1939 standard

British pitch. For practical purposes it is identical with the

preceding. The only important thing to know here, is that the
abbreviated expression 'Philharmonic Pitch' is dangerously
ambiguous, since it can also denote sharp pitch, the main bug
bear, described later on.
iii. Continental Pitch or French Pitch, a' =435, officially

prevailed on the Continent before 1939, and large numbers of

instruments built to it have found their way into England. It is
nearly a quarter of a semitone below the present standard,
which is enough to make an instrument built strictly to it sound
desperately flat. Many Continental makers during the 1930s
were, however, building a little sharp to it; pitch was even then
tending to rise, and the Berlin conservatoire, the Hochschule,
had already come to recognize a' =437*5 as standard. Conse
instruments may go perfectly
quently, pre-war Continental-built
well to modem pitch, and many British players use them so un
altered. But should an instrument prove incorrigibly flat
are all
(assuming that one's embouchure, mouthpiece, reed, etc.,
correct), the odds are that it was built strictly to #'=435, in
which case a woodwind repairer must be asked to attend to it.

He may shorten the head-joint of a flute, the barrel of a clarinet,

the crook of a bassoon, or advise the use of shorter reed-staples
with an oboe. Then, if advisable, he will retime the instrument.
Tuning, mainly entails such things as undercutting
in this sense,
a hole or chambering the bore to sharpen a note or lining a hole ;

with shellac to flatten a note.

In every case of doubt concerning an instrument, the first

person to consult is an expert

woodwind repairer. Sometimes
these little publicized but indispensable members of the wood
wind profession have their own premises, while others work for
a big music store on the latter's premises. There is one of these
craftsmen in every large city, and on taking up a woodwind
49
 THE WOODWIND TODAY
instrument, one should at once ascertain, by asking other
players, where he works, and then go round and make friends
with him.

SHARP PITCH or HIGH PITCH. This, approximately <z'=452, is

described as Old Philharmonic Pitch, but is sometimes

officially
referred to as 'Philharmonic Pitch" (cf. //
loosely above). It is
about half a semitone above modern pitch, and the
psychological
effect of this is to make a
sharp-pitch instrument feel sharper
still. It was the standard pitch of Victorian England. Today it
remains standard in brass bands and is occasionally met in local
orchestras and territorial bands. But up into the 1920s it was
still in wide use. A
woodwind player had to possess two
instruments, one sharp-pitch, the other flat-pitch, and when
engaged for a concert he was notified which to bring. Conse
quently, among the instruments in second-hand shops today, a
very large number are sharp-pitch and these are to be avoided
like the plague.

Reputable dealers understand this, and generally a second

hand instrument is clearly labelled 'sharp-pitch* or 'flat-pitch'
as the case be, but a casual dealer
may may have been mis
informed. not safe for a beginner to test the pitch himself,
It is

because he may sound the instrument flat

through faulty or
undeveloped embouchure; he may feel perfectly convinced in
the shop that a
desirable-looking instrument is flat-pitch,
only
to discover his mistake when it is too late.
Measuring too is
unreliable, for though the three smaller woodwind measure
from a half to one inch shorter in sharp pitch than in flat
(the
middle flute in Plate III is sharp-pitch), an instrument
may have
been badly 'converted' to flat pitch by some crude
lengthening,
or by mixture of sharp- and flat-pitch
joints. The judgement of
an experienced player or repairer is the
only safe guide.
Other countries too have had their sharp pitches in the
past,
though these had largely gone out of use by 1900 and now
survive only locally. However, Continental manufacturers have
built sharp-pitch instruments for the British
market, so that one
must never relax one's vigilance
against sharp pitch just
because an instrument bears the stamp of a
foreign maker.
60
 GENERAL INTRODUCTION
Should one for any reason be obliged to use a sharp-pitch
instrument in a modem orchestra, the following desperate pro
cedures must be resorted to:

Flute: pull out the head-joint some three-quarters of an inch and

bring the notes in tune with the embouchure. Much can be done
with practice and a good ear.
Oboe; the only thing is conversion, an operation in which some
repairers have been notably successful. Pieces are
expertly
spliced into the instrument in one or two places and then the
whole is retimed. It is a long job, however, and expensive.

Clarinet:a method adopted by theatre clarinettists in the old

mixed-pitch days, in the lack of a flat-pitch instrument, was to
hang a length of thick string down inside the bore, having first
frayed the end so that it will catch in the mouthpiece socket. This
lowers the pitch uniformly by the requisite amount (apparently
*
because in effect it narrows the bore and increases end-correc
tion' under the holes, etc.), but it makes the instrument rather
tiring to blow and much of its brilliance is lost.
Bassoon: have the crook lengthened at the narrow end by an inch
or more, pull out the joints a little, and do the rest with the lip,
assisted by flat-sounding reeds.

'OLD PITCH'. An early eighteenth-century pitch of about

#'=422 (a semitone and a half below modern pitch; see also
p. 274) sometimes used today in antiquarian performances with
is

old stringed instruments that benefit from its lower string-

tension. Many recorder-makers will supply instruments built to
this pitch, which is variously referred to as 'old pitch', or (mis-
'

leadingly) loiv pitch', etc. One must be careful to specify

'modern pitch' when ordering recorders for general use.

 CHAPTER II

The Flute

ihe flute, the first instrument of the woodwind in the

order of ceremonies, has a nature somewhat distinct
. from that of the other instruments of the section. It has
inherited from the ancient panpipe something faun-like, bearing
its solitude as the orchestra's sole representative of the
edge-
vibrated or Flute Class of instruments with an easy unconcern. A
flute player in the orchestra, leaning back comfortably in his chair,

often forcibly brings to mind the god Pan resting against his forest
tree and fluting magic spells ; and still more so when the image
is confirmed in sound as in I/ Aprh-midi d'un Faune, and in the

dance in Daphnis and Chloe. Undoubtedly the French have become

the great flute orchestrators (and this is closely connected with
the special qualities of the modern French school of flute-playing),
but in German orchestration too, when the principal flute soars
above the orchestra in a solo passage the instrument seems, like

that other instrument of forest ancestry, the horn, to carry one with
it out into clear space, away above the
play of striving human
passions expressed by the strings and the reed instruments.

General construction
A flute is normally built in three sections : the head joint, with
the mouth-hole in the side ; the body or middle joint, with the
main keywork; and the foot joint, with the keys for the right
little finger. The last two joints are sometimes made in one

piece, but the head joint is always separate, since its junction
with the body is constructed as a tuning slide, in order that it can
be pulled out to counteract the instrument's rise in pitch through
 THE FLUTE
heat. During performance, a flute-player carefully adjusts the
tuning of the flute through this means.

When the head joint is of metal or thinned wood, the

surround of the mouth-hole (or 'embouchure hole') is raised, to
give the hole its proper depth. Just to the left of the mouth-hole,
the bore is terminated by the
stopper, which is of cork, or some
hard material lapped with cork, faced with a metal disc. The
stopper placed in its correct position by the maker, but it can
is

be shifted by moving the cap at the top end, which carries a

thread. In an old flute, the stopper may have become displaced,
in which case the octaves will not be in tune. Its correct position
isusually given thus distance of stopper from centre of mouth-
:

hole = diameter of bore at the mouth-hole. To check it, the D's

are sounded. If d'" is sharp in relation to the lowest D, the
stopper is too far in, and vice versa; but this test can only be

done by an experienced player certain of the correct method of

blowing these notes. Some makers put a mark on the cleaning
rod, showing the correct distance of the stopper from the lower
end of the head joint.

BORE. There are two kinds of bore today: 'conical' and

flute"

'cylindrical', though in neither case does the

word describe the
bore completely. Conical bore a heritage from the eighteenth
century is practically the same as the ordinary recorder bore:

head, cylindrical; body and foot, contracting conically towards

the lower end. Conical bore is retained today mainly for piccolos
and band flutes.

Cylindrical bore denotes the bore introduced by

Boehrn of
Munich in 1847. In it, as he said, the preceding proportions are
a
roughly reversed: the head narrows towards the stopper in
and foot are cylin
gradual curve described as parabolic; body
drical, with the same bore-diameter as the head of a conical flute

(about 19 millimetres). The cylindrical

bore is standard for the
flute itself today, and is used everywhere with Boehm's basic
system of mechanism and fingering (Boehm flute) save for
certain alternative systems still found in .England (Rudall Carte
1867 system, Radcliff system, etc., described later).

53
 THE WOODWIND TODAY
Wood versus metal

The flute is held horizontally to the player's right, supported

by the lowest joint of finger I (against the flute
at three points:
about an inch above plate I); by the lower jaw; and by the
right hand. The near edge of
the mouth-hole is set against the
it must be central, not
edge of the red part of the lower lip, and
to one side. The lips are partially closed,
the tongue is moved
as described in Chapter I and the breath is aimed towards the
far edge of the hole. To reach the higher notes, the principle is
to narrow the lip aperture ( by tightening the lips or compressing
them at the sides) while directing the air-stream more upwards,
i.e. more directly on to the edge of the hole (through a move

ment of the lower lip or chin; not by turning the hole inwards).
No two players do exactly the same, either for playing the
different registers, or for guarding the intonation. Methods of

teaching vary accordingly, altogether making flute-embouchure a

very difficult thing to lay down the law about in a few words.
Players do, however, acknowledge a broad distinction between
'tight embouchure' and 'relaxed embouchure', and these, very
generally speaking, are associated with the wooden and the
metal flute- respectively.

WOOD is traditional in England, Germany and Eastern Europe.

The wood is cocus a wood obtained from various species of
West Indian and South American tree, and varying from light
brown to black in colour. Most instruments have the head joint
lined with silver as a precaution against cracking. Among lead

ing makers of the wooden flute they make metal ones too are
Rudall Carte (now amalgamated with Boosey & Hawkes),
renowned as the finest British flute-makers ever since they
produced the first English-made Boehm flutes over a century
ago; and in Germany, Mormig (Leipzig) and Hammig (Frei
burg) are the chief specialists, while most of the general wood
wind makers also make flutes.

The wooden gives a denser, more powerful

flute naturally

sound than the metal and requires rather more forceful

blowing
and attack lightness and delicacy of control being secured with
;
 THE FLUTE
skilland practice. Hence the use of a muscular
tight embouckwe,
keeping the lips somewhat braced sideways, though not turned
inwards. The flute is pressed well in against the lower
lip, and
the comers of the mouth are often pulled
up, producing the well-
known 'flute-player's smile'. With this approach, the tone can
be made wonderfully rich, and on the low notes a
long, muscular
lip-aperture makes possible a full, reedy fortissimo. These are
characteristics of the traditional
English school, so well
exemplified by the playing of the late Robert Murchie and of his
pupil and successor, Gareth Morris, principal flute in the
Philharmonia Orchestra. In Germany and Russia, traditional
flute tone is equally full, but of thicker, often duller
quality,
produced almost entirely without vibrato, and, as in England,
with considerable muscular exertion of the lips.
For players in these countries who prefer a
lighter-blowing
instrument that yet preserves much of the wooden-flute
quality,
makers supply compromise models, as the wooden flute with
metal head, or with thinned wooden head; or a wooden flute
with the wall thinned the whole way
along. But today many
English and German players have changed over to the metal
flute, while many beginners also use it, since it is now obtainable
in mass-produced cheap models costing about 30 new (as
against up to l0 for a superior instrument).

METAL may now be considered the world-favourite. In France,

Italy and America it Is used almost
exclusively, and it is now
also used in Vienna (for instance by Reznicek,
principal flute in
the Vienna Philharmonic). The metal is normally silver, but
various alloys and stainless steels ('new metal',
etc.) are used
for low-priced models. Some players choose the more
costly
dense metals, as platinum or eighteen-carat gold, but silver
makes a better flute than any of these. The great French maker
of recent times was Louis Lot of Paris, whose flutes have
perforated finger-plates (described further on). Flutes are now
made Paris by Couesnon, Marigaux, etc., while the
in
American flute-makers notably Haynes, and Powell, both of
Boston, and Selmer (U.S.A.) have won world-wide recogni
tion, and their metal flutes, some reproducing the Lot model
66
 THE WOODWIND TODAY
(Plate II), have become greatly prized In Europe through their
perfected workmanship.
A metal flute can be played with a tight embouchure and to
sound very much like a wooden flute. But it naturally yields a
lighter, more limpid tone, and it responds well to a lighter
attack and to a looser or relaxed embottchure. The modern
French school, founded by Taffanel in the latter part of the last

century, devotes itself especially to cultivation of these proper

ties, caring less about power and sheer sonority, but concentrat

ing rather on super-sensitive control and subtle modulations of

tone-colour (which can also be obtained with wood) that almost

bring to mind Segovia and his guitar.

For a relaxed embouchure, the lips are turned more or less
loosely outwards especially the upper lip making a rounder
aperture, controlled by compression of the lips towards their
sides and in-and-out movements of the jaw. The resulting tone-
quality is most distinctive. On the lower notes it is rather hollow
and overtone-less, and apt to get lost in an ensemble,
though the
French players' lavish use of vibrato helps to make it tell. But on
the higher notes it can be made very
penetrating when desired,
while the style brings certain technical
advantages, e.g.
facilitation of diminuendo to pianissimo in the high register, and
soft slurring over very wide intervals.
The been known about outside France
style has long through
the concert tours of Moyse, Le Roy and others, and before them
of Fleury, who, it is said, used to make
great effect with the
French school's ethereal character by
performing Debussy's
unaccompanied solo Syrinx with the house lights turned out.
The style now has many devotees in England and
Germany,
sometimes retaining the wooden flute; and also in America,
where one of its chief rivals is an Italian metal-flute
style, very
musical and expressive, though less sensational than the French.

Piccolo
The piccolo (Ital. ottavino] is the half-size flute, fingered in
exactly the same way as the flute, but sounding an octave
higher. Every professional flutist possesses a
piccolo, for
although in a full-sized orchestra the piccolo parts are
normally
56
 THE FLUTE
played by the third member of the flute team, who Is regarded as
a specialist on the piccolo (a tricky instrument to handle,
especi
very quiet passages), many works demand two piccolos,
ally in
and some even three, e.g. No. IV of Kodaly's Hdry Jdnos Suite.
Moreover, in a small or light orchestra carryingonly one flute,
the player may be required to change instruments
constantly.
The standard piccolo has no foot joint; its bottom note is D.
It has, however, sometimes been made with a foot, and Verdi,
for one, writes down to the low C.
With the piccolo, fashions of
design have tended to be con
servative. In England up to the 1920s it was
quite common for a
professional player to use a Boehm flute, but a conical six-keyed
piccolo (of which Whitaker was a favourite maker, his instru
ments largely sold by Hawkes). Today, all orchestral piccolos
are Boehm-system, but as a rule they retain the conical bore

('conical Boehm'), which gives smooth tonal results over the

whole compass. Wood, metal, or wood with metal head joint
are all used. Some players, however, both in Europe and in

America, use the metal cylindrical Boehm piccolo, matching

Of this, Haynes wrote in his 1940 catalogue: 'Many
their flute.

players find the cylindrical-bore silver piccolo gives better

results than any other piccolo because it is more nearly like the
and because the high tones may be produced
flute in tone-quality

with comparative ease/

Two of the finest orchestral writers for the piccolo both played
the instrument themselves in its
simple-system days: Berlioz
(notably in the Menuet des Follets in Faust], and still more,
Tchaikovsky (above all in his three great ballets, e.g. in the
canary Variation in The Sleeping Princess}. Tchaikovsky may
indeed be said to have revealed the piccolo, just as Wagner
revealed the bass clarinet.

Bass Flutes
The bass flute is a very old idea, going back to the sixteenth

century. The standard modern type is Boehm's G

bass flute (in

French, 'flfite
contralto en sol}. This is a 34-inches-long, 26-

millimetres-bore, straight metal Boehm flute pitched a fourth

below the ordinary flute, so that its bottom C sounds g (

Plate II ).

57
 THE WOODWIND TODAY
The left hand finger-positions are brought higher up the
instrument by means of axles, to keep the hand in a comfort
able position. It has the full flute range in compass and sonority,

though the large bore, necessary for the low notes, reduces the
strength of high harmonics in the tonal spectrum, and the upper
register in particular possesses a haunting, languid quality quite
of its own.
After its initial trials in the orchestra at the end of the last

century, the two best-known G bass flute works both followed

in 1911: Stravinsky's Rite of Springy and Ravel's Dapknis and
Chloe (though in French performances of the latter work, the
bass flute part has often been played on clarinet or alto saxo
phone even in one of the published recordings). In British
orchestration it appears in Hoist's The Planets, and in many of
Britten's works (Spring Symphony9 several of the operas, etc.).
But today, at any rate in England, the bass flute is becoming a
far better known instrument than hitherto through its great
effectivenesswhen scoring for the microphone, as with the
small broadcasting and recording combinations that provide
incidental music, song accompaniments, etc. Indeed one may say
is now
that the bass flute being played every day in the studios,
and the number of players who possess the instrument has greatly
increased.
It is also worth possessing for recitals and demonstrations. One

can read a piece of flute music as it is written, the accompaniment

being transposed a fourth lower; or transpose a flute or violin
solo a fourth higher, so that it will sound at its original pitch,
but, of course, with the novelty of the bass flute's tone-quality.
Some of Boehm's own arrangements are listed in Dayton Miller's
The Flute and Flute-playing. John Amadio, the famous New
Zealand virtuoso, also regularly used the bass flute at recitals,
especially in slow popular airs like 'Drink to me only', while
for another change of colour he had constructed a 'B[j flute',

standing a tone below the ordinary flute.

When contemplating purchase of a second-hand bass flute, it
is as well to make
sure that the offered instrument really is a G
bass flute, and not one of the flute-band bass flutes or a flfite
d'amour in A. The latter, on which the bottom C sounds a, is
 THE FLUTE
virtually extinct, but has occasionally been made In the modem
Boehm system, presumably for recital work.

Many people prefer to follow the logical Continental practice

of terming the G
bass flute an 'alto flute'. This releases the
* *
term bass flute for the rare but imposing size built an octave
below the ordinary flute the C bassflute. In the Bate Collection
in London there one of these by Boehm himself of metal,
is

perfectly straight, 51 inches long, 3 millimetres in bore, with a

tone of formidable power right down to its bottom C. But it is
excessively awkward to hold, and in later models the head joint
is bent round with a coil in it, so that the player may hold the

instrument at a slant in bassoon fashion. In England, Rudall

Carte had for some time been supplying large bass flutes to flute
bands when, about 1930, they produced a fine C bass flute of this
type, with 28 millimetres bore (Plate II). Several amateur flute
societies have found this a splendid adjunct to concerted flute

pieces, and it has also been used a little in film music. The
bracket, for resting the instrument on the thigh, can be detached
if desired.

Flute bands and Band flutes

A flute band isa wind band consisting only of flutes and
drums. The flutes employed are of various sizes and pitches, and
are customarily named according to an old way of reckoning
that has long been ousted from English and French orchestral
circles by the German nomenclature described in Chapter I and
observed with the bass flutes in the preceding section. The band
flutes are all transposing instruments conforming with the
note
general rule for woodwind transposition, the six-finger
being written as in every D
case. But they are named after the
actual sound of this D, instead of after that of their C. The
is then
ordinary flute (though not employed in these bands)
described as a 'concert flute in D\ By 'F flute' is meant a flute

pitched a third higher, its D

sounding F; in orchestral nomen
clature it would be 'in E[>', because its C sounds E[>. Similarly,
a sixth
'B[? flute' denotes a still smaller instrument pitched
above the ordinary flute (a third below the piccolo) orchestrally
;

it is 'in Ajj*. Its part is written a minor sixth lower than it

 THE WOODWIND TODAY
actually sounds. Popularly, it Is often called a fife, though the
true fife a barrack duty Instrument (fig. 76) is today rarely
heard save on the Continent.
This difference in nomenclature has always caused some
confusion, even in band circles, and every orchestration pundit
from Berlioz to Cecil Forsyth has urged the abolition of the old
system. Nevertheless flute bandsmen on the whole prefer to
stick to it, and therefore so shall we in the pages that follow. The
orchestral (German style) description will usually be added in
brackets to keep the matter clear.

TABLE OF FLUTES
Orchestral and other non-band flutes are shown in italics.

* With a foot
joint, this is the 'Db flute' formerly used in military bands to keep
the flute part in sharp keys, suiting the old
eight-keyed flute. The Db piccolo is
still sometimes used in
military bands and parts still remain printed for it.

Except in some of the largest bands, the instruments are

conical flutes without foot joints
six-keyed (Plate IV), some
times with covered holes (fig. 76). They are designed for out
door use and require stronger
blowing than orchestral flutes.
Nearly all the civilian bands play at sharp pitch.
The principal melody instrument of a band is the B|j flute (
A|j)
(the third from the top in the table), and an elementary boys'
band may be composed of nothing but a number of these
played
in unison with occasional thirds,
supported tyy bass drum and
side drums. A of drums' includes six or more
military 'corps
60
 THE FLUTE
Bb flutes playing In three parts, oneEb piccolo (Djj) or
occasionally the old F piccolo (Eb; 10* inches long), and F
flutes (Eb) for the bass. A larger corps will have one or two

Bb bass flutes (A|j; usually with bent heads, as shown in the

Plate), in which case the roles of the various sizes are best
described in brass-band terms: the Bb flutes are the comets the
;

F flutes, the euphoniums ; the bass flutes, the basses. When two
Eb (Db) are also included, either they double the bass, or
flutes

they play low harmony parts, like the brass-band baritones.

Arrangements are published by Potter and others.
For civilian flute bands, the present great centre is Northern
Ireland, especially Belfast. Altogether, a visit to Belfast on a
summer weekend is a thing not to be missed by anybody
interested in bands. Dispersed at the closest intervals along the

long processions of the Orange Lodges, march bands of every

description: brass bands, military bands, accordion bands,
Highland bagpipe bands, Irish war-pipe and Brian Boru pipe
bands, and the various kinds of flute band described below. At
every instant the sounds of at least two bands are heard, each
playing its own tune in its own key which is just as it should
be in a grand procession. The overlap of the bands' tunes
obliterates those dreary moments when nothing is heard but the

tramp of boots, adds vastly to the general atmosphere of excite

ment, and makes the occasion in every way more memorable.
The Belfast flute bands range from unison boys' bands to
large contesting bands organized on full brass-band scale,
utilizing the complete range of band flutes
shown in the table.
Some of these large bands are equipped throughout with
Rudall Carte 'Guards* model' instruments (1867 model with
closed GJ) of wood with metal heads (Plate IV), the first set

having been purchased over forty years ago on the initiative of

John Murdie, conductor of the Argyll Temperance Flute Band.
The composition of these full bands is as follows:
1
Eb piccolo
1 solo Bb flute
1st Bb flutes
3 2nd Bb flutes
3 3rd B^ flutes
67
 THE WOODWIND TODAY
3 F flutes ( 1st, 2nd and 3rd)
3 Ej? flutes
3 B[> bass flutes (straight model)
2 F bass flutes (E|>; coiled head)
I
E[? bass flute (D|j; coiled head)
4 percussion
The arrangements, mostly by the conductors themselves, are

fully scored in the brass-band style, and the whole music

sounds with celestial brilliance some two octaves higher than

that of other kinds of band, while the drums, handled with great

FIG. 6. A page from a large flute-band score of a waltz. The actual

key of the piece is Dfy (e.g. the chords in the last bar). The melody
line begins on F.

and restraint, give a suggestion of the missing low register.

skill

The Ravenhill Band recently won a contest with a fine arrange

ment of the Thieving Magpie overture by its conductor, George
Hawthorn a far cry from the fife-and-drum band of old. A few
;

bars from a waltz (fig. 6) will show the lay-out in a straight

forward conventional passage.

Flute mechanisms
BOEHM FLUTE. The mechanism of the Boehm flute is standard
save in one important particular the G$ key and several
minor ones.
68
 THE FLUTE
Gf key. Boehm intended this to be an 'open
Gf key', sprung to
stay open, and closed by the from
little
finger G natural down
wards (fig. 7, left}. This arrangement has been widely retained
in England, but the French would never have it. Instead,
they
rearranged the key as a closed key (sprung to keep closed) as it
had been on the old flute before, so that the little finger presses
itonly for the G$*s and for those notes in the high register that
require it to be open. Most countries have followed the French
practice, and the 'closed Gf (fig. 7, centre] is the general
world standard; and it has latterly become the commoner
arrangement in England.

Left thumb. In Boehm's original design there was only one thumb
lever, closed to give B. For B|j, finger IV was put down in
addition (. o o / . o o). Today, this fingering for B\? remains
available, while a second thumb lever ('Briccialdi key' the
upper plate of the present two) provides an alternative Bjj,
made without the right hand, and this has become the most
usual fingering for the note, especially in passages in flat keys.
When B|j and B both occur in a passage, either the thumb is
switched from one plate to the other if possible during an
instant when thumb must anyhow be taken off for a C or
the

C$ thumb is kept on the lower plate (B) and B|j is

or the
made with finger IV as Boehm intended.
Side key (for finger IV] In England this has usually been a B/C
.

key (fig. 7, centre), fitted to avoid trilling with the thumb.

trill

But on closed-Gft flutes it is often a B|? key, duplicating the B^

action of plate IV, giving a better-vented note and facilitating

passages like G-Af~B A$ repeated, since it may be held down

while fingering the G (fig. 7, right).

Extra F$ devices. Certain complications arise from the Boehm

jF$ arrangements. Fingered * . . / o . o (with the E[j key held
open of course, as it is for almost every note on the flute, to
secure the maximum venting that Boehm demanded) the note is
too dull for use except next to E when absolutely necessary.
With the proper fingering, however (. . .
/ o o .), the note is

still imperfectly vented and the fingering proves awkward next

to E when the smoothest possible legato is required. As a
63
 THE WOODWIND TODAY
some gadget through which finger
remedy, many flutes carry
its own hole. The commonest is
VI can make F# without closing
touch that independently
the 'Brossa key* (fig. 7, m), a small
action of plate VI (thus: * . . / o o m). On
duplicates the F|
moving to E, VI may be kept on m, and this also gives a
finger
E/Ff trill
perfect

mechanisms. Left: with open G$ ;

FIG. 7. Diagram of Boehm flute
centre: with closed G#; right: the same, with 'split E'. n and m
Rockstro and Brossa F# keys.

Fig. 7, shows the corresponding arrangement on the

n,
Rockstro model flute, which is a Boehm flute with open G#
vented D (see below) and this lever, and has been the choice of
several celebrated players of the English school, including
Murchie and Morris. On this model, the position selected for the
necessitates moving the ordinary two trill
independent F# touch
keys each to one position higher up.
64
 THE FLUTE

B>

FIG. 8. Chart for Boehm flute (closed G#). T^ fef^ thumb(Th)

z> to either plate except where indicated otherwise. For flute
applied
with open G#, this key is kept closed except where G# is
given in
the chart and for the notes marked f .
 THE WOODWIND TODAY
On flutes with perforated plates there is less need for an F$

key, since nearly the same effect can be obtained by putting

down finger VI on the edge of the plate, leaving the perforation
uncovered. Beyond this, advantages claimed for perforated
plates include: ( 1 ) the ability to. modify the quality or tuning of
certain notes through 'shading' them by pressing down a plate

by its edge; and (2) the enforcement of correct placing of the

fingers, i.e. properly on the plates,
not spread across them
like a bagpiper, which makes accurate finger-control in fast
scales almost impossible.

Vented D. This a full-sized key-plate (shown dotted in fig. 7,

is

centre] on the near side of the instrument just

above the thumb-
plates. It is normally opened by trill touch
x together with the
lower of the two small trill keys, which it vents, giving a good
'open D' useful in rapid tremolos and so on with the notes
below (down to, say, B). But its greatest value lies in providing
a really good C/D trill above the stave, and also, on some flutes,
a good G/A trill above that.

Improved top E ('split E r

).
On ordinary closed-Gfl: flutes, the
G# arrangement interferes with the note e'". This note is made
as a 4th harmonic of the low E, and its proper harmonic vent is
the hole covered by finger III. But when this finger is raised,
the next hole below automatically becomes uncovered too,
which makes e'" a more difficult note than it should be. With the

split E (fig. 7, right] the two plates can move separately, and
,

the lower one is closed not only by III, but also by V (leaving

plate III free to remain open), and so . . o/ . . o gives e'"

properly. On the other hand the device spoils the ordinary high
G\A trill (o . . / o . . trilling with III), and so flutes fitted
with it should also have the vented D
described above.
The preceding are the best-known optional additions to the
plain Boehm. Other gadgets (vent for lowD, etc.) are mainly
confined to Germany.

Low jB. Many Italian and German players use a flute with an
extended foot joint giving a low B (actuated by one of the little
fingers, usually the right). Several composers (e.g. Tchaikovsky,
Strauss, Bartok) have put this note in their scores, and Mahler
66
 THE FLUTE
characteristically has even written Bjj. In England, should
these notes be indispensable to the music they are discreetly

slipped in on bassoon or clarinet.

OTHER CYLINDRICAL SYSTEMS. In England, though nowhere

else, several alternative designs of cylindrical flute have enjoyed
wide popularity in the past and are still used by some players.
They include:

1. Rudall Carte 1867 model

2. Radcliff model
3. Pratten model

The 1S67 model (fig. 9, left, and Plate III) invented by Carte
and produced by the firm in that year, is by far the best-known of
these, and its present devotees in England must run into several
hundreds, both amateur and professional, and Rudall Carte will
still supply the instrument, normally in wood, though also in

metal if desired. It is an excellent design, in some ways techni

cally superior to the Boehm, and the mechanism, though it is
complex, is positive in action throughout and never goes wrong.
combines Boehm with simple-system (pre-Boehm) finger
It

ings and has some extra fingerings as well, so that once these
are understood and mastered, a player commands a wide range
of alternatives for getting round awkward passages, particularly
in the high register. The true 1867 model has open G$. The
'Guards' model', with closed G#, has already been alluded to in
connection with flute bands. The differences from the Boehm in
the lower two octaves are as follows, given in terms of the
lowest octave :

allfingers off gives an open d"\

c"$ is either (
1
) by thumb on upper plate and all fingers off;

(since this closes the hole at the back, there is an extra C

C
hole on the front, to vent the "#; it is closed by plate II) or ;

() by o o . / o o o (thumb off) ;

(l) as on the Boehm (finger

c" is I only) ;
or (2) next to the
second fingering for $, oo./ooo with thumb on upper

plate ;
67
 THE WOODWIND TODAY
6' is ( l) as Boehm (but thumb on upper plate) ; or (2) by the
first fingering for c" plus IV on top plate;
if/: the B|? hole brought round to the back of the instrument
is

and is covered by the lower thumb-plate. For &'[? the thumb

closes both plates or the thumb remains on the upper plate
;

and the B[? is made in Boehm fashion by IV on its bottom

plate (or with the F key, e.g. in B-A$-F#) ;

Thence as Boehm, down to:

/' and/'ft. With IV on its bottom plate, these notes are made in
Boehm fashion. With IV on its top plate, they are made in

simple-system fashion (/'$ , o o and/' .../.. F o).

. .
/ ,

The top plate also closes the open G$ key for a F$/G$ trill
with IV alone.

The high-register fingerings may be seen in the Otto Langey

tutor and in Rockstro's Treatise. The following are those that

normally differ from the Boehm:

high F
and F$: the same alternatives as in the lower registers;
top A: again the choice of fingerings for the right hand; top
. o o
: o o with lower trill touch and IV on bottom
.
B[? /

plate; top B: thumb to be on upper plate.

Radclijf model (1870). A simplification of Carte's earlier

system of 1851. It is based upon simple-system fingering, and

includes: full venting; the two thumb-plates of the 1867 model;
and an ingenious alternative F arrangement (fig. 9, right}. John
Amadio is one who has always used this model.
The mechanism is like that of the 1867 model but
left-hand
without the open D. The open note is C# as on the Boehm, and
for this the thumb may be kept down if desired
(e.g. after B).
The flute has closed G# with a device equivalent to the
'

split E '

of the Boehm. In the right hand, F# is . . . / . o o and F is made

with the crossF key, or with the fork-fingering, or with the F$
fingering plus the long F key (left little finger). This last
fingering arranged for by moving the note-hole for F# to the
is

far side of the instrument no hole under

(/, fig. 9), there being
finger-plate IV. The long F key closes this F# hole to make F,
and plates V and VI close it too, for the lower notes. The key
68
 THE FLUTE
need not be released for E and below, and movements and trills
between F and Ej? or D
are perfectly easy. An excellent design
on which nothing is impossible while some high passages are
simpler than on the Boehm.

JL.1X.

FIG. 9. Diagrams of Rudall Carte 1867 system (left), and of

Radcliff system ( right ) .

Pratten model This is the old eight-keyed flute redesigned with

cylindrical bore and finger-plates. The plates

actuate mechanism
for bringing c"$ and/'J up to pitch without interference with
the cross-fingered c" and forked/'. The arrangement gives a

good free tone and is used to some extent by flute bands.

CONICAL FLUTES. Though obsolete as professional orchestral

instruments, conical flutes have not long been so as in Ger

many, for instance, where all types are still manufactured and
 THE WOODWIND TODAY
are used by some of the amateurs. The principal types include:
1.
Simple system:
(a) eight-keyed flute
(6) Continental twelve- or thirteen-keyed flutes
(c) German 'Reform Flutes'
2. Conical Boehm flute

Simple system flutes. These have the full compass, and a tone of
remarkable homogeneity from top to bottom, subtle and
interesting in character, though less telling than that of the
cylindrical Boehm. The fingering differs in many respects from
that of the Boehm. Fundamentally, it is that shown in fig. 69.
Four fingers (.../. o o) give F$; F is with five fingers plus
either of the two F keys (fig. 75 the 'long F' key is used next
;

to D, etc.). The V\> is by two fingers plus the thumb

B|? key,
but the upper B|j is better fingered . o / . . . Ejj. There is no
.

thumb-hole. The left thumb rests normally against the wood,

and both C's are usually best fingered o . o / . . . E[> (the side
key for C finger IV being mainly for the B/C trill and for
passages confined to the lower register). The c'"$ is by
o . . / . o o E|j, and choices for higher notes will be found in
figs. 69 and 75. Altogether the fingering is more cumbersome
than Boehm's, yet it serves well enough in the classics, to which
the simple-system flute belongs by
birthright.
The eight-keyedflute (see also Chapter XII) is the orchestral
equivalent of the six-keyed band flutes already mentioned, the
two extra keys being for the low C# and C. The
typical English
model, now a common
object in junk-shops, is characterized by
the extra-large holes for fingers II and V, which
strengthen the
sound on many notes; the difficulty with this model, for the
orchestral player, was said to be of a soft sound
production
firmly and up to pitch. This flute regularly to be seen in
is still

use in Irish country-dance bands

usually a family heirloom,
played left-handed with the keys plugged up.
More advanced sire the Continental models (Tulou, Schwedler,
etc.) fitted with superior key work and extra keys for improving
certain important trills. The classical small holes are
retained,
yet the instruments blow remarkably freely, especially in the
70
 THE FLUTE
lower register. The German ones usually go down to low B, and
often have metal or ivory heads
(fig. 76). The key work varies a
little in detail. Shown in Plate III is a modem
example of the
Schwedler model ( 1885) with the foot keys arranged in Boehm
fashion. Apart from this small modification, it
represents the
staple design of the 'old school' of German flutists who scorned
the Boehm throughout the period of Wagner and Brahms;
indeed, Wagner is said to have preferred its sound to that of the
Boehm.
The side key acting high up by the head is principally for
trill

rf'"/*"' (giving the latter note as a 2nd harmonic), but it can

also be used for certain higher trills. The next
key below It,
actuated by the cross touch, for finger V, is usually for c"$fd",
and the lowest of the three is the C side key, already mentioned
(Schwedler also prescribes it for venting the c'% which tends to
be flat). The 'pimples* carved in the wood above and below
the mouth-hole constitute Schwedler's 'reform mouth-hole',
an eddy-concentrating device.
The Reform Flute (Mdnnig, 1912, etc.) represents the last
word in simple-system conical flutes the flute equivalent to
other elaborate non-Boehm woodwind designs like the modem
oboe and the Oehler clarinet. Again, it varies in detail, but the
Heckel mechanism shown in Plate III is typical and includes:
plates or rings throughout; an F$ correcting device (to save
having to sharpen this note with the F key) which can be
cancelled for c'"$ (its harmonic, which would become too sharp)
with the roller on the far side of plate IV; a 'brille* for improv
ing c" and "# an A^/fifr trill (thumb) and the usual extra trill
; ;

keys. The head shows the later cusped form of 'reform mouth-
hole*(Monnig's) which enjoys considerable popularity in

Germany today on the Boehm as well.

The Boehm has such particular historical interest that
Conical
its description will be deferred to Chapter XII.

Recorders
The recorder is the classic Western instrument of the

flageolet family. This is the sub-class of flutes in which the

sound-generating apparatus (slit and edge) is rigid, not

71
 THE WOODWIND TODAY
flexible, so that recorder-playing needs to be approached in
on the flute, a
quite a different manner from flute-playing.j^As
note sharpens when the instrument is blown hard and flattens if
blown gently. Therefore, deprived of control through em
bouchure, a recorder player is obliged to find other methods of
rise and fall of
keeping the notes steady in pitch throughjhe
demanded musical with
loudness by expression/ Adjustments
the fingering play a large part in this. Thelinest virtuosi think
ahead all employ the fingering that will best bear
the time to
the crescendo or diminuendo as the case may be. Helping this, it

may be that the throat comes into play, being more relaxed in
the forte to allow a full stream of air to pass into the instrument;
and more tightened in the piano, to send forward a thinner stream
of air at the same speed, so that the note keeps its pitch but has
less volume (corresponding to narrowing the lip aperture in

flute-playing).

of Bach and Handel,

After great days in the orchestras
its last

the recorder became a folk instrument, played by few other than

Italian shepherd boys. Then came its revival at the hands of that

great musician and pioneer,

Arnold Dolmetsch, who began
recorder-making in 1919. He took for his model an English
eighteenth-century instrument,
and this so-called 'Baroque*
model has been followed by most other makers. It represents the
recorder as it was remodelled by Hotteterre of Paris in Lully's
day from the sixteenth-century design which was bored all in
one piece, conical from top to bottom. The Hotteterre model
introduced the three-jointed construction, having a cylindrical
head joint followed by a contracting body in which the angle of
taper approximately double that of the earlier design. The
is

latter gives a fuller, less reedy sound, ideal for consort poly

phony, but possibly less interesting in the expressive sonatas,

concertos and arias of the eighteenth century. Also the old type
takes considerably more breath and even the tenor can be quite
an exhausting instrument to blow. Some modern makers,
among them Hans Stieber of Tiibingen-am-Neckar, Germany,
have gone some way towards reproducing this as well as the
eighteenth-century type.
72
 THE FLUTE
The chart below (fig. 10) is for the ordinary fingering,
sometimes referred to as 'English fingering* though it is the
fingering of all old recorders, English, French, German,
even
Chinese. The so-called 'German fingering* arose in modem
times through a misconceived notion that since the fingering
. .
/ .
o o is generally too flat for F$, it might as well be made
into a good F by lowering the position of hole V. For a fair

n.

/#

y* o o
,** O O ()
ft (jo ol
I ^

w
^ o o * o ,

FIG. 10. Chart for treble recorder, p: '^mcA' thumb-hole; half-jUkd

half uncover hole (or uncover
circle: twin hole if this is provided). A
black in brackets indicates an optional covering in aid of tuning
spot
a note.

criticism of the formidable complications that result on the

upper F# from this distortion, see Giesbert's recorder tutor.

The octave, on the recorder, is overblown by 'pinching', L'e.

the aperture of the rear hole

by flexing the left thumb to reduce
cleanly with the thumb-nail. Half-uncovering with the fleshy
part of the thumb is not efficient enough.
Several recorder soloists have fitted an 'echo' device. This
makes use of the fact that a small hole pierced an inch or so
below the voicing (i.e. the slot and sharp edge) will sharpen
In some old flageolets, a rather
every note on the instrument.
78
 THE WOODWIND TODAY
large hole in this position was covered by
a key, to provide a
semitone trill on every note. For a recorder 'echo*, the hole is
smaller, and is opened by an ingenious mechanism when the
player bites harder on the mouthpiece. The sharpening effect of
is designed to compensate for the flattening
opening the hole
that otherwise results from blowing very softly, and hence

passages can be softly echoed without losing pitch.

The present consort of recorders is as follows (in America,
the descant is 'soprano* and the treble is 'alto'):

In addition to these, some Berlin makers have recently revived

a sixteenth-century size that is a most useful instrument if well
built the qttart-basSy a large bass recorder pitched a fourth
below the ordinary bass.
The being used today a great deal more
descant recorder
is

than it
musically deserves on account of its low price and
suitability for very young children. The classic recorder is the
treble. 'Flutes' and 'Flauti' in the works of Bach, Handel and
their contemporaries do not mean just 'recorders'; they mean
'treble recorders', and it is this size that now cries out for
re-admission to the woodwind. It is astonishing that after all the
trouble people go to to procure harpsichords, gambas, oboi
d'amore, etc., etc., for Bach performances, the treble recorder,
equally necessary and so easily available, is never invited except
inamateur circles and the most advanced professional circles. Its
parts are played on flutes, just as though Bach and Handel had
made no distinction between the two instruments, and never
carefully introduced arias appropriate for each of them in the
same work.
74
 THE FLUTE
Professional woodwind men, among whom doublers on
recorders would eventually have to be found, are obsessed by
the vision of myriads of infants learning the descant recorder in
schools. In current orchestral opinion the recorder is seen mainly
as an instrument of basic musical education. But this is not as it
should be, and we should speak less proudly of the revival of
the recorder until Dolmetsch's work has been completed by
dispelling this professional snobbery, for which conductors are
as much to blame as players. Should the treble recorder prove
too soft for a modern festival orchestra, then let somebody
remodel it to be louder, as has been done with every other
woodwind instrument in the course of the last one hundred and
fiftyyears. Already one sound-strengthening device has been
introduced by Carl Dolmetsch, and is effectively used by himself,
Edgar Hunt and other recorder soloists when playing with a
largish orchestra. It is a small baffie-cum-megaphone, of wood
or cardboard in the shape of a wheelbarrow top, clipped over the

voicing of the recorder with its sloping end pointing downwards.

Itenables the player to blow much harder without going sharp,
and at the same time projects the sound outwards into the hall.
 CHAPTER III

Reeds and Reed-Making

flutists and brass players, with all their worries, at least

I
have the advantage over players of reed instruments in
that their sounds are generated with the help of the solid,

unchangeable material of the instrument. Oboists,

clarinettists

and bassoonists are entirely dependent upon a short-lived

merciless capriciousness, with which,
vegetable matter of
however, when it behaves, are wrought perhaps the most tender
and expressive sounds in all wind music.

Reed Cane
No
string player has one-tenth the trouble
with his sheep's

guts that the reed player has with his bits of a Mediterranean
weed. For in terms of plant economy, this is all that reed cane is.
Travellers to the South of France and to the Spanish and Italian
coasts or indeed almost anywhere round the Mediterranean
will remember those clumps of green cane that grow in
tall

marshes, and in the gullies of streams along the shore. Bundles

of it lean against farmyard walls, cut for roofing and gardening
purposes, while much more is cut down to waste to clear the
ground. This is reed cane growing in the wild state, and for an
instrument in which the reed is kept dry as a bellow-blown
bagpipe such cane can be used for reed-making. For the chanter
reed of the Northumbrian small-pipe, W. A. Cocks recommends
as handy raw material the split cane of those shallow flower-
baskets that florists receive from Italy and Spain. But for a
woodwind instrument the cane should not only be of the finest
growth, but it must also be hardened by long and careful drying
76
 REEDS AND REED-MAKING
(maturing) from the moment it is cut. Hence it is obtained from
plantations where it is cultivated
especially for reed-making,
The most important of these plantations are around Fr^jus,
fifteen miles west of Cannes (Plate V). Cane is also obtained
from the east coast of Spain, and formerly (as far back as the
sixteenth century) an important source was southern Italy. In
America the supply from France is augmented by cane from
Mexican plantations. On the plantation, the cane is cut after
two years' growth, stacked in tall bundles and left to mature in
the sun over three summers, the bundles being turned regularly.

Latterly, however, with the swollen demand for reeds, the

drying may be hastened by the artificial heat of ovens.
After maturing, the cane is graded in diameter, sawn into
short sticks between the knots, and sent off In sacks to reed-
makers all over the world. Colour matters little, except that too

deep a brown or orange may indicate spongy cane which is of

little use. Hardness is an important thing, and the quick test of

this is to run the thumbnail along the bark; if it leaves a mark,

the cane is insufficiently matured for making good reeds, though
itmay improve if stored in a warm dry place for several years.
The exterior diameter of cane for various instruments is

approximately:

oboe, 10 to 11 mm. bassoon, 23 to 25 mm.

cor anglais, about 12 mm. clarinet, 20 to 22 mm.

Double reeds
Mass-production of oboe and bassoon reeds, using high-
precision tools including rotary cutters for scraping down the

cane, is at present more or less in its infancy. The great majority

of reed-makers work by hand and as a rule have far too many
customers to advertise their addresses at large. If a beginner has
not been put on to one by his teacher, he should find one by
asking other players. The reeds cost roughly from five shillings
each upwards, and re-caning oboe staples about 3s. 6d. Mean
while, reed-making for oneself remains very much to the fore.
Certainly it brings a marvellous feeling of self-reliance to be
able to make one's reeds, even should one prefer to play on
77
 THE WOODWIND TODAY
bought reeds as a general rule. Naturally, learning the art takes
much time and patience, and one should not be discouraged if
(as
often happens) the first reed turns out to be a winner, but after
that every attempt seems to go wrong for weeks.

The principal stages in making a double reed are as follows,

beginning with the plain stick of cane :

1 .
Splitting the stick into three strips, followed by cutting a strip
to length (which is a fraction over twice the length of a
finished reed), and trimming its sides.
2. Gouging the strip thin on the inside.
3. Marking and nicking the centre of the strip and then bending
over, bringing its two ends together, bark outwards. The

joined end of the bent-over cane will eventually become the

tip of the reed.
4. Shaping the sides of the bent-over cane to the desired outline
of the reed.

From this point, oboe and bassoon differ:

OBOE BASSOON
5. Tying on, to the metal 5. Putting on the wires and
staple. working in the mandrel to
form the stem and throat of
the reed.
6. Separating the tip (the 6. Binding the stem.
joined end of the cane) 7.
Separating the tip, and scrap-
and scraping the blades. ing,

SPLITTING AND GOUGING. Most of the tools may be seen in

Plate I. The by driving down it a
stick of cane is split into three

special three-bladed cutter, thefflche. For cutting the strip to

length, a guillotine is generally mounted on the base-plate of the
gouging machine. Trimming the sides of the strip may be done
with a special trimmer, or in the bed of the gouging machine.
Up to a century ago, gouging was done with a hand-gouge, the
strip being held in a wooden jig. The gouging machine now does
the work more quickly. It has an adjustable runway for the blade,
78
 REEDS AND REED-MAKING
by which the depth of the gouging can be set. Oboe cane Is
generally gouged to about 2 thousandths of an inch down the
middle, thinning to almost nothing along the edges. Bassoon
cane is gouged to about 45 thousandths along the middle, also
thinning at the edges.
Many of the players who make their own reeds possess these
tools for splitting and gouging. But for those who do not,
ready-split and gouged cane 'gouged cane* is procurable
from reed-makers and woodwind suppliers (though in England,
not every supplier takes the trouble that, for example, Mr Milner
of Sheffield takes, namely, to stock all the materials an instru
mentalist could possibly need), and in the brief notes that follow,
it will be sufficient to begin with cane already brought to this

stage.One can also buy cane that has been brought to more
advanced stages as 'shaped cane', in which the sides have been
shaped, in some cases before bending over.

OBOE REED FROM GOUGED CANE. With the cane held on the
wooden holder, put a deep nick across the exact centre with a
file or knife (fig. 1 1,
Hi). Thoroughly soak in water (e.g. over

night) before bending over. This last can be done over a knife-
blade, but usually bending over and shaping are done together on
a metal shape (Plate 9) obtainable from oboe manufacturers.
I,

This tool generally provided with clips for holding the cane
is

after it has been bent over the top edge of the tool The
steady
sides of the cane are then cut along the sides of the shape with a
knife. Replacing the cane on the holder, a slither is now taken
off the outside at each end (iv).

Tying on. The staple (fig. 1 1, s) is a conical, soldered metal

tube
about 47 millimetres long (though less with some Continental
the tip. The upper
oboes) and slightly flattened to an oval at
is scored with a file for better grip on the cane, and the
part
wide end lapped with cork for insertion into the instrument.
is

Some older forms of staple have a collar at the top, with a

recess under it to hold the thinned extremities of the cane while

tying on. When a reed

is discarded, its staple is used for a

new staples can be bought from suppliers

fresh one, though if

79
 THE WOODWIND TODAY

Key to Plate I. Oboe reed-making.

1. Sticks of cane.
2 . Fl&che (
two-handled type ) .

stick with fleche.

3. Strips of cane , after splitting
4. Trimmer.
5. Guillotine, mounted on base-plate of 6.
6. Gouging machine in operation.
1. Gouged cane.

8. Holder.
9. Shape.
10. (A German bassoon-shape.}
1 1 .
Shaped and folded cane.
1. Staple.
13. Mandrel.
14. Hardwood block, for cutting tip on.
on.
15. Tongue or plaque, for scraping
16. Scraping knife.

80
 ^t

ZJ
cc

cj
z ^
4
2 c
< ^.

Q J

o J

3
a
 II. FLUTE
Orchestral set of modern Boehm flutes; left to right: G bass or 'alto' flute,

Haynes; flute,Haynes; piccolo, Marigaux. On right: C bass flute, Rudall

Carte (with bracket for supporting instrument on thigh)
 III. FLUTE, OTHER MODELS

Left to right: Boehm, French (Louis Lot) model, with perforated plates, Haynes;
i,

2, Boehm with open GJ, Rudall Carte; 3, Rudall Carte 1867 model, Rudall Carte.
Conical flutes: 4, Schwedler model, 12 keys, Alexander; 5, a 'Reform-flute', Heckel
 Q> 0) 0)
-O JLJ -u
u
u 3
LL
-O j&
til 03

iv. Set of band flutes, H. Potter. On right; F ('E^')

bass ftute for flute band,
'Guards' model', Rudall Carte
 5 6

VI. DOUBLE REEDS

Top row, left to right: i, 2, two English oboe reeds, c, 17801820;
3, French oboe reed 1870 (Triebert), showing a French
c.

V-scrape; 4, modern English oboe reed, total length 2.85 inches

(Morgan); 5, igth-century cor anglais reed, made without staple;
6, modern cor anglais reed; 7, modern shawm reed (Catalan

tenora; Pardo,, La Bisbal)

Bottom row, left to right: 8, an English bassoon reed c. 1810;
g, ditto c. 1890 (Morton); 10, modern bassoon reed, length
2.2 inches (Ludwig); 11, contrabassoon reed (Liidwig); 12, contra
bass sarrusophone reed (C Question)
 VII. CLARINET REEDS AND MOUTHPIECES
to right: reed-cutter; tenor saxophone reed (bass clarinet); a
Top row, left i, 2, 3,

German bass clarinet reed; standard clarinet reed (Vandoren); 5, German type of
4,
clarinet reed (L. Wlach). Centre: 6, an English reed, c. 1810 (for the small F clarinet?);

7, strip of cane from

which clarinet reed is made. Bottom wiu: mouthpieces: 8, French,
c.
1780; 9, modern German; 10, modern French or English type
Orchestral set of modern Gillet-Conservatoire instruments; left to right: oboe,
Howarth; oboe d'amore, Marigaux; cor anglais, Marigaux. (The oboe and the
cor

anglais are with semi-automatic

octave keys, and the d'amore is with full automatic.)
'
 IX. OBOE, OTHER DESIGNS
full thumb-plate model, with
Left to right: simplified thumb-plate model, Selmer;
simple octave keys, Cab art;
former German model as today used in Russia, unmarked;
Vienna Akademie-model as used in Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, retaining the
profile
of the classical oboe, Zuleger
 4
X.

i, Catalan treble shawm (tiple); 2,

68
WIDE-BORE CONICAL REED INSTRUMENTS
Catalan tenor shawm (tenora; these two examples
from the Ricart Matas collection, Conservatorio municipal, Barcelona); 3, heckel-
6, 'Brian Boru'
phone, Heckel; 4, piccolo heckelphone, Heckel; 5, tarogato, Schunda;
(Irish) bagpipe:
chromatic chanter by Boosey & Hawkes; 7, alto saxophone in pre-jazz
the rare 'mezzosoprano' size in F),
days, Mahillon; 8, modern saxophone (showing
Conn
 XL CLARINET
Orchestral set of modern Boehm-system clarinets; left to right: bass
clarinet (to low E[>), Boosey
& Hawkes; basset horn, Buffet-Crampon;
A and B|j clarinets, Boosey 6- Hawkes; C clarinet, Besson; E[> clarinet,
Buffet-Crampon
 11.1

XII. CLARINET, OTHER MODELS

semi-full Boehm
Left to right: i,
A|j
clarinet, Rampone, showing adaptation of
"the smallest full Boehm, Orsi; 3, Schmidt Reform-Boehm
system to clarinet; 2,

clarinet (A), Schmidt, Mannheim (the vent hole in the bell is brought out
in the print

with patent CJ, Boosey

by a white spot); 4, simple system (Albert model)
 XIII. CLARINET, OTHER MODELS (CONTINUED)

i Clinton model Boosey; 2,Vienna Akademie-model (L. Wlach, Vienna Phil

(A),
harmonic Orchestra), Koktan; 3,
Oehler system, Heckel (showing characteristic German
method of tying on reed with string); 4,
a metal Boehm
 i

XIV. OTHER DEEP CLARINETS

to low E, Huller; bass, Oehler system,
Left to right: B^ contrabass, simple system,
E^ alto, Boehm system,
to the low C, Schmidt; Selmer
descending
 XV. BASSOON

On left, French type: i, Mahillon (front view); 2, Buffet-Crampon (back). On

right, German type: 3,
Heckel (front); inset: Heckel, model descending to low A
(back view)
Left to right: Contrabassoon, usual short model descending
to low Heckel; tenor
B(j,

sarrusophone, Gautrot; contrabass sarrusophone, Gautrot. Inset above: contrebasse

B^
a anche, Rampone
 REEDS AND REED-MAKING
necessary. The mandrel (fig. 11, m) is a brass or steel rod In a
wooden handle, tapered so fits neatly over It. The
that the staple

original purpose
of the oboe mandrel was for making staples
oneself out of sheet brass. Now it is retained to provide a better
on.
grip while tying
Soak the cane again. Then place it over the tip of the staple so
that the latter extends about 8 millimetres between the blades
and mark this point on the outside of the cane with a pencil. Bind
the cane on tightly with silk or thread (fig. 11,1?), beginning at
the pencil mark and securing below the cane with a hitch. To

FIG. 11. Stages in oboe reed-making.

ensure tight binding, one end of the thread may be attached to a

hook in the wall, to pull against.

Scraping. This is
done with a scraping knife (Plate I, 16), with
the reed well wetted. The knife blade held upright across the
is

reed, steadied against the thumb of the other hand, and worked
with a rotary movement of the wrist, the cutting stroke always
being towards the tip of
the reed. A preliminary scrape may be
the tip, which is done most simply with
given before separating
the metal tongue, using it like a paper-knife. The tongue (or
81
 THE WOODWIND TODAY
plaque, fig. 1 1,
)
isa thin, oval steel plate about 40 x 15 milli
metres, and it is always placed between the blade tips while
scraping after the tips have been separated.
The upper parts of the blades are next scraped down until
the reed will crow when blown in the mouth. At first the crow is

a high, hard squeak; gradually it becomes freer. An important

point is to work slowly, preferably in bouts lasting over
several days, to allow the cane to settle after each small amount
of scraping.

Reed-scraping varies considerably with different players.

With the usual thin-gouged cane, the line above which the bark
is removed may be given the form of a shallow (commonest U
in England) or a deep V (in France). Above this line, the blades
are scraped fairly evenly across, but the extreme tip may be
made very thin right across. Tuning the reed is a matter of

experience. In general, if notes are sharp, or the lower notes

hard to produce, more is taken off the lower part of the scrape,
continuing lightly upwards to avoid humps that would make the
reed erratic. On the other hand, if the reed makes the notes flat,
a millimetre or so may be chopped off the tip with a razor blade
over a hardwood block, after which the blades may have to be
scraped back a little to free the lower notes. This cutting the
tip and scraping back is also how a worn-out reed can often be
rejuvenated.
Many oboists on the Continent and some in England make
the reed rather differently, gouging less deeply (e.g. to 25
thousandths of an inch, or thicker, depending on the consistency
of the cane) and thus leaving the cane thicker. More has there
fore to be scraped off the outside, and the bark may be removed
almost as far back as the binding. The blades are then scraped
down gradually towards the tip in various ways, often leaving a
thicker spine down the centre (as with a German bassoon
reed).
To finish off a reed, or to touch up a bought reed, many
players rub it with Dutch rush a slender, greenish rush that
hardens to form sharp silicaceous ridges. It is obtainable from
many woodwind suppliers.
When the reed is
satisfactory, a strip of goldbeater's skin
about 50 x 10 millimetres is cut out, moistened in the mouth, and

82
 REEDS AND REED-MAKING
wound round the base of the blades and the upper part of the

binding, to keep the reed airtight.

COR ANGLAIS REED. Since a cor anglais reed does not fit

directly into the instrument, but is placed on a metal crook,

there is theoretically no need for a staple, and formerly, in the
last century, it was made like a bassoon reed, i.e. without a

staple (Plate VI). However, the cor anglais

reed is too small to
be really strongly held together by this method, and it is now
an
always made on a short staple, the cane being tied on as with
oboe reed. The staple is about 25 millimetres long and needs, of
course, no cork lapping. The cane strip before bending over is
about 95 x 8-5 millimetres.
A cor anglais reed is always wired: two turns of fine soft
brass wire are fastened round the reed below the scraped part.
With the wire can be squeezed this way or that to adjust
pliers,
the opening and strength of the reed. The goldbeater's skin is

applied over the wire. Some players

wire the oboe reed similarly,
for example when the tip becomes too closed up. In Vienna, the
oboe reed is normally wired.
An oboe d'amore reed is made similarly, and is intermediate in

size between those for oboe and cor anglais. A bass oboe reed is

generally also
made on a staple, but the heckelphone reed is more
often made without a staple, like a bassoon reed, which it
resembles in shape, though it is smaller about 60 millimetres
the
long and 12-5 millimetres across tip.

BASSOON REED FROM GOUGED CANE. A holder for the gouged

be made
strip during the first operations may conventionally
from 10 inches sawn off a broom-stick, with a 5| inches curved
recess cut in one side to take the cane.
Soak the Mark its exact centre, and make
strip thoroughly.
a deep file-cut 3 to 4
there, supporting the strip on the holder,
millimetres broad (fig. 12, ). Re-mark the centre, and also

mark the shoulder on each side (x, x) which may be taken

from a made reed, allowing for the width of the file-cut (which
will not be part of the completed reed). Pare away the
outer

bark from these shoulder-marks towards the centre.

83
 THE WOODWIND TODAY
Soak again, and bend over the cane at the centre (if) over a
knife-blade or over a shape. Not bassoon reed-makers use a
all

bend over a knife-blade and

shape, the classic method being
to

then shape with a knife by eye. The German type of shape ( Plate
I, 10) resembles an oboe shape,
with clips for holding the cane
is a long steel
afterbending it over. Another type of shape
block narrowing towards each end, upon which the cane is

shaped before bending over. If, after shaping

the cane, the sides

v v

vu.

Vat

y vt

FIG. 12. Stages in bassoon reed-making.

of the blades do not come exactly together all along, it is best to

start afresh with a new piece of cane, for the reed will leak. If the
stem is too long, open out the cane and shorten 'the ends as
necessary,

fairing and introducing the Mandrel. Cut three 5-inch-long

pieces of soft
brass wire, about 2 gauge. Put on the first wire

(w) below the shoulder of the reed, winding two turns

just
without overlap (or three if the wire is on the fine side) and
twist with pliers to fasten loosely. Put on the second wire simi

larly, about
6 millimetres below the first.
84
 REEDS AND REED-MAKING
Make about seven cuts up the stem of the folded cane with a
(fig. 12, in}. This Is to enable the stem to assume
razor blade a
tubular form when the mandrel is introduced. (Some make
these cuts before putting on the second wire; others do not cut
at all, but score the bark deeply with the razor blade. } Then put
on the third wire close to the base of the reed, again fastening
loosely.
After the cane has again been well soaked, the mandrel (m) is

gradually worked in between the two blades. Much depends on

the form of the mandrel, since it forms the throat of the reed.
Some taper evenly all round; others (as HeckeFs) are flattened
towards the point. It should have a mark to show when it has
been worked in as far as its designer intended. The danger in

this operation is starting splits running up to the blades, but

with practice this is avoided by judicious loosening of the wires
(especially of
the second). Afterwards, the cane is bedded

against the mandrel round, with the pliers. Leave at least

all

twenty-four hours to dry, now and then replacing it on the

mandrel to tighten the wires by degrees.

Binding. This requires about a yard of carpet thread.

Hitch it
over the bottom wire and wind a ball over it (one can unwind a
made reed to see how done). Carry it up in single turns,
this is

not overlapping, but with each turn close up against the one
before, and finish with a hitch close against the second wire.
When dry, the binding is painted over with shellac or any other
airtight solution.

off the tip with a

Scraping. Separate the blades by chopping
razor blade and mallet over a hardwood block; also chop a
minute piece each corner. During scraping the metal tongue
oft'

(t) is always
inserted between the blades, and the earlier stages
are best done with the reed on the mandrel. As with an oboe
reed, the more gradually scraping done, the better. Most
is

but one of the most

scrape with a knife as already described,
celebrated German reed-makers pares away with the cane with
the knife and finishes with Dutch rush. This is Kurt Ludwig of
Munich. His workshop is a sunny Bavarian garden. In it, is a
table laid out with battalions of reeds in various stages of
85
 THE WOODWIND TODAY
completion resting on pins. On one side
a huge glass of beer.
without haste, each platoon of reeds is deftly operated
Calmly,
on and moved up the table for attention next day. By contrast of
method: the French player, seizing thirty-two bars rest in the
reed to play the next
opera pit to scrape down a freshly-bound
show on. Music results from each method, but the first gives a
reed that lasts longer.
As will be described in Chapter VI, two distinct types of
bassoon are in use today the German and the French and
reeds built for the one are not always easy to use with the
other, though many players do so successfully in order to obtain

special results. In a German-style reed, on which most of the

British reed-makers concentrate today, the throat is rather more
arched than in a French reed, the mandrel being designed
accordingly. The blades are left comparatively thick down the

centre, and the final scraping and adjustment is mainly along

the sides of the reed and at the corners of the tip (fig. 12, vii).

For a French-style reed the cane is gouged less thin. The throat
of the reed is flatter, and the scraping is more evenly across the
upper part of the blades, leaving the lower parts (furthest from
back on to this
the tip) quite thick and strong. Further scraping
thick area will free the lower notes but, if carried too far, will

spoil the high notes (viii}.

The the top wire at
tip opening can be increased by pinching
the sides with pliers, or reduced by pinching the second wire
at the sides or the top wire top and bottom.

Single reeds
CLARINET REED. It an astonishing thing that while a
is

clarinet reed is so straightforward an article, few players any

longer make their own reeds except in countries- where the

German type of clarinet is used (since with this clarinet, mouth
pieces are not only smaller than the ordinary, but vary
in width) .

Neither is partly-finished cane procurable (as gouged cane is for

double reeds), though it easily could be made so. Nor even are
there professional reed-makers catering mainly for orchestral
clarinettists. West of the Rhine all clarinet reeds are made by
machine in the vast manufactories of Vandoren of Paris and
86
 REEDS AND REED-MAKING
others, and are marketed, at upwards from ten shillings per
dozen, in five grades of strength soft, medium soft, medium
(the best to buy if in doubt), medium hard and hard for
dance-band, military band, and orchestral players without
discrimination. However, some teachers are now teaching reed-

making again.
The procedure, in brief, is as follows. The stick of cane is split
into four strips, each of which is cut in half to make two reeds.
The resulting short piece of cane (Plate VII) is trimmed to its

correct overall size as a rectangle, and its inner surface Is made

perfectly flat and smooth by rubbing it either on a large fine-cut
file, or on fine glass-paper laid over a flat sheet of glass. The
point where the scrape is to begin is marked on the upper (i.e.
bark) surface, and while holding the piece in a wooden jig,
the cane is gradually scraped and filed away from the mark
towards the tip, leaving it slightly thicker down the centre.
The tip is now rounded off with an emery bar or scissors, and
the reed is tried on the mouthpiece and then further scraped until
itsounds about right. Finally the tip is thinned almost trans
parent across the uppermost eighth of an inch with a fine file or
sandpaper. Should the reed still prove too hard and windy, the
lower part of the scrape must be thinned down more. Should it
be too soft, buzzy and flat, the extreme tip is cut off, preferably
using an adjustable reed-cutter (Plate VII). This tool, which is
stocked by most dealers, makes an invaluable possession for a
clarinettist,whether or not he makes reeds, since a good reed
worn out through playing can generally be rejuvenated by
cutting a millimetre or more off the tip, and the reed-cutter does
this quickly and accurately.

SINGLE REEDS FOR OBOE AND BASSOON. These are mentioned. as

things of passing interest. In England in the early nineteenth
bandsmen would sometimes play the bassoon with
century, local
an ebony or ivory mouthpiece of the clarinet type, made with a
narrow bore below the chamber in order to fit on to the bassoon
crook. Specimens of this mouthpiece are preserved in the
Horniman Museum, London, and elsewhere. Today, a soprano
saxophone mouthpiece will go fairly well on the bassoon, giving
87
 THE WOODWIND TODAY
the whole compass easily, though the tone, while still unmis

takably a bassoon's, is rather dull, flabby

and defective in ex
pressive range. But specially-designed mouthpieces
for bassoon

and for oboe have been made in America, chiefly intended for use
in militarybands that lack trained double-reed players. The oboe
mouthpiece looks like a tiny clarinet mouthpiece, with a long
narrow stem corked like an oboe staple, and a single reed
barely an inch long and a quarter of an inch
wide. It is illustrated
in Grove s Dictionary, 5th edition (article 'Oboe').

Plastic reeds (single and double)

While plastic saxophone reeds are now well known and used
considerably, much progress is said to have been made in
America with plastic clarinet reeds also with plastic bassoon
;

reeds, which, however, seem to give a rather lifeless sound. The

most successful plastic double reed, however, is that for the
bagpipe practice-chanter (Plate XIX), now obtainable from

bagpipe suppliers.

Bagpipe reeds
In every British kind of bagpipe and in most other Western
European kinds, the chanter reed is double, and the drone reeds
are single reeds of the ancient, pre-clarinet type.

CHANTER REED (fig. 13, -left] also Plate XIX). This is made
much as an oboe reed except that the gouging will have to be
done by hand, using a gouge of suitable size, and finishing-off
with glass-paper wrapped round a wooden block of the right
shape. The ends of the strip are then trimmed, cut to a blunt
point, the centre is nicked, and then, after thorough soaking, the
strip is bent over.
The staple is made oT sheet brass or tinplate, hammered
round a mandrel and left unsoldered. The narrow end is slightly
flattened, and the folded cane is tied on with waxed thread,

starting at the top and reaching almost to the base of the staple.
The reed is now left to dry.
The manner of scraping depends upon the type of bagpipe,
but in general the cane is taken off evenly across and well back,
88
 REEDS AND REED-MAKING
which helps to give the flat
shape with very narrow opening,
necessary in a cane reed that isnot controlled by the lips. In the
small, powerful reed of the Highland pipe the cane is left fairly
thick all over. In the delicate reed of a parlour pipe (as the
Northumbrian small-pipe and the Irish union-pipe) it is scraped
very thin, and to keep it dry, its crow is tested by sucking the air
f

down through the staple.

The bottom of the staple lapped for insertion into tile
is

chanter, and the wire is then put on the reed just above the

Fi G . 13. Bagpipe reed-making: chanter (

left ) and
drone (right).

binding or instead of wire, a thin band cut from soft brass or

;

wire or
copper may be bent round the reed. By pinching this
band, or it up or down the reed, the reed can be
by shifting
adjusted to speak at the desired wind pressure
and to respond
evenly over the whole scale.

DRONE REED (fig. 1$, 'right).

of a complete tube
This is made
of narrow-diameter cane, closed at the top by a knot, or with
wax or cork. Elder shoots can also be used. The lower end is
of an inch
lapped for insertion into the drone. About one-quarter
89
 THE WOODWIND TODAY
below the top end a transverse cut is made through the cane,
and from this a long cut down the length of the cane makes the
vibrating tongue or single reed. The length of tongue varies
from to 60 millimetres, and a few turns of thread are tied
round its base as a tuning thread, moved upwards to sharpen the
reed, and downwards to flatten it. If the latter fails to flatten it

may be scraped a little near the base, or a blob of

sufficiently, it

sealing wax may be dropped on the tip. Similarly, for extra

sharpening, the top part of the tongue may be thinned.

TABLE OF APPROXIMATE OR SPECIMEN SIZES OF BAGPIPE REEDS (mm.)

CHANTER

DRONE

90
 CHAPTER IV

The Oboe

ihe oboe, the second instrument of the woodwind and the

first of the section's three reed instruments, is generally

. made of African blackwood (grenadilk or ebne in

French), a hard, dense wood from Central Africa or Mada

gascar, brownish when freshly worked, but pitch-black after

polishing or exposure to sun. |West Indian cociis has also been

used, while formerly Brazilian rosewood was much favoured,

especially for cors anglais. Recently some good instruments have
been made of plastics.
The oboe has three parts top joint, bottom joint and bell.
:
'

Through these the bore expands at about 1 in 40 up to the flare

of the bell, and with some makers the expansion is truly
conical; but with others the expansion is more pronounced in
the upper part of the bore an ancient feature of oboe bores
from the fiery double-reed instruments of older times,
inherited
whose bore had the profile of a sword. This short two-feet
cone-bore, coupled to a double reed, is not one to yield a

spectacular range in compass, and even

after all recent improve

ments the oboe still has the smallest compass of the four wood
wind instruments. But into this compass is packed a telling
vividness and intensity of character unapproached by any other
wind instrument. The oboe is the only woodwind instrument
virtually impossible to play without
that it is felt expression,

and in its broad espressivo the tone can be swelled almost to

harshness creeping in.
bursting point without any trace of
To sound the oboe, the reed is first well wetted, either in the
mouth, or, as Germans and Austrians often do, in a small pot of
91
 THE WOODWIND TODAY
water placed on the music stand. Then It is pushed into the
socket of the top joint as far as it will go, though if it has become
too short through cutting down the tip (Chapter III), or if the
staple is a short one, it may have to be inserted less than the full
amount to prevent the instrument sounding sharp. With the
oboe supported by the right thumb against the thumb-rest on
the bottom joint, the scraped part of the reed is placed on the
lower lip, the upper lip is closed over it, and both lips are curled
back over the teeth while the corners of the mouth are closed
round the reed to prevent air escaping. The tongue is moved

against the reed for tonguing, as described in Chapter I. To do

all this properly, the lip muscles have to be developed gradually

through practice. At first it is rather tiring, and the tendency is

to put too much of the reed in the mouth, and hence to blow
sharp as well as noisily.
In the breathing, playing the oboe feels rather like swimming
under water; the lungs must be well filled, but very little
breath is expended. Therefore the accumulated stale air must be
breathed out through the mouth before taking a fresh breath, or
else the lungs will become tired. Most beginners would do this
instinctively, but oboe tutors have always stressed it, since with
incorrect breathing oboe-playing can become a strain on the

lungs. Purely as a stunt, some oboe-players, past and present,

have acquired the faculty of taking breath as glass-blowers and
Oriental reed-instrument players do, namely by inhaling

through the nose whilst actually blowing the instrument. For

this, enough air is held in the cheeks to supply the reed (by
tightening the cheeks) during the instant of breathing in
through the nose. It is said that Reynolds, an oboist in the
Halle Orchestra some years ago, used to play the entire cor
anglais solo on the stage in the last, act of Tristan in this way,
and there are bassoonists who can do it too.

Oboe designs and styles

The design of oboe that is used in the
great majority of
countries today, France, England, Italy and the
including
Americas, is French, evolved in the last century by the cele
brated Paris firm of Triebert, whose work was carried on into
92
 THE OBOE
the present century by their ex-foreman Loree and his son. The
bore is practically a straight cone, and the sound is clear,
open
and and perfectly homogeneous from bottom to top of the
free,

compass. Its various systems of mechanism are described later in

this chapter. The style of
playing it varies, on the whole, more
between individuals than between countries. British playing,
however, has developed a distinctive general character of its
own, chiefly as the result of the brilliant playing and teaching of
Leon Goossens, while an important contributing factor has teen
the widespread use for so long of the reeds manufactured by the
late T. Brierly of Liverpool (who, like Goossens, received his
early lessons from Reynolds). This school, with which every
British concert-goer is familiar, employs a softish reed and

produces a silvery, violin-like sound, characteristically accom

panied by a slow vibrato. But some players have looked for a
more flexible tone, capable of greater variation in
dynamics and
colour, and may with
obtain
reeds
itof the thick-gouged, far

scraped-back kind mentioned in Chapter III (if necessary,

shortening the staple to counteract flatness). In England this
second approach also hails from Lancashire, its acknowledged
doyen being Alec Whittaker. Among the younger players its
outstanding exponent is Sidney Sutcliffe, principal oboe in the
Philharmonia Orchestra.
On the Continent and in America, while some players (e.g.

Stotijn of the Amsterdam Concertgebouw) recall the broader

British style last mentioned, the French oboe is mostly played in
a more straightforward manner, with reeds often a fraction
wider and with a darker tone, sometimes smooth and plaintive,
sometimes reedy and 'pastoral', but sometimes, as often nowa
days in France, loud and trumpet-like. Vibrato, if heard at all, is

to heighten a
typically of the fast 'instinctive' kind, introduced
at its climax, rather than of the slower, incessantly-
phrase
continued tremulant so common in England. One may feel that
one is hearing the oboe for a change, rather than the oboist.

East of the Rhine one may still sometimes hear the old German
oboe, and to understand this instrument a short digression is

necessary.
93
 THE WOODWIND TODAY
Most important woodwind innovations have been either
French or German, Now in woodwind, as in so many things, the
two nations have seen things differently. Whenever something
new has appeared in the woodwind world, if it pleases the
French, then it is likely to be viewed with suspicion in Germany,
and vice versa. While Boehm's flute gained quick acceptance in
France, there is something about it that kept many German
players reluctant to adopt for a surprising length of time. The
it

Boehm-system clarinet and the large clarinet mouthpiece and

reed of the Western countries are still strangers to orchestral
circles inGermany, where older patterns have been developed
independently. And to show that such examples do not merely
reveal a conservatism on the German side, bassoons (like
trombones) provide an instance of a radical German redesigning
which the French in turn have so far refused to accept.
The explanation in every case may be sought in the sound.
Matching the peculiar clarity of their music and their scoring,
the French like wind instruments to give colourful, almost

picturesque sounds, often rather thin in substance but always

vivid in colour and highly individual for each particular kind of
instrument (to enjoy these qualities at their very best hear, for
instance, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, under Ansermet) .

The German ideal is quite different: a warm, mellow blend, in

which, to French ears, all the wind instruments sound alike and
equally thick and dull; and indeed, for one quite unaccustomed
to them, it is even possible to confuse their broad, suave tones, all
of which seem to be converging towards one universal, abstract
notion of a beautiful, purely musical instrumental sound.
now fit the oboe into
Let us this picture. Our modern oboe is,
as we have seen, French, and the Germans, up to about thirty

years ago, showed little interest in it. They had their own model ;
one of their conservative designs, retaining many features of the
oboe of Beethoven's time: 'sword '-profile bore (cf. Plate
XXIX); broad-tipped stiffish reed; and use of harmonic cross-
fingerings from a" upwards (Plate IX). Its tone is quite
distinctive, preserving despite its enlarged bore (some 3 mm.
wider at the bell tenon than in the French oboe), the classical
o.boe's flutiness, most noticeable on the D's and E's and on the
94
 THE OBOE
3rd harmonics just mentioned. Also, it blends superbly with the
other instruments. But since then, there has been a change:
the great majority of German oboists have changed over to the
French type, which Richard Strauss, for one, preferred. Yet the
old type survives in several places, including Russia, where it is

played notably in the Leningrad Orchestra, to judge from some

recent tape-recordings in the pure German style of old.

Pastoral reediness, refined silveriness are quite absent. The

sound is so full and round (' manly', the latest Russian book 00
orchestration calls it) that on a held note it is easily mistaken
for a clarinet. And since the flute there sounds practically the
same as well, the effect in a piece like the second movement of
Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony is perfectly extraordinary.

In Vienna too, the shrine of classical music, the classical

oboe, in its Austrian form, has withstood the challenge of the
French type. Wunderer, the former professor at the State
Academy, insisted that this should be so. The retention even of
external classical features is clearly seen in the standard

Zuleger model (Plate IX): the bulbous top, which, they claim
in Vienna, reduces condensation in the octave key; the bell-

shaped bell with its internal flange; and the 'sword' bore, here
about a millimetre wider than French bore at the upper tenon
but over a millimetre narrower at the bell tenon. Viennese
playing, though akin to the German, has its own lighter, more
sparkling quality. The players, led by Hans Kamesch, principal
in the Vienna Philharmonic (1955) and one of the greatest
woodwind artists of the present time, use reeds scarcely wider
than the French, though thicker-gouged and scraped further
back. Their tone is sweet and tender, though with a splendid
reserve of power, and it is a most exciting experience to put
aside one's Western ideas of oboe-pkying for a moment to hear
Kamesch, with his Zuleger oboe, in his recording of Mozart's
oboe quartet, or in the Furtwangler recording of the Serenade
for thirteen wind instruments.
In technique there is not a lot to choose between these
Germanic oboes and the French. Both go equally well up to the
G, and a difficult solo like the one in Rossini's La Scala
di
top
seta is brought off equally brilliantly by the leading performers
95
 THE WOODWIND TODAY
on either instrument. But in the long run, the French oboe is

perhaps technically the more flexible,

Deep Oboes
Oboe d'amore, in A, a minor third below the oboe
Cor anglais, in F, a fifth below the oboe
Bass oboe, in low C, an octave below the oboe
Heckelphone, in low C, an octave below the oboe
All these have metal crooks at the top end and bulbous bells at
the bottom. No oboes of higher pitch than the ordinary have ever
come into established use, though French built
in the past the
some D|? instruments for military bands, and also an E|? oboe (a
minor third above the oboe; fig. 77), which might well have
possessed interesting musical properties. Around 1850, Barret
was trying to help Triebert sell it in England, offering to
demonstrate to any bandmaster who would care to call upon
it

him at his residence in Regent's Park; but it never caught on.

COR ANGLAIS. Every oboist possesses this most glamorous of

the woodwind 'extra' instruments (Plate VIII). In normal
orchestral routine, the specialist on the cor anglais is the third

player of the oboe team. He is usually called upon even in works

like William Tell and Carnaval Romam overtures, in which the

composer's intention was that the second oboist should change

instruments in the middle of the piece; for suddenly to play
cor anglais, in a solo, after perhaps an hour of hard oboe-
playing, proves too risky in these days of high-precision per
formances. But in the choral works of Bach, as the Christmas
Oratorio and the St Matthew Passion, principal and second
oboists make no bones about doubling on cor anglais (for the
oboe da caccia parts), and on oboe d'amore as well. The technical
atmosphere is far more relaxed on those occasions than in

symphony concerts and opera, while anyhow a long obbligato

is a less nerve-racking thing for a player than the tense entries

and solos of symphonic and operatic compositions. In light

orchestras, and small pit orchestras, playing from special or
reduced orchestrations and having only one oboist, the latter is
as a matter of course expected to have a cor anglais among his
kit.
(her)
96
 THE OBOE
The cor anglais is generally supported by a sling round the
neck, though some manage without. The reed goes on a
four-inch-long crook. The reed has been described in the last
chapter but it may be noticed here that as with the oboe itself,
the sound produced on the cor anglais in England is rather
different from that normally heard elsewhere. Instead of the
brilliant solo tone that we are accustomed to hear from it in the

orchestra, most players abroad go more for an impersonal

thicker and reedier, and, incidentally,
'pastoral* quality,
in effect when the composer's allusion is pastoral, as so
superior
often it is slow movement of Berlioz's Symphonie
(e.g. in the
fantastique) In Germany
. and Austria the cor anglais sometimes
sounds nearly as dark and velvety as the bassoon.
The fingering systems of the cor anglais are the same as for
the oboe except that the standard cor anglais has no low B|j, its
bottom note being i, sounding e. Some composers, including of
course Mahler, write the 8(7, and one of Mahler's B[/s has a
most charming effect through its absence: in the Song of the
Earth (1st movement), where the composer directs the player,
should he have no B[j, to play B instead, which is what we always
hear, Mahler's typical bugle-call theme becoming quaintly
altered.

favourite of Bach and his

OBOE D'AMORE (Plate VIII). This
German contemporaries (Chapter XI) became forgotten in the
classical period but was revived for the performance of Bach's
works in 1878 by Mahillon of Brussels. Mahillon's first
restoration had an ordinary oboe-shaped bell, like some original

eighteenth-century
French oboi d'amore in the Paris Conserva
toire Museum. He fitted his then-normal simple-system keywork
and added the low B (sounding g#) About ten years later, Loree
.

in Paris, and Morton in London began to make it as

we now know
it, with bulbous
bell like the old German specimens in museums,

every oboe-maker will make an

and full mechanism. oboe
Today
d'amore to order. In England, oboe d'amore owners do a brisk
business around Christmas and Easter hiring out their instru
ments to colleagues for the Bach works, and therefore both
actions (see below) are often
thumb-plate and Conservatoire
97
 THE WOODWIND TODAY
fittedtogether on the same Instrument to suit all customers. The
approximate length of an oboe d'amore, less crook, is 25-5
inches. The slightly bent metal crook measures about 2*5 inches
overall.
A few modern works have made use of the revived oboe
d'amore, the best-known examples being Strauss's Sinfonia
domestic^ in which the instrument represents the child Debussy's ;

Gigues, with a long solo motif; and Ravel's Bolero, in which it

follows the E|j clarinet to recommence the tune for the second
time round.

BASS OBOE AND HECKELPHONE. Instruments

pitched an
octave below the oboe had been constructed spasmodically from
the late seventeenth century onwards, though without receiving
much attention. Then (1825) came the hautbois baryton of
Triebert and Brod, with upturned bulbous bell (fig. 77). In
1889 Loree rebuilt it in straight form, and it is this design that
is occasionally seen played today, usually described in England
as the bass oboe. Its lowest note is the low B. It looks like a long
cor anglais, except that the crook bends first forwards and then
backwards towards the player. Also its sound is very much like
that of a cor anglais.

The heckelphone (Plate X) is quite a different proposition. The

French bass oboe just described conforms with a classical

principle of deep reed-instrument construction: when you

double the length of an instrument, you will not seek to double
the diameter of the bore, but only its cross-sectional area, if even
that. In the bass oboe, the cross-sectional area of the bore, say
at the sixth hole, is about double that of an oboe at its sixth
hole. This is the
proportion that was evidently found to give
the musical quality and the technical feel best matched to those
of the small instrument, but it leaves the large instrument some
what deficient in weight of tone and penetrating power.
The heckelphone was brought out in 1904 by Heckel of
Biebrich, the German firm so famous for its bassoons. The
object was purely practical: to provide a bass oboe-ish sound
that would be effective in large orchestras and in the massive
98
 THE OBOE
orchestration that composers were
rejoicing in about that time.
Heckel ( Wilhelm, senior) said that Wagner had irst given him
the idea, in 1879. In this instrument, it is as if an oboe were
doubled in length without reducing the angle of Its cone ; at the
sixth hole its diameter is approximately double that of an oboe's
at the hole. To feed this large bore, the crook is wide and
same
the reed a comparatively big one of the bassoon kind, and the
is

tone, in the true words of its creator, is 'voluptuously sonorous

yet sweet; blooming and rich in harmonics, and so manly and
baritone-like that one might be listening to a male voice*.
four feet long less crook, and sturdily built of
It is straight,

maple varnished Heckel's well-known brilliant crimson. Hie

bell is a four-inch bulb with a two-inch hole at the bottom and a
one-inch hole in the side, and has a short metal foot to rest on the
floor. The compass is down to its low A (sounding A ), the keys
for this note and the B|? being actuated by the right thumb. In
the keywork, the rings and plates of ordinary deep oboes are

replaced by Heckel's own arrangement of buttons and three-

quarter rings, the buttons actuating the axles that close the
primary note-holes while the three-quarter rings, pivoted on the
opposite side of the instrument, play the normal role of rings.
The fingering is French or traditional German as ordered.
In 1905, the year after its completion, the heckelphone made
its dbut in Salome, after which Strauss wrote for it again in
Elektra and some other works. English parts labelled 'bass
oboe ', as in Delius's First Dance
Rhapsody ( 19O8 ) and Hoist's The
on either bass oboe or heckelphone, whichever
Planets, are played
the player happens to produce, which is nowadays usually the
heckelphone. Actually, it is said that in both these works the
part was written with the heckelphone in mind.

Piccolo Heckelphone. This is well worth mentioning as an

interesting might-have-been (Plate X).
The Heckel family has a place in recent times rather like
filled

that filled by the Sax family century ago. Each in turn cleaned
a

up untidy corners of the woodwind, and also thought out fresh

inventions to fill out the section where it seemed to them weak,
whether in orchestra or military band. Sax normalized the bass
99
 THE WOODWIND TODAY
clarinet,and also invented the saxophone to strengthen the
middle and lower registers of the military band woodwind.
Heckel standardized the contrabassoon, produced the heckel-
phone, and then pounced upon a point of weakness in the high
woodwind register,namely the lack of a soprano instrument
sufficiently powerful to ring out a theme above the rest of the
instruments in bands and in the swollen tuttis of late Romantic
orchestration. Mahler would expensively throw on to the

melody, in unison, as many as twelve of the ordinary soprano

woodwind (four each of flutes, oboes and clarinets), while
Bruno Walter is one world-famous conductor who has some
times felt the need for reinforcing the high flutes with a clarinet
playing in its high register or with an E|j clarinet (e.g. in the
second movement of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony in the passage
that begins twenty bars before the piu moto}. Heckel offered
assistance in the piccolo heckelphone, a wide-bore instrument

pitched in F (an octave above the cor anglais) with compass

written b-e'" and sounding a fourth higher. It has the heckel-
phone's perforated bulbous bell, and simple keywork with
automatic octave keys.
It was said to have been successfully tried out at the local opera

in Wiesbaden in the high dramatic oboe solo in the second Act of

Fidelio. This must have been most exciting. But in his 1931

catalogue Heckel claimed no further success for it other than

Strauss *s use of
it for the trumpet part of the Second Branden

burg Concerto, and, today, with the tendency to revert to

economical classical orchestration, the piccolo heckelphone has
probably missed its chance. Moreover, an oboist would have to
handle it and it might prove a tricky instrument to control at
short notice.

Oboe mechanisms
Mechanisms of the French oboe fall into several classes,
distinguished mainly by themethod provided for making c" and
fe'|?
and their octaves.

SIMPLE-SYSTEM OBOES (Triebert's systtme 4 of c. 1853, etc.,

seefig. 77). These have long been out of date. Hundreds of them
JOG
 THE OBOE
survive in second-hand shops, but in England almost all of these
are sharp-pitch. There are two side keys (middle joint of finger

IV), one for i'jj; and the other for c" for use mainly in trills,
etc., this note normally being cross-fingered. In the upper

octave, both notes are sweeter and steadier when cross-fingered,

as is also the B and sometimes the A. The simple-system oboe
thus has the following important cross-fingerings in the low and
upper registers :

c" o.o/ooo (N.B. on German instruments,

o . o / o) .

(a" . . o / . . .
C)
b"fy . . o / . . .
E[>1 (E|j key is sometimes not
V . o .
/ . . .
E[?J necessary)
c'" o . .
/
. . o
In some
instruments, including those by Mahillon, and the
former 'military model' of Hawkes and other British makers,
the two side keys are replaced by a single key incorporating the
'Barret action' (said to be one of Tri6bert's inventions). In this

(fig. 14, left]

the C and B[j holes are brought round to the front

(x, y) and are coupled together. The long side touch is rigid
with y, and when pressed, opens it. But when the touch is
pressed while finger II is raised (releasing its ring), key x the
C key is free to rise under its own light spring. Hence with
the fingering . o o /
o o o the side key gives C (x and y both
open), and with . . o / o o o it gives B|j (y open; x kept closed
by ring II).

THUMB-PLATE SYSTEM (Triebert's systime 5, 1849).

This

(fig. 14, right]

is the system that is still used by the majority of
was made up to the war principally by Louis,
British oboists. It
later merged with Rudall Carte; and Boosey & Hawkes. To
these is now added T. W. Howarth & Co. Also, large numbers
of French-built oboes have been converted from Conservatoire
to customers' orders.
system to thumb-plate system by repairers,
For C and B[; it has the above-described Barret side key, but
this is used only for trills. Main control of the action passes to
the left thumb and its thumtylate. The thumb normally rests on
the plate. When lifted from it, the C and Bfr keys become free to
10!
 THE WOODWIND TODAY
riseunder their own springs: when finger II is raised, both rise
(C); when finger II is down, only the B|; key rises (B[?). In
order that the side key shall be able to perform its trilling
function while the thumb is resting on the plate, the connection

CBh

FIG. 14. Oboe mechanisms. Simple-system

(left); thumb-plate system (right: shown
with non-automatic octave keys],
102
 THE OBOE
between the latter and the C and Bj? keys is through a stiff
needle spring arranged under the bar % as a iexible lever. Thus
the side key can be depressed without forcing up the thuinb-
plate.
Most current models of thumb-plate oboe also include the

following devices.
On the bottom joint:
1. Low B~C connection (j). The low B key automatically closes
the low C key, in order to avoid having to slide the
right little
finger in slurs at the bottom of the compass (e.g. B-Cf ;

. Articulated E\>. An E[j (or Df ) next to a Cf or the low C is

made with the duplicate E[> touch for the left little finger. To
facilitaterapid movements between these notes, and to give a
Cf/Df trill, the action of this key (k) is 'articulated' or 'split',
so that the low C or Cf key will automatically close the Ejj hole
while the left hand E[? touch remains held down. (Extra left

little finger keys sometimes fitted in addition to those shown in

fig.
14 are a duplicate F touch or 'long F' and a duplicate Cf
touch of 'long Cf *, the latter being incorporated in the Reynolds
model used by Goossens. The oboe d'amore in the Plate has the
long F.)
3. The brille (so named after the German word for a pair of

spectacles). This is shown in its simplest form in fig. 14, left.

A small vent key / serves to sharpen the fingering . . . / . o o
into a true Ff (otherwise it would be flat, as it is on the

recorder). It normally stands open, but it is closed for the lower

notes by rings for V and VI, and also by the low C key to help
certain high notes. In most modern oboes, however, finger V
has a perforated plate (cork- or rubber-padded) instead of a

ring, in order to correct the top D, for which

note the plate is
closedby the low C key. Consequently, plate V and ring VI
must be arranged to close the brille vent / independently (fig.
14, right).

4. Farked-F vent To avoid sliding the sixth finger, the forked

F (../ o ) is used in both registers instead of the F key
103
 THE WOODWIND TODAY
when F is next to D or Ejj. This fingering generally needs extra
venting lest the note be dull and flat. Hence there is usually a
'forked-F vent' an open key ( m) on the right hand side of the
instrument about level with the [7 key.
For lower notes it is
closed by plate V. Sometimes, even on otherwise fully-equipped
oboes, this vent is lacking, in which case the forked F's are vented
by opening the E|j key, or brought under control by practice ,and
careful choice of reeds.

On the top joint:

5. Articulated G#. While the G# touch (left little linger)
remains held down, the G# key itself becomes closed when
finger IV is lowered, through the small arm connected to ring
IV. This provides a perfect F#/G# trill (by finger
IV) and
facilitates certain movements between G# and the low notes.

Some thumb-plate instruments have a duplicate G# touch for

finger IV a small key overlapping the long side
key (fig. 14,
useful in other trills. Incidentally, these two
right] G#
touches, like the two E|j touches, make possible a 'double trill'
a tour deforce by which an oboist can mesmerize his audience
at a recital; the two alternative touches are used
alternately, so
moves with half the speed of the
that each finger trill, with the
most extraordinary visual effect imaginable.
6\ The thumb-plate action for C and B|?, combined with the side
key for trills, has already been described. The small spatula s
soldered to the C key is for counteracting the thumb-plate in the
trill A#/B: finger I is extended on to the spatula to hold down
the C key while the thumb-plate is released and finger II is
lifted, the trill
being made with the latter finger.

7. Half-hole plate (finger I). The first three notes of the upper
register c"$ 9 d" and e"}> are obtained not with an octave key,
but by 'half-holing', i.e.
by rolling finger I downwards on to the
extension of the plate in order to uncover the small perforation.
To proceed higher up the scale, the finger re-covers the perfora
tion while simultaneously the thumb touches its octave
key (still
holding down the thumb-plate).
Some players, however, prefer to have plate I connected to
ring III (as shown dotted in fig. 14) or sometimes to ring II.
104
 THE OBOE
This enables half-holing to be done by lifting the finger instead
of rolling it. The inclusion of ring III and the bar extending

upwards from it also affords provision for future addition of

automatic octave keys (see below) should this ever be desired.
On the other hand, the arrangement can interfere with the classic
fingering for the high C$ (i.e. with the C key, see fig. !5n),
since this note really requires the full opening of hole I. Hence a
screw-adjustment is sometimes fitted by which ring III can be
set to hold plate I nearly down but not quite, making a sort of

compromise. The cor anglais (thumb-plate system) analogously

has for finger I either a 'split plate *, for the oboist who rolls his

finger to half-hole, or a 'fixed plate' closed by III or II, for a

player accustomed to the above-mentioned connection on the

oboe. (Another small difference of key work in the cor anglais is
the usual addition of a small open vent-key for A, placed on the
its lower end and closed
right hand side of the top joint near
automatically by ring III. )

8. Open c"% (all fingers off). This gives the B/C# trill with
to the full fingering
finger I, and also an emergency alternative
of c"$ (i / C#) in fast passages of the kind B~Cf-B-
in which the first of the C#'s may be taken 'open*. Most
C#-D,
players, however, make a point of using the full fingering in all
circumstances.

9. Octave keys. octave key (left thumb) is used from

The bottom
e" to g"% and from e'"b upwards; and the top octave key
joint of finger I) from a" to c'".
Since water condensed
(middle
from the breath is liable to block these keys, an oboe-player

carries about with him a packet of cigarette-papers, a piece of

which, placed under the clogged key, draws the water
out. Also,

the hole of the top octave key is fitted with a special metal bush
to discourage collection of water in it.
1

These octave keys can be non-automatic (or 'simple as they ;

are shown in fig. 14), semi-automatic (as in fig. 16, right); or

Some players prefer the
with
full automatic (fig. 16, left).
first,

But by far the most

its two quite independent octave keys.
is
popular arrangement (and on the Conservatoire system too)
the second, the semi-automatic octave keys, whereby the top
 THE WOODWIND TODAY
n
key can be pressed for a and upwards without removing the
thumb from the bottom key; the switch-over of the vents
being
effected automatically on pressing the top octave key. Full
automatic octave keys have pretty well gone out of favour save
in Germany. Only one touch is needed (left thumb), the octave
vents being automatically switched over on passing above
g"$
by the release of ring III. Frequently, to suit those brought up
on non- or semi-automatic octaves, the two touches are still
provided (as shown in fig. 12), and then it does not matter
which one presses.
With full automatic octave keys, the G$ key, when pressed,
holds down ring HI. This is in order that it shall be the bottom
octave vent, not the top, that opens for high/'", for which this
key is used but finger III is raised. But there are other high
A

fingerings, e.g. for/"|:, in which finger III is raised and the

G$ key not pressed, and it is still the bottom octave vent that is

required to open. Full automatic octave keys therefore interfere

with these fingerings unless a special reversing key is fitted (a
second touch for the thumb) which reverses the entire action
of the mechanism, (Also, the fingerings given in the chart
for the top two semitones are not available with automatic

octaves.)
10. Trill keys (one or two, neither shown in the
diagram) for
trilling over the break in the registers, e.g. C/D.
On simplified thumJ>plate models (low-priced models by
Selmer and others, costing around ^48, as against from 90 to
g200 for the full 'artist's models') there may be simple octave
keys, and the following may be omitted: forked F vent,
perforated plate for V (the original ring being restored), and
G# trill key. In short, a useful revival of Tri6bert's original
thumb-plate design of 1849, perfectly adequate for all but high-
class professional work.

CONSERVATOIRE SYSTEM. This is Triebert's systime 6. It

its name from its adoption
derives by the Paris Conservatoire in
1881 as official model in place of the
thumb-plate system. It is
now the standard system in most countries. In
England several
players have always used it.
Among the present French makers
106
 THE OBOE

* fir
* *
* *
*H
1

e*

ditto,

{00?

O )>

000

ooc
.00
oo TK
00

the
FIG. I5a. Chart for thumb^late oboe. Half-filled drcle: uncover
in plate I; S: with finger I, cowr the plate
and also
perforation
depress
the spatula s. (The toptwo notes are included for complete
ness only; they are difficult, and composers scarcely ever write them. )

107
 THE WOODWIND TODAY
are Rigoutat, Marigaux, Jard, Selmer and Triebert (Coues-

non), while the older makers Loree and Cabart now make
chiefly for the foreign market. In America, makers have also
produced a simplified model for beginners and bandsmen. The
Conservatoire system can also be ordered from the British
makers.
The thumb has only the octave key. The C and Bjj action
left

is by putting down finger IV. This tilts a lever on the right hand
side of the top joint (n, fig. 16) to release the C and Bj? keys

b'l?
00 * oo
r

t( O
OO
O
*
ooo)
00 ^/oo
-
1(0
oo
* O)

c"t OOC
OOOC

FIG. I5b. Conservatoire-system oboe: the important differences from

the thumb-$late model in the lower two octaves, and fingerings for
the high register.

just as lifting the thumb does on the thumb-plate system. Thus

.00 / .o o gives the C's, and . o / . o o the B|/s. For the
.

right hand notes, the 6(7 key is kept closed by ring III. On
account of the closure of hole IV, Conservatoire action consider
ably reduces the venting of B[?, giving this note, in particularly
the low register, a pleasantly mellow quality recalling that of the
plain fork-fingering of earlier tim^s.
The original model of the Conservatoire system, which some
still prefer, has
rings (see fig. 16, left, for the top joint). But in
1906, Lore, in collaboration with the elder Gillet, then oboe
108
 THE OBOE
professor at the Conservatoire, introduced the
which has perforated plates instead of
rings for II, III and VI in
order to obtain some better trills, A
plain plate is for
provided

FIG. 16. Oboe mechanisms,

Conservatoire system. Left:
model with rings, top joint
(shown with automatic octave
keys}. Right: Gillet model
(shown with semi-automatic
octave keys}.

IV, to match the others. This (fig. 16, right} has now become the
standard instrument in France and has gained much favour in
America and elsewhere. Michael Dobson, whose set of
109
 THE WOODWIND TODAY
instruments is illustrated in Plate VIII, is
among the first

British oboists to adopt it.

Conservatoire system mechanism. On the bottom joint:

1. Articulated C$ key. A disadvantage with the low B/C
connection on the ordinary thumb-plate model is that it rules
out independent use of the B key on the high notes (e.g. top
E|j). On this account, the Conservatoire system generally has,
instead, an articulated Cf key (p, fig. 16} to help slurring on the
bottom notes in a different way, making possible CJ-B without

releasing the Qjf touch, but leaving the B key otherwise un

coupled.

2. The 'banana key' (C/D(? trill}. This small lever next to

plate VI (g) closes the low C key. When finger VI is extended
to hold it down, the trill in question can be made with the
right
little finger on the C$ key.

3. Bjf/JB trill (Gillet model}. The plate VI is of compound

construction, having an outer ring encircling an independently-
hinged bush. The left hand [7 key, when pressed, holds down
this bush which makes a small-sized aperture
giving a correctly-
tuned E with
the E[> key open. Thus the trill is
perfectly made
with the finger VI while the left hand E|j touch is held down.

4. Closed forked F vent. For some mysterious reason an open-

standing F vent spoils the Conservatoire-system B[j. Hence it is

arranged to lie
normally closed. It is
automatically opened by
finger VI for the forked F, and is closed again by V
for the lower
notes.

On the top joint:

5. Side keys. The lower is a duplicate G# touch, for the
G/A|j
trill. The small overlapping key is ( 1 ) on the model with rings,
a plain B|? key intended solely for the
A|j/B|? trill, being tuned
to give a correct B|? while the left hand is
fingering G#. But (2)
on the Gillet model, it is a third G# touch, intended for the trill
G#/A; it opens the key and also lowers plate III, so that
G#
while fingering A, a can be made with this key alone.
trill
(The
A[j/B|j trill is made on the Gillet model by fingering G# with
the left hand and trilling with
finger II alone; the left hand G#
110
 THE OBOE
key Is down plate II, whose small perforation
arranged to hold
suffices to
give the Bf? In this trill. The same connection
per
mits use of this Gf key for the A|/B trill,
circumventing the
need for moving finger I on to the spatula. )

6. The ConservatoireCand Bfy action has been described already,

but note also the alternative
cross-fingerings In the chart, which
may sometimes come in useful. (The second spatula, soldered to
the B|> key (fig. 16, kft), is sometimes
present as a relic from
an earlier version of the system in which any one of the
right
hand fingers could actuate the C and B action; this spatula was
then needed in order to keep the key closed
during the high D/E
trill.)

7. The "third octave key' (not shown in fig.

16) is a second
touch for left thumb, a vent a little
opening higher up. It is
sometimes fitted to help high notes from top E upwards.
A recent addition to French instruments is a low B[> vent key
on the bell. After the pitch was officially raised to a' =440 in
1939, the French makers found that the corresponding shorten
ing of the bell (about one-quarter of an inch) had an unsettling
effect on the note E. Therefore
they retained the old <z'=435
length of bell and fitted this small vent key, which opens when
the low B|j key is pressed in order to bring this note up to the
new pitch.

OTHER OBOE SYSTEMS. In England one may still occasionally

see an oboe built to the Barret system, with thumb-plate

duplicated by right hand action for any of the four fingers of that
hand, but no 'Barret' side key. It is mentioned again in Chapter
XII.
Though more and more Germans are playing on the Con
servatoire system, in some French-style oboes built in Germany
the C and B[? action is neither by thumb-plate nor by Con

servatoire action, but by a 'Barret' side key duplicated by

a left thumb key. The latter is pressed for C or B|?, not released,
as the ordinary thumb-plate is. This arrangement perpetu
ates the German tradition for a closed B|j key for the thumb

(similar to that on the eight-keyed flute). Similarly, these

111
 THE WOODWIND TODAY
Instruments usually also have the duplicate F key or 'long
and full automatic
F', used In preference to the forked F,
octave keys.
The earlier types of German oboe, with the wide bore, is

illustrated in Plate IX In the model taught in Russia.

still

French influence is shown in several small points, as the lay-out

(c-)

FIG. 17. Diagram of

Viennese oboe ( Zuleger
model).

of the little-finger keys. The fingering is that of the simple-

system oboe described first in this section (p. 101 ), though with
even greater emphasis on the use of the harmonic cross-
save in
fingerings from a" to c'", these being always employed
those quick passages in which they would prove cumbersome.
112
 THE OBOE
The mechanism of the Fitnnesi remains Germanic
throughout. Fig. 17 shows that of the current Zuleger model
(Plate IX). It has long F and long E|> keys, and side keys for
Bjj and C, alternative to the cross-fingerings. In the upper
register, the octave key (thumb) is employed up to a" inclusive.
Then follow harmonic cross-fingerings without the octave key.
The key located in a similar position to that of the French top
octave key is a special key to help the high C. The key whose
touch overlaps the touch of the octave key, helps top F. The
lowest thumb touch opens a key that helps the half-holed Ds
under certain conditions. The instrument's most remarkable
mechanical feature is its closed brilk. The brille
key (Ff vent)
lies normally closed. When finger IV is lowered, becomes free
it

to rise under its own spring. On other notes, the lower rings and
the right little-finger keys close it again. The benefit is that it
preserves the classical venting of the notes made with the left
hand only.

Boehm-system oboe. This is

generally taken to mean the Klos6-
Buffet design brought out at the same time as the Boehrn-system
clarinet. It is briefly described in the last chapter. Several cata

logues of the nineteen-twenties still listed it, and some Spanish

orchestras and bands use it. In
Spain one may come upon, today,
many relics of French fashions of the past, just as past German
fashions survive in Russia, on the opposite end of the wood
wind's fundamental Franco-German axis. Elsewhere there have
alsobeen 'half-Boehm' and 'sax-fingered' models, with F$ and
F made a la Boehm and various other modifications. They have
never caught on, however, and are not seen in orchestras.

The Shawm today

The oboe today plays a diminishing part in military band and
other outdoor music many military bands abroad dispense with
;

it entirely. The proper double-reed instrument for outdoors is

the shawm, one of the oboe's predecessors, and a wider-bore,

far more powerful instrument that was always a band instrument,
far too fierce and penetrating to be employed in music of milder
kinds.
113
 THE WOODWIND TODAY
This instrument had become generally
most desirable
extinct by the beginning of the eighteenth century, and now
there is only one place in Europe where it has lived on in its
ancient role; and not merely lived on, but been developed

mechanically along the lines of the other woodwind instruments.

This is Northern Catalonia the north-east corner of Spain,
from Barcelona northwards to the French frontier, and across it
into Roussillon, the district of the French Catalans with
Perpignan its chief city. There one hears the shawms as the
melodists of the the bands that play for the sardana dance.
cablas,

They are supported by two trumpets, a valved trombone, two

bass flugel horns in C (virtually euphoniums built in bugle

shape) and a string bass. Also, there the leader of the band,
is

who plays a special form of pipe and tabor, the fluviol (Chapter
IX).

Two sizes of shawm are used (Plate X), named tiple (Spanish
for 'treble') and tenora ('tenor') and there are two of each in a
band. The instruments are known to the musicians by no other
name, though Spanish musicologists describe them by the old
Spanish shawm name chirimia. Their reeds (Plates VI, XIX)
are short and triangular, and have a wider
opening than any
other kind of double reed. Each reed is made on a short
peg-like
wooden mandrel which is kept in the reed until it is to be used.
The reed then placed upon a short conical staple upon which
is

is
permanently mounted a thick wooden cylinder, the tudel,
better known to wind-instrument historians
by the old French
term for it, The
pirouette is recessed on its upper
pirouette.
surface to make room for the base of the reed, and the
player,
holding the instrument well up, almost horizontally, rests his
lips against it while also gripping and controlling the reed like
an oboist. With this arrangement he can keep the strong reed
vibrating at its full power without his embouchure muscles
quickly becoming tired. To keep the reed firmly fixed on
the staple, wedges of cork or wood are pushed down into the

players now use a metal

recess in the pirouette, but some of the

pirouette provided with a set-screw to grip the short stem of the

reed.
 THE OBOE
Tiple and tenora are both transposing instruments the ;

(c.
22 inches long) is in F, a fourth above the oboe, and the
tenora S3 inches long) is in Bjj, a tone below the oboe. Their
(c.
modernization began in the last century with the musician Pepe
Ventura, and led to their being fitted with a simple-system key-
work, with a half-hole plate for obtaining the lower part of the
upper register, and an octave key for use above g". Both instru
ments have extension keys, actuated by the little fingers and the
left thumb; the tiple down to its written a (sounding d') and the

tenora, which has a long metal bell, down to its/$, sounding e.

As for high notes, Jos6 Coll, principal tenora in the Cobla
Barcelona one of the leading bands, recording regularly for
Columbia (and one of the few bands that does not play at sharp
ftl
pitch) gives charts up to written e for the tiple and g'" for
the tenora, and such high notes are indeed heard in solo varia
tions.
The sound shawms is unbelievably exciting. Constant
of these
Lambert and de Sverac are two discriminating musicians who
have lauded it. Their effect is of tremendously loud, full-
throated oboes the tiple the clearer and more trumpet-like,
and the tenora the more sensuous and reedy. Yet on both, the
players command a full dynamic range down to mezzo-piano,
which the tenora continually exploits with uninhibited
first

abandon in the solo passages, of which he has the lion's share and
delivers with a rich oboist's vibrato. The instruments have,
indeed, the full expressive range of the oboe stepped up to out
door strength, and great would be the day if ever they came to
be tried in the northern countries, to add their fiery glow to the
rather pallid hues of our military bands.

Musette
In the eighteenth century, the musette was a small bagpipe, but
the chanter was often taken out and played without the bag, in
which case a wooden cap was put over the reed to preserve it.
instrument of the bal
Played either way, this was the original
musette, French country-dancing. During the last century the

bag and wooden cap became forgotten, and the musette became
a small oboe-like instrument pitched in G (a fifth above the
115
 THE WOODWIND TODAY
oboe). It was still used for the bal musette, though today this
has become something rather different and its chief instrument
is the accordion. These later musettes were exported to England
as late as the 1930s for sale as musical toys, though their sales
cannot have been large and there was always the difficulty and
expense of reeds (cf. p. 330).

116
 CHAPTER V
The Clarinet

^his, the third of the woodwind primary tone-colours,

has a cylindrical tube (about four millimetres narrower
than the flute tube) of African blackwood, which has
replaced cocus; though possibly none of this jungle wood can
rival the old Turkish boxwood, which for some reason gave

especially fine results in clarinets, Boehm-system included.

Many fine players have played on ebonite, which gives a sweeter
though rather smaller tone than wood. Metal, on the other hand,
does not seem to offer the right resistance, giving a tone that
feels to most players rather vapid and uninteresting, and it is
not used for high-class work.
The wide over-blowing intervals of the clarinet a twelfth,
and above that, a sixth, due to its 'stopped pipe' acoustical
properties (Chapter I) give the instrument the largest
compass of all the woodwind; the lower and upper registers
alone cover three octaves all but two notes. This is however
accompanied by a very much more marked difference than on
other instruments between the tone-colours of the registers.
Where the registers join, their tone-qualities meet without
the rainbow,
sharpness, yet quite distinctly, like the colours of
contributing much to the instrument's
individual character.
As on everyreed instrument, the great register is the upper
register, here the overblown twelfths. Can one possibly imagine
Mozart or Brahms having written a principal slow-movement
theme for their clarinet quintets in any other register? It was for
upper register that die clarinet was invented, and from it,
this it

derives its name: to early eighteenth-century ears it suggested

117
 THE WOODWIND TODAY
the far-away sound of a trumpet (clarino}, softened and
sweetened by distance. It was its liquid beauty in this register
that earned it its place in the orchestra, and this too is the

register that always stands out most vividly in one's memory of

every fine player.
The low register, which a beginner learns to sound first, is

traditionally knownthe chalumeau register, after a little

as
kindred instrument played at the time of the clarinet's invention.
Being at the twelfth below the 'clarino* register, the low register
reaches notes half-way down the bass stave low notes for an
instrument only Q6 inches long. To bridge the gap or 'break'
between these two registers, the upper is played right down to
its bell note (6') a unique feature among woodwind techniques
and to meet it with the adjacent &'|?, the low register is carried
*
up into the throat' of the instrument
by small closed keys. This
arrangement makes clarinet-fingering seem difficult and cumber
some at first. But in fact it proves so efficient that the clarinet is
rated among the most agile of musical instruments, and all

proposals for new mechanism to simplify 'the break' have been

(

flatly turned down by the mass of players, past and present.

Above the upper register is the high register, in which the
tone rapidly deteriorates in quality. The notes above g'", up to
the top c"" 9 are hard and squeaky and are little employed except
in bravura passages and massive tuttis.

B\?> A and C clarinets

The common clarinet is the B|? clarinet. This is the clarinet of
dance bands and military bands. But for orchestral work a player
also needs an A clarinet (just over an inch longer), making a

pair of instruments ; the one that is to be used is specified in the

part. They have the same bore, and the same mouthpiece and
barrel are generally used for them both, being changed over as
the parts require.
This employment of two instruments arose in early times
when it was
scarcely possible to play in remote keys on the
clarinet. In music in flat keys the parts were written for the
Bjj
instrument; in sharp keys for the A; and this remains the normal
practice among composers in most countries although the
118
 THE CLARINET
technical reason for no longer urgent. There is a
it Is

difference in tone-quality between the two instruments, the

slightly darker sound of the A being most noticeable in the
lower part of the upper register. But so small is the difference
that in certain countries Italy and Spain the A is dispensed
with entirely; every part written for it is transposed at sight
(reading a semitone lower) on the Bjj instrument, which then
has to have an extra key (low E[? key) to reach the bottom note
of the A clarinet. The Italians claim that this is the logical thing
to do now that modern clarinet technique has made it possible to
play fluently in the remotest keys. They claim too that one
instrument can better be kept in tune through a performance
than two. Certainly these players manage the A parts perfectly
well, and one never hears an accident on account of the formid
able transposition. All the same, players north of the Alps,
British included, prefer to retain the A
and sometimes even use
it for a passage written for the B[? in order to obviate some
technical difficulty, for instance in the last Act of Carmen, where
a whole-tone trill on/"$, virtually impossible on the ordinary

systems of clarinet, becomes, on the A, an easy trill on g".

Moreover, the A is virtually indispensable for the two great
quintets and Mozart's concerto.
Beginners who cannot afford a pair straight off,
start with a

Bjj and pair it with an A

later on. There is no binding need for

the two to be of the same make. Ideally they should be, but there
are plenty of first-class players who use an odd pair.

an orchestral
Formerly, up to about 1900 in England,
clarinettist also had a C clarinet, which is often written for by

classical composers in movements in the keys C and G. But

today, C clarinet parts are played on the B|j instrument (the

in sharp keys, very
player reading the part a tone higher) or,
often on the A
(reading a minor third higher). The reasons for

abandoning the C, apart from the fact

that it is comparatively

seldom demanded, were firstly that its tone lacks the dignified
mellowness of the B|j, being in comparison
hard and chirping;
and secondly that it needs a different mouthpiece, since its bore
is over a millimetre smaller.

119
 THE WOODWIND TODAY
In Germany and Austria, however, Mahler and Strauss
revived the C clarinet as a special instrument as a tone-colour
in its own right and today in those countries the C is numbered
with the El? and the D '
instruments as one of the small clarinets ',
and is handled mainly by the players who specialize in these.
(But the real home-ground of the C today is in local bands in the
southern Teutonic regions ; for instance a cafe band in German
Switzerland, where one may see the clarinettist, after he has
laboured through a number of commercial dance orchestrations
on a Boehm-system B[?, happily seize his old simple-system C
to reel off a string of Landler. )

Mouthpiece, bore and tone

The clarinet has five pieces: bell, bottom joint, top joint,
barrel (which must be pulled out a little when
necessary to
counteract rise in pitch through heat), and mouthpiece. The
latter is usually ebonite, though other materials have their
devotees: 'crystal' (i.e. glass) in Italy; plastics (especially in
America) cocus-wood, of cocus faced with metal (old-fashioned
;

German).
The reed is clamped to the
mouthpiece with the screw
ligature, with the tip of the mouthpiece level with the tip of the
reed (or, if it suits a particular reed better, just proud of the
tip
of the reed). The
player puts the uppermost half-inch or so of
the mouthpiece, reed downwards, between the
lips, with the
lower lip curled back to form a cushion between reed and teeth.
Some curl back the upper lip to cushion the
top of the mouth
piece as well, but others place the upper teeth directly on the
mouthpiece. There is no fixed rule anywhere about this. Some
take better to the one way, others to the other. The
grip on the
mouthpiece is assisted by the pressure of the right thumb against
the thumb-rest on the bottom joint, while the sides of the mouth
are puckered round the
mouthpiece to prevent air escaping or
the cheeks puffing out. It helps the tone to
keep the throat
perfectly relaxed. Should a beginner still scarcely be able to
pro
duce a sound after a few days, there is no need to feel discour
aged; probably the sound will be all the better in the end. Any
pain or swelling of the lips or thumb soon
right off oncepasses
 THE CLARINET
and for all. The tongue-stroke against the reed be
light ; it is the breath that sets the reed in vibration.
To save time when looking for suitable reeds oat of a box of
new ones, each reed can be roughly tested, after wetting it in the
mouth, by holding it against the mouthpiece with the thumb and
blowing a few notes fingered with one hand only. If no promis
ing reed can be found, others must be adjusted (see Chapter
III). But if no reed ever seems to go satisfactorily or the
instrument seems impossible to play in tune, the probability Is
that the mouthpiece is of unsuitable pattern or has an unsuitable

lay. Thelay is the shape of the gap between the reed and the
table of the mouthpiece. It becomes visible when the mouth
piece, with reed on it, is held sideways up to the light. The gap
at the tip averages one millimetre, though some like it more

open, others more closed. The length of the lay (or 'spring') is
measured from the tip back to the point where the mouthpiece
bears away from the reed. It varies from less than 10 milli
metres (short lay) to 25 millimetres (long lay; i.e. about one
in between. Re
inch), with medium lays (c. 15 millimetres)
laying a clarinet mouthpiece is one of the woodwind repairer's
constantly-demanded jobs a skilled operation of hand-grinding
on emery laid over glass or marble, progress being tested with
feeler gauges.

To gain a broad idea of the

implications of mouthpiece design,
instrument design and choice of reed all of which are bound up
together we may look at certain distinctive national schools of
clarinet-playing. As usual with wind instruments, two extremes
are represented by the French and the German.
The French school uses a Boehm^system clarinet with a com
paratively narrow bore for
modem times (about 14-9 milli
metres). The bell-expansion starts
from a little way above the
lowest hole. The top end may also expand, from the neighbour
hood of the speaker key to about 15 millimetres in bore at the
of the
top of the barrel, where it meets our ordinary mouthpiece
wide, broad-slotted type, introduced by French and Belgian
makers a century ago mainly with the idea of filling out the
sound in the low register. French tradition is for a short lay and
 THE WOODWIND TODAY
a soft reed, the net result is a tone that Inclines to sound
thin and pinched, and often distinctly reedy in the upper register.
Moreover, the tone becomes difficult to swell effectively in
cantabile passages in that register. Otherwise the French style
can sound very musical and expressive, and it is the style that
now prevails on the whole in Italy and America.
In England, the great majority of players use the Boehm-

system instruments of Boosey &

Hawkes, which have a wider
bore than the French (exceeding 15 millimetres) and no
expansion at the top end. The same type of wide mouthpiece is
used, but generally with a medium length of lay and a medium-
hard reed, following the tradition set by Charles Draper and
continued by Frederick Thurston, and producing that firm,
clear clarinet sound which characterizes most, but not all, British
orchestras.Draper himself used French instruments by Martel,
and the clarinets made by Louis (London) were modelled on
these under his direction.
A present tendency in England, however, is the use of a longer
lay and a harder reed, recalling the earlier British school of
Draper's equally famous predecessor, Lazarus, who recom
mended a lay one inch long. The main object of this (notably
achieved by Bernard Walton, principal clarinet in the Phil-
hannonia Orchestra) is to carry the full liquidness and expres
sive power up to the top of the upper register especially on the
crucial note c"', a note that is, by nature, brittle and lifeless with
theBoehm system.
The German clarinet, used also in Austria, Russia and (though
now challenged by the French model) in Holland, is normally a
non-Boehm instrument with complex and variable keywork (see
further on), and with a greater length of cylindrical bore than

any other type of clarinet. It is cylindrical from the mouthpiece

down at least to the level of the lowest hole, while also the bell
flares less inside than in other clarinets. The mouthpiece
on the
is comparatively narrow and pointed (Plate VII), with a smaller
slot. On this goes a small, hard reed, generally tied on with five

feet of special silk cord

( Blattschnurr] ,
the mouthpiece being
grooved on the outside to prevent the cord slipping upwards.
Average dimensions of this reed are as follows (with those of a
 THE CLARINET
French reed in brackets), In millimetres:
length, m to 65 ;

tip width, 12 to 12-5 ( 13-5) ;

length of the 30 the
same). In this form of bore, mouthpiece and reed,
more than elsewhere has been retained of the clarinet of the
of Beethoven and Weber, though the actual bore-diameter has
been considerably increased to keep up with the general growth
of orchestral loudness over the last
century and a half, and may
now exceed 15-5 millimetres.
With this equipment, the best German players can obtain the
broadest and creamiest sound of any. The
change of colour over
the break may be rather more pronounced than with other

designs; but the instrument possesses the weight to balance the

thick-toned German bassoons, horns and rich
string-playing,
and the tone can be swelled on every note in the upper register
from a pianissimo echo-tone to a wonderful/orfc without trace of
shrillness. So often in other countries the clarinet sounds
pale
beside the oboe its sister instrument that is played with such
luxuriant expression; and an appassionato solo is apt to sound

disappointing (e.g. in the slow movement of Beethoven's

Ninth Symphony). But rarely so in Germany and Austria. True,
theGerman style is not always displayed to its best advantage;
for example, Muhlfeld, the first to play the Brahms quintet, is
remembered in Vienna as having been admired more for his
technique than for his tone, which was heavy and over-pre
dominating. But when Leopold Wlach soars above the Vienna
Philharmonic in a Strauss tone-poem, or fires the impassioned
gypsy moods of Brahms 's quintet, one recognizes not only a
superb artist, but also something extra which the German
clarinet alone provides.

High and deep clarinets

THE SMALL CLARINETS. The chief of these is the JE|j clarinet
the only one used in England, where military bands include it as
a regular member, though latterly the tendency has been to
dispense with it except on the march. Berlioz brought it into the
orchestra (Symphonie fantastique, 1831), after which it was
little used until Mahler. Mahler hits off its very individual

nature to perfection in *The Hunter's Funeral* (the third

123
 THE WOODWIND TODAY
movement of the First Symphony), with two E[js playing In
thirds like classical woodwind instruments, and in the motif
played above the canon (fig. 18). Most composers since Mahler
have employed it in one work or another.
An older instrument, and the one most' used by German
composers before Mahler (e.g. Wagner, in The Falkyrie), is the
D clarinet 9 built a semitone lower. Strauss continued to score for
it, and many German orchestras always employ it instead of
playing Its parts on the Efr clarinet. Players find the D a very
much sweeter instrument to handle than the E[>, and it is now
regularly being used at Covent Garden.
E|? clarinet reeds are stocked by the leading instrument
suppliers. They are about 60 millimetres long
and 12 milli-

FIG. 18. A characteristic motiffar the Efy clarinet, from Mahler's

First Symphony, 3rd momment. ( By cowtesy of Boosey & Hawkes
Ltd.)

metres across the tip; but German reeds are smaller, e.g.
54 x 10-5 millimetres, and hard.
Further ascent among the small clarinets brings us to the Afy
clarinet used in most large Continental military bands to help
with the highest passages in transcriptions of orchestral works.
Notwithstanding its minute size, the French and Italian makers
manage to fit full Boehm mechanism to it (Plate XII). Its
lowest note is the same as that of the flute, while its top G
sounds e""\} 9 i.e. well up into the piccolo range. Naturally the
high notes are rather hard and piercing, but of course that is
what the band needs them to be. Lower down, the instrument
gives the quaintest sound some idea of it can be gained by
playing a clarinet record at practically double speed and we
might well ask to enjoy it in the rendition of eighteenth-

century parts for the chalumeau, to which the A[j clarinet is the
nearest modern equivalent. Like the other flat-key clarinets, the
 THE
A|j has a fainter companion built a lower the G
which now seems to
clarinet, only 0n (e.g. in tie
stage band parts of Norm and La Trawnta).
The pinnacle of the clarinets is In the 'red hot
fountain pen' a keyless, penny-whistle-sized
jazz connoisseurs may remember as a novelty of
many years ago. Joe Venuti could imitate it in harmonics on tie
fiddle.

TABLE OF CLARINETS

(Extinct or very rare sizes in brackets)

BASSET HORN. Most of the deeper clarinets that we know are

nineteenth-century French inventions with the bore enlarged in
proportion to the depth in pitch. Thus the alto and bass clarinets,
instruments originally designed to supply military band
masters with fat, resonant tones useful in the transcription of
 THE WOODWIND TODAY
string parts of orchestral works have bores of 18 millimetres
and SO-2S millimetres respectively.
The basset horn* however, is an eighteenth-century idea, and
is quite different. It is a clarinet pitched in F (a major third
lower than the A clarinet) and traditionally made with the same
bore as an A or B|j clarinet and played with the same mouth
piece. Thus, for example, the Uebel instruments of the Vienna
Philharmonic have a 15 millimetre bore (though in the French
instruments hitherto used by most London players the bore is
16 millimetres, and Schmidt too has enlarged the bore). With
its proper bore the basset horn is just a long clarinet, lengthened
in the tube and having the finger-holes lower down. Its upper-

register tone fully conserves the clarity and melodiousness of

the clarinet, having none of the alto and bass clarinets' wide-
bore throatiness. Its quality, as compared with that of the B[j
clarinet, might be described as like that of an A clarinet but
much more so.

compass has always been extended down below its low E

Its

(sounding A] to a low C (sounding F). This is done with four

extra keys on German instruments, all four for the right
thumb; on French, two for the thumb and two for the little
fingers. A curved
barrel brings the instrument into a comfort
able playing position, as on all modern deep clarinets. Some
times this barrel is of wood, and sometimes it is of metal, in
which case it is
usually called a crook. French instruments have
; Germans often used to have
an upturned metal bell (Plate XI)
a straight-downwards wooden bell, as on the clarinet, but now
have a metal upturned bell which is in a sense a dummy, for the
lowest note issues through a large vent-hole at the base of
the bottom joint, in order to equalize its quality with that of the
other notes the bell then acts as a general reflector,
;
lifting the
sound off the floor.
The basset horn has two major composers: Mozart and
Richard Strauss. Mozart'sbasset horn works include the
Requiem (in which there are no ordinary clarinets); several
operas, including the Magic Flute, and La Clemenza di Tito,
which contains an obbligato that once used to be popular at
concerts; various short pieces, including the three beautiful
 THE CLARINET
for two clarinets and three horns; and the
Sermatk In Bf> for thirteen wind instruments. It Is in this last
that the basset horn has its sublimest say, above all In the
movement, with its trio of soloists, oboe, clarinet and
horn (Boskowsky plays it in
Fuitwlngler's great recording)
over a moving bass and
softly-throbbing Inner figure of
accompaniment on the other instruments; a jewel in wind
music, comparable with the Air of Bach's Third Suite in string
music.
Strauss scored for basset horn in almost
every opera from
Salome onwards, and thanks to the
popularity of these two
composers a pair of basset horns can now be produced when
necessary in every big musical centre, and the days of faking
their parts on clarinets are over.
When looking for second-hand basset horns, one must take
care to avoid a rare but none the less
existing type of German Ef?
alto clarinet with extension down to its low C like a basset horn.
Six fingers on the basset horn sounds (at concert
pitch) c, and
the open note sounds middle c'\ on this other instrument
they
are B|?s.

BASS CLARINET. Modern bass clarinets are derived from the

1838 design of Sax, which displaced earlier models, many of
which had bassoon-like butt joints (for a full account of early
bass clarinets, see Kendall, The Clarinet}. It is uncertain whether
it was one of the latter or on an
early straight model that
the pioneer obUigato in Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots was first

played.
The bass clarinet is in B|?, an octave below the B[j clarinet. In
France and in England (in the fine instruments of Boosey &
Hawkes) it has a large bore, up to 23 millimetres. Bass
clarinet reeds can be bought in Paris, though most players
employ tenor saxophone reeds. German instruments tradition
ally have a narrower bore (c. 20 millimetres) and smaller
mouthpiece, for which the players mostly make their own reeds;
the example in Plate VII is from the Amsterdam Concertgebouw
Orchestra and is for a Mollenhauer bass clarinet. The German
tone is less powerful than that of the Sax design, but no less
 THE WOODWIND TODAY
having a compact, telling reediness below the break
effective,
and greater brightness above it, Heckel, however, has departed
from this tradition, and makes a very wide bore, feeling that
tonal weight is desirable.
The chief fingering difference from the ordinary clarinet lies in
the use of keys. Both are actuated by the left
two speaker
n
thumb and the upper one is used from e fy upwards. With
automatic mechanism these keys can be made to change over
with a single touch for the thumb, so making the bass clarinet
an easy doubling instrument for a dance-band saxophonist. But
it interferes with the production and intonation of certain notes

in the high register, and so most orchestral bass-clarinettists

retain the two independent keys. There is also a modem
German design with three speaker keys, all changed automatic
ally,to clear the wolf notes in the region e"-g
f

%
which incline
to kick and to lose tone when made with the ordinary top

speaker key.
There is much difference of opinion as to the proper lowest
note of the bass clarinet. (
I
)
In many older and military instru

ments, it is E as on the clarinet (sounding D).

(2) For orchestral
work, however, a bass clarinet needs a low Ejj key in order to
reach the bottom E of parts written for the virtually extinct bass
clarinet in A. In the Wagner operas, for example, this note is
too important to be omitted in performance. (Only a few
German opera houses still possess an A
bass clarinet, and even
so the odds are that the player will play everything on the B[j,
as isdone elsewhere.) Every orchestral bass clarinet in France,
England, etc., has this extra key (for right little finger on
Boehms, but often for right thumb on other systems). (3) In
Germany, bass clarinets have hitherto normally been built
down to their low D (sounding C, a useful and appropriate note
for a bass instrument to go down to). (4) A long-established
custom in the Eastern European countries is to extend the bass
clarinet in basset horn fashion down to its low C. This accounts
for the low Ds and Cs that occur quite often in Russian scores,
and this extended compass is now finding favour in Germany.
The Berlin Philharmonic, for instance, use a bass clarinet built
down to its low C, by Oehler. On the standard Western instru-
128
 THE CLARINET
merit, nothing can be done about the Cs but a s of
dealing with Ds (e.g. in Petrmhka] is to drop the
cap into the bell and finger the low Ejj. This makes a rather
stifled note, however, and a better way is to drop in a cardboard
tube about 4 inches long. If D
and E|> occur together, an
accomplice is needed, to insert or remove the tube in time with
the music.
Unlike the oboist's cor anglais, the bass clarinet is a specialist's
instrument that the great majority of clarinettists never touch.
It is a difficult instrument to play well, with a full clear sound in
all registers. When well and thoughtfully handled, however, an

entry of the bass clarinet is really something to look forward to,

whether in the deep wind harmonies of Wagner, Delius and
Puccini, or in a solo obbligato like the one in the last Act of
Atda.

ALTO CLARINET (formerly better known in England as tenor

This has always been purely a military-band instru
clarinet}.
ment, normally built in E|j, though some German and older
French instruments are in F. The approximate reed-size is:
length, 72 millimetres; tip, 14 millimetres. It was Muller,
inventor of the thirteen-keyed clarinet, who first proposed the
alto clarinet, as a kind of wind viola for band transcriptions, and
in this capacity the old 'soup ladle' lasted in the British service
well into the present century, though ithas since been replaced

by the more powerful alto saxophone. The big military bands in

America, Italy and Spain, however, still often have it. An ex
ample is the municipal band of Venice, which plays several
evenings a week during the summer in the Piazza, with the
customary band repertoire of operatic selections,
Italian military

Wagner overtures and special clarinet solos, all executed with

that conscientious musicianship typical of every grade of Italian
wind player. It may be seen with the following instruments,
formed up in concentric semicircles facing the conductor and St
Mark's:
innermost row: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, A|j clarinet, 2 E|j clarinets;
second row: 14 B|j clarinets;
third row: 3 soprano and 1 alto flugel horns, 4 horns, 2 alto
129
 THE WOODWIND TODAY
clarinets, bass clarinets, soprano, 2 alto, tenor and baritone

saxophones; also a bass sax. reading from the same part as

a contrabassoon ;

fourth row: 3 trumpets, 8(7 bass trumpets, tenor trombones

(valved or slide, depending on who turns up), 1 F bass valved
trombone, BB|? contrabass valved tiombone, 2 tenor horns,
1

1
euphonium, 4 brass basses, and 4 string basses ;

in front: timpani, side drum, and bass drum with cymbals.

CONTRABASS CLARINET. This is a good instrument that should

The supra-treble register of the wood
receive wider attention.
wind is well enough provided for by the piccolo ; but it cannot be
said that the sub-bass is equally well served
by the contra
bassoon an instrument that ceases to be effective as soon as the
orchestra approaches a mezzoforte. One remedy for this
deficiency would be to double the contrabassoon with a contra
bass clarinet, following the line sometimes taken in
big
Continental bands. In large-scale transcriptions for these there
is usually included a 'reed contrabass' part intended for what

ever deep reed instrument the band happens to possess (e.g.

sarrusophone; see next chapter). If the band possesses more
than one sort, then all the better, and they are thrown on to this
part together (as for instance in the Italian band cited above).
Among such instruments in France and Germany, there is
occasionally a contrabass clarinet.
Several modern makers have shown that the contrabass
clarinet a sound practical proposition. Some, as Selmer, have
is

concentrated on a contrabass in (7. This, though

its bottom note

sounds no lower than G', has an advantage in that bass parts in

bands can easily be sight-read by imagining treble clef instead of
bass clef and adjusting the sharps and flats as
necessary.
But most have concentrated on the full contrabass in Bfy, an
octave deeper than the bass clarinet and two octaves below the

ordinary clarinet. The German designs are on the whole the

neatest, keeping (in wood or in metal) to the plain shape of the
bass clarinet. The Huller instrument illustrated
(Plate XIV)
stands 57 inches tall, resting on the
ground through an adjust
able peg, like a cello. It has 28-5 millimetre bore, and its reed is
130
 THE CLARINET
97 millimetres long and 19 millimetres wide the tip. Its
sound Is clear and musical right down to the bottom E
the lowest D of the piano). Even the deepest notes can be
as lightly and as staccato as could be desired, while the

flexibility throughout is all that one could possibly wish for.

It was recently used In London for a performance of Seh5nberg's

Five Orchestral Pieces (In which the composer has somewhat

perversely scored for contrabass clarinet In A), and played on
that occasion by R. Temple Savage, Covent Garden's wizard of
the bass clarinet and the owner of the Instruments in Plate XL
So successful are these contrabass clarinets that It is not

surprising to read that sub-contrabass clarinets, an octave lower

still, have been projected. A
recent experimental model Is by
Leblanc, in BBBJj, standing a man's height and descending far
below the piano keyboard down to the bottom of the 32-foot
register of the organ the deepest orchestral or band Instrument

yet contrived.

Clarinet mechanisms
In the following descriptions the keys are named according to
the notes they give in the upper register except for the andA
Ajj keys for finger I, which are used only in the lower register.
To obtain the upper register on any clarinet, the left thumb keeps
the thumb-hole closed and opens the speaker key with its
merest edge; simultaneously, the lower lip presses tighter on
the reed and one 'thinks* the note that is being aimed for.

BOEHM-SYSTEM CLARINET (Plate XI and fig. 19, left).

This

system, inspired by the ring-mechanism of Boehm's conical flute

of 1832, was brought out in 1843 by Klose, then professor at the
Paris Conservatoire, in collaboration with the maker
working
Buffet. It is the standard system In France, the Latin
now
countries and both American continents, while in England it has
become far the most-used system and the only one in regular
by
are Selmer (with a
manufacture. Among present French makers
second factory in America), Buffet, Marigaux, Leblanc, and
Couesnon. In England, Boosey & Hawkes. There are several
first class Italian makers, and German makers will supply the
131
 THE WOODWIND TODAY
system to order. A new instrument costs (1955) from ,24 to
l^0, according to the quality of the materials and workman
ship.

1.
Ijttk-finger keys. An alternative touch is provided for B, C,
and C$, but not for Ej;. With these, sliding a little finger from
one key to another
largely avoided by using the two little
is

fingers alternately. Normally B is taken with the left hand;

JLTK

FIG. 19.
Boehm-system clarinet mechanism. Left: standard
or 'plain' Boeh,m; centre:
full Boehm; X: example of an
'improved By device.

C with the right hand (unless next to

Ejj); and C# normally
with the right hand since it occurs most
commonly next to B,
but if next to C or Eb it is taken with the left
hand. The player
gets to recognize groups like B-C-D#, where the B must be
with the right hand, but in some
passages, sliding the right little
finger cannot be avoided, e.g. A
B-Cf-D# repeated. conundrum
like
B-D-G#-B-D| may be solved
by use of a cross-fingered
#"#(.. O/..Q).
132
 THE CLARINET
1.3k

Boehm-
clarimt. L. Th: kft
; S: speaker key. For
the use of the alternative keys
the notes marked
for f, see

J3S
 THE WOODWIND TODAY
2. Tie Ff key (finger VI) Is next to F in chromatic

passages. Sometimes, also, it

gives a better note than the usual
fingering (
. .
/ o .
o).

3. The B^'s. Either of the keys may be used as convenient,

but the side key is on the whole preferred. The Boehm *long"
action . oo / . o o (or, after Ff o o / o . o) is useful in quick
slurs and arpeggios from the right hand notes. 1

4. Tie other keys (finger IV) : the second key is mainly for
low register /'f after/' ; the upper two keys are for trills across
the break.

5. Throat notes. The A[j key worked by the middle joint of

is

finger I, and the A key by a small rolling movement of the same

finger. The b'jj (A key and speaker key together) is apt to be

weak on the A clarinet, and is better made on a held note with the
lower of the two trill
keys instead of the speaker.

The 'Full Boehm* and Plate XII). The preceding

(fig. 19, centre,
Boehm shows the system exactly as Klose
standard or 'plain'
and Buffet designed it with such masterly restraint over a
century ago; the major fingering advantages of Boehm's flute
are incorporated in the clarinet with mechanism that is a model
of simplicity and reliability. However, some players, especially
those who play A parts on the B jj clarinet, use the more elaborate
model known Boehm'. In addition to the standard
as the 'full

mechanism, and (if required) the low E|j key on the B|; instru
ment (right little finger) for reaching the low E of the A clarinet,
ithas the following. Duplicate E\> key (e"\>) for left little
finger,
especially required in conjunction with the low E(? key, e.g. to
be able to play, on the 6)7 clarinet, the straightforward low E
to A slur of the A clarinet. Articulated G#, for trilling /"#/#"#
with the right hand alone (cf. oboe) and making the clarinet A
g"/a" trill practicable on the B[j. In addition there
generally is

an extra G# key (cross-key for V). The ring for III (sometimes
1
Boosey & Hawkes have recently added to this action a simple device
for improving the trill Ab/Bb. The G# key raises the link between the
joints, thereby holding down the ring-controlled Bb key so that the trill
can be made with finger II alone.

134
 THE CLARINET
fitted to plain
Boehms) closes the open B|j key key
rings andI
II) to provide a forked B{>, in of E|?
and of the diminished seventh on G. To vent this in

compensation for the closure of hole III, there is a vent-

key (k, fig. 19), kept closed on other notes by rings II, IV, etc.
Improved 6'[> mechanism. This is a separate idea that German
makers of Boehm clarinets are especially keen on. It can take
several forms, one of which is sketched at z, fig. 19. When the

speaker pressed and the thumb-ring is released, an extra vent

is

(p) opens automatically to open out the tone of the b'fr. In

another arrangement there is a key that opens instead of the
speaker-hole when speaker and A keys are pressed together.

Schmidt Reform-Boehm clarinet (Plate XII).The most recent

interesting development of the clarinet. With the object of
rectifying certain faults of the normal Boehm, and also of

wedding Boehm fingering to the German type of bore and

mouthpiece in the best manner, Schmidt of Mannheim have

produced this new design, in which the holes are set out
according to revised principles arrived at after many years of
research and experiment. The bore is of the largest German
size (15-75 millimetres), and its cylinder is extended well into
the bell, which therefore has a small vent-hole in its neck, to
vent the lowest note of each register. It has several additions
to the normal Boehm mechanism. (
1
)
Since hole VI is made
smaller than usual, there is an automatic vent key for e"
further down on the right hand side of the bottom joint. (%J A
small vent for/"$ is attached to ring IV, which remains up
when this note, or b y is fingered. (3) F#/GJ trill. Hole III is
smaller than usual, but a small adjacent vent key makes up the
correct venting for a". This vent key is closed not only by ring
III, but also by rings IV and V, in which event (finger III being
raised ) hole III emits a g"%. The trill in question is thus made

by . . *
/
o . o and trilling with finger III. The device similarly
provides an A|?/B|? trill by . o / o o and trilling with finger
II. (4) An improved b' |j device, similar to that described in the

preceding section.
This Reform-Boehm has already come into wide use in
136
 THE WOODWIND TODAY
Holland, where It has brought about a truce in a battle that has
teen going on for some time between the Boehm-system clarinet
and the normal German models.

'NON-BOEHM* SYSTEMS. These are direct descendants of

Mullet 's pioneer thirteen-keyed clarinet of about 1810. Their
fingering differs from that of the Boehm system principally
through the fact that . . . / . o o gives F# instead of F (in low
B instead of B[>}, and that the thumb gives /'$ instead
register,
off. The various types may be grouped thus :

Simple or Albert system

Clinton model
Full German models (Oehler, etc.).

As compared with the Boehm,(

1
)
several cross-fingerings of
the ancient kind(i.e. those
like of the recorder) play an
important part in the fingering, and these, while they give
superb notes in the upper register, give poor notes in the lower
unless tuned by added vent some of them are in the
keys (as
Clinton and Oehler models, If not vented they are only
etc.).
good for fast
arpeggios and the like, where a poor note is less

likely to be noticed. On the other hand the vital high <;'",

whether cross-fingered or keyed, is
immeasurably superior to
the same note on the Boehm an incalculable aid to
expressive
playing. (2) The stretch for the hands is rather wider, and may
inconvenience a person with small hands,
especially on the A.

Simple system: the 13-keyed clarinet as remodelled by Albert of

Brussels about the middle of the last
century (Plate XII). In
spite of the general adoption in England of the Boehm
system
within the last forty years, the
simple system is still played by
many, and no beginner should be afraid of using it should a good
become available. This is no
flat-pitch pair
unlikely event, for
the system was still manufactured in the 1930s.
Many Continen
tal manufacturers make it still. It is
important that the instrument
should include Ae patent C# (fig. 21, extreme left; shown next to
it the appearance of the bottom
is
joint without it). This
involves a duplicate C# hole
) controlled by the C key.
(/, fig. fil

136
 THE CLARINET
It abolishes the need for sliding the left
little
finger ley to
key when going from B to
Cf pressing the ;B key gives C$,
while pressing the C key as well gives B as usual.
The following additional mechanism on the top joint is
sometimes found in Continental instruments.

jB{? side key: a third side key for finger IV, with its touch below
those of the trill and C keys. It is
very useful^ especially in the
low register where the forked e'fy is too sharp; without the extra
side key this note has to be made almost always with the cross

key, which so often involves an awkward slide for finger III.

Rings for I and II: the top-joint small vent, with its
brille. A
key soldered to the edge of ring I, brings /' in tune without the
help of the side C key (which otherwise has to be opened to
bring the note up to pitch). From/' downwards, the vent is kept
closed by the rings.

Rings far I, // and III: top-joint brille combined with improved

left-hand fork. Another small vent, soldered to ring II, is closed

by ring III in order to secure reduced venting for the forked

b"\>le'\}. On French instruments these extra rings are hinged on
the right hand side of the instrument, like the bottom-joint

rings; but on German, on the opposite

side (as in fig. 3), so
that for each hand, the rings are pivoted on the same side as the

hand is held. 1

Clinton model (fig. 21, right; Plate XIII); a clarinet devised

about 1885 and first made by Boosey. The names of well-known
playerswho use it, both in London and the provinces, would
make an impressive list (including, for instance, Pat Ryan, the
principal in the Hall), while at least one player has changed to
the Boehm and then later gone back to the Clinton. The chief
differences from the preceding are as follows:

Forkedr-F vent. This converts the fork . . .

/
. o . into a com
available for in the low
pletely vented fingering fully b\>

1
German catalogue descriptions in English are not always very easy to
follow. E.g.: Clarinet, grenadil wood, 17 keys, 2 holes in flat, 4 rings* F
3 trillers on the upper piece, trilkr in B-Cflat, levers in Eflat and flat, G
4 rollers. Presumably one of the four-ring models mentioned above.
137
 THE WOODWIND TODAY
register. Hole V, from which the note issues, is moved a little

further down the joint (almost level with the F key) and is

covered by a plate with an upwards extension so that finger V

may still fall in its natural position. While this finger is raised,
the vent key (m) stands open, to compensate for the closure of
hole VI. For the lower notes the vent is automatically closed by
finger V.

FIG. 21. Diagram of simple

system and Clinton clarinet
mechanisms. Left: simple
system ( the lower end shown
-with and without the patent

Cf ); right: Clinton model.

(first introduced by Sax). The Oft

Re-sited G# key hole is drilled

through the tenon and socket that connects the joints (correct

alignment being ensured by a metal stop on the outside).

Alternatively the two joints may be made in one piece. The
re-siting greatly improves the note in the low register (c'%}.
(Most full Boehms also incorporate this modification.)
r
Barret Action, adapted from the oboe to make c" and b"b (in the
low register,/' and e'fy} with a single side-key. It is also some
times added to the plain simple system. The small keys be
tween the left hand holes are normally kept closed by the
188
 THE CLARINET

FIG. 2. Chart for simple system and other non-Boehm clarinets. In

f
the left-hand column, the thumb-hole is closed until g ; in the right-
hand and bottom columns, the thumb-hole is closed and the speaker
is
key opened.
139
 THE WOODWIND TODAY
roaster-spring of the long side key. When the latter is pressed,
either both the small keys
(for C) or only the lower (for B[>)
open, according to whether finger II is raised or not. Ring III
permits the side key to be held down through trills, tremolos,
etc., involving G
or A[j and B|j in the upper register, simplifying
many passages.

Lengthened Afy touch, so that this key may be operated by finger

II when so desired.
A later Clinton model, used by a few, is the Clinton-Boehm,
with the little-finger keys arranged as on the Boehm system
and with articulated Gf key. Other 'half-Boehms* have been
brought out in Germany.
Oehler system, etc. In Germany, the advanced mechanical evolu
tion of the clarinet has paralleled that of the oboe in
France,
having led in a similar way to a complicated non-Boehm instru
ment that has not yet settled down in one final
pattern fixed in
every the Albert simple system incorpora
detail. Basically it is

ting the
all extra devices described earlier under Simple System

(patent C#, side Bj? key, three top-joint rings; also forked-F
vent). In addition it has inherited various things from the earlier
German system (c. I860) of C. Baermann, son of the Baermann
for whom Weber wrote the concertos.
The best-known design in German orchestras is that of
Oehler, Berlin (Plate XIII). The designs of other well-known
makers, as Schmidt (Mannheim), Uebel (Markneukirchen),
Mollenhauer (Cassel) and Koktan (Vienna), are often referred
to as the 'Oehler
system', even though each maker may have
his idiosyncrasies over certain details, as for instance in the
arrangement of the forked-F vent.
The Oehler mechanism includes the following devices
(fig.
23).
On the bottom joint:
1. Patent C$.
.
Duplicate E\> key for left little
finger, often with a duplicate
F key beside it.

3. Forked-F vent, much like that of the Clinton

except that
Oehler has moved hole V to the hand side of the instrument
right
140
 THE CLARINET
.and covered it with a lightly-sprung open key () ;
has no hole under It, but it closes both the little keys at the

4. High E correcting device: a small vent soldered to ring IV,

which is lowered by the E|> key. The purpose Is to provide
normal venting for g" but diminished
venting for *'" ( . . . /
9

o o o Ej>), which otherwise tends to be sharp. (On the Baer-

mann clarinet, the E|> key closed the brille for the same reason. }
On the top joint:

5. Improved left hand fork: the fork-fingering, by means of ring

FIG. 23. Diagram of Qehkr-system

clarinet.

Ill, closes the little vent soldered to ring II, giving an improved
note in the low register.

6. Top-joint brille
(involving rings 1 and II) combined with

Baermann's corrected open C$ as follows: the open fingering for

c'"% is a good note forpassages, but this top-joint brille

many
makes it too sharp. Therefore ring I, which carries the brille
vent, is automatically lowered by the speaker key. The A key
also lowers it to prevent a'
becoming sharp.
Some German clarinets now have a small closed key on
the bell, to be opened by the right thumb. The player opens
141
 THE WOODWIND TODAY
it if he V or e is too flat, which, with the long
feels that his

cylinder of the German bore, it is prone to be. Like the French

oboe-makers, the German clarinet-makers like to keep a maxi
mum tube-length even if it introduces a slight problem in the

tuning.

Saxophones
Patented by Adolphe Sax in Paris in 1846, the saxophone has
a wide conical brass tube
expanding at about 1 in 18, coupled
with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. It
overblows the octave like the oboe, with two automatic octave
keys, but otherwise it is fingered much like the clarinet. Also,
the embouchure is like that for the clarinet, but is looser and,
up
to a point, easier to acquire.

Sax, the son of the Brussels wind-instrument maker Charles

Sax, was himself a maker of woodwind (especially of clarinets)
and of brass of kinds (including his own saxhorns
all the
of our brass-band tenor horns and
prototypes baritones). He
was also a clarinettist. Unfortunately he left no account of his
discovery of the saxophone, but we may imagine that he
began
by experimenting woodwind-brass hybrids, for
in the field of

instance, trying out clarinet mouthpieces on the ophicleide

which may be shortly described as a euphonium with
padded
keys instead of valves.
The new invention was envisaged for military bands, in
which, in the 1840s, increased use of chromatic brass instruments
had upset the classic balance between brass and woodwind.
Saxophones, by supplying a powerful, filling-out reed tone
almost an open-air string-tone would
pull the band together,
as the French authorities
military immediately recognized by
authorizing their adoption by bands in the year following the
patent. Many other countries came to follow the French lead,
though never Germany. In British bands, the former prejudice
against them has been dispelled sufficiently to admit an alto
saxophone and a tenor regularly and a baritone occasionally.
American bands also use these, often in a
greater numbers and
sometimes adding a soprano. It was from the band that the
saxophone found its
way into jazz.
142
 THE CLARINET
The complete family of saxophones, the
pass of each member, is as follows;

E|? sopranino (d'\f-*'"\>), rare Bf? tenor

Bf? soprano (*b-*"'|>) E[? baritone
Efr alto (dWfl B|> bass
E contrabass (D'j^b) iwj ror*

In each case the compass Is written

/e
in the treble stave.
b^-f
It has not been thought
necessary, in this book, to illustrate
all these sizes, since each is standardized for all
practical pur
poses, while most can readily be inspected in a shop or a
dance band. The first two are quite
straight (looking like conical
metal clarinets). The rest have
tumed-up bells, and, from the
baritone downwards, the crook is once-coiled. Callers at Buffet's

shop in Paris will remember the giant contrabass saxophone

standing in the corner of the showroom, with its colossal mouth
piece and tattered reed on which generations of visitors have
bad a respectful and unproductive blow. In
point of general
utility in dance and other bands, the alto claims first place,
closely followed by the tenor. The baritone would come third.
In addition to the above series, we should notice certain
survivors of Sax's alternative set, which was
pitched in the keys
of F and C (instead of E|j and BJj). Best-known of these is the
'C melody' saxophone a tenor in C supplied for those who
work and so on, and wish to read from piano
in hotel orchestras

copies without transposing. Quite rare is the C soprano, on

which military band oboe parts could be read without
transposi
tion; and also the F 'mezzosoprano' (Plate Conn's X),
adaptation of Sax's original F alto.
Through jazz, the tone of the saxophone has been consider
ably opened out by enlargement of the bore and modifications to
the mouthpiece. Old saxophones sound curiously mute by
comparison, yet interesting as showing the tone of the instru
ment at the time of its early adventures in Paris a century ago
'soft and penetrating in the
higher part, full and rich in the
lower, their medium has something profoundly impressive'
(Berlioz). Out-of-date saxophones are quickly recognized by
the absence of automatic octave keys, patent
high F (Fig. 24 x) 9
 THE WOODWIND TODAY
articulated Gf , and the low B|p. For comparison with the modem
instrument, an example is shown in Plate X.

The most striking thing about the saxophone in modern

times is the way each principal size developed an individual

FIG. 24. Diagram of saxo

phone mechanism.

character of its own during the classic age of jazz in the 1920s
and 1930s. The alto, with its clear but rather monotonous solo-
tone settled down as
the chief saxophone in ensemble work
(the
basic section
having two altos and a tenor). The expressive
tenor, whether husky and Almost speech-like in the hands of
144
 THE CLARINET
Hawkins, or more urbanely romantic with
inevitably became the great solo instrument of the family,
its turn with clarinet, trumpet and trombone. Next to for
It,
solos, came the baritone, on whichEllington's Carney improvised

a*

cfb oo 00 O
oo 00 O
o
elDO oi
00 oj
o
oo B>. O O
00
1 o 1

FIG. 25. Chart for saxophone. (The octave key remains

pressedfor the notes in the bottom column. )

with perhaps the lightest and most

breathing sound ever con
jured from a deep wind instrument, and lastly Rollings superb
'pizzicato' slap-tongued bass supporting small combinations,
sometimes with a marvellously dignified and relaxed solo. The
 THE WOODWIND TODAY
soprano, unfortunately, was outshone by the clarinet and little

heard in those days.

Ever since jazz brought wider understanding of the saxophone,
orchestral composers have progressed far beyond the simple
* '
UArUsicnnt way of writing for it. Honegger's splendid effects
with three altos in his St Joan show what can be done in the
orchestra with a team of saxophones (in this work they replace

horns). With a single saxophone, British composers have been

outstandingly successful, as Walton in Behhazzar's Feast, and
Vaughan Williams, first in Job, where an alto represents the

hypocrite, and latterly in the Sixth Symphony, in which the

saxophone is a tenor, and quickly makes its appearance in an
arresting theme that could hardly have been announced on any
other musical instrument. In this last example especially, one
feels that Berlioz's prognostication that composers
is fulfilled
*
will hereafter derive wondrous from saxophones which
effects
it would be rash to
attempt foreseeing*. If more music uses the
saxophone like this, the instrument may in time become pro
moted from rare 'special* to a regular 'extra' in the clarinet
a

department of the woodwind.

SAXOPHONE MECHANISM. Figure 24 shows the typical lay

out. The normal F# is . / o o, the key being for trills with F
. . .

natural. The normal B[j

fingering is with the side key, and the
normal C fingering is with the o . o / o o o cross-fingering, the
side C
key being for use in rapid alternation of B and C. The
small plate jy (finger II) is for the A#/B trill, and z (not always
fitted) is a duplicate G$ touch also for trilling. A neat device
found on American saxophones enables E[? to be
fingered
. . .
/ . o . through the addition of a small [7 key
on the left-
hand side of the instrument. This key opens
automatically when
finger V is raised, plate V being meantime held down by a
connection from plate VI.
The upper register is carried up to top F, still in second
harmonics, by a cluster of three side keys for the left hand and
one for the right hand. Plate x (the 'patent
F') simplifies the
fingering of top F, especially next to C in arpeggios. There is no
regular high register of third and fourth harmon|cs, though
146
 THE CLARINET
experienced players are able to creep up even to the F an
octave higher still, by means of complex cross-fingerings and
special embouchures. The two semitones above the ordinary
top F, up to the G, are, however, much used by some soloists,
and specimen fingerings for obtaining them are included In the
chart.

Tarogato
This is best-known today as one of the instruments used for
the second stage call in the last Act of Tristan. It is a kind of Bjj

soprano saxophone made of wood (Plate X), with vent-holes in

the bell, plain finger-holes, and keywork arranged in German
simple-system fashion. The mouthpiece fits into the instrument,
instead of over it as on the saxophone, and an ordinary clarinet
reed can be used on it.
The name originally belonged to a species of shawm roman
tically associated in Hungarian national lore with the soldiers of
the younger Rakowsky(d. 1735) in his struggles against the

Hapsburgs. Specimens are preserved in the Budapest Museum.

A century afterwards, this original tarogato had retired to a
rustic oblivion in which it remained undisturbed until fresh
national spirit moved certain Hungarian musicians to revive
'national* instruments. This was in the 1890s, and it quickly led
to the elaboration of the cimbalom from a simple folk dulcimer
to the substantial piece of furniture used by Hungarian bands

today. The tarogato, however, with its fierce double reed,

was
judged, no doubt prudently, as likely to prove too much for even
the most fervent patriot, and accordingly the present 'easy-

blowing* single-reed mouthpiece was substituted. The instru

ment was manufactured by Schunda (Budapest), and to judg
from the number made, it must have had some success. Even
curved-crook tenors and basses were advertised. It has an
amusing 'woody* tone, mellower than that of the soprano
saxophone.
It is said to have been Richter's original choice at Bayreuth
for the second stage call in Tristan. Wagner marks this 'cor
in the preface that it would be better if 'a
anglais*, but observes
special instrument of wood be made for it after the model of the
147
 . THE WOODWIND TODAY
alp-bom, which, on account of Its simplicity, should be neither
nor expensive*. As may well be imagined, opera-houses
difficult

have had great fun with this. The usual substitute at Covent
Garden has remained Richter's tarogato, but in Barcelona they
use the tiple, while in Vienna, Wlach himself crawls out of the
pit and plays on a soprano saxophone. In Germany, the call is
it

commonly played on a trumpet with felt mute. But at Bayxeuth

*
and certain other houses, Wagner's alp-horn' idea has
long
been roughly followed, using a straight wooden trumpet in C,
with bulbous bell, rather wide trumpet mouthpiece, and a short
brass section containing one whole-tone valve, and this
certainly
gives the best effect. As usual, Wagner's idea works.

148
 CHAPTER VI

The Bassoon

ihe bassoon, 1 fourth and last primary tone-oolour of the

woodwind, is a conical-bore, double-reed instrument
like the oboe, but as well as
.

being an octave and a fifth

deeper produces a sound of entirely different
in its basic scale, it
character. The bore expands at only about half the angle of the
oboe's, and is doubled back on itself to make a long bass exten
sion (the total tube-length is just over eight feet). Moreover,
most of the finger-holes are deep drillings running slantwise
through as much as two inches of wood (see Plate XX), so
that the venting of the notes is comparatively weak, and large
amounts of energy are passed down to the lower parts of the
tube, including the long doubled-back extension, to set up
powerful resonances that strengthen the sound in a characteristic
way. The bright reediness of the oboe is transformed into a dark
mellowness a strange, unique quality impossible to describe
adequately in words, but something between a male voice and a
horn, and in many ways sweeter and more pleasing than either.
Sacheverell Sitwell, discussing the concertos in his book on
*
Mozart, wrote, 'with the bassoon, it is like a sea-god speaking
The great solo register, as a glance at any classical score will
show, coincides exactly with the compass of the tenor voice, and
it is the continual use of the bassoon as a tenor melodist that
makes it so
rewarding to play in the orchestra. Its archaic
1 Ital.
fagotto; Germ. Fagott. The traditional English military-band
pronunciation with Z sound may be quite old: 'Spent with the singers
when the new Bazoon came 2$. 6d.* at Hayfield in Derbyshire, 1772
(McDermott).
14,9
 THE WOODWIND TODAY
function as bass to the woodwind remains important, but
subsidiary to its tenor role. Above the tenor range, the high
register is usually considered to extend to e" or/". Heckel, the
99
celebrated German bassoon-maker, advertised a top a ^ in his

fingering chart, and somebody once actually heard him get it

with a special reed, but mercifully nothing above e" has been
written in an orchestral part. In a solo passage, the highest

really comfortable note is c" ; solos with higher notes are always
worrying.

Assembling and sounding the bassoon

The bassoon has five pieces: the metal crook; the wing or
tenor joint; the double joint or butt; the bass or long joint; and
the bell. Also required is the sling, and with bassoons of the
German type, the wooden hand-rest. "French' and 'German'
denote the two types of bassoon in use today. They are des
cribed separately further on.
From the crook, the bore runs down through
the tenor joint
and butt, and then ascends up the wider bore of the butt and
through the long joint and bell. The six principal finger-posi
tionscommunicate with the descending bore, and the ascending
portion is controlled mainly by the right little finger (with the
F key) and the two thumbs.
The instrument must be put together correctly, else the joints
may become strained. First, the sling is donned. This is a cord
carrying a hook and an adjusting bead; the cord makes one loop
above the bead, and two below carrying the hook (fig. 26). It is
normally put over the neck, though some put it round the right
shoulder. Ladies, not as a rule having coat-collars, fit a band of
broad material to the sling to prevent it
cutting into the neck
(and the same for the cor anglais). Second, while holding the
butt in the right hand with its narrower bore lowermost, the
tenor joint is pushed in with the other hand, its concave inner
surface being aligned
concentrically with the large bore of the
butt. Remove the crook-key protector (a lapped wooden peg
inserted into the top of the tenor joint when the instrument is

dismantled). Third, while still holding the butt in the right

hand, the long joint is pushed in. French bassoons have a catch
150
 THE
to hold It tight against the tenor
joint; German have a
projecting edge on the tenor joint comes a
plate screwed to the long joint. Fourth, the bell is on,
and with a German instrument the hand-rest is put into its
socket on the butt.
Finally the crook is inserted, half
round towards the back, i.e. to the thumbs side of the instrument.
The assembled instrument is now hooked on to the
by
the ring at the top of the butt, and a reed
(Chapter III) Is put on
the crook, having first moistened the latter In the
lips so that the
reed grips better. (To strike the true
point of balance, several
players of the German bassoon have recently taken to
slinging

FIG. 26'.
Sling for bassoon, saxophone, etc. Diagram show
ing method of threading cord through hook and adjusting
bead.

the instrument higher up,

by means of a ring carried on a 4-inch~
long extension soldered to the band at the
plate top of the butt.
To suit the curious resulting posture of the player, Heckel will
now supply a crook of straightened shape,
bringing the reed
higher up. )
Whilst playing, the butt is firmly held
against the right thigh
by the pressure of the lower part of finger IV. On the French
instrument this is
applied directly against the wood of the butt,
but in German through the hand-rest. The upper
part of the
instrument is held up by the lowest joint of
finger I
against the
long joint not by the left thumb, which has far too much work
to do operating the keys. The
sling must be adjusted by the
bead so that both blades of the reed feel
properly under control,
the lips being curled back just over the teeth, and the corners of
the mouth being closed round the reed in the usual manner for
151
 THE WOODWIND TODAY
playing a reed instrument
but not too tightly, for it is a good
of one's mouth is well arched and
thing to feel that the cavity
expanded, since this helps the tone.

If a bassoon feels a or too sharp on all the notes

shade too flat

has been developed), one

(assuming that a correct embouchure
a crook of different Heckel numbers his crooks :
may try length.
No. O, the shortest, No. 2, longer and the one
No. I, short,

normally used in England, and No. 3, the longest. French

crooks are not numbered, but repairers know all about lengthen

as may be necessary. It is also worth

ing or shortening them
remembering that quite apart from pitch, a bassoon may play
better with one crook than another, and professional players
often test each other's crooks on their respective instruments.
Even more than on other wind instruments, the lips have to
work all the time to get notes in tune. At first it may seem that
almost every note on the bassoon requires a different em
bouchure, especially on the older French- and English-made
Instruments; but in course of time, this 'humouring' largely
becomes subconscious. Another important means of humouring
the notes is by use of the lower keys. On most notes it will be
found that the quality, and also sometimes the pitch, are con
siderably altered when one of the keys on
the long joint is

pressed, and all bassoon players make regular use of this in

order to out the tone of weak notes, to rectify notes that
fill

incline to 'fly' or blow sharp, and so on. For instance, on a

French bassoon, if a weak or unsteady B|? or A can be corrected
by pressing the low Ef> key (or any other key on the long joint)
then that key should be included in one's regular fingering for
the note, even in fast passages. On all bassoons the tenor F
benefits from filling out by pressing one of these keys. The low

Efr key especially is so valuable in toning-up weak notes that it

has been referred to as the 'doctor'.

The Buffet and the Heckel

While it has been emphasized in the preceding chapters that
French woodwind sound differs from German, the differences
between the instruments themselves is not so fundamental that a
162
 THE BASSOON
player of a French instrument may not now
almost as he were playing on a German, and vice versa. With
if

the bassoon, however, the difference is always unmistakable,

whoever the player may be.
Of all our present woodwind, the French tms&om is that which
has been altered least since the time of Beethoven. Weak notes
of old have been greatly improved and the overall sonority has
been developed, but with deliberate avoidance of all but the
gentlest modifications to the bore and to the holes and mechan
ism. It is of rosewood (or, occasionally, of ebonite, for use in
tropical climates), with the expanding bore ending with a
practically cylindrical bell. The bottom of the butt is closed
either with a plain cork or
by a metal U-tube.
The leading maker is Buffet-Crampon of Paris. Another
favourite maker among British players up to the 1930s was
Mahillon of Brussels, whose instruments those formerly made
by the London manufacturers closely resemble. In France,

Spain and Italy, the Buffet is standard. Elsewhere west of the

Rhine it has lost ground, or is beginning to lose ground, to the
German bassoon. Even in Italy, by tradition very much a
Buffet country, the players at the Scala, Milan, have recently

changed over to the Heckel. England, after having also been a

French-bassoon country for nearly a century (except for an
isolated German-bassoon cell at Manchester) underwent a

sweeping German invasion early in the 1930s, largely precipi

tated by the visit to London of the New York Philharmonic
Orchestra with Toscanini players changed over to the German
;

bassoon in dozens, and it has now become by far the commoner

of the two. Most beginners seek to procure one (they cost from
l%5 upwards, new) and Boosey & Hawkes, the only British
firm now making bassoons, no longer make the French model.
Yet a great many British players, including several of the finest
and most sought-after (headed by Cecil James, principal in the
Philharmonia Orchestra) have remained true to the Buffet, and
indeed, when one hears them, one wonders why this swing-over
to the German instrument should have taken place. But there is
a reason.
The German bassoon, standard east of the Rhine and in
 THE WOODWIND TODAY
America, is the eventual outcome of bandmaster Almenraeder's
drastic remodelling of the classical bassoon about the time of
Beethoven's death. How
he improved the instrument technically
in many ways but at the same time spoilt its tone, and how it

took two generations of the Heckel family to restore this, is told

in Chapter XII. The modem German bassoon is the triumph of
the firm of Heckel (Biebrich-am-Rhein, near Wiesbaden), who
are still its leading makers. Many others manufacture it too,

following Heckel's model. Some of Mollenhauer's instruments

closely rival those of Heckel. But nearly every leading player
uses a genuine Heckel. The Adler instrument, a little less open
in tone, well-known in England through its use by Archie
is

Camden and Gwydion Brooke. Schrieber (Markneukirchen;

British agent: Dallas) has latterly produced a comparatively

cheap model and other manufacturers will no doubt follow.

Several American firms make only the Heckel model (e.g.
Conn), and at least one of the French manufacturers now
makes for export.
it

of European maple, with the bore almost evenly conical

It is

throughout. The tenor joint, sometimes also the small bore of

the butt, is lined with ebonite, since unlined maple is liable to

develop whiskers through the effect of moisture. The bottom of

the butt is closed by a metal U-tube which can be removed for
occasional cleaning after pulling off the protecting cap with a

sharp tug. The bell is characteristically,

though not invariably,
surmounted by an ivory ring.

Comparing the two types, their fingerings differ without

giving either a decisive advantage. The great point in favour of
the Heckel is that from top to bottom of the compass, and from

piano to forte the tone is uniformly effective in the orchestra.

And, going with this, it is a comparatively easy matter always
to have a reed handy that will produce its clear,
telling quality
reasonably satisfactorily, without the tone becoming forced, nasal
or stuffy. It is possible, but much harder, to be certain of

corresponding results on the French instrument, which is the

more sensitive to the vagaries of reeds, and has weak
spots in
each register which a reed that falls short of the optimum will
 THE BASSOON
show up. This is the real reason behind the successes of the
Heckel outside its home territory; it makes life easier for the
orchestral player.

Against this, the tone-quality of the French bassoon Is by

nature the more subtle and vocal. The sound of course varies
with different players and in different countries. The French
players prefer a rather dry, reedy tone, which artists like
Dherin and Oubradous nevertheless mould into an extra 1

ordinarily expressive sound with their feeling, breathing and

vibrato. In England, and also in Italy, the players have sought a
rounder, mellower sound, free from reediness (today In England
frequently using German-type reeds) vibrato is either not used,
;

or is reserved for very special occasions. But in whatever way it

is produced, the sound of the French bassoon is never uninterest
ing. That of the German, on the other hand, tends rather to
become so, and to lack variety. Clear and ethereal though it is
on the upper notes, the middle and lower parts of the compass
tend to sound wooden and monotonous, especially in chamber
music and solos.It takes a thoughtful approach to avoid this; to

make the legato sympathetic and singing, and the staccato light
and vivacious. The shape of the reed therefore varies con
siderably.
The late Strobel of Vienna, said to have had the finest tone
of Heckel-players of his day, made a very broad reed, 17
all

millimetres across the tip. This model is still used by Oehl-

berger and his fine team in the Vienna Philharmonic. It makes

the tone warm and human, though on the thick side (truly
German in fact, blending naturally with its Germanic neigh
bour instruments in the orchestra). The well-known reeds of
Ludwig of Munich show an average width (Plate VI). Many,
however, make them much narrower, and in America, where the
German bassoon is particularly well played, the modern ten
dency is said to be for a reed as little as 14 millimetres across the
tip, and perfectly circular in the throat, instead
of slightly
flattened as is more usual. This introduces an interesting touch
of vocal hollowness into the tone, and causes the instrument to
blend very well with the prevailing French style of the other
woodwind in American orchestras.
155
 THE WOODWIND TODAY

FIG. 7. Diagram of French

bassoon key work (Buffet).
Thumb keys and hole shown
on the ltft;Jinger holes and
keys on the right.

It is a curious
thing that the two types of bassoon, neither of
them perfect nor sounding exactly like the other,
go remarkably
well side by side.
They have been frequently seen thus in
 THE BASSOON

o a
English orchestras,
and it is usually held that the best effect is
when the Buffet is on top and the Heckel underneath, though of
course this also depends upon the players.
157
 THE WOODWIND TODAY

FRENCH BASSOON (fig. 27). The key (left little finger) is

kept closed from the bottom note up to a\>, and then again for
f% S' an(^ a/ b- (The alternative crook key touch for left thumb,
x, if present, is for use when making c$ pianissimo with the

keyed fingering.)

Cro$$~zfingiring$ alternative to keyedjingerings are available for the

Bjj's,where both fingerings are indispensable; and also for the
f

Cf s E{?, where many players prefer the cross-

and the middle
fingerings on account of their mellower sound, though the
French use the keyed fingerings freely.

Half-holing (for gy etc.) is by rolling finger I downwards to un

cover the upper part of the hole.

High A and C keys. There may be from two to four thumb keys
on the tenor joint. The essential ones are the two harmonic
keys (a and c, fig. 7), used in the high register from a' up
wards, and also sometimes for steadying tenor notes like a and
f
c (e.g. when slurring up from the low register).

etc. The small keys for

Trill keys, fingers I and II can be used for
over the break, e.g. E/Ff (though these trills also have
trills

other fingerings), and for obtaining extreme high notes from

e"\>upwards with all holes uncovered. The trill key y for the
left thumb, if fitted, is the 'Creation key*, facilitating quick
r
alternation of e and g', as in the 'doves' passage in The Creation;
also, it gives a top/"in conjunction with the small keys. The
trill key % on the butt (finger V) is especially valuable for the

flat trill.

The Buffet F$/G% trill device:

key-arm of the F key
in this, the
is
sprung to close, the key normally being kept open by the

stronger spring of the F touch. Pressing the extra touch t for

the right thumb holds down the F touch, allowing the F
key to
close and thus disengaging the little finger for
trilling the A [7
key, which has a projecting lug so that every time it rises, it

opens the F key with it. (Some players, however, permanently

disengage this mechanism, having the F key re-sprung to open
as normally.)
 THE BASSOON
Fingerplates and rings. On the Buffet, the plate for VI (with
roller for sliding to the B|> key) dates from about
forty years
ago, whenhole VI was moved further down the butt to
steady the A's. Earlier instruments, and also most of
by
other makers, have either a plain hole or a simpler form of
plate.
On many of the older Buffet instruments, however, one also
finds the rings introduced by Jancourt and adopted by the Paris
makers for some years, e.g. half-hole plate for I held down by
ring for II; and a vent key for the B naturals (formerly in
clined to be flat) closed by a ring for V.

GERMAN BASSOON (fig. S9).

1
Connections through the butt:
Three pieces of mechanism on the butt involve connection
between front and back by means of thin rods that pass
through
the wall between the two bores. These rods are
usually of a
flexible material like soft vulcanite, to avoid risk of their

jamming. They are as follows: 1, for the front Bf? touch to

actuate the 6(7 key, which is on the back; 2, for VI to close plate
itskey, which is also on the back and 3, for the ; thumb F$ key to
close the F key.

The alternative keys on the butt. Both F$ keys, front and back,
close the F key, so that F$/G# need involve no sliding of the
little finger. Most
players normally use the thumb F| and the
little finger G# (as indicated on the
chart) and are thereby
further prepared for A# with the thumb in
passages in the
keys of B and D[?. The thumb key is likewise normally used
for B[j, being the handiest next to A [7
and the notes below (no
forked B|j used on this system). Nevertheless, just as on the
is

Boehm-system clarinet, passages occur when sliding a finger

cannot be avoided (e.g. B|^-A[7-G|? repeated).

The middle C$'s. The simple cross-fingerings are not used, and
furthermore, the plain fingering with the left hand only is

generally avoided in both octaves, since the more complicated

fingerings give clearer notes and better in tune (see the chart).

Keyed e\>. The left thumb C# key becomes an E|j key when
1
German bassoons have also been made with an approximation to
French-system keywork, for export. With a good instrument this is
perfectly satisfactory. The sound remains that of a German bassoon.
169
 THE WOODWIND TODAY
.1

FIG. BB. Diagram of the key-

work of the Heckel^ysUm
bassom.

finger III raised, releasing its ring

is & useful e^ in chromatic

passages. (The other ring, for finger V, permits a vent key to

open when this finger is raised and the key is depressed, to
bring g' in tune with the normal fingering. }
Use of the left thumb on the tenor notes. This forms the most
part of the fingering. The crook hole is smaller than on
difficult

the French bassoon and less efficient as an octave vent. It is too

160
 THE BASSOON

Tltia^
znc
O * .F |<

rooo i:
IOO.FJ:
* o
f* O *
to
* o
O oo
O OOF
oc
oc
OF
b' O OF j
c
c* 00 * OF : c
O O.^: c
00.
O :qr
:C|

FIG. 30. Chart for German-system bassoon. See text for theme of
the crook key and of the alternative keys for the notes marked f. Note
also the following trills (trill with fingers marked x):

eff% with trill key for I/, or o . o / x . .

FJ
fig as French system
e'bff as French system

e'/f'$ -, o.l xx*

fig* o..jxxo
11 w.l. 162
 #
to to the r to a, and
if it 1 and
is are are apt to
for a in the in the
an or lias to be at all
It is as r' 6 the C is

(r, fig. md for a, the A key (4); for %,

the in This is

0a the it is. One has to be

f
the left If there are C$ s in the
as or if the key is to be closed. Since, how-
the is so small,
possible up to a
it is

to the crook key. Formerly, indeed, there was

no to the hole^ and forpp in the low register,
arc with the hole open, it was temporarily closed
a pin the player carried in the lapel of his coat. An
on this a cemented in a brass clip. Better still, a
mounted on the crook, to be flicked closed
lever
for a quiet on the lower notes. Many players have
this lever, some
keeping it closed all the time, so that
must always finger with the fingering * * o / o o . F,
which gives this note without the crook-hole open.
With the normal thumb-operated crook key (piam-Mechanik it
is called in
Germany) the crook-hole is kept closed from dp down
to F. Below this the E-plate (right thumb) closes it automatic

ally.In addition, a spring-lock is fitted to hold down the crook

key on slurs down af the bottom when the left thumb is unable
to manage both the crook key touch and its
keys on the long
joint (e.g. the pp slur from Bfy to low C at the beginning of

Siegfried}.
Several extra keys and gadgets can be fitted optionally, :
e.g.
high D
key for left thumb (indicated in broken line in fig. 8) ;

middle D/JEjj trill key on the tenor joint (either for III, of with
the touch extended over the butt, for IV, like the side
key on the
flute) connection
;
by which the E plate holds down the F key for
the trill on low E/F#; A\>jB\> trill key (another thumb on key
the butt) to do away with the poor trill made by trilling finger
V while fingering A|>; etc.
163
 THE
L&w A, Wagner and Mahler are the A the
former in his third bassoon only. this
note are supplied to order by Heekel and XV).
Their bell is about } inches longer the and the
open low A key operated by either the left
is or the left

littlefinger. Failing this, an excellent low A be

a roll of paper in the bell, while some players can
a good A by fingering low B|j and drawing the lips to
down the vibration of the reed.

Mutes. To help pianissimo on the low notes, a French player

may sometimes be observed to stuffhis handkerchief in the bell.
This makes an effective mute, except that one cannot then play
the low B[? and the B becomes dangerous, An Improvement Is
the kind ofmute often used in Germany, for example the follow
ing from the Berlin Philharmonic: a S-inch length of brass tube,
about | inch less in diameter than the bore of the bell. Sufficient
felt or wool is tied round the tube to hold it lightly In the tell

mouth, half in, half out, and with this simple device the low
notes become safe down to the softest pp without damage to the
attack or the tone-quality.

Contrabassoon

This, also often called by its older name double bassoon, is an

octave lower than the bassoon; its deepest notes provide the
woodwind's rendering of the bottom notes of the piano. Such low
frequencies, sustained on a wind instrument, have to be heard to
be believed.
One design is used throughout modern
of contrabassoon
orchestras, namely HeckePs. Most of the instruments in use

today are by Heckel himself, though several other makers now

copy the design. It is not by any means a scaled up replica of the
their
ordinary bassoon, for the holes are placed approximately in
acoustically-correct positions, and are closed by finger-plates
turning on long axles. However, Heckel has preserved
some
thing of the bassoon's character through his retention of narrow,
deep drillings for the left hand holes.
There is no crook key, nor high A and C keys. Instead, the
163
left lias t\*o tin* of
to / but an and
# fas
#
n and tlie key, if to/ fr'f is
t?

best the by low F and

is like
the Cf key). tlie key
of the or as and
Hie in the is more
on the
are up to/", and Itarmonics to

top of 6'j>
<;" comes easily
as a

only to the
(with C
a bell upwards). But the parts frequently
the low Bjh and this Is supplied either by a bent-over
bell (as in XVI), or by a tall metal bell, which,
however, to obstruct the view of the brass players
this becomes worse with the low-A bell that so

foreign orchestras quite unnecessarily invest in for the

cost of a few extra marks.

*The double-bassoon a large and ponderous instrument

is

with a heavy and obtrusive tone ', says a recent book, echoing the
statements of all orchestration books, ancient and modem. If
only it were! As for the alleged ponderousness, technique on the
Heckel contrabassoon is as fluent and flexible as that on the

bassoon itself; e.g. the difficult bassoon cadenza in Rimsky-

Korsakov's Shehirezade is actually child's play on the contra,
and Beethoven's hectic passages up to top A with the cellos and
basses are all perfectly feasible. But as for 'obtrusive tone*, the

only trouble with the contrabassoon is simply that it is not loud

enough in the orchestra. With properly-made reeds, its tone
throughout is warm and musical, like thick velvet. But only the
lowest fifth has sufficient volume to tell in ensemble passages
above the level of mezzofmno. An attempt to make more noise
can be made with a French-style reed, but produces only the
shattering, pitch-less buzz of a large reed that has failed to come
properly to grips with the air-column. There are, admittedly,
some conductors of the French school who relish this horrible
1G4
noise. But nothing can be in by
composers who have the like
Brahms, Strauss and Puccini. The first and last of
s

Brahms s First Symphony, and the at the end

1st Act of Toscn, cry out for the and
notes that the instrument will deliver, and the of
obtaining them is laboriously to play in the
reeds, made of the best cane, and not to the
scraping knife unless they refuse to loosen-up with
month of playing.

Very occasionally(e.g. in Madrid) one may still see one of

the French contrabassoons, some B feet 9
old
constructed rather like a bassoon, and
mostly with plain finger-
holes and going down to C. Usually it has some
good steady
notes along with a lot of very bad ones for which the test

fingerings have to be found by experiment. It needs a French-

type reed and a certain amount of buzz suits it. Another obsolete
design, used in England around the latter part of the last century,
is Morton's copy of Haseneier's formidable invention, the
Contrabassophom. This had a bore double that of the bassoon in
diameter (cf. the heckelphone) a far wider bore than in any
other contrabassoon and finger-holes wide in proportion.
Where the other contras may wheeze and buzz, the contra-
bassophone roars. It can be played almost up to a tuba fortis
simo. Piano is the difficulty.

Notwithstanding the many fine points of the Heckel-type

instrument, it must be conceded that a really satisfactory type
has yet to be evolved. That this should be no impossibility was
demonstrated a few years back by the London player and reed-
maker James O'Loughlin, who made a contrabassoon for him
self using bits of an old sharp-pitch bassoon for the narrower

parts and tubing of plastic for the larger. When after weeks of
keen anticipation in woodwind circles the instrument was first
produced an engagement, it was agreed by all present that in
at

spite of its odd, home-made appearance, it was superior in tone

to any contrabassoon that they had ever heard before.

166
 f/r.

XVI) art* a erf

by the
in ten Sax the
His was to the of the
in in had
the as too and
the
In are no
where as as the But as OR the latter, the
are awl are in positions
and by on The is like
of the (though with simple-acting
aid the tonalities, and transpositions are
the written rf').
The were first put into production by Gautrot
of Coesnon). The Bf? soprano Is
straight,
like a oboe. E alto and
BJ> tenor are folded once, like
E|; baritone, B|? bass and the E|j, C and Bf?
are folded again for compactness. From alto to bass
have short bassoon-like crooks. The contrabasses have
coiled crooks. Their reeds are like bassoon reeds,
varying in size
with the different members of the family (a complete set is drawn
half-size in Lavignac*s
Encyclopaedia; Plate VI shows the reed
for the large military Contrabass in 1
Bfj).
The tone In the lower and middle parts of the compass is con
siderably more powerful than that of the oboe or the bassoon,

bestowing upon a band a cheerful reediness which the

smoother,
though in some respects not dissimilar tone of the saxophones
does not. Their failure to have secured a
permanent place in
bands must be mainly due to the fact that their
useful compass is
severely limited on account of the ineffectiveness of the higher
notes. These notes are too dull and faint for
satisfactory rendi-

1
Approximate measurements, in millimetres, of tip-width, blade-length
to first wire, and total length:
soprano, 9, 9, 55; alto, 13, 25, 55; tenor,
15, 27, 60; baritone, 17, 32, 70; bass, 19, 40, 80; Eb or C contrabass, 22
44,85.
166
tion of orchestral oboe and and as
Franko GoldmaB has pointed out* at
different samisophones to deal a
wind part. They have been fairly tested in the past. For
In some big Italian bands even up to the (or a

tone) and a bass sarrusophone were die

bassoon parts in transcriptions of Puccini operas (in
incidentally, the voice parts are rendered by brass
while a contrabass would help with the ad or
* *
reed contrabass part. In Paris, the civilian band, the la

Str$me y still musters a team of samisophones, including soprano

(for orchestral oboe parts) But generally today,

and alto.

'sarrusophone' means simply the contrabass, which is still

manufactured and is employed in a number of the larger French
and American bands. It can add magnificent extra weight,
sonorously reedy, to the bass of the full band's harmony, while
it can be played softly as a contra
yet, with practised handling,
bass to the band's woodwind. Latterly, single-reed mouthpieces
have been tried on it.
For a long time the contrabass was also used in French
orchestras for contrabassoon parts, with the full connivance of
Saint-Sans and other leading French composers of the time, all
of whom took a great interest in the instrument and wrote
contrebasson parts envisaged for performance on the sarrusophone.
It has recently been replaced by Buffet's copy of the Heckel-
to one who often used to
pattern contrabassoon, yet according
sit near it in the Paris orchestras, the sarrusophone made a very

reasonable, contrabassoon-like sound in this role (but then, as

already noticed, the French like a good rattling sound in the
16-foot register of the woodwind). In Spanish orchestras, the
contrabass sarrusophone is still commoner than the contra

bassoon; it is sometimes a C contrabass, sometimes the more

handy E|j contrabass, whose lowest note is D'jj. (Hie contrabass
sarrusophones are best regarded as non-transposing, reading
from bass clef like a contrabassoon.) On the large military band
B|?contrabass, the bottom note is A"}> -the deepest note given
by any reed instrument save the still-experimental sub-contra
bass clarinet.
167
 OR AD ANCIA {'reed
XVI). is * of
in a is a of
It has a and a

is is so big
the no
0ft* is at a

*o the Is like a To
the the of the of are so
the of the left (the
in the key for the lowest
and the for the highest, the
In in the order of a pianist's
"The can proficiency with only a
days' practice* (Mahlllon, 1896), all that a pianist

find at first Is his left hand is held palm-

There are in addition,, two octave keys* and also
thumb keys, including that for the bottom note, t tills D f

differing from the rest in being an open key. The instrument

a very large double reed and makes the loudest noise of all
the 16-foot double-reed inventions. Even some provincial Italian
bands have found it
troppo aspro.

168
PART TWO

History
 VII

The

tens of thousands of years

ago, upper
crouched in his rough shelter, noticed that certain
of object, like a hollow bone, a dried-up fruit
.
or a
piece of hollow cane, might give a sound if blown in
certain ways a flute-sound, and the sound interested Mm. No
;

doubt a note had already been produced accidentally now and

then by earlier men, for instance, while picMng a bone; but it
would have been passed over without particular notice; even up
to the present time there have remained a few primitive peoples
who do not make flutes, among them the Australian aborigines
and the Fuegians. They represent the flute-less advanc^^eanls
of mankind. Only to the expanded consciousness of the superior
palaeolithic peoples of some twenty thousand years ago, the
fact that a dead bone or cut plant apparently possessed a voice
of its own became
interesting, and the customs of primitive
flute-users today reveal that the first significance to be
attached to the phenomenon was magical. The natural
material was then by the
deliberately fashioned into a flute
tribalmedicine man, to aid him in his communications with the
world of spirits, to cure sickness, stop rain and so on. Thus, like
the drum, the flute was invented to serve primitive magic and
ritual. So too was the trumpet, which first appeared in its rudi

mentary forms scarcely later than the flute. AM

even in high
civilization, wind music has not entirely shaken off its earliest

associations. In the church organ we still have our religious

super-flute, and in the military band our ceremonial super-

trumpet.
171
 HISTORY
in

the flute is than a

In this
in is

flute is

or in the by men in

b c

hSM

FIG. 31. -rf selection of primitive whistles, illustrating

different sound-generating arrangements.

whistles. Several of these arrangements are illustrated in fig. 31,

among them some that are virtually unknown in Western

them
though our ancestors may have employed
in
civilization,
some remote era and subsequently given them up.
172
 The 'Bushman's flute" (a) of an a of
at the end and
vertically the lip. It is not as
we sound a note on a hat a
embouchure formed by sticking out the a

curling it into a wind guide. The

man's 'Mataco whistle" (b) is a by a
hole in the middle under which there is a of
deflects the breath on to the farther of the (as
in the sectional drawing). It can be blown so
that if the hole is off-centre it gives two
medicine men make use of when
directing a dance, or a
The bamboo whistle from South-east Asia (c) the

genus notched flute^ that is, an end-blown flute in which

production is facilitated by a notch cut In the rim of the

opposite the point where it is held to the mouth. The
Is held forwards like a recorder, and the lower lip almost covers

the tube while the breath is aimed at the base of the notch -lip

aperture and notch combining to form something not unlike the

voicing of a flageolet. In the example shown, the bore is so small
that a shallower notch is cut on the opposite side to assist the
embouchure, but some fully-fledged notched flutes are shown
later on (tig. 36).

Next, two examples of the globular flute in whistle form, the

widespread ancestor of the ocarina. The Brazilian whistle (/} is
made of a one and a half inch purplish dried fruit-shell, and the
note is made by blowing flute-wise across the hole. Its equiva
lent in bone
(e) the 'phalange whistle' of a reindeer foot-bone,
is

found ip considerable numbers in European Upper Palaeolithic

sites, including the painted caves of the Pyrenees. Like
-the

could not have been made

paintings themselves, these whistles
without much time and care; it cannot have been easy to cut a
neat round hole in an inch-long bone with a flint tool, and this
surely indicates that the reindeer
whistle had some great ritual

or magic importance. It has been suggested that these remote

whistles (note, about d"") in
part-ancestors of ours blew these
chorus in their innermost, secret caverns where the paintings
are. Other typical primitive noise-makers have been found with
173
 HISTORY
and on the end

the (of our is

by {^*}.
the Ss

to one so the full of the can

1m* But was the was
in the for it in the

as we see it are one

is in we see how can be
on an

not yet complete agreement

the evolutionary of various sounding prin-
Curt has that the rudimentary flageolet

(b) the earliest* Others have pointed to the stopped

(a). However , It is not difficult to
Imagine ways by
which one might have quite naturally given rise to another. The
transverse whistle might Jhave been discovered through accident

ally sounding a note whilst blowing away the chips during the
manufacture of whistle (4). Some bones naturally develop a
notch as they dry out. And so on.

Flute without Jinger-holes

"THE MAN* and *THE WOMAN'. The notes or calls sounded on
these primitive whistles are not, of course, music. But when two
bamboo flutes giving different notes are blown continuously one
after another throughout a tribal ceremony, we may say that
we are confronted with a kind of music probably the most
ancient and primitive wind music that there ever wls. The

longer of the two flutes is called the man, and the shorter, the
woman. They are sounded vertically, transversely or otherwise.
They are tremendously sacred, and taboo to women and
children on pain of death by
poisoning or strangulation; one
explorer in New Guinea could obtain a specimen only on the
strict
understanding that it would never be shown to any women.
These archaic flutes are innocent of
finger-holes. The music
is made entirely with the natural harmonics of the two tubes.
17*
 THE
That to so
on is by no to ;
any a of
with the interior out, will
no human being could of
once a tube reaches about two feet in
cannot help blowing them. Moreover, the
further noticed that if the tube is the
harmonics are very much stronger and
*
'man" and the woman' are not of o<ur
but giant flutes reaching five or even feet in and
often well over an inch in bore, and their most
harmonics can sound tenifyingly loud, almost like a bugle, but
far more blood-curdling.
Among some tribes, the two performers do not seem to
forany particular harmonics, and in New Guinea there are
stopped vertical flutes, sometimes notched, played like this. The
two men, puffing alternately as hard as they can with a primitive
embouchure extremely wasteful of breath, stamp round each
other in a circle, twisting and turning in the effort to find more
breath (Plate XVII, top inset}. But in fig. 32 (l), also from
New Guinea, the two flutes are tuned, having been cut so that
selected harmonics fit a simple melodic scheme. The instru
ments were giant transverse flutes with mouth-
in this instance
holes almost an inch across (Plate XVII, right), though this

huge aperture is reduced with the fingers while playing. The

man with the shorter flute blew only his fourth harmonic (gr )
while his mate with the seven foot long F flute blew his 4th
and 5th. They began with phrase a, repeating it until one man
gave the signal by pressing on the other's foot, whereupon they
embarked upon b or one of its variants c, d, finally returning to a.
This is a very simple example, but none the less it represents a
beginning. Other New Guinea tribes are said to make more
complicated tunes, even using two pairs of flutes together.

A similar technique is found among the Indian tribes of the

Amazon and Orinoco among primitive Mongoloid men
instead of primitive Negroid, but whether the two people
learnt it from a common source aeons ago, or whether they
175
 HISTORY
it Is a to an
can as yet be
of giant
of the
a of leaves tied the
of the to the wind over the
011 to the far of the In fig. 32 (s), from one of the
by Pierre Gaisseau on the
OriECKx^Amtzon expedition led by Alain
the two are again tuned, this time to a

apart. With this tuning they make up between them

1, , t
t i. f. a,

FIG. SS. Dttfb with hole^kss giant jlides; a: New Guinea, after
Balesom; b: Upper Orinoco, from a recording by P. Gaisseau,
(reprodmed by courtesy of the Mus^e de I'Homme, Paris}.

that tetratonic ^ale (pentatonic less one

note) that is so typical
of primitive song, but whether the flute tunes or the
songs came
first Is another difficult and controversial
question. The tune in
the example Is accompanied by another
pair of archaic wind
instruments huge trumpets of coiled bark, blown with a
primitive, half-formed embouchure and alternately producing
grunting notes or moans In the bass register.

FLUTE BANDS AND PANPIPES. Another widespread kind of

ceremonial music with hole-less flutes
employs a set of several
instruments each tuned to sound one
given note (its funda
mental; harmonics not being used). This sort of performance is
176
 THE PRIMITIVE
in European in the

regimental horn bands of a hundred and

was issued with a horn that gave one to be at
Its proper place in the music (and if one a
for a misdemeanour the band was without an F for tlie rest
of the week). This 'Russian band" Is

among primitives and is employed by them with

types of instrument. Probably best-known are the of
South Africa, originally Hottentot but now
Bantu peoples in Bechuanaland and the TransvaaL
These bands have been fully described by Professor Kirby.
There may be as many as twenty-four instruments in a band, all
of them one-note vertical flutes from 6 inches to 54 long,
typically
of river reed and stopped at the lower end with a ibre

stopper that can be pushed up or down for tuning. The em

bouchure is of the kind already noticed for the "Bushman's
flute' the tongue being curled into a channel and slightly

protruded against the top of the flute, which is blown with great
force while the players, each with his one-note flute, move

slowly round in a circle. The set of flutes is commonly timed to a

tetratonic scale extended over several octaves, e.g. from d'" 9
c'" o! ', in the highest octave (the smallest four flutes) down
g"
to d, c, A, G in the longest and deepest flutes. The top group,
which includes the leader of the band, leads off and then the
lower groups join in one after another until everyone is playing.
So they continue, endlessly repeating their same short phrases
until the leader's group ceases, whereupon the
(e.g. fig. 35, top)
lower groups drop out in order, leaving the lowest to finish
alone, as in a round. The tone of the flutes is reedy and vigorous,
and the deepest flutes sound unbelievably like a bass clarinet.

There is no space here to go far into the complex and fascinat

which represent a third way of
ing subject of primitive panpipes,
making flute-music without finger-holes. The two great pan-
the world are Melanesia and the north-west
piping regions of 4

and here the variety of the instru

quarter of South America,
quite astonishing, while they
ments and is are played
tunings
not only singly, but also in ways that show clear connection
277
 the For
in one
the tlic in fig. S3,

bj by two
in of
the of the African
the four
the is ourselves
as a of vertical at the

by a In the o the frequently add a

FIG. S3. Above: iSSoitfA African Jlute band ^xampk of a turn

(from a Galfa recording). Below: A panpipe tune from the Upper
(from a Gm$$@u recording),

parallel row of open-ended pipes, and these are sometimes heard

to sound feebly, yet distinctly, in the upper octave as the over
flow of the player's breath strikes them. South American Indians
may add a parallel row of half-length stopped pipes, with the
same effect. In Melanesia, there are even panpipes consisting

only of open pipes (as in the old Chinese ceremonial panpipe) and
the player stops each pipe with his finger as he wishes to sound it.
Some
panpipes are tied in a bundle instead of in a row, and
here one meets many more surprises. Professor Kunst has
described from Mores (Indonesia) a bundle-panpipe which was
produced only to be untied, and its four small canes handed out to
a group of men who then proceeded to perform in the Russian
band manner. In another, more sophisticated Asiatic type, the
centre caneis
charged with gunpowder, and the panpipe sent
into the air as a musical rocket.
178
 THE PRIMITIVE FLUTE WORLD
THE HARMONIC FLUTE AS A SOLO
INSTRUMENT. With the
wide knowledge of flute
harmonics shown by primitive
peoples
in th ei r ceremonial
music, it is not surprising to find that they
have also evolved ways of them in
utilizing solitary flute-playing
It is said that one of the New
Guinea blowers of the
stopped
vertical flutes described on
page 175 would, when off-duty
make quite elaborate tunes on the harmonics of
one flute alone.
But the recognized solo is
technique considerably more in^
genious. founded upon intercalation of the
It is
open and stopped
harmonics obtained by
opening and stopping the lower end
with the finger.

FIG. 34. The solo harmonic Jute. Top: derivation

of a harmonic
flute scale; centre: a Swaxi tune, after Kirby; below: a tune
from
Gabon, from a recording by Rouget.

Consider the harmonics obtainable from a

vertical or
transverse flute about 31 inches which is about the
long, longest
that the arm can manage. Its
stopped fundamental is about Ajy
and its open fundamental an octave higher. The two series
based upon these fundamentals are
given in fig. 34 (top), with a
scale on the
right that demonstrates how they fit together as the
lower end is alternately
stopped and opened, to make a useful
scale of notes for
tune-making. A
cross marks the
stopped notes
and a marks the open ones.
circle
Zulu and Swazi
herd-boys are said to be the experts with this
technique, using vertical flutes and a strange embouchure in
which the top of the flute
actually enters the mouth between
179
 HISTORY
lips to the
has of the is and Pro-
a of in as
as the 1 itli the 6th are Fig. 54
of the it is

a by M, a on a
17-iix'Mong in Gabon (French Equatorial
Africa) the sharp.
arc in way all over the world; even in
for in the Carpathians tunes in which the
shepherds' alp-horn Is imitated on a hole-less vertical

FIG. 55. The progress from hob-bssflute to finger-hobflute, shown

diagrammatically.

flute. In the East the technique is employed mainly by young

men for recreation and courting. Their tunes are said to consist
of a few notes but to be none the less 'sweet and musical', while
they have the curious property of being recognized, though
never heard before, by the particular women to whom arethey
addressed. Perhaps she recognizes lier name from the rise and
fall of the tune. Often the flutes are transverse
flutes, in which
case the open lower end may be replaced by a
stopped end with
a side hole just above it, which
technically comes to the same
thing (Plate XVII; also fig. 35, a). The embouchure end, on
the other hand, is very often open, so that from the Western

point of view the flute is built the wrong way round. While
playing, this open end is closed with the hand or a lump of mud.
180
 THE PRIMITIVE FLUTE
Finger-Jacks
The scope of a harmonic flute is often to

extended by the boring of an extra hole or two,

tional open fundamentals to fill certain the

The arrangements shown diagrammatically in fig. 35, b

two open fundamentals) and c (with three) are
mon in Melanesia, mainly on notched flutes (Plate XVII), and

South Africa, on transverse flutes. The stopped are

still employed, being obtained by closing all the lower

Both hands are often used, even when there is only
But with three or more side holes, the stopped notes
confusing. Fig. 35,
d illustrates the higher stage in which
are no longer used the pure finger-hole technique employed by
ourselves and by every other civilization exclusively, and by the
less advanced peoples on the fringes of civilization very

commonly. But the latter may in many cases have acquired the
the higher peoples, among whom
technique through contact with
it was developed very early. The ancient civilizations Egypt,
Sumeria, China each entered history already provided with
three- or four-holed open-ended flutes, while bone specimens of
far earlier date have been found in European prehistoric sites
(fig. 36, 4),
and these may be the distant cousins of the similar,
though much later flutes- of the extinct civilizations of America.
A memory of the primitive stopped end, however, appears to be
certain cane flageolets
preserved in numerous instruments (e.g.
of the Near East) in which the lower end is terminated by a
perforated knot, instead
of by a clean cut through the hollow cane.

36 shows a selection of flutes from different parts of the

Fig.
world, with an English Bjp flute (
1
)
for comparison of size. The
Turko-Balkan kaval (3) is a wooden vertical flute and a modem
descendant of the ancient Egyptian long vertical flute of cane. It
is used by folk who employ many small intervals in their music,

and the inter-hole distances are correspondingly small; two

fingers may have
to be raised together to make a whole tone.
The kaval is one of the most beautiful of all flutes, with a full-
throated bird-like quality quite of its own. But it is the most
difficult to sound and takes years to learn. Though
we classify it
181
 HISTORY
'li .f

FIG. 36. ^ selection of higher Jinger-hofe Jlutes. I, Western Bfy

Jlute; , Chinese hsuan; S 9 Balkan kaval; 4, prehistoric bwtejSute,

Europe, after Seewald; 5, finest African notched flute; 6, Japanese

shakuhachi; 7, Permian kena; 8, Ae classical Indian flute;
9, Japanese fuy6; 10, Chinese ti.
as (as to it is

or the top is

to a rim, the of the

is as it is in our
is not vital, however, of the

(awy) of modem Egypt, North Africt, etc., top

In contrast, n0s. 5 aid 8 are two

evolved to suit the wide of
Their inter-hole distances are verj the

fingers of each haiKi are used to cover the On the West

African notched flute (5), lifting one
approximate one-and-a-quarter tones, which the or
may not try to humour by lipping into the
one-and-a-half tones of the music. The (0)
is more carefully tuned, giving a fairly accurate
f r
scale d' /' g (continued upwards by over-blowing ), other
a* c'

notes being obtained by cross-fingering and lipping. It is a

notched flute with the notch reduced to a bare minimum,
rivals the kaval in the ethereal beauty of its sound.
The Chinese are also a pentatonic people, but their flute ti ( 10}
came, like our from Central Asia. It has the normal inter-
flute,
hole distances of a diatonic flute, and two fingers must be raised

together to make the larger pentatonic interval. Its bamboo is

bound with lacquered thread between the holes to make the
tube wall firmer and the sound fuller, while a membrane of
bamboo, cocoon or paper, glued over a hole a little way below
the mouth4iole imparts a reedy quality, said to make the sound

carry better. No. 9 is its Japanese derivative. No. 8 is the

traditional Indian flute, which belongs to the same family, and
nowadays may often be heard in Indian films, very sensitively

played in diatonic music. Its eighth hole is used only in certain

modes, the little finger of the upper hand then taking hole IV.
Each of these last three flutes has about the same pitch as our
Bfr band flute sketched at the top of the figure. Another normal-
interval flute now used in pentatonic tunes is the Peruvian
notched flute kena (7), a descendant of the old Inca flutes, of
whose music nothing is known.
IBS
 HISTORY
Qt\
a
as know,
the
and , . . / * o o), and the
of the century, all Western
to by cross-fingering or
to.

(0) an of to the
in "that of
*
as an early visitor the Chinese or
up to in the ancient cere-
and played there in unison with many other curious
instruments. The two thumbs
operate the two rear holes.
As with the (fig. 76), which is a
nineteenth-century
development of the traditional earthenware carnival whistle of
Italy, the greater the volume of the instrument, the deeper the
note. Also, the greater the sum area of apertures
(including
the mouth-hole, or in case of the ocarina, the voicing hole), the

higher the note, so that the holes may be uncovered in different

orders to give the same series of notes. The is manu

factured today as a souvenir object, and gives a feeble sort of

sound across the upper part of the treble stave.

special exotic forms

NOSE FLUTES. In Western popular imagination, tropical fluting
linked inseparably with the nose flute; yet
is
by and large,
sounding a flute with the nose is far less common among
primitive peoples than mouth-blowing. Obviously the nostril is
a less efficient projector of the breath than the
aperture of the lips,
and this on the whole outweighs a special recommendation of
the nose, mentioned by Professor Sachs;
namely that its breath
is held to contain the soul.

Among specialized no<se flutes, the end-blown type, character

isticof the aboriginals of Malaya, Borneo, etc., has a small, neat
hole pierced in the knot at the
top end the nose-hole. With one
nostril usually
plugged with a rag or piece of tobacco, the flute
is held sideways under the nose. The tone is clear and bright
184
and 10 A of
virtuosity was by a in the

years ago an ; in
the and at the his
a on a
More celebrated, however, is the the
wind instrument of XVII an
instrument of the classic type,
Tahiti by Captain Cook himself. It Is a to
the side, with the nose-hole (visible just the top
end) under the right nostril. The a
is for the left hand, whose thumb is the left

FIG. 37- Phrases from the nose-jlute hula, a/3fcr

nostril.Far away, close to the open lower end, Is a hole for the
right hand (though some flutes have extra holes here). Conse
quently the instrument gives two deep fundamentals and one
much higher, e.g. f, g', and a", though overblowing the first
two to their octaves makes three consecutive notes* The phrases
in fig. 37 give an idea of how these notes were employed in old

Hawaii, where this flute, like each other instrument, was

dedicated to its particular hula. The performer, a woman,
started 'slow and languid* and then gradually increased the

speed. In remotest Mangareva, in the South Pacific, the same

instrument was recently reported still to be played in its
ancient manner. In other islands, it has been revived in various

ways.

CENTRAL-EMBOUCHURE FLUTES. It was noticed in the first

section of this chapter that the mouth-hole of a transverse flute

is not necessarily placed near one end. It may be at the centre.

1SS
 HISTORY
In of the so
is as a for
tt
Let us an the
of Is an
one of the a the The
arc is

1 , : the ;

/; pip*} &"'"#
2* the half command;
P* ?6 ) *"; harmonics/", V".
1

3, the half: this half just manages to take

fundamental /'$; harmonics c'"$ (*'"#)
4, the half: the shorter half still takes command,
as an open pipe; fundamental jT'f; harmonic/' "f .

Huts with the harmonics the player has a useful pentatonic

6" <?"'}
"'
/"'f jr"'f r
', and very well In tune.

The extnordinaiy collection of archaic wind instruments that

was employed Chinese ceremonial music up to the time of
in the
the last emperor, included up to the eighteenth century a flute
with three-finger-holes each side of the embouchure, represent
ing die highest stage reached by the central-embouchure flute.
The two hands were held in front of the instrument (i.e. with
theirpalms facing the player), and the fingering is based upon
the 'both ends open* phenomena on the hole-less model just
described; i.e. the note is given by whichever side of the flute is
the longer when measured from the mouth-hole to the nearest

open finger-hole. Say the group of holes on the left is a little

further from the mouth-hole (x, fig. SB) than that on the right.
With all fingers off, the note is given by the tubing from x to
1.1, this being longer than x to r.l. To descend the scale, first
close r.l. The note is now given by x to r.2, this now being the
longer portion. Next close Li 9 making x to /.2 the longer
portion. And so on, closing r., /., r.S, and finally /.S, which
gives the bottom note. A replica made of a piece of cane makes an
amusing toy though not much of a musical instrument since poor
overblowing restricts the compass, and this is presumably why
186
the lias to in the
tribesmen, still it %

with two holes on of the

RINGED FLAGEOLETS, etc. Lastly, ate 10

show how our Western is not the of a
good flageolet.
A simple voicing of resin leaf has

1 2 3
FIG. Centml-emJbowhwre flute (above), and
38. exotic

flageolets: Burmese palwee; , Javanese suling; 3, Apache flute,

1,

North America.

already been mentioned earlier on. This is dearly a far simpler

way of directing the breath on to the edge than our method of
inserting a carefully-fitted, non-adjustable wooden block into the
interior of the tube. Geographically, the wooden block belongs
to the belt of old civilization from China and India across to

Europe and North Africa. The leaf ring and its elaborations
belong to South East Asia, Indonesia and both Americas. The
Negro peoples rarely make flageolets.
In the Burmese palwee (fig. 38, l), used in some kinds of
187
 HISTORY
a In the (or a
a a voicing-hole. A leaf or
(or a is to cover tie
of the and to over the of the deflector, to
the on to the lower of the
In the (s), the only wind In the
the Is closed
by a knot. On the
a is cut,
leading to the voicing-
is just below. To roof this channel, a of rattan is

the top
The North American Indian 'lover's flute' or Apache flute
(s) shows one of the many more complicated variants of the
first example. Again a knot In the cane or an artificial
partition
forms the deflector and is situated underneath a long slot-like
hole. Placed over the slot is a metal plate with a smaller slot cut
in and the lower edge of this slot is the sounding edge. To
it,

roof the upper part of the superimposed slots, there is a saddle-

pieee of wood, held in position with a thong or string.
More remarkable flageolet constructions may be seen in Jaap
r
Kunst book on the instruments of the Indonesian island of
s

Flores; not only simple flageolets, but double and triple flageo
lets, and bass flageolets with crooks formed of several inter

connecting bamboos. Altogether, we must concede that, save

for their ignorance of mechanism, there is
very little that the
tropical peoples do not know about how to make a flute.

188
 VIII

Early and

so much of the of the

flute class is laid out before us the
While peoples of the world, the In the
evolution of the reed instrument are lost in the
Primitive races, except where they have copied from
scarcely know reed instruments, their ignorance of them
in strange contrast with their extraordinary inventiveness in the
matter of flutes. With a few exceptions, as those pairs of one-
note reed-pipes uanas which South American Indians must have
invented for themselves, primitives have not carried the
vibrating reed idea beyond the squeaker stage equivalent to the
earliest whistle stage in flutes: grass-blade squeakers of various

kinds, used for imitating spirit voices and so on. The reed
instrument proper a vibrating reed coupled with a tube is
evidently a product of the ancient peoples of the Eurasian
continent.
How old it is, is difficult to guess, for reed instruments have
no bone pre-history stretching back a hundred centuries before
the dawn of civilization, as the flutes have. All the prehistoric
bone pipes are plainly flutes of one kind or another. But this is
understandable, for although the Romans .called their reed
instrument by the bone name tibia (according to their tradition
the were of deer-bone), and although pastoral reed instru
first

ments Near Eastern zummara and the Western horn

like the

pipe have often been made of bone, this material does not belong
as naturally to the rudimentary reed instrument as it does to the
rudimentary flute. The reed instrument in its simplest forms is
 HISTORY
of the Is

by or one end of the

no the
are still by all over the
rice or thin river by
one end to a or by cutting a
in the of the t {
the top end ) to
a With or four
finger-holes added,
this the 'pipe of com" of Chaucer and the
of quite an amusing aid instructive bit of
to occupy the idle moments of a wind-
on a country holiday.

aiuf
At some Wore some peoples
the birth of civilization,

among the mother races of Near Eastern civilization must have

proceeded to the next stage, by which the rudimentary reed pipe
is improved to become a more substantial musical instrument ;

namely, making the reed separately from the pipe. An obvious

advantage of this is that when the reed wears out, or becomes
damaged, it Isnot necessary to throw the entire instrument
away. The pipe-maker could then settle down to make the pipe
more carefully, with wider choice of bore-diameter and materials.
Meanwhile the performer gained a means of tuning the pipes by
pushing the reeds further in or out an indispensable provision
when he took to playing two pipes at once, as will be described
shortly. Both of the two kinds of reed, single and double,
became improved in this manner and were so employed by the
ancients.
The ancient form of single reed is best known to us today as the
drone reed of owe bagpipes (Chapter III, also fig. 40, i). No
early specimen has readied us, but certain instrument-forms
prove beyond doubt that this reed has always remained sub
made of cane, except that in northern
stantially the same* It is
countries may be
it cut from an elder shoot, pushing out the pith,
or even from a goose quill. There are small variations in the
cutting ; the vibrating tongue may be cut upwards or downwards ;
the upper end of the reed is normally closed by a knot in the
 but wax or the tip of the
may
instead.

Fig. 39 less of the

reed old folk In the
pipe (//), said to for
the reed-blade a slip of the
obliquely-cut end of the pipe, thus tie
reed-and-mouthpieoe assembly, not
more like the clarinet Is reed
Still iii s in the

FIG. 39. Variants of the primitive

single reed; i,

pared down (Denmark); ii, woodm reed tied imr cut (N.
Sweden) ; iii,cane reed on iwry holder (Czech
bagpipe}, (i,
Museum; ii, Stockholm Museum; iii, Pitt Rivers Mmmm 9 Oxford.)

single reed is developed as an ivory or metal holder over which

a cane blade is tied.

today, a doMe
In ancient civilization, as also in the Orient
reed was made like the rudimentary double reed already
described, namely by flattening one end of the material. When
the latter is fresh-cut cane or some other resilient plant stem, the
flattened end must be held in a clamp while it dries out and sets.
A primitive form of this reed survives in the whit-horn
(fig.
40, )
a onenaote reed horn of coiled willow bark pinned
together with blackthorn spines; it is still made in several parts
of Europe and Asia. The reed, which one Oxfordshire
village
called the 'trumpet', is a 2-inch worked
long tube of bark off a

1B1
 HISTORY
One end of this is flat, and the
is into the in

the used to be the on Whit

to
by
the for the It

like a \

The in XIX are of the

for a the for

the fig. 44, 6, is similar).

FIG. 40. Primitive reed horns; i, wM single-reed and cow horn,

(formerly made alsoby shepherds in Gascony and
Spain}; ii, w/M doMe-reed, whit-horn, Oxfordshire.

With the pipe itself, these reeds are directly descended, thanks
to traffic on the Old Silk Road across Central Asia, from ancient

Graeco-Egyptian patterns, and fig. 41 shows two of the rare

survivors of the latter. These date from Ptolomaic Egypt of the
lastfew centuries B.C., and were constricted to a waist by a thread
ligature that was presumably put on the young plant
while it
was growing. In the larger specimen we again see the mark of
the clamp that held the tip in shape. This ancient or 'long
'
stemmed type of double reed is inserted directly into the pipe ;

the short reed mounted on a metal staple came later (see

'Shawm', p. 228).
 Our are of
by a
of can be in to
the
XXII) and by to tie
Ages; but not to and it
the West. However, the of the

FIG. 41. Ancient double reeds, Egypt (Brussels

Conservatoire Musmm ) .

late Dr Balfour of Oxford, who collected a great deal of informa

tion about primitive reed instruments, there are references to
another way of making the whit-hom reed, namely by bending
over a strip of willow bark and poking this into the horn. The
joined end was then presumably parted to separate the two
blades, as we do with our cane today.
(While the Far East borrowed the double reed from the
original contribution to reed music
West, its is the free reed,

193
 HISTORY
we so in
we the
and The is 'free* to
its In the
the the has
* f
a tea . The
not with a
hill to get results from this

The used the reeds In slender cane pipes (Plate

XVIII) approximately from 4 to II millimetres In bore far
narrower than flutes* or In pipes of wood or metal in which the
narrow was reproduced. All behave as
cylindrical bore of cane
'stopped pipes with deep
', fundamentals for their length (like a

clarinet). But the striking thing about them is that they were

almost invariably played in pairs as daMe pipes i that is, two pipes
blown simultaneously by one player.
This seems to have been adopted by all early reed players as

the natural thing to do. Possibly it arose from our inborn

tendency to pair wind instruments in some way (we have

noticed it
already with primitive flutes). And with reed instru
ments it is so simple for the pair to be blown by one person.
There have been variety artists who can not only play two
clarinets at once, butsmoke a cigar at the same time. And
clarinets are heavy instruments; a pair of the light-weight
ancient reed pipes are nearly as easy to handle as a pair of

flageolets (as one can discover for oneself with two thin canes
and a couple of old drone reeds or bassoon reeds), while the
simultaneous sound of the two- pipes renders unaccompanied
piping more vibrant, interesting and self-supporting, like
people singing together. It is true that with certain arrange
ments of the pipes, pairing limits the number of fingers available
per pipe, but during the three- ml four-holed stage of finger-hole
technique, which is represented by the greater part of antiquity,
tikis need scarcely have been counted an
objection. At any rate,
to pky on two reed pipes was the general rule, not only through-
oat but well into the on a
as the in in the
not the A.D. The of
a
era*, of in of our folk
today.

From the of be
grouped in the

ally In fig. 42, and in tie is

understood if, while reading It,

imaginary pipes);

II

FIG. 42. Scheme of doubfafipes: 1, parallel;

9,, divergent; S, unequal,

1. Parallel pipes (two pipes Hands placed ow *&m Single reeds (e.g. zum-
lashed or waxed to- tf* olfer, each finger mara, hornpipe)
gether) covering both pipes
(unless one is a drone)

.
Divergent pipes (two Hands level, one on each reeds (e.g. Greek
separate pipes of ap- pipe mulos; tocay extinct,
prox. equal length) though the arrange
ment survives in some
double flageolets)

3. Umqml pipes (one Hands one above the otf:.sr } Anciently with
longer than the other; (me on each pipe reeds (e.g. Phrygian
usually divergent) aulos); tooay, folk in
struments with single
reeds (e.g. kuneddas,
brelka).
 HISTORY
on the of a
in
of Is five or six, a
of the of the no over-
the is

a by the
so 'beat'* The is by the
in or and it t ;one folk-
in the a over an
he his has wide-
to Egypt; the a
ig. 4S No. I, the Egyptian pipe-
still in his stall in the market, with a knife
for the and a iron wire for
removing the
him is his supply of cane and a display of finished
arghuls (in which one of the two pipes is a long
drone} and other varieties, which boys and peasants
buy very
much as people buy mouth-organs and tin whistles in Western
music shops.
While
this instrument is also made
by shepherds in many
parts of Eurasia, a type better known in European lore is that
in which tells of cow horn are attached to the bottom ends of the

making a h&npipe. In Plate XVIII, the ramshackle

article from Morocco shows the primitive hornpipe, found also
elsewhere, as in Albania. The Basque example a pastoral
instrument now extinct some sixty years shows the finer
construction, with a single bell common to both pipes, typical of
the West and exemplified also by the former British
hornpipes
referred to in the next chapter. The horn
widely bell is also
found on primitive cane and wooden trumpets, and would have
first appeared on these. It
represents the germ of our own wind-
instrument bells (compare and if, fig. 39). The hornpipe too is
very old, though how old is not known. Possibly it arose in
connection with the pastoral rites of some
early type of culture,
like, for example, the megalithic (which would place the horn

pipe's arrival in Britain, Scandinavia and the Baltic somewhere

about 000 B.C.).
The Basque hornpipe, also the Welsh species, pfbc&m, has an
 at the top the mad

Ing the But a has the

fitting of a skin, the
reeds, the of
and the Near East, either one or,
as a true bag-hornpipe, and
The main characteristic of Is, of the
sound continues while the player On t
reed Instrument possible to
It is the
by breathing in through the while (as de
scribed concerning the oboe in Chapter IV), Now this is yet
another curious technical extravagance, like two
at once, that early reed-instrument players to
favoured very widely. Most Oriental pipers
acquire this difficult art, but the West has long preferred the
simpler expedient of the inflated bag, and it is only in
form that the hornpipe has grown up into a substantial Western
musical instrument. This is in the fine bagpipes of Central
Eastern Europe. In these, the chanter has generally become
reduced to one single, cylindrically-bored, wooden pipe, though
sometimes the parallel bore is retained as an auxiliary drone.
Hornpipe ancestry proclaimed by the up-turned or turned-out
is

end of the chanter a reminiscence of the primitive cow-horo

also by the ancient single reed hidden inside the chanter stock
and the plaintive tone given by the narrow cylindrical bore. The
old Polish bagpipe in Plate XIX is really a super-hornpipe, and
makes a fine contrast with the primitive specimen from Morocco
in the preceding Plate.

be observed that the Basque hornpipe has fewer holes

It will

in one pipe than in the other. This is to introduce an articulated

drone effect, which may be illustrated, since the Basque instru
ment has been extinct for some sixty years, on the Yugoslav
dipk a hornpipe with the two bores
made in a single piece of
wood (fig. 43). The right hand fingers cover the highest three
holes, givingin descending order, say, g" f" <?b" & d \ The m f

197
 HISTORY
left !V f V, and
?r f
IV, c ft' *i The on the left is

for the i.e. as a The

is the r" to if, are
in on the two if" the
left <c" as a the be
on the b as in

by or fingers, usually Including

the two, in which the drone note the melody
are by the low a'. The recalls

TZJ
rJi,

FIG. 4$. Articulated dram effect on

hornpipe ( Tngoslm) dlple; after
Broemse}.

that of Greek and Bulgarian folk fiddlers, whose drone note is

continually interrupted with the blowing.

THE DIVERGENT PIPE was the specialized wind instrument of

the ancient Near Eastern and Mediterranean civilizations.
Though today extinct, possibly no wind instrument has ever
received comparable honours and held a
monopoly of wind music
for so long a period of time. One after another the ancient
nationscame to adopt it, and after the old vertical flute dropped
out of the picture in the second millennium B.C., the
divergent
double pipe remained as the only wind instrument
normally
used in music and in music of
every kind. It is the 'pipe' of the
Bible, the auks of the Greeks and the tibia of the Romans; the
198
 to the ted the it

in ask the
to this of sa

exclusively, and to It so it

to the in the
of its In

the music of flutes.

As for its reeds, it Is the tiic

Theophrastus in his tf a

pair of aulos reeds was a of

(which varies from 6 to 9 l ng) art " ^at

was cut in two, to make the two the the cut
*
formed the 'mouth* of the tongues* of or as we
should say, the opening of the blades. Clearly a
end double reeds of the kind shown in fig. 41. The for
aulos reeds was
cut, incidentally, from the

plies our reed cane today the test was said to

;

Lake Copias, forty miles north of Athens.

Among the fifty-odd cane pipes found in Egyptian tombs

nearly of
all them double-pipe components with three or four
holes (Plate XVIII) many had fragments of straw-like matter
adhering to one end, thought to be remains of reeds like the
smaller example in fig. 41.
On the strength of these data, it is therefore inferred that the
venerable silver pipes of Ur, dating from a thousand years
earlier (c. 2800 B.C. ; the earliest specimens of a civilized wind

instrument) were also sounded with double reeds, and

indeed
that the divergent pipe was so sounded from the beginning. The
ancients, among whom music was a profession and an ait, no
doubt preferred the double reed to the single in virtue of its
greater flexibility.
The two kinds of reed, as they were then
known, both produce basically the same kind of tone-quality in
the pipe; it ranges from a deep droning in a long pipe to a
in a short pipe (as the Japanese hichiriki).
plaintive screaming
But double reeds would have given the artist more scope, with
better control over pitch, greater dynamic range, and also
whether he took advantage of
(though we do not know it)

readier overblowing.
199
 HISTORY
of is the we
to it is sad no
up has us* The the
of and are the pipes the
the XVIII), a
in
of the B.C. with the re-
of a lyre. The two are beautifully
and cylindrical bore
(B no doubt have shrunk after
They are 14 inches long
the wooden barrels (which the Greeks, like
clarinettists, sockets) and represent the
of the aulos as it was used in private music, in
the to lead the chorus, and at the professional contests.
There were, however, smaller and larger instruments for music
of special kinds. The Elgin barrels have decomposed at their top
where the reed would have been inserted, but their bore is
just about right for holding a reed of the larger size shown in
fig.
41* This is the reed that the aulos appears to have in vase

paintings, and the player's cheeks are often shown puffed out as
if breath were taken in
through the nose in the manner already
alluded to.
On each pipe one could play an entire octave with one hand,
because the holes evidently give a pentatonic scale. Sachs has
shown that the strings of the Greek lyre were tuned
similarly.
Trials of replicas of the Elgin pipes,
using reeds of the Chinese
kmn-tzu type, gave a cr d'f (or /) gf a r This is
leaving out the
.

lowest hole, as one is obliged to do when

fingering with one
hand, but of course including the thumb-hole, which is between
holes I and II. The stretch for the hand is formidable the
;
fingers
have to be laid well across the pipes as the
players are doing in
the vase paintings. However, the
paintings also indicate that the
little
finger was occupied most of the time supporting the
instrument from below, in which case the stretch becomes
nothing like so painful With the combination of large reed and
small pipe, embouchure action suffices for
filling the gaps in
the scale when required; classical authors mention
pinching
with the lips to sharpen, and also
spreading the pipes further
 or tip, the
a the
(e.g. the of
for the in the key.
late to
for like our
keys.
To judge the surviving of
are in Davison and this

compass would have for of the

there are hints that the total was
is possible on the narrow Egyptian and
holes one can even make a continuous in the

by playing on the 3rd and 5th harmonics in

On the wider-bored aulos this seems more we
do not know the secrets of its reed-making* was to
have involved great skill.
About the employment of the pipes together ?

writers preserve a sphinx-like silence, which perhaps

that involved nothing of theoretical musical Interest. Theo-
it

phrastus just mentions that from a pair of reeds cut from a

intemode, the half furthest from the root made the softer
and this was used in the right hand pipe, and vice versa. This
may be taken to imply some sort of heterophony. Sachs has con
cluded that on Egyptian double pipes one pipe sustained a
drone; and on the aulos a drone is again a possibility. The drone,
it will be remembered, is no primitive thing, but an artistic and
sophisticated product of the Indo-Mediterranean belt of
civilized populations. But did the second pipe only drone? One
might have thought that the celebrated artists who drew
enormous crowds to the Athens Odeon to hear, say, a star render
*

ing of Apollo and the dragon *, did everything humanly possible

with their eight fingers and thumbs. Moreover it is across the old
Greek area, from the Black Sea to
and Sardinia, that living
Italy
double-pipe tradition today exhibits an intricate mixture of
drone and polyphony that is approached nowhere else in the
world of folk music, as the section below, on unequal pipes, will
show.
201
 HiSTOEY
tine Ptolemys, Egypt to on a

to us (e,g in the Museum, fig. 44, a). The

is it

the the pip6^ of the era

of the pipes of the
The of with both hands,
provided with similar to those to which it

FIG, 44. Monaulos

(a) 6M? hichiriki (b); launeddas (c) ;

zampogna (d, with reed, f) and ciaramella (e).

had been accustomed on the ordinary double aulos; i.e. the

inonaulos included a thumb-hole for each hand. That for the
upper hand lay between holes I and II, and that fbr the lower
hand between holes IV and V. The instrument's Japanese
descendant, hichiriki one of the most interesting woodwind
'living fossils' keeps them both, but in practical piping the
lower thumb-hole is quite unnecessary, and elsewhere it has
vanished from pipe-fingering. The aulos-position for the
upper
thumb-hole, however, remains characteristic of Near-Eastern
202
 in are
no but

UNEQUAL PIPES. tO a the

the
above the the ; the
on the

divergent had
so popular in later a bell on
the left hand pipe (the longer one).
On the unequal pipes, double-pipe
interesting. As we observe It today in the

pipes are generally tuned in fourths, with the left

usually the deeper-pitched (though not the

There are from three to five
in total size). per and
below them one or more vent holes for tuning the
of the pipes. Usually wax is used for stopping

necessary, but the Phrygian aulos had a row of mushroom-like

pegs, as if for the purpose of presetting the drone
note
could be obtained by covering all holes on one pipe or the

momentarily or otherwise.

Unequal-pipe technique is roughly summed up by the

following generalized example of a pipe in

a common key G
.for it (fig. 45). The scale Is divided between the two hands. The
f
to
right hand, on the higher-pitched pipe, gives, ascending, g
d". The other gives d' to a'. Both pipes sound continuously, so
that while playing a melody in the most straightforward way

(i.e.without harmony) one or the other of the pipes must sound

a drone note for part of the time, and the obvious drone note
f
then to choose is the tonic, g This gives the basic scale shown.
.

An compound drone technique occurs in

illustration of this
the introduction of fig. 46. But mostly the pipes are played in
harmony, as in fig. 45, done on the Russian unequal divergent
or coiled-bark bells). This
pipe brelka (single reeds, and horn
tan-bar morsel, as Russian as could be, was noted down in the
last century, but the instrument was still heard recently. Some
time ago Andreev, the person who popularized the balalaika,
SOS
 HISTORY
to the it

The In 46\ 47 are no less at

any of as on the
and the of
in the West in form or at

the century. The (divergent, with

reeds; fig. 44, is actually a triple plpe s having a

FIG. 45. on unequal pipes. Below: a tune played on the

Russian brelka.

long drone cane attached alongside the left hand cane by wire
struts. Thus the player has three reeds in his mouth at once. The
effect is a rich burbling, full of life. A short, spirited excerpt
from a recording of the launeddas appears in Grove's Dictionary
(5th edition) in the article Aulos. Every trick displayed would
have been perfectly possible on the ancient Phrygian aulos,
though how far the Roman pipers went towards such polyphony,
we shall never know. Classical sources merely allude vaguely to
a deep buzzing or droning of the left hand pipe as compared
with the high ringing of the right hand pipe.
 The .,
rf) the
to the It is a
two and two all four
in a and all

of the
construction (/).
It is in two forms, in of the
(shorter) chanter has a for the iftli

r
i,i
pr
fj.-j
sf"0r
h
ff i
(
^y
^f ^
f c

FIG. 46. Tfe opening of a siciliana on a Sicilian

bagpipe.

cf the scale while the little finger gives the

leading-note; ( 1 }
The solo form, with the chanters pitched in fourths; see
fig. 46,
an example from Sicily. () The accompanying form, played In
duet with the folk shawm ciaramelfa (mentioned again In the
next chapter); this has the chanters pitched in octaves, and
Includes a little-finger key of sixteenth-century pattern on the

longer (left hand) chanter. There are two sizes of this accom
panying form, one built an octave below the other. The deeper
size makes an imposing instrument, with the left hand chanter
 HISTORY

t
J""rr
iJ J , r
I
f ^
LH.
.
r r

fa) su ^
A *

FIG. 47. Two exampks of zampognari mi^ii:;

(a) novena song;
(b) saltarelk.
 the 5 feet in and It

like an

by the

f f
i r r r t

^*000
o o
>
op
o * * <>

*
<*

jivtv||. fwtMtjjmif f SsC**Mi-*' I

+ >+O<0OOOOO 9 * Q # O t> OO*00

. L^.

-
r
r to f

FIG. 48. Technique of the English IhuMe Flageolet.

shawmist leaving off every so often to take the hat round, the
bagpiper meanwhile keeping the music going in two parts by
himself) these are above all Christmas instruments, and are
properly played by shepherds. The zampognari (sometimes
07
 HISTORY
' f

)
the the
the the
is in the in
the Fig. 47 is a the
and the of the
ft the in

bagpipe a saltarello
on the

As as instruments, flageolets are well suited for

are so used all over Eurasia, Still quite
in English antique shops is the boxwood Double

Flageolet by Bainbridge, London ; a popular musical toy in the

early part of the last century. It is designed for playing in thirds
and sixths. Fig. 48, shows the fingering of the two pipes (from
i

Brigg's Preceptor). The numbers 1 and $ indicate the opening

of the top front key on each; 2, the octave key on the back of the

right hand pipe; *, the low key on the same, gives the two
usual scales for the pipes together, the letters L and R
indicating
which pipe sounds the upper note. IK, from Egan's Preceptor of
about 1820, shows an example of what they used to play on it.
In his Triple Flageolet, Bainbridge added to the rear of the two

pipes a closed boxwood cylinder with keys, to be operated by

the wrists, giving various bass notes on the principle of the
ocarina or globular flute.
 XVII. FLUTE ANCESTORS
1, Sounding New Guinea (.\ova Guinea, vol. Ill);
ritual flutes without holes,
2,transverse flute with one hole (Assam hills); 3, notched flute, stopped, with one
hole (New Britain); 4, nose flute (Tahiti, collected on Cook's first voyage); 5, Joe
Powell, last of the old laborers in England, leading the Bucknell Morris, c. 1870;
pair of ritual transverse flutes without holes, the larger nearly
6, 7, six feet long

(New Guinea); bottom left: pipe and tabor (Oxfordshire, collected 1886)
Nos. 2-7 by courtesy of the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, i and 5 reproduced by
kind permissionof Messrs. E. J. Brill, Leyden, and the English Folk Song and
Dance Society
 XVIII. REED INSTRUMENT ANCESTORS

Above, left to right: i, primitive hornpipe, Morocco; 2, Basque hornpipe; inset., an

Albanian hornpiper. Below, left to right: $, Persian shawm (surna), with spare reeds and
mandrel; 4, the Elgin auloi (double pipe), Athens, c. 400 B.C.; inset, an aulete, from a
Greek vase painting, British Museum; 5, ancient Egyptian reed pipe (a double-pipe
component). Bottom right: Spanish dulzaina
Nos. i and 2
by courtesy of the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford; Nos. 3-5 by courtesy of the
British Museum
 bellows-blown. Right:
Left: 16th-century Polish (possibly Bohemian?) bagpipe,
reeds of woodwind precursors. Top row (double reeds): i, English whit-horn

an aulos descendent (bamboo reed,

(reed of willow bark); 2, Chinese kuan-tzu,
full and side views); 3, North African shawm (maize reed); 4, Burmese shawm,
hne (reed of palm leaf). Second row (cane double reeds): 5, Catalan shawm,
tcnora, showing reed mounted in pirouette; 6, Catalan shawm, tiple, with wooden
ciaramella. Third row (double reeds):
keeper-peg shown below it; 7, Italian
8, Highland bagpipe (chanter) and (to right) copper staple; 9, plastic
reed for

Highland practice-chanter; 10, French bagpipe, cornemuse (chanter); 11,

Irish

Union pipe (chanter, showing copper adjusting band). Bottom row (single reeds):
12, Egyptian parallel double pipe, zummara (hornpipe similar); 13,
Union pipe,
small drone (tongue tuned with a wax blob); Highland bagpipe, tenor drone
 XX. CORNETT

Left to right: cornettino dated 1518, and treble cornett (author's collection); X-ray
(E. Halfpenny)
of treble cornett, 1605, Christ Church, Oxford. All
photograph
three instruments of wood, leather-covered, silver-mounted. Mouthpieces not original
 XXI. 16TH-17TH CENTURY INSTRUMENTS AT THE KUNSTHISTORISCHES
MUSEUM, VIENNA
Above: four recorders (quint-bass, bass, tenor and treble; from Castello
Below: left: bass sordano (mouthpiece removed; from
Catajo, Italy).
Schloss Ambras, Austria); right: bass curtal (fagotto corista; Catajo)
Reproduced by courtesy of the Director
*
2cJ
sl.gg
s-<
C "^ f

Sfl C ^
s -si

nS
73

73 sy
40 C "So
 XXIII.OTHER l6TH-l7TH CENTURY INSTRUMENTS
bottom: i,
to tenor crumhorn; 2, tenor flute; 3, mute cornett; 4, treble
Top
tenor shawm 6, bass racket (late type, with crook);
shawm; 5, (Alt-pommer);
7 tenor cornett. Nos. 1-5 are of boxwood; Nos. 6 and 7 are wood, leather
(right),
covered.
Brussels Conservatoire Museum Amsterdam Rijksmuseum (6),
and Norwich
(1-5),
Museums (7)
 XXIV. THE CLASSICAL OBOE

Two-keyed oboe, boxwood and ivory, Cahusac, London, r.

1780
(MacGillivray collection)
 XXV. THE CLASSICAL BASSOON

Four-keyed bassoon, pear wood, Milhouse, .\ewark,

c. 1780 (Cave collection)
 XXVI. TWO EPOCH-MAKING WOODWIND DESIGNS

Above: six-keyed flute, stained boxwood, Gcdney, London, dated 1769, with its box
and alternative top joints (Champion collection), the prototype of our 'simple
systems'.
Beloiv: conical Boehm flute, boxwood, Boehm, Munich, c. 1832 (Morley

collection); Boehm's first new design, introducing

the modern ring mechanism
Pegge
 XXVII. THE CLASSICAL CLARINET
boxwood, Mousscter, Paris, r.
Five-keyed Bjj clarinet, 1780 (Bate collection)
 '

"
. J3

V ^

'*"*'
C

li

?
SH
 woodwinds.
xxix X-RAY PHOTOGRAPHS by Eric Halfpenny of 18th-century
c. head joint,
the
Left to rieht: i, treble recorder, Bressan, 1740 (cylindrical
c. early form, with
rest contracting): *, one-keyed flute. Rippert, 1700 (the
clarinet. Miller, c. 1780
middle joint in one piece; bore as above); 3. five-keyed
barrel and are from another clarinet of the
(cylindrical bore; the mouthpiece
bore, with 'bee-hive or
period); 4, two-keyed oboe,
Collier, c. 1770 (conical
at the bell tenon, etc.); 5.
tenor joint
sword' bore-profile in top joint, step
the deep,
of eight-keyed bassoon, Goulding, c. 1800 (conical bore; showing
characteristic of the bassoon).
oblique drilling of the finger-holes,
still
 13

xxx. OTHER 18TH-CENTURY WOODWIND TYPES

i,
two-keyed chalumeau (reproduction of former Munich specimen): 2, one-keyed flute,
Potter; 3, fife, Wiltshire; 4, treble recorder, Bressan; 5, two-keyed clarinet, early type re
Bj^
sembling recorder, J. C. Denner; 6, two-keyed clarinet, later type, }. C. Denner; 7, clarinette
d'amour, Vtnera; 8, treble deuUche Schalmey, Haka; 9, three-keyed bassoon of earliest type,
J, C. Denner; 10, three-keyed oboe of Bach-Handel period, Boekhout; 11, tenor oboe
of

Bach-Handel Period, Wyne; 12, oboed'amore, of Bach-Handel period, Eichentopj; 15, two-

keyed oboe, English 'straight-topped' model, Astor

 xx:XI

flute, 'Nicholson's
, eigh^ed
c*** 3.
keyel serpent, English, oboe eys),
contrabassoon, L,, V^nna . p
pl
(l
 CHAPTER IX

primitives play flutes; the

instruments ; but we, like the Orientals,
This we must ascribe ultimately to the
musical ancestors, so far as everyday instzumental
were the aboriginal, Celtic and Germanic
and moved about in the European hinterland during
times. like the Greeks and the Romans, these were lyre-players,
but their lyres were of ruder kinds. likewise they were wind-
players, not of the classical aulos,
but rather of those lesser
instruments which the Greeks and Romans, once they
erected their civilizations, relegated to the background as folk
instruments. A good example is the panpipe. To Rome, this
was hardly more than one among those rustic instruments that

the poets alluded to casually as cakmm (cane), fistula (pipe),

awna (oat) and so CHI. But among the peoples beyond,
from
North Italy upwards, the panpipe counted for very much more;
engravings on bronze vessels show it being played
at feasts

beside the lyre, as the aulos was in the grand civilizatioiis

(Blume's new Mmik in Gmhzchte
und Gegmtmrt, article
*Fl6te*, reproduces some of these engravings). Double pipes of
the hornpipe kind must have been played too, though no direct
evidence of this has yet been found. Bone flageolets with two or
three holes have been found in graves, and cane ones would have
been made too in regions where the plant grew suitably.
Many centuries later, in the times of Charlemagne and
Alfred, the prominent wind instruments, apart from the organ
and the horn, were still just hornpipes and panpipes, though
209
HISTORY

310
 the the
of the
to in the
as and to
the the
the Norman
enter the with the Gothic, the
thirteenth centuries:
the prototype of the the

expanding-bore reed the the

bagpipe. These w^ere the the

after harp and fiddle in the

century, the music that rang through every 011

festive occasion.
We say, mainly on the evidence of pictures and
they came in with the Gothic. But were they all so It

is strange that the pipe and tabor, and the so the

favourite wind instruments during troubadour
already have been characterized as instruments. This
seems rather to imply that they had been on Western
soil for some time before the earliest-known depiction and
literary mention of them in
the twelfth century ; for folk instru
ments do not grow up overnight How long back into the six or
seven hundred years of the Dark Ages and Early Middle Ages
each type had already been known, if only as a submerged local
its own course of
species or as something slowly pursuing
these arc
development from an Eastern or Southern prototype,
among the most questions in European organology.
difficult

However, problematic though their origins are, the instru

ments themselves or most of them can be studied at first
hand ; for in the quieter, remoter parts of the Continent, medieval
wind instruments live on today as folk instruments, unchanged
save perhaps for a small modification here, or a sign of de
generation there. Hence
we can watch and tear medieval types
of instrument actually being played, and often in drcumstanees
that seem to mark a local closed tradition' in which the musk
*

itself may not be very different from that which the local

minstrels played seven centuries ago (e.g. in East Europe and

 HISTORY
belt the of to the
of is of
of the of a of
active.

BAGPIPE. To variable of wind Instruments in

all its take a book to itself. Yet, even
its the instruments we are now
the bagpipe's part In the evolution of our reed
is in ways so important that a brief sketch of
its workings and construction cannot be omitted.
Bagpipes fall into two principal classes distinguished by the
bore and reed of the chanter (the melody pipe, as opposed to
drones): ( I) With cylindrical bore and single reed. This class
includes the elementary bagpipes found in Asia and North
Africa, and all the European bagpipes east of Germany and
Italy; these were mentioned in the last chapter. (2) With
expanding bore and double reed. This includes all the typical
Western European bagpipes, and it is these that most concern
us here. (Ethno-musicologists often term the first kind of
chanter a 'clarinet* and the second an 'oboe'; this is neat and
concise, but the terms would read so oddly in a book about
woodwind that they have not been used, )
Whether the first bagpipe recorded in Europe, the tibia
ntrzculms of the Romans, was of the first kind or of the second or
Western kind is scarcely possible to guess. But one can say that
the common medieval bagpipe appears in pictures so much like
a Western bagpipe of today (especially the Spanish) that it is
reasonable to suppose that it resembled them in its important
details.
These are shown typically in fig. SO. The bag is held under
theleft arm with the drone over the left shoulder. It is inflated

through the mauthpipe (or blow-pipe, 7), which has a non

return valve consisting of a leather flap secured by a tack, or

glued in a nick in the wood. This valve prevents the air flowing
back into the mouth (which can be literally a nauseating
experience with a village-made bagpipe of uncured goatskin,
212
 MEDIEVAL WIND MUSIC

Carril, Santiago de
FIG. 60. Spanish bagpipe (gaita galkga) by
the three-jointed drme; 4, 5, 6, drone, mouthpipe
Compostela. 3,
drone reed;
and chanter stocks; 7, mmthpipe; 8, chanter; 9,
the stocks.
10, chanter reed. Inset: more traditional positions for
21S
 .

the is not The air In the is fed

to the by a of the left and
to in
the for the
the at the the
Plate XVIII), be
of nations.
The fcdy was originally, is still, of the
of a goat or kid, with the chanter at the
the other at the fore-legs. Hence the goat's
carved on many chanter stocks (Plate XVIII). But generally,
the of two pieces of skin cut out to shape, stitched
Is

together and then turned inside out. Also, nowadays, bags are
often of mackintosh material, in which case the two pieces
are joined an the outside with adhesive strips of the same
material. Yet other bags are of moulded rubber, while for an

emergency replacement, almost anything may be used, e.g. In

Italy an old lorry inner-tube.
The stocks are the tubular wooden sockets in which the pipes
are held and their reeds protected (fig. 50; 4, 5, 5). They are
bound into their respective holes in the bag with strong thread.
The side holes (for mouthpipe stock and, usually, drone stock)
are cut in the bag with diagonal cuts to form triangular fillets
which can be bent up for tying round the stocks. The cloth or
velvet bag-comr fits over bag and stocks like a jumper and Is
laced along the edge below the chanter stock. In the Middle

Ages it was usually dyed some bright colour, red, blue or green.
The chanter (8) normally has seven holes in front and a
thumb-hole above them behind. In *folk* and other outdoor
types its bore is steeply conical (from one-eighth of an inch to
seven-eighths of an inch is traditional in Scotland), giving the
loudest and most penetrating sound possible in a high treble
scale, of which the six-finger note is regarded as the normal key
note (see table, p. 218). The little finger gives the leading-note
below (except on the Highland pipe where It
gives the tone
below). The neutral third (four fingers), characteristic of most
of our woodwind Instruments in their keyless stage, is sharpened
Into a major third on some pipes by making holes V and VI
 Any VII are
to the
the are giving a of
can be to the by
on the The tin* in his

as as the in the

a be
is i.e.
by the to or
by
grace-notes. This the of tad
repetition of the note, To the
be played in partly 'covered* the
that are necessary to the and
the fingers down on the lower holes. As an of
not
gracing on the familiar Highland
for

realized its Intricacy, the following are the ctf

'Highland Laddie*, from Logan's Tutor

FIG. 51. Exampk of gracing on the Highland

But such intricate gracing is a comparatively recent develop

ment. In most 'folk* bagpipkg it is done more simply and
sparingly.
For and gracing without
soft indoor practice of the fingering
the bag, both Scottish and Spanish makers supply a fractm-
chanter,with narrow bore and long-bladed reed en
cylindrical
closed in a wooden cap. It sounds an octave
below the real
chanter.
Irtish in the
The drvn* appears in medieval pictures
first

thirteenth century, though in so many different forms that it can

scarcelyhave then been a fresh introduction. Also, the peasantry

knew it; in Adam de la Halle's pastoral play RoMn and
already
 HISTORY
(c. 1275), the off" to his
and his on the big
The very In of the
and s0
a

string), and so too, probably, did

players, thought that the little portative organ
It is a
or two. There can be no questioning that for a full

to a air, the drone is

to teat. Even today, old traditional airs that we have grown

to stuff with conventional harmonies on piano or
accordion, often gain fresh life when played over a simple drone.
To medieval music it means far more, and it may even be
introduced to enrich a piece written in parts (as for example the
well-known two-part piece that occurs in the same manuscript as
'Sinner is i-cumen in': no. 4 la in Davison and Apel's Historical
Anthology of Music).
In view of its function as a supporting pipe, a drone is con
structed differently from the chanter, having a single reed of
cane or elder (the double-reed drones of the zampogna are
exceptional) and a cylindrical bore made in three or two separate
joints with long tenons for pulling out in order to tune the drone
some of the louder bagpipes, each joint of the
to the chanter. In
drone has a larger bore than the one above it a 'stepped'
cylindrical bore (fig. 50; 3).
A single drone (the commonest arrangement in the Middle
Ages) nearly always tuned two octaves below the chanter
is

key-note. In many medieval miniatures it is coloured gold or

silver and shaped like the medieval trumpet, with balls over
the joints and a banner flying at the bell; evidently such
drones were of metal (and perhaps reserved for royalty and
nobility).
In the splendid array of instruments that illuminates the
Escorial Library's famous MS., Alfonsp the Wise's Cantigas de
S. Maria (c. 1270), one also sees a bagpipe with the drone

placed parallel with the chanter in the same stock, exactly as in

the present French comemuse or cabrette. This drone sounds one
octave below the chanter key-note, but today, in the Cantal
sie
 MEDIEVAL WIND
Aiirillac, the i* for
the for the the
the and the an the if

at all, is a
Two are in the
the toning is in C
c *g- c> O OT in

(c', #'; or an octave The old

vanished In the century,
figurines, sometimes to have the
two little drones beside each other in the
When playing in the plagal mode (with as the

key-note) the smaller drone would be out to F

instead of O, as is done on the Northumbrian
Three drones are post-medieval. They later in
f

(e.g. with tuning 9 g,

c c ),
and more recently still in

(A, a, a).
All bagpipers, even the wildest shepherds in the
mountains of Europe, tune their drones with the
and with complete absence of hurry, for everything in bagplping
depends upon the drone being exactly in tune with the chanter.
The drone is usually tuned against the
of the chanter scale*
fifth

since this note requires only one hand, leaving the other free to

manipulate the drone slides. Perhaps we may picture the

medieval bagpiper completing the tuning and at the same time
loosening up his reeds in an extended tuning prelude or
tempradwa appropriate to the coming lay and drawing the
audience into its mood. Medieval fiddlers and harpers, certainly,
made such preludes, just as Spanish bagpipers and guitarists,
and Arab lute-players, to name but a few, still do today.

BLADDER-PIPE. In this an elastic bladder replaces the bag of a

bagpipe. In the West of Europe today, it survives only as a

toy
found in bagpiping regions like Brittany and Sicily, where it is
made by fixing a mouthpipe and a miniature wood or cane
for sale from
single-reed chanter in an ordinary rubber balloon,
a tray at markets and fairs. In the East of Europe, however, one
of the ancient forms has just survived in Poland as a very rare
shepherd's instrument; a hornpipe-derivative, consisting of a
a 17
 HISTORY
a reed. In a
(fig, 55, c).
the and instruments of
this to have fairly popular, though less so
the The MS. shows two types, one with
end, apparently made entirely in wood (like Its deriva
tive, the sixteenth-century cnimhorn), and the other straight,

TABLE 0F PRINCIPAL WESTE1N BAGPIPES

As In the %. 52 (which gives their regions only).
(K.B. Until the century* of the areas of the map were
too.)

8,, etc. East European with Qrlindrical ctoiters and single reeds, in
Iwgpijpes
cluding: Czech 3mfyr Polish $&x, Hungarian duda, Yugo^av gajda,
Dalmatian dipk, etc.

* These are
tweiitieth-caitory adaptations of the Highland bagpipe inspired by
some early engravings, to be (as it was claimed) 'more cnaracteristically Irish than
the ordinary fife and drum, or brass band*.
f See Appendix .

and apparently with a short drone parallel with the chanter.

Probably bladder-pipes varied regionally as much as bagpipes,
and the Western examples, like the Western bagpipes, may
have had double reeds. Their place in music is unknown.

BOMBAR0E. (l) The Renaissance tenor shawm; see below,

loud music. (^) Today a small Breton folk shawm, 12 inches
218
 Six i/J7 and it is

IB the

is an octave higher. The is

on the the in at

the
places.
in
has been largely by the
In the as tie
the key of B^), and since tlis
the effect of the latter is lost.

FIG. 5. Sketch-map of various foUt

instruments. ( PrvbMy readers
will be able to fill in further areas from their own observation. ) For
the numbers, see adjacent table.

of instrument
CORNETT. The finger-hole horn is a strange type
save for an instrument of a
apparently unknown
outside Europe,
African side-blown horns
South Indian tribe, the Toda; (the
a different class of
with a finger-hole in the tip constitute quite
instrument). Though
sounded as a true horn, with the lips
we shall mention it, and its
against a mouthpiece cavity,
and its
successors, by virtue of its 'woodwind' finger technique
place in music.
r
219
 HISTORY
The first In the

very like an by
very rarely, In Norway and and
in lying on the boundary of and
Portugal; a or horn with a row of three or four
finger-holes in the side, and the tip cut off to make the mouth-

(fig. 53, 0). gives four or five clear, far-carrying notes

It

of remarkable equality, pitched In the upper part of the treble

stave. For recent examples of its tunes, see: Norway, of

FIG. 53. Cornett precursors (a, Swedish finger-hole cow horn;

b, Russian rozhok of wood bound with birch-bark] ; bladder-pipe
(c, simplified sketch of Polish type); Pyrenean boxwood panpipe

the English Folk Song and Dance Society, 1935; Spain, Anuario
Musical, Barcelona, 1947.
In the Middle Ages it was made with more holes and must
have proved quite a useful and attractive instrument for the
time, but during the troubadour period it began to be replaced
by those straight and curved wooden designs that were later to
rise to such heights of musical fame under the name comett (next
chapter).
A co-ancestor of these is the alp-horn. This, which is found in
 ,
MEDIEVAL
the and the as as in
a of
all over the world in
in (e.g. in fig. log of
is in half From end to and the is

and cut out in part, are or

agaitij and the instrument is

birch bark. As a short finger-hole of the the

early comett lasted Into as a

(fig. 53, b)
: the ("little horn*; cf.

means the same thing), some 16 long t with five or six

holes, and formerly played In In
melodies similar to the brelka tune in fig. 45 In the last

DOUCAINE (dulzaim, doucette). A problem. See later In this

chapter, soft music.

FLAGEOLETS. The time-honoured village custom of

willow May whistles suggests that the West has long
familiar with the 'block* method of constructing a flageolet: i.e.

by shaping a wooden plug and driving it into the top end of the
instrument to make the wind channel (as on our recorders). An
*

early musical form of the same instrument is the cane shepherd's

pipe' still found in several parts of Europe. It averages 8 inches
long and has any number of holes that the maker chooses to
burn in it. It was the six-holed instrument of a Sicilian goat-herd
that provided the prototype of those pleasant-toned bamboo

pipes that British schoolchildren have teen making under the

instruction of Margaret James's Pipers' Guild Handbook.
No doubt many medieval flageolets were much the same,
though made also of wood. Others perhaps already possessed
the recorder characteristics, e.g. contracting bore, and the

eight holes of a bagpipe's chanter. The actual name 'recorder* is

late fourteenth century*
In pictures and carvings one notices on the whole more of the
doubk flageolet; either with separate pipes of cane or wood; or
with both pipes carved and bored in a single piece of wood, and
diverging sufficiently to enable the hands to be held level on
 HISTORY
as the

to It the of
for
*
to a of another. As they rose
the with the timing of strings, each
at to be heard" (Romance of ilamenea),
the fellow who his way to the front was heard first.

Now, harp, (with bourdon string), guitar, bagpipe, pipe

tabor, were allmusically self-supporting instruments with
an artist could hold the attention of his listeners quite on
.his own; and the double iageolet might just have fallen into
this category. When
Tristan, disguised as a jongleur, per
formed a lay on thejfageol, we may imagine that it was ajlageol
its music filled out by the tremulant between the two
pipes, and perhaps also with touches of drone, thirds or poly
phony. The great days of the plain recorder came later, with the
growth of organized part-music.
FLUTE. No traces have yet been found of the flute in Inner

Europe before the Middle Ages, though the instrument had

been known among at least two- of the ancient Mediterranean
peoples (the Etruscans and the Hellenistic Egyptians), while at
certain Roman pastoral rites the flute was imitated in the

plagiaulos a monaulos with the reed inserted into a hole in the

side near one end (which works perfectly well, though there has
been no occasion to employ the arrangement since). After this,
heard of the flute in West Europe until the twelfth
little is

century, by which time it had become established in Germany,

apparently derived from the East: a Tartar instrument, akin to
the Asiaticbamboo flutes; indeed in some medieval illustrations
clearly made of cane, just as it still is in Turkestan. To the
it is

Germans of the period, the flute seems to have been a some

what select or aristocratic instrument, played in chamber music
beside the Minnesinger fiddle. It grew widely known west of
the Rhine only during the fourteenth century.

HORKPIPE. During the early Middle Ages, most if not all of

the peoples of Europe were probably
playing hornpipes of one
2*
 or and
one a
to of
of i
one or and the
the Its

octave.
the recent survivors are the of the
countries of 0r
elder. Most had the
wane of the double-pipe era in the fig. S9 t
though these instruinents are to
of the single reed). Another group is by the
hornpipes that lasted in Britain the
sometimes still as double-pipes; the Scottish of
which Bums, after a long search, finally a
and cow-horn specimen from Athole; 'the Welsh erf"

which some eighteenth-century specimens, by

Anglesey shepherds, are preserved at the National of
Wales, Cardiff. In Wales, pipers, presumably
followed the harpers and the crowthers at the medieval Eisted-
fodd contests in a way that recalls the procession of lyre-
players and auletes at the contests in ancient Greece. later OH,
the pibcorn appears to have been superseded by a Welsh

(of which there are sketches in the sixteenth-cttitory British

Museum Add. MS. 15036), but within the last few years it has
been revived to a small extent to give extra colour to Welsh
folk music festivals, on one occasion accorded the full honour
due to it as the one-time aulos of the North by having been
entrusted, as the bills announced, to none other than *Leon
Goossens, oboe and pibgom'.

PANPIPE. Since late antiquity the Western panpipe has been

made in two ways. One is the common way of tying or waxing
together a row of canes each stopped at the
lower end by a knot
or with wax. The other way is by solid contraction, either in
pottery, or by drilling holes down the thickness of a flat piece of
wood, sometimes in the Middle Ages decorated to look like a
223
 HISTORY
no a The Is

on bj of the French Pyrenees very neatly, In

(fig. 53, rf),

the favourite
of viz. or (though sometimes more),
a of treble stave (an 8$ inch
f
about g
). They play lively little tunes,
f
much of Papageno $ famous run-up, and the
introductory flourish played on the small tabor pipe in Catalan
may well be a memory of some ancient Pyrenean
Somewhat similarly, in Russia at the end of the
eighteenth century, Guthrie found that an almost extinct seven-
cane panpipe was being regularly imitated in village bands by a
person whistling (British Museum Add. MS. 14S9O).
A fine East European panpipe that is far from extinct today
is the twenty-six-pipe Rumanian naiu, upon which Fanica Luca

and other virtuosi play even elaborate violin tunes, their

performance culminating in bird-song cadenzas done with
glissando, vibrato and every other possible trick. Drops of a
semitone or more can be made on any note by raising the
instrument, to cover more of the pipe with the lips.

PIPE AND TABOR. This unique one-man band is first heard of

in the old terrain of the troubadour movement, the South of
France and the North of Spain, and it is in these same regions
that it is most heard today. The outfit (Plate XVII) comprises:

I. pipe (tabor pipe, three-holed pipe); a flageolet played with

the left hand only ;

. tabor (pronounced 'tabber* by English folk music authori

ties) a small snare drum slung at the left side of the body
:

or from the left arm; and

3. drum stick, held in the right hand.

Thepipe (of wood, generally in one piece) preserves the

cylindrical bore of the primitive cane flageolet, and the technique
isfounded on the jreadiness and good intonation with which a
narrow-bore flageolet can be overblown to its higher harmonics.
The fundamentals of a tabor pipe can be sounded, but are not
used. The scale begins an octave higher, with the 2nd har-
9*
 is by
5th In the
is of a the
3rd so to the
to the
to wield the dram stick. The are in for
I and II, a at the
third and little fingers grip the end of the
below except on Basque which a for the
third finger.
The well-known French tabor pipe the of
and the farandole (commemorated, on the In JJArlt-

$imne)
1
is a small-bore instrument (fig, 54% l) 7*5
metres bore, a foot long, and normally in D. The Is

the typical fingering, with the thumb-hole to the left

of the oblique stroke ;

N.B. Ail these notes wim^ two octaves higter. Flutter can be o^-
tained by cross-fingering and half-Ming. Sometimes the low Iea<iing->tet is c%
made by half-dosing the bell with the little toger. Cto other tabor pipes, die
'thumb only fingering is often an F natural.
*

The tabor pipe formerly played for the Whitsun Morris

dances in Oxfordshire and the neighbouring counties was of the
same kind, made locally, or in London (e.g. by Potter, the
fife, drum and bugle specialists),
or imported from France.
Much valuable information about it is preserved in the un
published note-books of Dr Percy Manning
and other pioneer

English folk-music collectors, now kept in the library of the

English Folk Dance and Song Society, in London. Up to the

1860s every district had its piper a shepherd or a labourer
1 The dates of the fetes when the
pipes tambowmmres perform may
be found in the calendars of local events published by the French Railways,
touring offices, etc.
15 WL .
 HISTORY
for his and the
to be in the up for the

1%, TJk / Ik etc. Bat the

the and the to the
and by I
only a few
n

-I
-I
-X -JLiitk
lv*nf-

FIG, 54. later pipes: I, Provencal; 2, S, Basque; 4, Catalan

Jlimol.

living. Several of their instruments are preserved, and since

the revival of English folk dancing in the 1950s, Dolmetsch and
Louis have made some pipes modelled upon them.
Spanish tabor pipes generally have wider bore and more
powerful sound than the preceding, and perhaps more closely
preserve the form of the ubiquitous medieval instrument.
Especially interesting are the perfected pipes played in the
Basque cities (fig. 54,
2), for these most closely resemble the
 of the and of
Is In G f 16-5 is
a a of the A
at the top and the is a
of let the In
and a 0ne for an
to A 5s
by
II. In ts erf

San this is by a
In C a fifth (fig. 54, 3). It is in two
totaling S4-5 and has a 16-5 In

arrangements the G
play the in the
silbote provides a sort of flute-band The Is

excused taboring, and while the tabors of the

pipers mark the main rhythm, an die
atab&kro, responsible for the more subtle
is In
pictures too one sometimes sees this auxiliary drummer.

Tabors vary in size and shape in different regions from the

shallow English tabor, decorated with red, yellow and
Morris ribbons, to the deep-shelled Provencal
Medieval tabors were on the whole more like those of Spain,
about as wide as deep. The tabor is suspended in many
ways, hung from the left arm, slung round the shoulders,
on a belt, etc., and
usually beaten in fairly straightforward
it is

rhythms to guide the dance, as two-in-a-bar in six-eight time, or

in dactylic rhythm in two-four. No medieval beatings are

recorded, but those given in Arbeau's QrcMmgrapkm (I5SS)

are all of the same simple Mnd. The medieval pipe and tabor was
also intended primarily for dance music, like the in
Robin and Marion, though e$tmmpze$f which were rated more as
concert pieces, were also performed on it.
The tabor is not the oriy percussive instrument that is or has
been used with the pipe. A feminine alternative to the pipe and
tabor in the fifteenth century was the pipe and triangle. Today*
on both slopes of the Pyrenees one finds the pipe and stringed
drum (with some six gut strings stretched over a three feet

long soundbox and tuned to the keynote and fifth of the pipe,

SS7
 HISTORY
a stick). In the New World, the
has by the of
011 It

a but the Negro of

has the and gourd-rattle.

A of is found in parts of North-east

and in the Catalan sardana bands (fig. 54, 4). It is barely
long, with three finger-holes in front and two
Of the latter, one is for the thumb, and the other
between holes and IV) Is for the upper surface of
III

the finger. Also unlike the normal tabor pipe, the funda-
are used, augmented on the sardana model, Jlwoiol, by
three keys. Use is really a species of
instrument Fremhfiageokt
though thismay be derived
in turn from the true tabor pipe ; it
employs both hands, each hand being provided with a complete
set of tabor-pipe holes, thus: two holes and thumb-hole
plus
two holes and thumb-hole =four holes and two thumb-holes (cf.
the holes of the ancient monaulos). In this event, the fluviol
would represent a reversion to tabor-pipe use.

SHAWM. In the mixed and varied typology of ancient wind-

instrument history, the outstanding fresh contribution of post-
classical times is the reed instrument sounded with a double
reed carried on the narrow end of a conical metal staple. The
body of the instrument usually, but not always, continues the
bore-expansion of the staple. The eventual outcome of the idea
is, of course, our oboe, and also the bassoon, in which the staple

takes the elongated form of a crook.

Among older types of
instrument, it has been employed in the chanters of Western
bagpipes, and over the entire realm of civilization, from England
and Morocco in the West to China and Java in the East, in the
instruments of the Shawm tribe, of which two notable survivors
tiple and Uwra
the Catalan have already been described in
Chapter IV.
By mounting the reed on a staple, the principal advantage
gained over the older method of inserting a long-stemmed reed
directly into the pipe was probably very much quicker and easier
228
 But of the of the
is We the on
tlie of the
is the a
of which, at is the
to the
In in the of
this. Curt Sach*s of a
on a Jewish coin of the A.D.

by further discoveries, put the six

centuries earlier.
The surna Is of wood, often still on the
lathe. An example is shown in Plate XVIII. on
the staple a wide disc of metal* bone or
is

against which the player puts Ms lips, totally the

inside the cavity of his mouth. From the a
festoon of shawmist's accessories, as spare

making tools a mandrel (a metal or wooden spike) a

clamp. The Oriental shawm reed (Plate XIX) is of rash,

straw, pala grass, etc. To make it, a short length of the

squashed quite flat and left to dry and set. Then,
is first

soaking, its lower end is opened out and bound over the mandrel*
and the upper part is restored to the flattened shape in the
clamp* The mandrel is also used for clearing a reed that has
become too dosed-up and water-logged. Also shown in tibe
plate is an alternative construction found mainly in Burma and
Siam. Four or six strips of smoked palm-leaf are superimposed*
bent over and cut to shape, and bound over a mandrel inserted
between the middle two pieces of leaf. This makes a double
reed, each blade of which is composed of two or three thicknesses
of palm-leaf; an excellent reed, with which the players obtain a

range of two octaves or more, and every mode of articulation and

expressive nuance known to wind-playing.
The surna was a ceremonial and military instrument, played
in bands with trumpets and drams. When, during die later
Crusades, it became adopted in Europe, it was kept in the same
role, but we must suppose that some top-end remodelling took

place; for in the West, as far as we know,

the instrument has
339
 HISTORY

the this is the

to his ; the
be as a for the up the

But the be to
-
the of the Western band
\ m we we still to

for the that Europe had prior

of the and on the popular
with this bore, there is
In the bagpipe, for which,
no in the Near and Middle East. This may lend
to Sach's view that the 'conical pipe is older than we
11

hitherto believed.
Since a bagpipe requires neither disc nor pirouette, the cane is
bound tightly on to the staple, preventing it from falling off into
the bag. Those little European folk shawms that also employ
this construction of the reed, Italian ciaramella and Breton
both always played next to a bagpipe are best
regarded historically as detached chanters.
We may thus distinguish two shawm strains in the West:
(
l
)
The 'band shawm', derived from the Arabo-Persian suma,
with detachable reed and (usually) pirouette; examples include
the shawms described in the next chapter, and the Catalan
instruments already mentioned. () The 'folk shawm', derived
from the bagpipe, with the reed bound on the staple (and no
pirouette); among the examples, the ciaramella (sometimes
called fiffaro, or comammina\ fig. 44) is a particularly lively-

sounding little instrument, about a foot long, with narrowly

expanding bore and seven holes (rarely a thumb-hole, since it
overblows to sound the upper tonic). The reed (Plate XIX) is
like a bagpipe's, but is taken in the lips and tongued like an oboe
reed. To woodwind history, both strains are important, for the
oboe represents their eventual reunion,

Loud and soft 1300 onwards}

instruments (

During the troubadour age, wind instruments were used in

music with great freedom. There are hints of segregation of the
S3O
 the* ami
but in the
its on tie
and this is the first to
old or for
of and
The of the
to late in
There had tie
or the kit
now, towards the end of the a
group of this the
Arab civilization. It of the
instruments of Arab chamber as the and the
Moorish fiddle the
with long metal trumpets, the
nater$ and the band shawm described in the
With the advent of these came also the Oriental
between loud and soft instruments and music, and to
what it signifies, we may first observe it as it still in
the traditional music of the East today.

LOUD MUSIC (ORIENTAL). Anybody who has the old-

style concerted music of the East must have noticed its

twofold division:
artistic indoor music (soft), and
band music (loud). Hie outdoor band, heard at public and
private functions of many descriptions, has its own instruments
of which the chief is the shawm. With it are drains, and some
times cymbals. The trumpet, the band's third type of component,
is heard less now than formerly, but we must nevertheless notice

its role; for in the East a trumpeter is a one-note man, and bss
at that. Traditionally he is employed in pairs to sound a note
that is roughly either one or two octaves below the key-note of
the shawms. Chi this note, the trumpeters, with their long
medieval trumpets, burst in intermittently with hoarse interrup
tionsthrough which the shawmi^ts unconcernedly play on. The
shawm key-note is usually about a' y and in those Persian cities
that still keep their medieval-style town band, one of die
 HISTORY
a on (so
of the two in the Trio of the
a
the as he it at Kimiai>-
wrote: "Every at five or six
a overlooking the
The with the solo, joined by the
big drum. Then give to melody on suma, calm at
a

wildly abandoned. Finally all the instruments play

the trumpets their bellowing sounds to
the devilish concert.The music stops; the trumpets give three
moans; a cannon shot, the sun is set, and the regimental
sound the governor's fanfare/ In the band of a Tibetan
monastery, or of a Mohammedan chief In West Africa, shawm
trumpets are combined in just the same way.
LOUD MUSIC (EUROPE). Hie European band of the early four
teenth century, just after the last Crusade, took over the basic
Oriental constitution outlined above. Thus the town band of Pisa
in 1524 had one shawmist, one nakerer and two pairs of
trumpeters. For a larger band, a bagpiper or a pipe-and-taborer,
being readily available, might be added. These were military
bands in the full modem sense, performing at state functions,
cavalcades, tournaments and in battle. It is
unlikely that their
music was written down, so how 'Oriental' it may have first
sounded is unknown* Possibly a more advanced trumpet-
technique had already been developed in Europe on the alp-horns.

In Europe, by the Renaissance, another use had been found

for the band: 'When people wish to dance, or to stage a grand
celebration, the loud (haut) instruments are played, for their
great noise pleases the dancers better; they include trumpets,
tabors, nakers, cymbals, bagpipes, shawms and cornetts.* So
runs the late fourteenthr-century French poem Les Echecs
amowrmx. Then, as today, a loud band was preferred for formal

dancing, and the medieval band forthwith began to be seriously

Westernized. The early shawm was generally an instrument of
about bagpipe pitch, but a longer shawm with keynote about
the bottom of the treble stave now became the chief melodist,
232
and and a wt$ a
On the to the was
a by t (In
of
the of wag die
the in a
S, to a so
be on its the
<&f or a* to the
<fr A of this
the fifteenth century the
for this band. In one tie
band three or four in tall hats* in a or In
a raised pew against one wall of the hall.
The modem musicologists
covered a great deal about the performance of the In the
&se <&t& of the period. The boxnbarde out the
of the tenor part to the beat of the dance. This the
work of the music. It Is not known quite what the did
before became a trombone and played a
it

part, but the shawmist executed what can only be as a

hot chorus over the notes of the bombarde. Dr Bukofzer
In an Italian library a basse written down complete with
of these hot trebles. It is printed in his in and
Jtemmsame Mime, p. 19B9 and it is interesting to compare It with
a later version of the same time, now with a oontntenor

part, printed InDavison and Apel, No. I0a. (As for the pitch In
these examples, the treble and tenor parts comply with common
fifteenth-century practice In being written at a deep pitch
carrying them down to g and c respectively. The same deep
pitches are given for shawm and bombarde In Agricola's

fingering charts of I58, but one

can tell from the size of the
instruments in later fifteenth-century paintings and in Agrkola's
own drawings that they actually smnded about a fifth higher,
namely at the standard shawm pitches of the later sixteenth
century.)
SOFT MUSIC (ORIENTAL). The soft or indoor music of the
East is heard especially at receptions and dinner parties given
 HISTORY
% and in in
and It is in
of two to five If a
is is the and is

it Is a in the Far the

In the the nj.
is no In our
tie its and the
is a to the
tid t of
the Is
by as for
the lias

in this role at a
reception. Its burbling
contralto an interesting from the high warbling of
the nay It Heeds just as well with the
strings.

SOFT MUSIC (EUROPE). Tie poem Les con

tinues: "But when less noise is required one plays tabo^-pipes,
flutes and which are soft aid sweet, and other such
soft (fcw) instruments/ So here, as
many similar passages In in

poems and documents of the time, we may discover which

instruments were used in dmmixr mmic, as when
performing
the ballades and chansons of Landino, Dunstable or
Dufay. The
ba$ instruments are
closely analogous to those used in the soft
music in the East. "Other soft instruments* includes the
strings
' '
and the portative organ. Flutes includes recorder and flute.
*Dou$aine' is the name of the soft reed instrument that went
with them, but its identification presents us with a stiff
puzzle
today.
The only known description of it is in a few lines written
by
Tinctoris in 1468: the duMna (he is
writing in Latin) is a
kind of shawm (tiMaf in its late-medieval
meaning), soft-toned,
whence the name, and of limited compass (imperfecta] and it has ;

seven holes plus thumb-hole, as a recorder

(jutula). These
brief particulars, taken in conjunction with the
general picture
of consort reed instruments in the
following century, have been
taken to imply that this dulcina or dou$aine was of the non-over

blowing type with double reed, narrow cylindrical bore, and

284
 for its it lie

the for us, he

so we out
the a of like

the the
This Is a of
a It is a the
has a on t It is

by a It is

keyless, or with XVIII) or

* '

in are
of Its tunes in the of and
and it Is imitated on the of in in

Debussy's Iberia.

This present-day dukaina is a

but it may not always have so. The MS.
some small pipes that look very
bulbous bells, and similar In

might be defines of various sixes and But the fact of

the matter is that we simply do not know what the
The name may, as Sachs has suggested, i
number of different softish reed instruments.
From soft music, the hud instruments were In
those fifteenth-century paintings that show choirs of
exhibiting every Mud of musical instrument, soft
and loud, it
will nearly always be observed that the angels with loud
instruments shawms and trumpets balance each other on
at the back; the
opposite flanks of the picture, or form a group
distinction between Im and hmt remains as evident as ever.
When a picture appears to show a shawm-like instrument
intruding amongst strings, it must be some sort of doi^aine;
the literary evidence admits no alternative.
From iSfiO, wind consorts begin to appear, as three
about
recorders, often heard at the Burguadian court in Dttfay's time.
But more wind and stringed were mixed, as recorder
commonly
and psaltery or rebec; lute and doucaine; psaltery, gittern and
flute; pipe and tabor, recorder and harp; pipe am! tabor,
doucaine, lute and harp; etc., etc., these groups being both
 HISTORY
for for in the

garden.
the rise
<wir in treble, and
the to the of the stave. To
it
up
the 14GO-1490, the
the of other new Instruments
in the
 CHAPTER X
The Sixteenth Century and the. Consorts

ihe sixteenth century has a In it is

the earliest period in Western to

. left us a representative of Its to
examine. And it is fortunate it has so, as
concents the wooden wind instruments, for
speare's time these instruments the
of the medieval types described in the to
fall out of use, and sooner or later many of

with the loss to music of several strange tone-colours. The

principal species are listed below. Many
of their names now have
an antique ring, perhaps bringing to mind museum
rather than practical music, though in this chapter the instru
ments will be examined mainly with reference to the latter;
Flute class: recorder, flutes
Reed class (cmsort instnmmts): cramhorns, curtals, etc.

(
band instruments ) ; shawms
1
Trwmpet class (withjinger-Jtoks): oornetts

Sixteenth-ceetury nomenclature is far from consistent or clear,, but

1

the following list gives the most usual names of tibe Instruments in the
,^__:_^ f\t^^.fim*lm,m 4Vu*.4> * V%A.Ixn.Vr * / i,<IM<#'IrtP \ *>!%**", TVUBMkVt^* * *
variO'iis countries. Observe ttet 'hoboy' (tatfMf) then meant *shawm
_._ 46'1'lWfc'lll.rW*

(in Shakespeare's plays, for instance).

Recorder flte, fl. dow^ Hauto, fl. diritto R6te Btockfi^te
Flute fi. d'AllemagM iffaro j^wrlldte,
Zwdbicife
Ouroliora, toumebout, storto, KnroblKwi
cronao>ni ? cromoiTie pivu torto,
? corremi'iisa
Curtal fagot, bassoo
Duhiari
fe^tto Fagott,
Stewmr sfoatoe, Iwutbois pmro SdTaliaj,
hautbois, Bomhart,
hoboy, wait
Fomuw
comet (^ bouquin) cornetto Zink
Coraet(t)
237
 HISTO1Y
the of the
the of
the Petit
ISO
and
the of the Correr
the Obizzi of Venice Padua, and of the Arch-
of the Tyrol at his castle, Ainbras, near IraisbiUck.
Next in the collection now housed in the

Capitolare at Verona, with some Ifty wind instru

ments to that city's ancient Philharmonic Academy
and belonging to the Cathedral; and the Berlin
Museum, whose many notable specimens include a
fine set of band instruments formerly preserved in the Wenzels~
kirche at Naumberg in Lower Silesia. More instruments of
sixteenth-century local bandsmen are
museums of in the
Frankfurt, Nuremberg, Salzburg, Prague, Amsterdam and
many other places, and there are some fine cornetts and
other instruments in the Museum of the Paris Conserva
toire. No English examples are known save for three cometts:
two trebles (particularly fineones) at Christ Church,
Oxford (in the Library), and a tenor at Norwich (in the
Museum).
Besides actual instruments the period has left a number of
tutors and descriptive works. Most informative of the earlier
works is Agricola's Musica Instrimentatis deutsch (1528).
There is nothing of comparable value until the great Syntagma
Musicum (Vol. II, 1619) of Praetorius, German composer and
court musical director. This work is an indispensable guide to the

surviving specimens it has been reprinted twice in Germany in

;

modern times, though copies are now hard to obtain. Some of its
plates are reproduced in this chapter, resized to show the instru
ments at approximately the same scale throughout (the ruler-
scales in the plates give the old Brunswick inches, twelve of
which are roughly equal to eleven of ours). The Syntagma was
followed a few years later by Mersenne's scarcely less valuable
Harmonie Unwerselle, published in 16369 though much of it was
compiled at least ten years earlier.
238
 For the as the
are
of in
and we of
to
First; the list of the

set of St and the at

Peirara, as the in The list has the
of the in it be
in in the

Chapter Library, Some an of a

years earlier are in In 10

Pihrmmica Verona, 1569

f

5 sets of viols, a Bra a

7 lutes, a (two-manual) harpsichord,
a regal
a chest of 22 recorders (with crooks for the
two incomplete chests
a case of 5 flutes (with the bass made in two< pieces),
set of 5, and two Incomplete sets

tabor-pipes; 2 tabors (tamburi)

5 crumhoms (pimte)
5 fifes (Jffinri da campo)
3 trombones, with their crooks and timing bits
5 tenor oornetts
4 silver-mounted ordinary cornetts
8 mute cornetts
3 dragon-belled cornetts (am testa Usm) M
l curtal
(fatgota) with its reeds (cmdU)

The fifes would probably have been for processions (the

Academy later bought an extremely ine Nuremberg trumpet
too), and the tabor pipes for certain dances. But the rest of the
wind instruments could scarcely be more typical of those used in
conceits during the century. They were not all played at once.
There would be five or six wind players who changed from one
instrument to another as instructed by the musical director,
889
 HISTORY
the the of

his of
to the to of
In a music-room like the in tlie
at Verona the sat a
on a taken off its
at the end, as at Ferrara, the director
a
Our Inventory Is that of the Instruments of the Berlin
court In 1582, from the original text printed by
Tliis list the pitches of the Instruments, and to save
these are abbreviated below thus: B, bass; T, tenor; A,
alto; D, descant. (In English nomenclature, which will be
employed for the rest of this chapter, most of these 'alto*
Instruments would have been called trebles.)

Berlin Hoftaptlk, I58

6 positive organs, 4 regals, 4 harpsichords

5 new viols and some old ones
3 trombones, each with a crook (a double crook for the bass)
and 7 tuning bits
7 crumhoms, I B, 2 T, 2 A, 2 D
2 tenor shawms (B&mlmrdte} and 1 treble shawm
(discant
Schalmey)
1 recorders (Handtjldten, I B, T, 2 A, I D, and a tabor-pipe
with them and another missing
8 recorders (Brauhntjldtcn), 2 B, 3 T, 2 A, I D, and a small
descant missing
9 flutes (Qwrpfeifen), % B, 4 T, 3 D
4 cornetts, two of them with keys, two without
1 tenor comett with a key
7 Schreipfdfen, 1 B (without its brass mundstwk crook?), 5 T,
2 A, 1 D one of the tenors lacks
; Itskey, and all but one are
without their messinge Rorlin (staple) and aberrdkren
(reeds, or caps?)
mentioned separately: l Dulzan (curtal)
This list includes the loud instruments of the palace band: the
24O
 and the of
last in
the is the
as in the
in It is the
same.

The in

In their the
of the first and are
executed and the keywork, Is of it, can act
well The smaller are of and the
larger of maple. Nearly aH arc as far as in one
piece and finished very plainly on the
turnery, so characteristic of the
belongs to jointed construction, arid this is in the
sixteenth century save in bagpipes and
ments.
In instruments exceeding about SO in length, the
seventh finger-hole (little finger) is covered by that key
first appeared on the Renaissance bombanfe an key
protected by a slide-on barrel (as in fig. 57, left) ; or, in the
of curved instruments and those of oval or octagonal cross*-
section (e.g. in fig. 61 ), by a perforated metal box that also can
be of the key-mounting, sewn-on leather
slid off for inspection

pad, and brass leaf-spring bearing on top of the key-lever. The

larger bass instruments are usually extended diatonically down
* *
wards to reach three deep notes diapasons below the
seven-finger note. This involved fitting three more keys;
normally one more for the little finger (its touch partly over
lapping that of the first key), and two for the thumb of the same
hand (as on the bass shawm in fig. 65). As with the 'short
octave* at the bass end of early harpsichords, chromatic semi
tones were not provided for in this bass extension.

Among the survivors in the big collections, those of Venetian

manufacture predominate, which is appropriate, since Venice
seems to have been the principal focus of design during the
 HISTORY
for
Venice,
by to for and trom
bones, in
to 0n the
in Paris, jfcoa <fe
This, the of players from one country to
led to degree of standardization in instrumental
playing-pitehp It was higher than it is today. Recorders at
Yerona, inand in size with those in Praetoriws's
scale drawings 'chamber
at pitch* (fig. 57), sound a good
semitone above modem pitch; say about a' =470. Many other
also sound about this pitch, though yet others are

lower* probably having been built (as many inventories reveal)

to suit the pitch of some church organ.

CONSOET SIZES. Since the music was selected from part-music

composed in a vocal idiom, almost every species of instrument

was constructed in a treble size, a tenor size (which also did for
alto) and a bass size, each
matched in compass to the range of the
corresponding voice part in the general run of compositions.
And since the performers kept changing instruments in the
course of a programme, all instruments of a given size, say
treble, were built in unison, so that the reading of the music
i.e.the fingering of the printed notes was as far as possible
the same on all of them.
To examine this we may take as a reference point the note

given when six fingers are put down (plus the thumb if there is
a thumb-hole). In every normal wind consort the treble instru
ment then gives a; the tenor gives a fifth lower, d\ the bass a
fifth lower still, G. On flutes and recorders these notes sounded

an octave higher, but there is evidence that these instruments

were freely combined with the others and with Voices as if
the octave difference did not exist.
The above three sizes, including two of the tenor size (for
alto and tenor parts) constituted the standard equipment at the
beginning of the century. Further sizes were added to some
consorts as the century went on descant and great-bass (as we
will the of the of
the at to the of
the and the
six giving, / C. a
all the of
got the 10
as it were, in too the in too
to so in
to be at the
and the of at the
six d'\ and D (a
*
of a quints-bass), ran to
extreme or 'octave* sizes: for the

sopranino, an octave above the the

Bass, an octave below the 'quint-bass* (as we

name the ordinary great-bass size of the

consort).

TABLE OF STANDARD CONSORT SIZES

With the pitch defined in terms of the six-finger the
/iM For flutes and recorders). The of the are
commented on in the last section of this

TECHNIQUE AND DIVISIONS. All the instruments were lingered

basically like a recorder except for differences

occasioned by the
lack of a little-finger-hole or a thumb-hole in some types. Now
with this fingering, as every recorder player knows, the principal
scales turn on the crass-fingerings, which provide some of the
best notes on the instrument and the best intonation. And so it

243
 HISTORY
was in the C
key of
in the on the
was like in Bjj on the
i.e.
throughout,
for of the like C, G and F, Fig. 55 the
for a instrument.
has glanced at in Chapter L The
points are lucidly summed up by Agricola:

FIG. 55. Generalized chart for treble instrument with

thumb-hole,
based on sixteenth- and
seventeenth-century sources, p: half-
uncover thumb-hole.C: special cornett
fingerings (mainly from
Speer) Asterisk marks upper limit of treble cnmhorn.
.

learn to play a part just as it is written;

first, second^ leam to
introduce the correct musicajwta accidentals, i.e. accidentals not
printed in the part but nevertheless required by the music (e.g.
certain flats; sharpened
leading-notes); third, to make trills at
the cadences ; fourth, to fill in the
melody here and there with the
simple elements of divisions; mdffth, to make full divisions

(known on the Continent as diminutions).

Throughout the old polyphonic age of musical history, and in
every country in Europe, division-playing was the sauce with-
244
THE THE
out a t>f was not a*
of to the
go
and on to the all
boil to the
the as and on
Instruments.
A is a of one of the

FIG. 56. Example of divisions, from Girolamo Delia Casa,

Top line: the original printed treble
part; lower lines: two
alternative divisions. The tune is 'Suzanne mjour\
 HISTO1Y
the by and
the and of fast
In tie of and
to In the of
(e.g. the in Handel's choruses, and the
of division-like in the allegro movements of
like for the violin). In the sixteenth
century
aid figures were supplied mainly by the player,
extemporized his division as he went along, or
one beforehand. For beginners and amateurs, specimen
divisions, that could be practised and learnt off, were printed In
books of studies. Ganassi gives many for recorder
in his Fontegora. Fig. 56? is taken from the book of
divisions by the Venetian cornett soloist Girolamo della Casa,
one of the most celebrated wind players of the late sixteentli
century. It shows two specimen divisions for the treble part of
Lassus's five-part French song Suzanne mjow
(only the first
quarter of it is reproduced here). It will be observed that the
also demonstrates the correct
example sixteenth-century way of
making cadentlal trills: by beginning on the upper note and
fingering in temp, sometimes with eight, sometimes with
twelve notes per trill.

Recorders
The differences between the
structural
sixteenth-century
(Plate XXI) and the 'baroque* designs of recorder have been
touched upon in Chapter IL We
have here rather to consider the
musical employment of the
sixteenth-century recorder consort.
The primary set of c. 1500
(treble, two tenors, and a bass)
was best suited to compositions written in the 'low clefs'
(the
'low key' as Morley calls These clefs were
them). the
generally
same as those used recently for choral music, namely
up till

soprano, alto, tenor and bass clefs. In the usual practice of the
century the parts were kept mainly within the boundaries of the
clefs, seldom straying above or below by more than one
leger
line. Each part therefore had a compass of about an octave and
a half, which suited recorders. But it was usual to include in
one's set of recorders a second treble instrument to deal with
246
THE THE
alto it also in for
ive in all, the
in still as a
noyse' like the on the
Continent, but at
civic and so on).
In in the
rfj
clef (C clef on line ulte ckf9
and clef (F clef on the
inn up to g" (sounding g'" on be a
difficult note to play nicely, and Is in fact a
contemporary German the
ment. This is no doubt why the 10 be
included in so many sets about the and
onwards.
One bought these small bass-to-descant sets
the maker the only way, it was said, to in
tune together and they arrived in a
resembling a huge blade panpipe. Several of the
survived, some (at Nuremberg and Frankfurt } the
recorders still in them. But the instruments are never the
same. Clearly there was no standard equipment in the
half of the century, though from inventories we may detect a

possible favourite in two descants, two trebles, two tenors

one bass. Frequently a vacant cranny in the case was filled by
some small pipe like an exilent recorder, a
or a tabor^pipe. fife

Popular though these small recorder outfits were, the special

joy of the sixteenth century was the Great Consort orgrmdjmt
on which music could be played at its written pitch just as- it was
sung or played on other instruments. The bass recorder then
took treble, with the tenor recorder as the optional descant. For
the lower parts there were those splendid Venetian quint-iasses
and the Great Bass, with their full woody tone (though they can
be difficult instruments to get one's fingers round). Nor need
the sound of the Great Consort be lost, for well-preserved
instruments for copying are all extant together at Verona or
Vienna,
The following list shows the standard sixteenth-century
$47
 HISTORY
and
the a it is

the crooks; the

a In the of its

8 (jf") tenor, 24 (c')

11 (rf") bass, 36-5
(/)
12 ($") 49 inches
quart-bass,
($)
17 (j/) quint-bass, 56 Inches (Bf?)
Great Bass, 76 Inches (F)
ditto with diapason keys, 103 inches (C)

treble, tenor bass instruments are pitched a tone

than usual, possibly to facilitate sight-reading when

pitying as a Great Consort.

Concerning the use of all sizes of recorder together, Praetorius
recommends *more especially the five deeper lands, since the
small ones scream so', and these five (i.e. from treble down

wards) 'can very well be used alone without other instruments

in acanzona or motet, giving a most pleasing soft harmony in a
chamber, though in a church the larger recorders cannot
hall or
be heard very well*. When combining them with voices, he
advises the use of a curtal (proto-bassoon) as their bass. But it
is Merserene who shows as the most tempting picture: 'the

small consort and the great consort can be used together just as
the small and large registers of the organ are. imagine
*
We
descant and tenor in octaves on the top part, and similarly treble
with bass, tenor with quint-bass, etc. on the lower parts, and
perhaps the small exilent piping high above one of the parts at
the twelfth. This should sound wonderful. Perhaps some day we
shall have enough replicas of the deep recorders to enjoy it.

Flutes
At the end of the fifteenth century the flute began to benefit
from a wave of real popularity through the great impression made
by German and Swiss fife-and-drum music, while throughout
the sixteenth century fife
(fig. 57, 4) and drum remained the
favourite popular dance music in Germany, corresponding to
pipe and tabor in England.
248
 ike the fife, was an
six and the of the
This a las
out the can a
fill with in a of

FIG* 57. Praetwiw: lf Recorders* (top, right), DoltzflStoi

(recorders made to be held Ukeflutes}. S, Flutes. 4, Fife. 5,
tabor pipes. 6, Tifar.
 HISTORY
f
two a In the century),
*
the quality is rather htrsh* with that of the
later bore. This, however, is a that can be

many sixteenth-century wind designs and their

eighteenth-century The earlier period liked clear,

positive, 0rganr-!ike timbres; the eighteenth century preferred

instruments to have more resistance, enabling the player to coax
from them every fine shade of spirit and expression. However,
to make the most of the quality of the older flute, Agricola
recommends playing it with "quaking breath" (xitternde Wind]
the earliest-known mention of vibrato.
The consort set of flutes (fig. 57, 3} dates from at least the
beginning of the century and comprised the following sizes:

Thus the tenor is same instrument as our ordinary

virtually the
flute of today. The basses were often made in two joints. The
sound of the complete consort, with all its instruments played
mainly in the lower range of their compass, would have been
thicker and heavier than that of the recorders, and was evidently
held to be effective even outdoors.
The flourishing twentieth-century cult of the recorder for old
music has quite unfairly pushed the flute out of the picture. The
flute was well-loved not only in its consort, but also in small
combinations with stringed instruments and the voice. There is
that well-known painting, c. 1520, by an unknown French

painter, depicting three ladies performing the French part-song

Jouissance was donnerai; the treble is being sung, the bass

played on a lute, and the tenor on a flute (sounding the part an

octave higher). In another painting the combination is the same
save that the bass is played on a bass viol, A professional
combination for light occasional music at Munich under the
direction of Lassus was flute, cittern and virginals a mixture
THE AND THE
that the later for
his In this list, tie
to five is that
all in (as

FIG. 58. Praetorius; l. 'Basset: Nicole \ an imtrw-

ment apparently sormtimes used with cnmh&ms.
2. Crwnhorm. 3. Mute cormtts. 4. A
'

opposed to Recorder*), while the two known pictures of the

consort in action (both reproduced in Galpin's Old English

Instruments) show the tenor flute. Again the flute part is a tenor
part. Praetorius says tfiat musicians were so accustomed to
hearing alto and tenor parts played an octave too high on flute or
SSI
 HISTORY
It you it

out (cf.
the of an owl hoot, a oo

The a double-reed instrument with narrow

cylindrical bore (Plate XXIII, fig. 58), towards the
end of the century, evidently to a demand for an

~ FIG.. 59. Cntmhom, detail of

top end. (See text)

easy-blowing reed instrument on which four-part music could

be rendered with good, harmonious effect just as it could be on
voices, recorders or viols. Judging from its shape, the crumhorn
was modelled on the curved-bottomed bladder-pipe mentioned
In the last chapter (cf. fig. 53). Pictures suggest that this was a
well-known popular instrument in Central Europe about that
time, and no doubt (as also with some bagpipes) people used
now and then to play it without the bladder, e.g. If this became
 be
to the or 10 tiie

and a,

the is a rap a
in the top to It the to be
the
by or by the
0r the we do not it in
the

The normal of a Is as

body consists of a length of boxwood, and and the

lower part bent round by The or
Inches of the bore are out as a fig* 5 die
detail of the top end: A, cap the
body B; C 9 the cap (the bass Is blown a slot in the rim
of the cap, and the great bass shown in has a
projecting mouthpiece) ; D, the brass staple, to
receive the reed E. The finger4ioles follow the
arrangement.
The reed (Plate XXII) is made up like a reed, but
is more evenly scraped across, like a bagpipe reed ? to

efficiently without the application of the lips. If one to

revive the crumhorn, plastic reeds should work as well as they
do on the practice-chanter, and should last almost for ever.
The crumhorn was the favourite consort reed instrament

throughout the sixteenth century. Every musical establishment

possessed a set consisting of from four to twelve Instruments
made up from the following sizes:
 HISTORY
In this list be and
of the The has the key
(for F IE the size), in the the
is In a
by
way* An E key the F key, and lower down*
are two slider-keys be or shut without
one away from the finger-holes. While the sliders

are open, the E key gives E. When the first slider is

closed* the key gives D. If both are closed, it gives the
bottom C
Thus one could preselect a diapason to suit the tonality
of the piece. Presumably this arrangement was considered
preferable to fitting long curved keywork down the crumhorn's
narrow body.
The Verona set of crumhoms, which vanished during the last
war, had the primary four-piece composition of treble, two
tenors and a bass. The showpiece, however, is the late sixteenth-
century set at Brussels, reputed to have once belonged to Duke
Alfonso II of Este, in Italy. Its flat, oblong fitted case, lined and

padded with striped cloth, contains one treble, three tenors, one
ordinary bass and one extended bass.
the practice-chanter, which is typologically
As compared with
the nearest thing to the crumhom among present-day instru
ments and has the same compass as the treble crumhom
(though even smaller bore), the crumhorn is stronger, giving a
full, singing tone. In 1500, one source describes it as 'loud*. Its
volume range is limited, but the articulation, although the

tongue does not touch the reed, is reasonably satisfactory. But

the crumhorn possesses no speaker key, and therefore it cannot

properly be overblown. Its compass is only nine notes, and

therefore, as several musicians of the period emphasize, pieces
to play had to be selected with this in mind. Sometimes a
special morsel for the crumhoms was included in published
collections of music (as Schein's pavan which needs certain
transpositions before it can be played on the standard crum-

horns)* But it is surprising how many

unspecified compositions
can be found to them. For instance in Antony Holborne's
suit

attractive Pawns etc. (1599) there are at least half a dozen

pieces that do so, either entirely, or with alteration or omission

THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY AND THE CONSORTS

r r

'

'
r r
1 I
I
r r

'
FIG. 60. Apiece suitablefor crvmkarns; The Widow's Mite' from
Holborne's Pavans etc., 15&9.

256
 HISTORY
erf" no or two In the (
e ^
fig. 60). for crum-

The of tlie is that it requires no

It is as to blow as a recorder. It Is, the
the instruments to the recorder among
flutes^ and
might well be revived as such, to offer
It

and a change from recorder-playing. The

two make a perfect contrast In tone and their
fingering Is the same. Also the notes of the erumhom sound at
vocal pitch* not an octave higher, so that on changing from
recorders to onmhorns one experiences a change not only of
tone colour but also of register, which is very restful.

About other kinds of capped reed instrument very little

definite information is available. Also we

lack specimens. They
seem to have been well used nevertheless. Unlike the crumhorn,
all were
straight instruments. First, there was a consort of
cylindrical-bore imtraments about equal in overall length to the
treble, tenor and bass recorders, though sounding an octave
lower. No picture of them is known, but Praetorius says that
they were stopped at the lower end, with vent holes in the side,
and that they sounded like crumhorns, only softer and sweeter.
He them Corna-mwm. This term an old bagpipe name
calls
is very frequently met in Italian accounts of musical perform
ances in the second half of the sixteenth century. For instance at
Munich, while Lassus was musical director there, the five-man
team of Italian wind-players used to accompany the first course
'
at dinner sometimes with carna-muse, sometimes with recorders,
or with flutes, or cornetts and trombones in French songs and
other light compositions* (from Trojano, 1669 , a singer there,
who adds that during the next course a string consort would
play 'songs, motets or madrigals', and that finally, with the
dessert, Lassus and his chosen singers would give a fresh work
each day). The coma-mum was also used
singly, in those strange
mixed consorts that used to be put on towards the end of a
programme (just as we today save up our more highly-coloured
programme items for the second half of a concert). The follow-
ing are
:

1 2 $
4 viols S
4 S <fc

lute 4 mixed wind;

8
comett
viol
flute

coraett

flute

The instruments are listed in the above in tie In

which Trojano gives them. In the first two the

possibly indicates the parts that the were

to, reading downwards from bass to treble* The
and possibly the lutenist, in column 1 would have the

piece well enough to be able to support the in

manner anticipating the continuo of a few later. The

titles of the compositions played by these consorts are un

fortunately not recorded.

In two of these mixed consorts we ind besides a
a dolzaina. This is indicated in a brief account by Zaoooni ( 1593)
as having been another instrument of the same class, presumably
some capped successor of the mysterious Renaissance dou^alne.
How it differed from the coma-mmi, nobody knows. The don-
9aine-dolzaina class of instruments prove almost perversely
Renaissance wind
mysterious. Of every other important
instrument several good pictures are known ; yet of the dou^aine,
by all accounts one of die most important, we know not
cue
definite illustration. Of every leading wind instrument of the
sixteenth century we have not only pictures, but specimens; but
 HISTORY
of the so we
* *
Praetorius*s Cornamusen
are really dolzainas,
else,
the crarohom, which is actually in the of the
in a contemporary engraving by
Wagner.

Meanwhile, several German Inventories, e.g. that of Berlin

earlier, mention a consort of Sckreierpfeifen or Schryari
*

(* crying* or screaming* pipes, fig. 62).

These do not seem to
occur In any known account of a musical performance, but
Praetorius says that they could be used either alone or with
other instruments. Here again we have non-overblowing capped
pipes equal to the various recorders in size though sounding an
octave lower; but they were 'strong and fresh* in sound. The
tenor and bass sizes could have their nine-note compass
extended upwards for two notes by two keys for finger I keys
also mentionedby Zacconi as an optional fitting to the dolzaina.
Whether the tapered exterior of Praetorius's Schreierpfdjen
betokens a contracting bore (an unusual thing in reed instru
ments) is impossible to say. In that event, the reed must have
been of some very special kind. These may well have been
organologically most interesting instruments and it is a pity
that we know so little about their hidden detail. Sachs has
suggested an Oriental origin.
Caps were also fitted to some expanding-bare chanters. The
Berlin collection has a set from the church at Naumberg, and in
France people liked to play a musette chanter with a reed-cap
instead of the bag it sounded more
lively that way, said
Mersenne. Similarly, a kind of biniou-and-bombarde combina
tion from Poitou was adapted for part-music by
capping the
bombarde (which played the tune an octave below the little
biniou, as one may still hear in Brittany) and making special
tenor and bass instruments to match. A detachment of these
hautbois et musettes de Poitou was included
in the French royal
band and lasted there till Lully's time. They introduce the finale
of his music to Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme.
 the the of
and in tie
the end of the it was
to in of and to by
the half of the the

day and the

virtuoso.
The XX) Is

of plum, cherry or the

construction outlined In the last up the
two gouged-out halves, the is to an
cross-section. Then the (six in and a
behind in the recorder position) are and
Finally the instrument is covered in to
serve Sometimes the tube is
it. in or
before glueing on the leather. 1
At the narrow end, the socket for the is

ened by a brass collar concealed a silver or

1 The
Christ Church cometts, made in 1606,
measurements for modem pitch. The bore are X-ray
photographs by Eric Halfpenny (Plate XX) ;

Width at top, 19 mm. at bottom, 38 mm.

;
of 5
Diameter of holes (which are slightly undercut) 7
the rest, 8-5mm. Mouthpiece socket, diameter, 1 1 mm., depth, 19
running into the bore without a step.

Dmmter &f hart m

Distance Jrimt top md* t@
cmtre4tm,
 HISTORY
The is of ivory or
and with a to a
for (Plate XXII). Players put
the to the of the mouth, where the lips are
thinner.
there is no little-finger hole, the low g, bottom note of
the old treble compass, was made by sounding the a (six

fingers) with slack embouchure, and the note seems to have

freely. The top note during the period was a", but in the
seventeenth century, the Germans, always altitude-record holders
tn
on wind Instruments In former times, pushed it up to d .

The comett's tone quality, as far as one can now attempt to

reproduce combines a clear cup-mouthpiece tone, smaller and

it,

less ringing than the trumpet's, with the sweet,

singing
character of a woodwind instrument.
In churches, where it was

regularly played throughout the period to support the boys*

voices, it must have rung with wonderful clarity 'like a ray of
sunshine penetrating the gloom and darkness ', wrote Merserme.
Another great point in favour of the cornett was its wide
dynamic and expressive range. Altogether, it was praised in the
very terms that were to be bestowed upon the oboe a hundred
years later: it could be sounded as loud as a trumpet and as soft
as a recorder, and its tone approached that of the human voice

more nearly than that of any other instrument. Moreover, the

flexible technique enabled the comett
player to excel in fast
divisions; so also could his inseparable colleague, the trom
bonist: 'cornetts and trombones', writes
Bottrigari in 1594 with
the performances at Venice and Ferrara
especially in mind, 'are
played with such grace, taste and sure precision of the notes,
that they are held the most excellent of the wind instruments in
the profession. Their divisions are neither
scrappy, nor so wild
and involved that they spoil the underlying melody and the
composer's design: but are introduced at such moments and
with such vivacity and charm that they
give the music the
greatest beauty and spirit/ Among those whom Bottrigari
heard, there would certainly have been Delia Casa, whose
specimen divisions have been quoted earlier.
260
 On the as flu*

of the not by the i* a

and It in the le

say, in In at
in 1607, six six on
a the *in
of the of
'the a P.

Leycester), on top of
the players were 30
characteristically with the
in England today.
Of the other sizes of cornett, ( i } the or
Inches long, was used comparatively is in
tloES. (2) German inventories
built one or two tones below the for use in

church, e.g. on alto parts, and a few

(3) The tenor (Plate XXIII), however,
more, both when cometts were played as a on
(e.g. Walther's Fugm or canons, I542 9 for
cometts *, need a tenor for the bottom part), and in
ensembles and wind bands. Its double-curved (length, 34
to 39 inches) brings the holes well under the fingers, a
was often fitted to give a good c, the customary bottom of
tenor parts. The bore is proportionately wider that of the
treble cornett, presumably in order to favour the tone in the
bottom register, though it
gives the instrument a
that Praetorius did not like. He advised using a trombone if

possible, and this was generally done. The union

of cornett and
trombones anyhow antedates the appearance of the tenor
cornett by perhaps fifty years, and to the end of the cornett's
musical lifetime its proper tenor, and bass too, was trombone;
not deep cornett.

MUTE CORNETT. The straight comett a conical pipe turned

and bored in boxwood in the straightforward way was the
principal German variety during
the early part of the century,

though later overshadowed by the curved form. But a special

281
 HISTORY
of it, the XX!!!), as one
and one the
Its

4 gradually. At the top

Is cut a IS millimetres across and 9
and this is the mouthpiece. With this primitive
practically the
of the ancestral cow-
and alp-horn the ringing element is eliminated from the

tone, on a velvet, horn-like quality of indescribable

The comett was a favourite for Heeding with
instruments. Also it could be played extremely softly, and
the Italian comettist whom Giustiniani commended so
highly for playing in balanced duet
with a closed harpsichord

may well have been using his mute comett.

REVIVAL OF THE coRNETT. The comett had become dropped

from most music by the eighteenth century, either through its
difficult technique, or through the success of the oboe as a solo

wind instrument. Yet it survived in some local bands in

Germany, and it is one of the tragedies of wind history that the
live art of comett-playing might have been handed down to us
without a break, had it not been for the short gap in time
separating two occurrences in the last century. In 1840 Kastner,
the French composer and music historian, actually witnessed the
town band of cornett and three trombones still playing their
daily chorales in the old German manner from the church tower
at Stuttgart. A mere thirty years later, Mahillon and Gevaert in
Brussels had begun to turn their attention to the revival of
extinct wind instruments demanded by the scores of ancient
composers and one of these was the cornett, by that time
evidently totally extinct save as a collector's piece. Mahillon
therefore decided to construct a cornett of 'modernized* form

(for Gluck's Orfeo): straight, with five keys for the semitones
and the mouthpiece of a modem brass cornet. It did not work,
however, and subsequent attempts to master the cornett
needed so badly, for example, in Monteverdi performances
have been made with facsimiles of originals. In this field Otto
Steinkopf, of Berlin, is undoubtedly the pre-eminent performer.
 \sn
the fur Is the
the has a
is

This Is the In its all in one

and a XXl f fijjj.
61 ).
The of the can be in the in
XVIII half-way
: the is a
the
bore down up s a or In the
overall length of the drone. of the is

quite common in bagpipes, the

In them. During the century, it to be
in various cylindrical-bore be
described later (sordone, racket, etc.). In the

appears in written records about 1540, the is

back, down and up again, is the conical bore of *

curtalswere bored out in a single piece of or of
cross-section: but some were made in two halves, comett-wise,

including a fine example in the Frankfurt Museum, in

gold-embossed leather.
The chief curtal was the bass size, about 59 tall,

commonly known in England as aortal, and in Germany as

Ch&rist-fagott (being the size most employed in church
It has the pitch of our
e.g. as bass to cornetts and trombones).
bassoon. On the front there are six holes and the F key: on the

back, two thumb-holes and one key, giving E, and C (the D

bottom note). Some are made left-handed. The reed was like a
bassoon reed except for indication (e.g. in Mersenne) that it
was sometimes made with a staple, like a modern cor anglais
reed. The tone was also bassoon-like, though rather bottom-

heavy, and in some instruments an attempt was made to remedy

this by 'covering* with a perforated bell cap, foreshadowing

Like bombards; the name is borrowed from artillery; oirto/, also

1

double curtal, had previously denoted a type of slwrt-barreled cannon

(O.E.D.). The German alternative name IMxmn
must not be confiised
with Italian dulzaina (see earlier in this chapter). Around 1700, 'curtaT
was sometimes used in England to denote the true bassoon.
363
 HISTORY
mutes. Fraetoriiis (and
the register was up to the j/.
of the period, curtails were also
in and sizes, but it that other the ordinary

only the quart-bass (53 inches or more) was com

size,

monly employed in music. The bassoon has never shone In

FIG, 61. Proetorius: 1. Boss sordone (front and bock}.

to 7. Curtals or Fagotten (%,
great-bass; 3, open
chorist; 4, covered chorist; 5, covered tenor, evidently
also called Kortholt; 6, treble; 7, descant}. 8. Rackets.
9. Great-bass racket
descending to C'.
 a in
a (& 6
G) in his of the
treble (
18 and the ( 14
seem to in
to by
a was for use
in church. There are two at and two and a
at

The pervading of the

instruments is a of the
usual types could the
shawm could do so, and so the but not
used in the musical consorts). It as
wind had grown to consist of ordinary on the
and only deep basset horns* on the
other. Praetorius describes a promising-looking
like bassanelli (fig, 62) and several German a set
of them: with double reed, straight-through
soft tone. But they were deeper-sounding than ever; the
note (seven fingers) of each size was a fourth lower of
the corresponding normal consort size, thus: in the treble (32
inches high less crook), d\ tenor (44 inches), {?;

inches), C, A
kind of consort of bass oboes; and the
mentioned in the next section, were even deeper.

Reed instruments with doubkd-back cylindrical

These are first definitely reported in the later part of the
sixteenth century. The chief of them was an instrument called
sordone (or Sordm] in Italy and Germany, and in

France: a wooden pillar (in France said to have been commonly

obtained from old pilgrim's staves) with a narrow cylindrical
bore running down and then up again aorad terminating in a plain
side-vent near the top (fig. 62, 8). In the only surviving speci
mens the bass and great-bass instruments from Ambras in the
Museum at Vienna (Plate XXI) the bores are 8 and 10
millimetres respectively. The reed was taken in the lips (though
see
 HISTORY
no. 7 in fig. 6H mi form) and the
that of the (i.e. a

droning).
As the instruments, the compass was limited to

2 Tinor- unut /llt-2fAsfanflit.

ST<fnort Mt S&ryari 6

FIG. 6%. Praetvrius; to 3. Bmsanelli* 4 to 6. Schreierpfeiffen.

l

1. 'Kortholt' (here a kind of capped cowt<wt or sordone).

8. Sordoni.
$66
the and tic hole waa a
was one left free to
the (in tit for the
as a or
The was to
work, by of the as
the but the
and the first

side was
on the to a (

being waxed up), on the by

senne the side holes are up a by
means of short projecting 'teats*. In the

specimens, however, the are by

detail of the fingering varied. On (

fig. 62), if we consider the size a

player, the right little finger gives c (as on
Then, the right thumb gives B'^; the of IV
gives -4; the left little
finger, <?; and the of
finger I, F, the lowest of these four diapasons. In the
instrument was used with other wind instruments,
says Mersenne, as bass to musettes. An of its
ment in Germany is in a pavan that was played at the
court on mute cornett, recorder, trombone, and
viol (a copy of the music is in the British Museum, Add. MS.

The idea of the redoubled tube was carried a stage further

in the rackets (fig. 61, 8), whose sound reminded Praetorius of
a comb andpaper. In the tenor racket, a five-inch tall cylinder of
wo-od or ivory was bored with nine vertical drillings with about
six-millimetre bore. These were connected in series to make up
some 4 inches of total tubing, giving as bottom note C. On the
bass it was F. Thus in contrast to the recorders, which sounded
an octave above the written parts ('four-foot tone*, as organists
say), the rackets sounded an octave beUm ('sixteen-foot
tone'). Finger-holes communicated with the drillings as
required, and again the middle joints, as well as the tips, of
 HISTORY
were to cover them,
with a reed. Plate XXI II shows a
A
playing the racket is in a painting of

Lassus with his Munich musicians, reproduced in Hamel and

Hirliraann, der
A of cylindrical tubing can of course be bent into
With this materialit was but a short step
any you fancy.
from the eccentric ingenuity manifested in the racket, to carnival
novelties and fanciful presents, like the quartet of small double-

dragons ( TartoUe) at Vienna, and the following consort

listed in the Stuttgart 1589 inventory under the section *war
*
instruments :

Eight pieces, viz. :

2 bass, one a boar lance, the other a musket

tenor, one a halberd, the other an axe
2 alto, one a crossbow, the other a broadsword
2 trebles, each a club'.

The Shawm band

With this we move into a different musical world, since in the
sixteenth century the shawm was exclusively a band instrument.
But it should not be forgotten in our general musical picture of
those times merely because it was not admitted to the art of the
consorts. Indeed of all musical sounds that from day to day smote
the ears of a sixteenth-century town resident, the deafening skirl
of the shawm band in palace courtyard or market square must
have been the most familiar, save perhaps only for the throb
bing of a lute through somebody's open window. A European
town in the sixteenth-century must have sounded like present-

day Barcelona or Gerona on a Sunday morning.

Since the fifteenth-century, the shawm, like other instruments,

had developed a bass size. The bass shawm (German, bass

Pommer) a splendid instrument, six feet tall, and played with

is

the bell resting on the ground to the side of the player. Unlike
the smaller shawms it was played without a pirouette, with a
reed like that of the curtal. The tone is fat and warm right down
268
to the C\ and not of a
Bat st is a
and the to a
to ft or f'. tite it

very stoutly to the it

to the the
of things on, as for a the
a cine of a at the
son's with a no
do his

provocation.

Being employed in of
from the ordinary wind in {
1
}

The component sizes of a set

the treble having descant pitch. 1 (fi) 0r
keys were often fitted to quite 10

availability on lower parts (e.g. the

1
Approximate dimensions of
Museum No. 176; Plate XXIII). For its peed, cf. IV, Tkt
Today.
Brass st@pk: 2 inches long; bore, 0-3 to 0-5 mm.
}fmdm piromtte: 1-3 inches long; width at top, 1-f cf. the
larger pirouette in Plate XXII).
Body: width at top, 43 mm. Below tills a slight waist, and very
gradual widening until the be!! Hare, Bell mouth, 4-5
 H1STOHY
IB fig. 63), (s) The to its

a up. This the fact cross-

nor give a satisfactory /' on the
by reading a tone higher this vital keynote
fell on the cross-fingering . . .
/ . o .
(actual

.
-Jbtnmer. JtJiescant- Scnalmej?. A Jitta* -j&m&ntjp

FIG. 63. Praetorius: I Shawms, 6

to 5, to $, Bagpipes.
270
THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY AND THE CONSORTS
4F
in the will tcka *>f the
i.e. 11 on the *', A*
i/' on the

Of these sizes, No. 2 was fairly well known in In

France a trombone took Its place, and as for we
do not know. But even in Germany, i, s 4 to
have been the most employed, and the following Is a
combination for the sixteenth- and early
shawm band:
1st treble treble shawm
2nd comett
alto tenor shawm (No. 9)
tenor
quintus tenor trombone
bass bass shawm
The French royal band was like this but had two players to each

part, and fig. shows

64* a specimen of its music, played at the
coronation of Louis XIII in Rheims Cathedral in 1610 (from
VoL I of the PMlidor MSS., Biblioth&que nationale, Paris). At
first sight it is not a distinguished piece. Yet it would be hard to

imagine anything that suited the band better, and made its
contribution to the solemnities more memorable* With the
 HISTORY

FIG. 64*. A ceremonial pawn for shawm band, 1610 (Philidor

MSS., FoL I; Paris, Bibliotteqw nationale).

finer tricks of the composer's art

kept down to a bare minimum,
the piece represents ceremonial wind music in its purest
tradition.
For other specimens of shawm band music, there are the
wait's tunes listed by L. G. Langwill m Hinrichsen's Musical
Yearbook for 1952, p. 178. Most of them are late seventeenth

century, and would have been done on a four-piece band of

treble shawm, two tenor shawms and bass trombone. Mr

Langwill includes a rare original picture of them.

272
 XI

The and lie

ihe wind of the in the

previous chapter, were the

. of the seventeenth century by the of the
woodwind. These are the of the era in the
and they included a new recorder and a the
French invention, the oboe a new
; to the old
curtal; and to these was added in due a
invention, the clarinet. The present chapter is to
the classic eighteenth-century forms that
attained the designs that Handel and and
Mozart knew and wrote for in music that so
players* best-loved music even today.

Specimen of the classical woodwind are naturally fer

commoner than specimens from the consort period. Many
hundreds of them survive, not only in museums, bt also,
including many of the finest, in private collections, while
specimens continually come to fight in small music
antique shops and auction rooms. Here in experienced collector
knows how to distinguish true eigjhteendfc-oeiitury instruments
from tike more common nineteendw^tury specimens that often
bear a superficial resemblance to them, the first thing that he
looks for being the maker's name,, generally stomped on an
1

instrument. (A list of the chief English makers is given in

Appendix I.) Most eighteaatiK^ntury specimens date from
towards the end of the century but now and then an instrument
f

273
 HISTORY
the up, to the

search.
and put in order, the next
to do is to their character. Much work has
on and It may be claimed that practical
this recently,
cm
seldom have proved more rewarding.
Elementary though the old Instruments appear to the eye,
Inwardly they are very subtle. Modem instruments possess
many qualities that the old ones do not, but the converse is also
true* and as one works patiently at the 'antiques* they reveal
musical beauties that fully explain how it was that Mozart and
the rest were able to put them to such superlative use. Certainly

they are not easy to master. But In this connection we need only
cite the case of the modern French bassoon, which, as we saw in
Chapter VI, still liesso close to the woodwind of classical times
in its technical feel. Of this instrument, Cecil Forsyth has
*
written . . and imperfect it remains to the present day. This,
however, is no drawback to the instrument. On the contrary, it
has thrown on the instrumentalists the same responsibilities in
the way of intonation as those incurred by the String-player.
The consequence Is that a good Bassoon-player is continually on
the watch to overcome the natural deficiencies of his instrument,
and however uncomfortable this mode of life may be to him,
the artistic results are good beyond question/ Well, in the

eighteenth century, the flute, the oboe and the clarinet were like
that too.

Pitch. Most of the original woodwind models were evolved in

Paris, and this is presumably why a French instrumental

pitch, approx, (more than a semitone lower than
a' =4*9,%

modern pitch), became virtually a standard European pitch for

the first part of the eighteenth century. But later in tfte century,

though some institutions kept this pitch, the majority were

playing sharper. For instance, a Paris bassoon player wrote in
1780 (in La Borde's Essai) that instruments by the old makers
of the time of Rameau could still be used at the Op6ra, but not at
the Concerts Spiritwls, where the pitch had risen. Most of the
later English specimens are only a shade, if that, below modem
274
 and at
on.

By the of the the of

had in

by the fie
; the to
the
tively a in
So the boy Lully, who to the tor
the woodwind, no set out for no
other as to the of
instruments. What he on not
Immediately caused to Ms ; tat he

certainly have recognized It as he had

conceived of before. In France the by no one
* '

of the Instruments of inferior as Sir

itin England at that very time in his Nor
was the bagpipe played only by the 'more of

People* Both were on the road to the

instruments of Parisian society. The recorder, we
bagpipe was the satin-covered, bellows-blown
pipe, musette. Important people
around the court 0n
them and took them on picnics. Professionals in

the pastoral ballets. The musette especially; its

was coupled with that for provincial dances, as the

the gavotte dances that are still played on in of
France today while allied to
it, in the royal band,
already
existed that combination of vividly French regional
the hautbois et musettes de Poitm mentioned in the last chapter*
This peculiar spirit gave to French wind-instrmnent-iBaMng a
stimulus that could be matched nowhere else at that time. It
offered direction, and instead of plodding on with the
it a new
manufacture of the old consort and band instrument^ the makers
inventions along fresh lines.
began to turn to remodellings and
Working in Paris about the time of Lilly's arrival was a

group of turners and woodwind-makers among

whom the
 HISTORY
is Hotteterre. He the
Normandy village La Couture-Boussey, near Evreex,
was the village craft and has remained so,
to woodwind manufacture, ever since; Buffet,
Ixniis Lot Thibouville are noted modem firms who
there. Unfortunately, this crucial period in the seventeenth

century is poorly documented from our present point of view,

making it impossible for us to say definitely which individual
or player was responsible for each of the vital woodwind
inventions that originated during that time, all of them ap

parently in France and probably within that circle of Paris

makers among whom we can dimly discern Hotteterre as the
leader. The new products included the recorder as we know it
:

today; the conical flute; the oboe; and the true bassoon (as
opposed to the old curtal). In other words, practically the entire
woodwind of the eighteenth-century orchestra an astonishing
output for one small group of men. What was the approach that
enabled them to achieve it?
The first thing we notice about the new
designs is that in
every case the instrument is constructed in several short joints,
instead of as far as possible all in one piece as formerly. We
notice also the characteristically ornamental appearance of the
instruments, largely due to fashionable Renaissance turnery
applied to the thickenings left in the wood or ivory to give
strength to the sockets where the various joints met. This
second feature therefore arises out of the first (and we may also
find it on earlier instruments in which jointed construction had
been toyed with though without establishing any lasting design,
as in the bassanelli also in the top and bottom caps of the
;

sordone in Plate XXI).

But the
Hotteterre multi-piece construction is further

distinguished by a curious internal feature, namely, that the bore

has a broken profile.
It may
change from joint to joint e.g. cone
and cylinder may meet end to end, or the bores of two joints may
make an abrupt step where they meet. Such bore-construction
naturally has some acoustic effect, but this is not a vital one.
Thus, in our present instruments, we have kept all the Hotteterre
joints, but have in nearly every case abandoned this feature of
276
 the ami
the at the it i* t>
at
1

in of are,
and it is that the fell
into this way
was all a and
In In had a
are at the and in
the of the are met in
drones, and In a tell is

Hotteterre, the in
the court ballets, and the u the <&
group of the royal No
then, back in la Couture, he had and
bagpipes for the neighbourhood^ for few
districts in seveiteeith-ceiitiiry the
not still the staple instrument for "dmees, and
diversions* (Mersenae), His recorder the
earliest of the important woodwind and the
design we follow today seems to show the of a
maker, especially with its cylindrical
its acoustical effect
might be, takes after the of a
musette as match it. There are two of his
if meant to in
the Paris Conservatoire Museum. But it his next
that laid the foundation of our woodwind.

The Oboe
Now and then an old shawm, called in
the royal band would come into Ms workshop for repair or
replacement. We might wonder what he awl his colleagues
to think of its antique, monolithic build when they it

with the neat elegance of their musette chanters. Anyway,, they

evidently set about designing an improvement on it according
to their own ideas; a new hautbols that would be altogether
more useful in the kinds of music coming into fashion. It would
be flexible in dynamic range, and would possess a really good
upper register a register that had previously been badly
 HISTORY
in but was now urgently
by the styles.
No appeared first, and certain
preserved in museums (e.g. at Paris)
some of them. The design that was eventually
achieved the that Purcell and Handel came to know
a only a little narrower than the average bore of a treble
but made in three joints, with steps at the sockets (most
at the bell socket, where the bore may suddenly
enlarge by as much as three millimetres}. The desired results in
the upper register were secured mainly through finger-holes of
reduced size in conjunction with a reed a good half-centimetre
narrower at the tip than in that of the shawm (the earliest
known width for an oboe reed is 9 '5 millimetres, mentioned by
Talbot in about 1696) and made, as it still is, on a staple
inserted bagpipe-wise directly into the top joint of the instru
ment, the shawm pirouette being dispensed with. Since the new
instrument was destined for playing with other concert instru
ments, its pitch was lowered by a tone, making the keys of C and
F practicable at concert pitch, which they had not properly been
on the treble shawm. In mechanism, there was at first only the
C key, but to this was soon added the Ejj key to give that
semitone above the six-finger note which is so bad on reed
instruments as a half-holing. For a long time, this key was
duplicated for left-handers, making the three-keyed oboe (but after
about 1760 the duplicate key was usually omitted, making a
two-keyed oboe) In most instruments, holes III and
. IV were twin
holes, to help Gf and F$ (see the chart, fig. 66).
Thus, we may surmise in the absence of specific information,
came about the invention of the oboe. As for the date, M.
Pnini&res, Lully's modem editor, and Joseph Marx, who has
recently made a valuable investigation of the subject, concur in
the suggestion that it was very probably in 1657, in Lully's ballet
UAmour malade, that Jean and his colleague
Hotteterre
Philidor publicly performed in the orchestra on the new
first

instrument, and in doing so inaugurated the woodwind era.

From the first the oboe was a success, and as it quickly

278
 in it to
all the of its

To the airs and

to the of tlie and
choly" kind; but the the the

AJ*.

FIG. 65, ^f ornamented adagio for dm

or ivobff ; Babell,
1726. The doMe tick indicates a trill

violin, could encompass every mood. In the matter of volume

alone, it could be played nearly as loud as
the trumpet and yet as
tells us
soft as the recorder (as the Sfrigktly Comfmum of 1695
the first known oboe tutor, ascribed to Bannister). It
had 'all

the sweetness of the flute [recorder]' with a 'greater strength

and variety of notes' (the Tatiar, 1710), and about that same
579
 HISTORY
the of in

to be at two or
private parties every
*
to songs, etc*, etc., which
he executed with exquisite
and feeing" (Burney, in Rees's Cyclopedia). Fig. 65, from
a contemporary set of printed studies for oboe or violin, shows
how Kytsch might have dealt with an adagio. 1
Trials with well-preserved specimens of the early oboe
and also
wholly corroborate these assessments of its quality,
tell us more. Its mean level of loudness is if anything less than
that of the modem
oboe ; indeed )uantz, Frederick the Great's
renowned flute-master, warned orchestral oboists to hold the
instilment well up lest the sound be lost in the music stand
and yet orchestras were then softer than they are today. In
character, the tone possesses a sweet, sympathetic quality that
enables the instrument to blend in with other instruments just as
naturally as the modem French oboe stands
out in sharp relief;
both are good instruments, but designed for different music, and
nobody who has heard 'baroque* chamber music done with a
so
well-played eighteendM^atury oboe will ever again quite
much look forward to hearing it performed with a modern one.
A minor flaw in the tone of the Purcell-Handel oboe is a
trace of huskiness, which became eradicated in later eighteenth-

century designs chiefly through narrowing of the bore. Well-

known to collectors is the English straight-topped model
(Plate XXX), current from the 1760s to the ,1790s. Vincent,
pupil and successor of the celebrated San Martini and the last of
the great Handelian oboists, adopted this model in his latter

days. The bore isonly slightly reduced, but the sound seems to
become brighter. An English popular tutor of this period
encourages the student to aim for the sound of a well-played
violin, but by some accounts (e.g. Parke's) this model tended
to sound a little too bright and penetrating. Meanwhile,
1
In England, in the eighteenth century, the Instrument was called
hautboy or hoboy, words which, like hauibozs in French, had previously
denoted the shawm. These English names preserve the old French pro
nunciation of hautbois, as does also (as Sachs points out) the Italian
name oboe (three syllables), which has since become the English word,

though it sounds very odd with the English pronunciation of it. Hoboy was
a much better word,
280
 had in 4
the the
is the { XXIV),
It Is by the at the flip end and
by its

Its

is a to 0ne lets
of a its

of the
in
will to on
ordinarily his as

uncommonly sweet, but

on one occasion wrote *his is his
held notes like the of the
lie Letters of md M$ as for It is

interesting to find that Gamier, the at die

Paris Conservatoire, a the

lips for a vibrato }. Mozart's OWB favourite

of
the Mannheim orchestra, said to had a and
round tone, and unrivalled technique up 10
the top F, while his delivery of full of

spirit. Mozart wrote the oboe quartet

for and
him a concerto (believed to be the one in C)
which he played so frequently that it became, the
said, 'Ramm's warhorse*. Like Fischer,

played the narrow-bore oboe, possibly of Grundmarai's of

Dresden, for these were especially admired in Germany. CM" the
playing of Bach's principal oboist at Leipzig, Gleditsdh,
no
criticism seems to be recorded ; but in the obbligati written for
him to play, this humble town-bandsman is cotiunemorated
the end of time.

The reeds used with the eighteenth-century oboes are known

to have varied considerably among the player, but they all
seem to have been broader than today, measuring from 8 to ID
millimetres (as against the modern average of 7 millimetres).
The reeds shown in Plate VI include two out of several English
mi
 HISTORY
reeds found with oboes of the straight-topped and narrow-bore
kinds. They arc made on unsoldered staples (as bagpipe reeds
are still ) stamped with the name of a professional
and one is

reed-maker, Taylor. The blades are scraped with the traditional

c?

d'
e> * * . &
& * * * O
/'
o *
*

A I OO (fj^ 1

j* * * *
19 o I

0" * * 000
gf .$ 000
o! O OOO
k'K O
#V4i |0 O * (0) 1
Op^ I
I O
-_. ,
* ( )
* 7
J

b' * oo ooo
c^ o o ooo

o * * <

o oooC (
w
j

O6 OOOS I

e* * * 4 o * a
y* * & oo
FIG. 66.Practical chart for two-keyed (or three-keyed} oboe,
collated from contemporary so'ttrces* ( The top two semitones are not

given for the early and the straight-topped models. )

bagpipe V-scrape that most French players still retain, but

much further back, e.g. to 15 millimetres from the tip down the
centre. Experiment shows that if successful results are to be
obtained from the old oboe, with its peculiar bore and the

player's reliance on cross-fingering for so many of the notes, a

282
 of this or it, is

the liie iiiil

is but a
can be so
and the are

TENOR OBOE, XIV, a in

the of the
with The tilt

this, to the on the

Lully other of
the orchestral two. of the arc
preserved In the Philidor at
are printed in Kastoer^s & In
some marches all three lie the of the
oboe Itself; but in others the third
written for the tenor in French <&$ or for
short, simply to7fe (* tenor*). It stood a the
oboe, with lowest note/.

Most other countries adopted the for use in this

same kind of band. Plate XXX shows a typical
model, with the bell flared on the outside but to a
bulbous cavity inside, foreshadowing the cor A
bulbous bell a very ancient and primitive thing.
is Its

origin perhaps in the gourd bells of many primitive ;

but here, on the tenor oboe, it simply Ac

bagpipe strain in the oboe family. In the Italian
zampogna, for instance, the two chanters are often made in this
way, flared on the outside but bulbous inside (see also the
Spanish drone, fig. 50). The reason for fitting bulbous bells to
tenor oboes is not known. Possibly sudb a tell was felt to give a
resonance that helped to bridge the band's tone-colour gap
between oboe and bassoon. During the eighteenth century in
England, the bulb was discarded, leaving the tenor oboe or
Vox humana* with a plain and very narrow bell.
One of the best pieces for the oboe band is 'The Queen's
Farewell' (fig. 67), written for Queen Mary's funeral by
Paisible, one of the men who first brought the oboe ova: from
283
 HISTORY
Its minor harmony lias a
on the of of the old
and two-keyed tenor oboe on the third
j.

........

r i

61
m

FIG. 67. TA^ g^^'y Farewell'; Paisible, 1694 (from The

Sprightly Companion). To play tenor on cor anglais, read as
treble clef in key of F.

part and bassoon on the bass. On the other hand, the band might
have been muted. Muting of wind instruments began with the
trumpet, which was muted with a wooden mute at least as early
284
as the for
to tiie at fw
and to the is a
to it in the St to In the
and the
IYI off to let tilt of a
on the fin
German) the
Several
in
Besides paper, wool the far

enough to block the vent one or

mutes have survived solid to be
In the Mi-mouth. These are

making the oboe whimper

DEUTSCHE SCHALMEY. Briefly to be the

subject of oboe bands, is a

preceded general adoption of oboes by German i.e.

from about 1680 to 1720, It consisted of two of

entirely new
pattern, with a tenor to an
style curtal for the bass. This new shawm, as

Schaltney (Pkte XXX), was slender and In not

at all resembling the old pattern, and according to Talbot it

sweeter in sound. The pitch of the treble (24

six ingers =c" at the old high pitch. This was its lowest
for the barrel was purely ornamental, having It

but a large vent hole. The tenor, however, had the

key
here. Both were played with a pirouette, but the of the
treble (from Talbot's measurements), was as narrow as an oboe

reed, and the bore in surviving specimens is narrower

that of the narrowest two-keyed oboes. Possibly it represents a

German attempt at a quick answer to the new French oboe.
Specimens of these dentscke Sdudmey** are commoner in

museums than specimens of the standard shawms of the earlier

period, and must not be mistaken for them."
The two instruments
sound entirely different.
 H1STO1Y
The
Of the the
one did not This was a of
42 a
It and like an and
I, III, IV and 1 with to
the for the a of of the heckel-
to the In

of recorders, 'cTOmomes*, etc. One

of it is on the title-page of Boijon's musette tutor
No is known* but resembling it in

are Instruments in museums usually labelled

de musette", though these have stouter bodies and tells.
Their and purpose have never been discovered, though
is evidence that links them with old churches in
Switzerland.

The name already occurs at the beginning of the

seventeenth century as a name for the curtal. But Mersenne
describes as a special type of bass curtal with the bell

lengthened to reach B'|j, presumably in order to match the

compass of Louis XIIPs cellos, which were tuned a tone lower
than the normal. Remodelled in four separate joints, no doubt
by the members of the Hotteterre circle, this became the true
bassoon, which arrived in PurcelFs London under the name
French bassm. It is first named in a LuLEy score in 1674*, but it
may well have been in use ten or more years earlier; we can
only hope that documents will come to
some day fresh light, to
tell us more about these various French inventions.

A typical early example, still without an Af? key, is the

instrument by Denner shown in Plate XXX. Note the oboe-like
turnery on the tenor joint, which was afterwards given up,
perhaps because with the soft, light woods of which bassoons
were made (maple, pear, etc.) it was found more practical to
leave the joint thick-walled all along. The standard bassoon for
most of the eighteenth century was the four-keyed instrument
(with keys for A[>, F, and the low D B[>; Plate XXV), and
Mozart's concerto ( 1774) was probably first performed on this.

S86
 E|t key to be at that
ten by the F$ the
of the end of the
a on the to lite

to it a for Ff, for a

By }<i
to of on the
an by a
the to of tlie

of his coat. old this 10 the

ring on the butt, kit of it is use our

modem jackets.
In the bore, but as

pared with today they are in the lias no

hole) and narrower in the the
contracts to a narrow waist, no to the
bottom notes blurting and partly to out the
of the instrument as a whole. arc
wide in the crook and tenor Joint, and to a
tone than others.
The reeds in Plate VI demonstrate how the has
diminished in size over the last hundred and ifty
refinement of manufacture and regularizmtion of the To
drive and control the somewhat bottled-up bore of the
instrument, the blades must be comparatively massive; a
modern reed, especially with one of the German type* the
of the old bassoon are harsh and brittle, and the tenor notes fly
illustrated in Plate VI
badly. The old English reed
rather like a oboe reed. Its cane is gouged
large-sized
than today, leaving correspondingly little to be taken off the
outside, and the blades are longer and the
throat is wider. It has
to judge by sketches In
only the top wire. 'Continental reeds,
tutors, may have been gouged differently, but otherwise not
very different, though with two wires.
as people
With a suitably-made reed, the old 'horse's leg*,
called the bassoon in England, sounds irresistibly sweet and
beautiful; something Ike a well-played modem Fraich bassoon,
but a little softer, more firm and compact, and rather cello-like.
 HISTORY
JLH.

F
F*
<?
A*
A

B
c 1
ct
d
ef,

FIG. 68. Chart for few- to eight-keyed bassoon. Keys or holes given
in brackets are possibk aids to unsteady notes. Of the alternatives
given in the tenor register, those with the A^
key are English, those
with the F key, Continental. Several further alternatives will 6e
found in the old charts. The top notes: the thumb keys on the tenor
joint (eight-keyed bassoon) are numbered thus: 1, the lower

(shorter) key, and 2, the higher (which has the lower touch);
without these keys these two notes are very difficult unless the reed is

exactly right.
288
 the old It

yet it to
a It was of the
in the
*
that the at ) and the
by in his and
id for the
of Ms in

Rees). be Is

Holmes, the It
Holmes did the of
Harrington on he the
high B|?5 on the plain six-keyed or he
had the thumb keys ? we do not
German of the an
foreshadowing of the modem German Why
be can hardly be explained until are
subjected to methodical examination* but we
Hitter, for example, Mozart's in the
bassoon world, produced a dear, woody of
proto-Heckelish quality. Mozart's concerto was for MI
amateur player, but Hitter was one of the four in
a sinfonm c&mcertante, with Ramm of course on on
horn and Wendling on flute. The work may have
version of the well-known K.297b*
Of course there were bad bassoonists then as
since. 'Snuffling' and 'goaty* are two words to
sub-standard bassoon tone, equivalent to 'rattling' or
bacon* today.

SMALL AND LARGE BASSOONS. A surprising number of

baswxm, both fiiglish and Continental, have survived from, the
eighteenth century. Some are octave-bassoons
of
about 25 inches tall and an octave above the ordinary, while
others are tenoroonsf usually built
,
in G
(rather than in F as
taflL Yet they do not seem to have
later) and about 55 indies
been used in music. No source mentions them as being so used,,
even in load bands, and they do not appear in scores (unless the
 HISTORY
in a by an
for on, for in

for the at

the that for

to G' in N0* Si (1715) may an old

a or
down to F' t and this a
a few later survive.
or a fifth the bassoon can give
but it the player,
a to Ms whereas a
an the ordinary, does not.
The true contrabassoon Is Stanesby's imposing
the tall four-keyed of Handel's
and JIAafc, now preserved in the National
Dublin. It went (and will still go) down to the
B|j. But the first approximation to a standard type of
is the later Austrian model (Plate XXXI),

Ike a tall, massive bassoon, with a butt joint at each

end, and descending to bottom C. This is the instrument of the
Vienesse classics, and it was also extensively used in Austrian
and Italian military bands. Its notes seem none too even and to
lack power, though presumably after assiduous practice it

the gravediggers'
produced a reasonably good effect, say, in

scene in Fidelia, And after all, one can hardly say much more for
the contrabassoon today.

The Flute
eighteenth-century flute was pretty certainly
The another of
the Hotteterre family's rebuilds. They abolished the old cylin
drical bore (which was allowed to remain in the army fife) and
substituted for it the bore and three-jointed construction of the
*
Hotteterre recorder, making the so-called conical* flute. With
this bore the tone becomes purer, free from fife-like shrillness;
and since the bore-contraction has a flattening effect, the finger-
holes can be placed closer together, in some cases by as much as
half a centimetre, reducing the stretch for the hands. But which
of these considerations recommended the new proportions, or
290
 it is not af the
*
tenor* of the era man
rf') and an E^ key was the
the for tic df the
and ftir his

(1778).
In the run the has the
of the
the In the of
It
by the of its
as the old its is

never But the was the

to play really well, in

Technique on old

absolutely on the
and on the oboe and the 10 the
effect of the old reeds, they were so. Bet on the

they were far less good. They be

notes, in tune yet audible, by expert
especially by turning the flute inwards to the

fingerings, which are in the majority, c"

V\t (bad), both Qjf s and both Fs (in ery In the

low register). For die Ff *s the straight is flat (recti

fied by turning the outwards) while the

flute is

almost too sharp to be used at all, except as a in

the upper register; but even so ? the eighteenth-centeiy

player especially the amateur, whom the Hottetenre
had begun to lure away from the recorder at the beginning of
the century was test off in keys like G and D, which
avoided the other ted notes. This fact has often been useful a m
check on whether a piece marked flute orjiaml is intended for
recorder as is usual or for the flute (jlmit or
German /nte] the favourite keys for the treble recorder having
;

been F and B|j. Another reason for avoiding flat keys lay in the
omits from
sharpness of high/'" a note that young Hotteteire
his fingering chart altogether.
Since the entire range of an experienced flutist's power of
into play on the
lipping notes in tune was constantly brought
$91
 HISTORY
for
in

the in an
Hid a the in

to six for the to

the of critical cross-

that the left Three upper joints

the provision, the shortest the flute a
the longest. At first they were
1, S, and S (this last the shortest), later, as pitch
a set usual, numbered 4, 5, and 6 (a late

English tutor describes them as *a flat

*

pitch*, conceit pitch* and *a sharp pitch* respectively). One had

to to adjust the cork stopper after changing a joint;
with the shortest it was screwed out and with the longest,
In.

Quantz mentions some special ways of using these alternative

upper joints. A long upper joint, flat to the pitch, might be
when playing the allegro movements of a concerto over a
strong accompaniment, for then one co-old blow harder without
going sharp to the orchestra. And also, when the keynote of a
work was Ej> or A{?, a flat tuning would allow greater sonority
on the Afjs. Chi the other hand, when playing an adagio, for
which a darker, more closed quality of tone was sought, one
might put In a sharp joint (or. If the sharpest was In already,
screw in the stopper a trifle) to compensate for the flat,
covered embouchure that produced this quality. Before attacking
the final Allegro, one had to remember to change back to the

original joint and reset the stopper.

SIX-KEYED FLUTE. Through its defective cross-fingerings, the

became the first of the woodwind to accept the advantages
flute
of additional chromatic keywork.
Chromatic closed keys had already been known on bagpipes at
leastfrom the beginning of the seventeenth century. The
French musette had several of them on the chanter. But on the
woodwind instruments, tradition was set against this kind of
292
 the Ejj key anil
on the
to the to by die

* 00 000
C* * * 000
c*| 000
cT ooofj

* 0* 000
r*l * 000
O * * * *
O 00 i

FIG. 69. Chart far the ow~keyed Jlmte* (Smm gim the E^
key to be held open throughout the
Imrn- two on lie D*$ f
as today. * Asa leading note tog", this note o
may be .
/ . .

Eb).

added three little musette-like dosed keys to the erne-keyed lute

just before 1760, The keys were the cross F key, little-finger Gf
key, and left thumb B[j key, thus making, with the old Ef> key,
the f(wr-keyed jlnte. And at last a really good top /'" was

possible, with the aid of the F key.

 HISTO1Y

the of the
the to the but not
This, with its

for C| aid C, the XXVI), Is

the of
the C key and the F key, which as
at the end of the century. The three

provided, now
urgently
1800 the tuning-slide had
again fi rst ^ n England. The advanced musical
of the new flute e.g. freedom in tonality
turned to splendid account In Haydn's
the work (arranged from a quartet) makes a sharp con
trast with the previous one-keyed flute music, of which Mozart's
are the shining examples.

SMALL FLUTES AND FIFES. In Handel's time, Jtauto piccolo

generally meant descant recorder, just as JUsuto meant treble

recorder; but from Gluck onwards It signifies the orchestral
piccolo, specimens of which have survived (one-keyed). The
commoner eighteenth-century small flutes, however, were the
military-band flutes, pitched in flat keys to be suitable for
playing the tune an octave above the Bfj clarinets in marches and
troops. There were two principal kinds: (l) the F flute or
'third flute* (a third above the ordinary flute), for which

Bishop was later to write his well-known obbligato to *Lo Hear !

the Gentle Lark*. (For the obbligati to 'bird* arias, the smaller
recorders and flutes were naturally chosen; but for doves, which
coo in the lower part of the treble stave, not well above it,
bassoons as in Handel's Floridante and Haydn's Creation.)
(s) Small Bjj and C flutes. All these were normally three-jointed
one-keyed flutes. The C flute, a tone below the piccolo, is
extinct, but the others survive among our six-keyed band flutes
(Chapter II).
The fife was a different instrument, retaining sixteenth-
century characteristics: cylindrical bore made one piece
all in
with a brass ferrule at each end, and no key
(Plate XXX). In a
294
 his a
to tiM> one in By, the in C. A
of a rail is in fig, 7t\ the
be In fifc of the
In the fife
by the
B^ but in It is
still an Ej> key 76}
and a of at the

Now awl
of opera and oratorio, the two In so
for a
composer to up

r ii
imifni^

FIG, 70. ^ oW reveille for tkejife (Gmmd of

Weimar);jrom Kastner.

Instruments less than a foot long, and to produce upon them

toy-trumpet noises In the notes of the treble stave. These were
ch&lwmaMx rudimentary, half-size clarinets.
In the seventeenth century the French word
meant either a bagpipe chanter; or 'pipe* in the general sense,
and including the simple rustic reed-pipe with a single reed cut
in a corn stem. Mersenne sketches the latter in his Harmonm
Unimrstilk* with three finger-holes and describes it as a
'chalumeau made of a corn stalk'. We
can only imagine that the
orchestral chalumeau arose out of this in course of woodwind-
makers' search for novelties. The name suggests, but does not
prove, French origin.
 HISTORY
At its the a 8 10
six the
cut in the of the at the top end.
it in his on
1722), and an answering to his description
at the Royal Military Exhibition in London in
and in Day's catalogue as follows; of cane, 8|
with 15 millimetres bore, covered with red leather,
from gf to g" in fundamentals. The instrument
with particulars recently brought to light by
Thurston Dart of the 'Mock Trumpet*, for which books of
c. 169B onwards. The compass is here
were published from
the same, and evidently the instrument was also leather-
covered, for to sowed it, *put the trumpet in your mouth as far
as the gilded leather and blow pretty strong* (Galpin Society
Joirnal, VI).
Dermer, the inventor of the clarinet, was said to have im
proved this little instrument. Possibly he was the first to make it
boxwood, with a replaceable cane reed tied
like his clarinet, of

on; little-finger hole; and two keys near the top, one in front
a
and the other opposite to it on the back. Bonanni reveals that
*
musicians called this form of the instrument ccdandrone the
lark' and that it gave a raucous sound, poco grata. There was
formerly a specimen of this wooden two-keyed chalumeau at
Munich (Plate XXX
shows a replica). Its usual compass was
from/' to b"\>, or even to c"' (which no doubt would have been
possible by opening the back key to overblow the bottom note to
its twelfth), but a few of the operatic chalumeau parts demand
instruments pitched a third or a fourth lower. Among com
the
posers who wrote for it usually for a pair are Handel (in
Rkcardo Pnmo), Telemann, Vivaldi and lastly Gluck. Many of
the chalumeau arias have pastoral texts, but not all; it is difficult
to see exactly how composers
regarded the instrument.
Diderot's Encydopfdie confirms that the chalumeau is
correctly
identified in this midget instrument. Moreover it was the
fundamental register of the clarinet that afterwards came to be
known as the 'chalumeau register',
showing that the chalumeau
itself was played in its fundamentals. For its usual compass with
296
 f\ this a RH

to the the first foil in

in ail the
of a It was
the
by JL C. of
of
and of us so.
Dewier was one of the of
the end of the (he in
years Hotteterre).
his Initials one old
and several of the new; a of the old and a
of the new; a coital, the
and a racket; and, preserved at an
keyed C clarinet (Plate XXX). his
speciality (Boppelmayr describes as a
and It,
might conceivably have
that the idea of the clarinet ocetored to His
design curiously resembles a treble to at, in
size and shape (especially in the foot Joint) mi in the

contracting tore. This also struck Bonarmi, who the

merit clm*one but confesses that lie is unable to tie
inventor, though 'it appears to be a modem derivative of tie
recorder to give a louder and more vigorous sound ; it is
to describe, but easy to recognize by its sound even
9
mixed with other instruments in sinfonie .

A number of things might have suggested to Dernier .the

clarinet's separate reed tied to a wooden mouthpiece, e.g. organ
reeds (which have a separate reed of brass) ; or bagpipe reeds
from neighbouring Bohemia, if reeds like no. in fig. 39 were m
already made at that time. Whether he applied it to clarinet or
to cWumeau first, is not known.
The Dermer specimen shown is twice as long as the chaluraeau,
having fundamentals /to V\>. With suitable reeds, this design
gives the upper register perfectly well by opening the key at the
897
 H1ST01Y
The ft
f

is % the fr'b-

bell
a
with an
the I7'20s, and this is the type
XXX),
by the
The note *' is still

of 1741, as a of
(or, in
the low/)! Yet the
as as the to its and
In the
who

FIG. 71. Music for clarinets and horns from Arm's Thomas and
Sally, 1760.

used to demonstrate early clarinets at recitals, said that certain

concertos proved easier
types of passage In eighteenth-century
to bring off on two-keyed
a clarinet than on a modern Boehm
for instance, quick broken-chord figures ('Albert! '.kind) In the

upper register.
TTiis two-keyed clarinet was Introduced to France and
it In partnership with the
England by Germans who played
horn, In opei>-air fashion.
Their common
apparently vigorous
band-stand routine, with the one pair of instruments picturesque
ly echoing the other, Is
demonstrated in the entry-music of a

hunting party in Arne's opera Thomas

and Sally (fig. 71 }* Both
298
 of are in C, and are
*

A is
(r. for a
trio of and one the
all in D, the at
like D and in
Hie in arc
for the

CLASSICAL CLA11HET.
the its

of the tell to the B so F be

properly. Next the Ef? key and the Cf
key, the
at the latest (Plate XXVH). This the
ment on which the Germans Tausch and HL
Stmmitz wrote concertos) the to the of a
solo instrument. Stadler, who with 'the of
Ms tone which BO one with a
won from Mozart the quintet and the
also have had the Gf key, which on the
in the 1770s. In England-, instead, the key was
though whether for the A/B trill, or for the in
second clarinet parts, is not recorded. (In
incidentally, low-register were written an
octave higher and marked ckal.) i.e. "play in the chahimeau
register'; this may later be oaimtemianided by clur.y i.e.

'clarinet register*. )

The bore was narrow, measuring in the Bj? clarinet only

from IS to 14 millimetres, as against some 15 millimetres or
more today. B{? and C clarinets were the usual ones. The A
was known, but as a comparative
clarinet rarity (the only
known English eighteenth-century A clarinet isone by Miller,
in the collection ofMessrs Glen, Edinburgh ). Rather than an A
clarinet it seems to have been usual to have an A joint for one's

B|j instrument; the bottom joint was made in two sections,

the
*
*
'middle piece' and the lower joint', and it was the middle piece
(with the three right hand holes in it) that one could change to
$99
 HISTORY
g0 A* in the
F tiie E|j in the

or and
(
VII ), a and a lay.
The narrow and and
tied 0n is still do Germany. It
in 10
the as It on the
had
and its Germans are
to with the downwards as we do
Is to in the next chapter. Another
the is that several German sources
the period mention reeds of pine or fir (cf.

fig. In Schilling's Lexicon ( 1835) it is said that such reeds

give fine tone and speak easily, but do not last. Fish-bone reeds
are toe. But it seems that cane was always the normal
material.
The earliest detailed description of the reed is in Backofen*$
tutor ( 180S). Some,
he says, thin it down towards the tip (i.e.
a small, hard version of the modem reed). Others make the
blade of equal thickness right to the tip (and he shows it so in
his sketch, agood millimetre thick all the way along). It might
be, he continues, thick the whole way across, or convex (in

cross-section) on both surfaces, or flat on top and concave

underneath (somewhat recalling the primitive single reed). At
leastone English clarinet survives (Brackenbury Collection)
with an apparently original reed of the double-convex kind and
nearly a millimetre thick down the centre right to the tip. But
Muller, writing rather later (c. 185), says that it is wrong to
believe that a fine tone comes with a reed that is almost
equally thick all along. It makes th&pwmos risky, the high notes
piercing, and on account of the difficulty of blowing such a reed
the mouthpiece-lay has to be too close. Better, he says, is a reed
thinned towards the tip, enabling a more open lay to be used,
making for more expressive playing and finer nuances, and also
taking less breath. This last must surely have been that which
Tausch and Stadler used. By modem standards it would still
have been hard. All experiments with the old clarinets show
that it is only with a long open lay and a hard reed that justice
500
 C'i '

. > as tt&ottSs fa* S*J

i *

/| , O
g*
.,
000
a* o 000
&*> * * 000
6* OO 000
C 0* O 000

hek I

Sj& anly I

c *
*
I
000 000 )
I o B J

aj^ rAo*o 000

* *B *

Gf * 000 i
/* O 000
ft .00 000
jgf
* O * *

FIG. 72. Clwtfwjiw- or six-keyed clminit. The left f

(Th)
rfo^es i jr
ex^l w^r^ indicaUd otfmrwix, amdjr&m b
Jbfo
also opens the speaker key (Sp.).

N.B. (l) Low register: many of the cnm~fimgmd mtes tfrr

wmk and mwfjkd, mdtoprvmnt them being tm $Aarp the G&rmam 9

charts, mimt for karmrs plajing with the reed d0wnw@rd$,

generally grm more
hoks covered thin the English, as indicated in
brackets. (%) High register: the nates are hard
to turn, and charts
here differ widely.
SOI
 HISTORY
be to the
is and 011 but the
are and a
the It is

to a The has
in and the old is

In the of the cross-finger

ings are on the flute); but in the

so the clarinet can never
When Mozart wrote his famous
to his 'if only we clarinets*, we must
henot to the Boehm, nor even to the
but to the simple boxwood instrument with narrow
five keys and tiny hard-reed mouthpiece,

The
The following list of wind instruments in the 174! inventory
of the small court of Sayn-Wittgenstein at Berleburg, West
phalia, gives a very good picture of the state of wind instruments
half-way through the period we are considering:

2 harpsichords; 3 clavichords (two in lacquer cases);

I
positive organ; I old harp;
5 violins ;2 violas ; cellos ; I double bass ;
$ viola di gamben of different sizes;
I viola d 'amour; I
piccolo (violoncello piccolo);
I viola pomposa; l string-spinning wheel.
S bassoons;
8 large recorders (Flaut-Doux);
9.bass recorders (Flaut~doux~Rasson) without crooks ;
4 small recorders of various sizes;
I
ivory flageolet ;

flutes
(traoersftre), one ivory, the other black with silver
mounts ;

1
piccolo (trawersifoe} ;
1
pair of Flaute traversiires d'amattrs*,
1
large FL trav. d'aimw\
9, oboes;
302
 THE
fi of
i
pair of da their
crook;
1 the
2 In a
2
5 pairs of F and
f

I small

Recorder consorts are still is a pair

no doubt the in the
and three pairs of
The idea of these last in tie
d'araore, that peculiar to the of
D major. The d"amm"m the was
known and the /ft* were in A, a
third Mow the respective ordinary and
calculated to produce at this
pitch a in
contrast with the bright extrovert and
flute ; a very eighteentifM^itury idea ; a
their being in A was that ordinary music ml
pitch could be read on them simply by the
violin clef ( which puts G
on the bottom line) of
clef and
subtracting three sharps from the key-signature. is
how Quantz says the fMte d'amottr was used, and it
transposition of the accompaniment.
Hie oboe d'amare is said to have been Invented about in
Germany. only one of these instruments to have
It is the

scored for by composers. Bach employed it

extensively and so
did Telemann and others, while
among tibe stacks of
century manuscript concertos for every wind instrument
away in German libraries, there are a number for oboe d'amore,
and also for two oboi d'amore, in which (as in similar concertos
for two flutes, two bassoons., etc.) the executants enjoyed a
feast of playing in thirds.
The eighteenth-century oboe d'amore is 4 to 5 inches long,,
with a short brass crook. At least a dozen survive, mostly
German and many of these by Eichentopf of Berlin. These have
 HISTORY
but by Blzey
ts the oboe, the bell
was not There are no of the
dTamore In England.
The /lie to judge by the number that survive, must
extremely popular, Qamtz singles It out as the best
of the variant forms of flute. No composer seems to have scored
for But the point of a d'amore instrument was not its deeper
It.

pitch, but Its deeper tone-duality, and no doubt not only

amateurs and recitalists, but opera-orchestra players too would
change BOW and then to the flflte d'axnour to give extra effect

to an adagio or aria of sentimental character, transposing the

part in the manner just described.

In England the flfite d'amour was known, but on the whole
valued less than the *B
flat tenor flute' (English nomenclature,

a major third below the ordinary flute), an instrument that

i.e.

became popular for playing the lowest part of amateur flute

quartets on.
Lastly, the cknnette d'am&w (Plate XXX), which appeared
on the Continent in the 1770s, just before the oboe d'amore
began to go out. Its usual pitch was G or AJ?, thus providing for
below the Bfj and C clarinets respec
clef-transposition a third
tively, but some were made in F. Some specimens are straight
with a curved brass crook. Others are angular. The bell is
bulbous, or clarinet-like outside with a bulbous cavity inside.
The approximate length for the G, excluding mouthpiece, is
SO inches. Again it must have been used for solos, since no
scores specify C. Bach's parts for tattles d'amour (as in
it unless JL

Temutock, Mannheim, 177&) are intended for it, which is

possible,

The woodwind 'horns*

The Cor Anglais and the Basset Horn; two tenor-pitched
instruments in F, a fifth below the oboe and the clarinet

respectively.
The cor anglais began its life as the German Wald-hautbois
or JagdrJiautbois of c. 1720 onwards. A few composers, Bach
among them, italianized the name to oboe da caccia. The instni-
304
 of tlie

like we in the
but in this die wa* 0C
In it k
a out nil
and in the and
the of the of the A
of
be
No of the are
However, a few of a
in the

of anil are
as ofoj *fo is a pair at

planed to an the old and

painted reddish-brown as if to
bugle-like tells and would the
metal homs that were carried, to by
hunt officials
bearing the
From 1760 little more is fa bat a
ofcomi begin to turn up In (
e *g * n Gitick
and Haydn), and a number of late
meats are preserved curved In
bells, and most of them either or
XXVIII }. As far as we know, the (cor
the same instrument as the <&r for
*
of the bell ; but why the 'hunting oboe the
* *
English horn is a mystery. The instrument itself no
connection with England; the only known early
men (by Milhouae) has the later, un-homlke con
struction (like the basset horn in the same Plate). However, the
Flugelmeister's metal bugle became, after the middle of the
eighteenth century, characteristic of the English Hanoverian
light infantry and Jeger regiments and was described in the
latter as Horn, so possibly this is where the connection lay.
The old method of constructing a curved woodwind tube has
recently been thoroughly examined by P. A. T. Bate with
 HISTORY
In the favourite
in a In the out
the tube,
to the The construction Is in the

by fillets and a leather covering.

As be (and Brod later confirms It), this
Is scarcely to make for a full, vibrant tone. The
with hardly a trace of reediness ; It is, as La Borde
is soft,

(178O) says of the da caceia, less sonorous and more

velvety that of the oboe. It is indeed very much like the

of a distant horn. In the Wiltimm Tell overture the solo

cor anglais, in the curved form that Rossini would have known,
would give an excellent imitation of the Ranx des Vmhes on a
distant alp-horn, an instrument that plays its tunes at much the
same pitch as natural French horns do. Hie modern straight cor
anglais was conceived more simply as an oboe merely of
deeper pitch ami Brod, its inventor, quite honestly described
it as an hautbois alto. The old curved instrument was a
typical
romantic creation of the eighteenth century; the new straight
one, a typical technical creation of the nineteenth century. In
Italy,however, the curved form lasted until modem times, and
there was said to have been an Italian player using it at Covent
Garden at the beginning of the present century.
The basset horn is believed, on good evidence, to have been
invented by Mayrhofer of Passau, Bavaria, about 1770: a deep
clarinet in F
(or alternatively, at first, in G) reviving the
sixteenth to seventeenth-century idea of diapasons down to a
low C. The tube was at first curved, like that of the cor anglais.
Hence no doubt 'horn'. "Basset* was an old German musicians'
term for the lowest part in a high-pitched choir and also for any ;

tenor-pitched instrument with bass characteristics such as

extended tube for diapasons (cf. table, p. 271).
On many old basset horns, ixMiuding the Mayrhofer instru
ment in the Hamburg Museum (illustrated in Kendall, The

Clarinet), the extension is diatonic only, as with the ancient

diapasons ( two thumb keys, for d and c} . To reduce the overall
length, the part between the B key and the metal bell was twice
doubled back on itself in a flat block of wood of the shape of a
306
 the
of the the
1
by a liai
by in
this XX VII 1) was to awl
for It on t If

the it to the like

a ; but if the the
on the or it tie (to suit the
a le i

the of the
a of to

use in the

dropped, and it was left to the of a Few

classical to the Its

revival towards the end

This Instrument, to the lias to be in

cluded among the woodwind, in the
classical period by woodwind-makers for use in as
a reinforcer of the bassoons. It In

astical circles in the sixteenth century in the

neighbouring countries its use to

where it was played alone or, less often, with other
to keep the choristers 00 their notes. century ago $o A
serpents were to be found in French and "Flemish
the Brussels Conservatoire Museum strung two do Zni of
!

together to make a 'dhandelier.

These were all great-bass oametts of seipei>-
mpmts;
tine shape and huge conical tore, covered la black leather
sounded with a large, narrow-rimmed hemispherical mouth
piece of Ivory or horn. The lowest
fundamental was C, but most
of the church work was done in 2nd and Sri harmonics, in
unison with the male voices. Notwithstanding the unscientific
placing of the holes bunched in two groups
so that the fingers
can cover them the serpent d'iglise is quite a good musical
307
 HISTORY
it a ear to it, the
are as by the lips as by the far so
on the 0n with the lips
to the just as do 0n

The tone-quality can be roughly imitated by

trumpet-wise into any long wide tube. The cup
of the serpent merely focuses the sound-generating lip-
vibration, giving the more bite and precision. The is

richly woody, considerably louder than the bassoon's*

not as loud as the tuba's; in fact, an ideal tone for strengthening
the in the classical wind ensemble.

It was the bandmasters in England who first

thought of this.
In England the serpent had been tried out in combination with
other instruments from Locke's time, but without the success
thatwould have gained it a place in the orchestra. But towards
the end of the eighteenth century the larger military bands
adopted and soon produced a more or less standard four-keyed
it

serpent (Plate XXXI), with a key for finger I (for B; the open
note, all fingers off, being Bjj), and an Ff key for finger IV. The
other two keys, both for the right thumb, were mainly for
helping various notes that were otherwise hard to get clear and
in tune. The fingering was largely empirical, and charts differ

widely. But the effect of this serpent in militia marches of the

late eighteenth century is excellent. The usual English band
combination was: two Bf?* clarinets; two horns; two bassoons
(mainly in unison); one trumpet, with an exhilarating, epi-
phenomenal fanfare-like part; and serpent ad HMtwn, written
rather low, an octave below the bassoons where possible. The

way the serpent blends in with the rest and pulls the whole
ensemble together is quite extraordinary, and well accounts for
the very great interest taken in this class of instrument in the
early nineteenth century, when the Russian bassoon and the
English bass horn and the serpent Formtte were brought out as
handier versions of the serpent, held comfortably in bassoon
fashion instead of rather awkwardly across the front of the

body.

80S
 go the
of of the
the old as as
be
All the to a as
or all

in the so
to not to fill

out and
& (
*
of
playing ') 9 1752, a all the
in the and is a
as as be* He
of trills be by the In

andante, of
in order to bring out For the of

adagios he gives two of the

style, in which It was to find of the

ornament already written in by tie and one of the
Italian adagio, which for Its on
by the performer. Both
filled in arc

reproduced by the Dolmetsch in He of lie

of tie and one on p, the
other in the appendix volume of
dynamic markings added by Dohnetsch).
However, with all this material* the

century present the modem soloist with a ;

which was good taste in the eighteenth century, is no

good taste today. Suppose somebody were to take the
and pobBcly act upon Quanta's positive in an

Italian adagio it may truly be said that the performer as

much towards 'composing* the music as the composer himself.
However well he did it, a present-day audience would probably
think him childish or vulgar. People today like to music
an
played exactly as it is written on paper, however boring
it. So perhaps
eighteenth-century audience would have thought
after all it is better for us not to study Quantz's examples, or
 HISTORY
(fig. 65) In the earlier of

Corelii, or the f ornament in

Ozi
f

s tutor for the newly-founded Paris Con

servatoire,
Nevertheless, two characteristic examples from Ozi are given

FIG. 73. Two ornamentation exercises from Ozi's bassoon tutor

(Paris,

in fig. 73, one slow, one fast. They show the style of ornamenta
tion prevalent at the time of Mozart's death, and broadly

applicable to all movements of his wind concertos. In each

example, the lower line shows the written melody with the bass;
the upper line, shows the suggested decoration. It must be
310
 this was for to
by a of the
and of the
of in and
is we and (fur
One a rf/

on the
a Is not as the
trill its the
ing the
this not in the
ever* in, as in s
of Mozart's concetto*}
To trill properly in the
the trill on the upper note, it is to in

tempo, beginning with of

EDEDEDCDfora trill on D (cf. fig.
S6 in the last

chapter). Then, having got the a

controlled rhythm, one can easily to of
length and speed, and regular or ntbtto m

311
 XII

Symphony (1804) would have seen Its Irst

performance with woodwind instruments of the classical
types described in the last chapter. Then things began
to move rapidly. Nineteenth-century woodwind history is an
action story of brilliant, dominating individuals performers or
craftsmen, sometimes both and of their patented inventions
through which the elegantly simple instruments of the past were
transformed into the complicated tools of the woodwind section
today. Chronologically, the story arranges itself into three
principal phases, as follows.
l. First there came a
period of some twenty-five years which
saw the development of the basic 'simple systems*. With these,
each instrument came to be provided with a set of simple closed
keys following the example already set by the later eighteenth-
century flute-makers. These gave an accurately-tuned keyed
note for every semitone that had previously been unsatisfactory
as a cross-fingering. Ten years after the Eroica, Beethoven's
Seventh and Eighth Symphonies would have been introduced
with eight-keyed flutes and eight- to twelve-keyed clarinets.
Oboes and bassoons, on which chromatic cross-fingerings on the
whole worked the best, were still mainly classical in design, but
another ten years later, when the Ninth Symphony was pro
duced, these instruments too had become available with extra
keys. The following list of models supplied by Schott, condensed
from price-lists printed in the Mainz journal Caedlia, shows
what this well-known firm had to offer in 1825, the year after
the Ninth Symphony.
312
 MKCHANI/ATIOSI

FLUTES:
in to as t#
dearest:^

,t

or

F, E^ or D, 1 to 3 !

4
F 5 I

S 1

w
4

and B 9
1
Walking-stick flute, 1 key.

Flageolets, to 3 keys.

OBOES:
Boxwood, 2 keys.
Boxwood or et>0ny s 14 keys, ww
Cor boxwood, 10 the
anglais,

CLARINETS:
In Bj>, C or E|?> boxwood, 5, 6, or 9
n box or ebony, 12 *m*
In Bb with A joint [[6 to Id keys* as aixyvej]*
In F boxwood, 5, 6, or 9 keys.
Basset horn, boxwood, 14 ^angular fomfj.

BASSOONS:
Maple, 9 keys.
wlA two tenor joints, two crooks, 9
$9 >t ^ w 15 leys,
Hbe same wife silver mounts and ivory key$.
Contrabassoon, mapIe f 7 keys* ,

6
Serpent in bassoon shape ptasstan Imssoon^*

i
Tfeis Is a tote Ut wttkbiMtkk, with a
is also a key
a
knot alebrated Belgian musical historian, is s&ict to
in the stick. F6tis t the
to British con
carried erne about with him. Tlse flutist J, Clinton adapted the Idea
1

ditions in an *mMfe jAcfe There were also walking-stick darinets

com- ff

bined the same stidc with a walking-stick pteolo,

313
 HISTORY
Translating the prices of the above Instruments Into the
English values of the time, the cheapest piccolo cost 3s. 6J ; r

flutes from 6s. 4d. to 6; oboes from 255. to S I Si. orf.; cor

anglais jS; clarinets from SOJ. to jfill; basset horn 6 gins.;

bassoons from 70s, to 7 gns. ; contra, 7 gns. ; the serpents from
5 to 6 gns.
The 'new inventions* presumably refer to Sellner's full

simple-system oboe (newly Introduced by the maker Koch in

Vienna), the Muller clarinet (first devised in about 18 ID, in
Paris), and to Almenraeder's newly-remodelled bassoon a
herald of the second phase in our story. Yet besides these
advanced models, there was still a good sale for older designs,
including those of simple classical pattern. Local bands and
theatres, with their repertoires of old favourites and new light
pieces, could still manage well enough with these, but to feel
comfortable in the more ambitious orchestral works of the
I80s one becomes glad of a few extra keys, as trials with old
instruments reveal.
The instruments of this period still have a generally antique
appearance. The keys, for instance, are still pivoted on pins
through the wood (or on brass saddles) as often as on the new
pillars (which were then mounted on a metal base-plate
screwed to the wood). The old flat keys with leather pads had,
however, largely given place to the early forms of cupped key
with stuffed pad, which Muller claimed to have invented in
connection with his twelve-keyed clarinet. As playing instru
ments, those of this period can still be useful today, e.g. for
classicalmusic among friends. Their tone, provided that the
correct fingerings are used,is often very beautiful. They must,

of course, be reasonably well-preserved, and also close enough

to modern pitch, the danger here being sharpness. About 180
the London orchestras seem to have been playing at just below
modern pitch (about 0'=4SS), but pitch was tending to rise,
especially in bands, for which the majority of instruments were
( By 1#4O, sharp pitch prevailed
constructed. almost everywhere,
and most mid-century instruments are far too high for playing
on today. )
. Next followed that period of intense activity which pro-
314
 MECHANI7ATIOK
our It the anil
out the (r. and
to be into the
the long axle both for keys arJ for
and not his
but also the
the "brille* Ff on and and
Triibert's not to the
{1845} and the of all

a of
woodwind in to in the
and to give a generally
and mouthpieces began to be to
dimensions; Boehm worked out his
began to straighten out the quaint of the
coming continually nearer to a as he OR*
from these years date the invention the
to the 'extra* instruments: Brod's car
(Paris, 1859), which began slowly to replace the old and
angular models; Sax's bass clarinet 1
(Brussels, 858); and in

Germany, Haseneier's contrabassophone (Coblenz v 1847), the

first successful
scientifically-designed and the
inspiration of many structural features of the
that eventually supplanted it.
Instruments of this period, and indeed also of the
continued to be made, more often than not, of boxwood
brass keys (though German silver began to be used in the
1830s). The workmanship is often superb and It Is a that
the instruments are now mostly useless on account of their

sharp pitch.
3. After this eruption of historic inventions there remained
little useful to do except to refine, and to aid various auxiliary

keys and gadgets here and there. Certainly there was no lack of
new and ingenious inventions during the second half of the
century, but, generally speaking, they failed to catch on. At*
exception is THfibert's Conservatoire-system oboe of the late
1870s, while Heckel's important wort: on the Almenraeder
bassoon also dates from the 1 870s.
315
 HISTORY
a of all

fill a in itself, the rest of this is

the woodwind in England, which* as It

a general view on account of the

intermingling of native and Continental
artists in

orchestras and the consequent impact of one foreign invention

TABLE OF LEADING PRINCIPAL W000WIND PLAYERS IN ENGLAND, SHOWING THE

DATE WHEN EACH SUCCEEDED TO THE LEADING POSITIONS

after another. The sums this up, showing

table above broadly
some principal players and (in brackets) the type of instrument
that each used in his prime (guesses, where the latter is not
recorded, being indicated by italics).

Flute systems
THE EIGHT-KEYED FLUTE. Abjectly simple though this now
appears beside the Boehm, it is nevertheless the model that
316
 MECHANIZATION
the the in m
It was the flute
by

solo
for by a^ li se

are
To the we go tct
In the keys of still the
for md the for
airs
ws Siror M* the
lute of the day. But all leys
and the that the feey of
A^ Is'perhaps the the in
He himself the
duplicate or long" F key a and
then an Astor, he on the he and
his father introduced in the and
chiefly for sale by Clementi
XXXI).
Nicholson was the greatest has
ever known ( with the comparatively for
solos today, players simply do not the of
becoming virtuosi in the old sense). The first
about his playing was his tone. * It is not dear, and
brilliant, but possesses a volume that is awl
this too, be it observed, in the
very lowest of the
ment', wrote Ms pupil, W. N. James. In Nicholson*s own
the tone ought to be *as reedy as possible, as ike tie oboe
as you can get it, but embodying the round of the
clarinet*.
The next
thing was his style. He lived at the tail end of the
centuries-long era of free ornamentation by solo players, and in
two short pieces 74) from one of his tutors we cm see
(fig.

something of his own method first in a Mozart aria, with the

;

ornament suitably restrained ; and then in a popular air from the

Beggar's Opera,, very liberally embellished. Here and there will
*
be noticed signs indicating special effects: the glide* (indicated
317
 HISTORY
by a crescent), and Vibration' (wavy line). The glide was a
portamento made by uncovering the holes gradually, and, lie
wrote, *one of the most pleasing expressions of which the
instrument is capable*. Vibration* was a fingered vibrato in the

FIG. 74. Two of Nicholson's flute solos, showing ornamentation,

etc.: l, 'Ah perdona\ from La Clemenza di Tito, Mozart.
'Cease your
2, fanning*, from the Beggar's Opera.
318
 MECHANIZATION
two by 0n a lute or key well
the of the In tie
E^ key for the E f
and P% hole 1 or far the G's and Anp
f

II for rf", etc., as in liis It was to an

00* Qf 00 *^V
o * * * Q| * *

OCf * Q# * FO*
f *0 * *F0
00
0J^|
*
ft * * *
|
s* * 00 * % * * F0

* ?
* . F00
* o *a
of * *
00 Of?
If * * 00 * *

^ *
* O

FIG. 75. Eigkt-lkeyedjlue. I, Some fingerings /or lie kigk

($ei oho fig. 6^9). 2 r Sensitive fingerings for shared in
slow pieces (from Nickolson).

a bell or glass', beginning slow ami loud and then

effect 'like

quickening as the note fell away in a diminuendo. These effects

were dearly intended to give the playing the most free and
singer-like quality, and with the same object in view, Nicholson,
319
 HISTORY
Tulou and others employed sensitive, sharp-tuned fingerings to
obtain the smoothest, most vocal legato over certain semitone
Intervals in slow melodies, e.g. between leading-note and tonic.
The chief of these fingerings are given in fig. 75, and their

employment as specified by Nicholson is indicated in the

(

examples by the small stars or crosses. All these things help to

reveal the carefully-considered approach through which Nichol
son and his contemporaries earned such astonishing popularity
on the old flute. It must be admitted, however, that Nicholson
now and then aroused sharp criticism for excessive use of
vibration and the glide, not to mention too lavish ornamentation
and over-long cadenzas.
Nicholson died in 1837 and was succeeded by Ribas, with a
powerful tone on the large-holed flute, and Richardson, who
adopted the Siccama model an eight-keyed flute with rings
for I and II (to help c" and c"}, hole III lowered and covered
by a lever (to improve A) and covered sixth hole (to help E;
Its full
fingering is still included in the Otto Langey flute tutor,

though the model has been out of use for many years ) In 1 850,
.

Ribas, the more eminent player of the two, was succeeded by

Pratten, the last noted English principal to use the eight-keyed
flute. He rose to fame on the old large-holed model, but later

changed to his cylindrical design described in Chapter II.

BOEHM. With his powerful, reedy tone, Nicholson

may be said
to have founded the traditional English school of
flute-playing.
But this was not all; for Boehm, looking back on his life, said
that 'had I not heard him [Nicholson], probably the Boehm
flutewould never have been made'.
Theobald Boehm, of Munich, was a maker of flutes (with a
partner, Greve) and also a professional player. On a visit to
London in 1831 he heard Nicholson, whose volume of tone of
the large-holed flute astonished him. He realized at once that he
he could produce nothing to approach it on the German
type of
flute, which, though often provided with extra keys, was other
wise of a conservative design with small holes. When Boehm
returned to Munich, his keen, analytical mind faced up
squarely
to the question of the large holes, and he
quickly decided to
320
 MECHANIZATION
incorporate them on a systematic basis throughout the instru
ment. Moreover, he went yet a step further: he conceived the
idea of securing full venting for the notes
by changing all the
existing closed keys into open keys i.e. into
keys standing
normally open.
This reversed key-system demanded some novel method of
control, and for this Boehm embodied a mechanical device that
had appeared already in rudimentary forms in the
workshops of
other experimental flute-makers: the now-familiar
rings,
through which a finger can operate a key in the same movement
as closing its own hole. Thus he produced the conical Boehm
flute,
1832, the greatest of all landmarks in the modern historyof
woodwind design (Plate XXVI).
In place of the old closed C key (side
key for IV) he made an
open C hole at the rear of the flute
(actually a pair of small
adjacent holes), so that closing hole I now gave C instead of B.
This C hole also vented the open Cf , and the left thumb closed
to give B. The B in turn has for its
it
primary vent an open hole
on the front of the instrument replacing the old closed
B|j key at
the rear. This hole was closed by ring IV for B|>, and
by ring II
for A. The A similarly has for its primary vent the
open G# key,
which reversed the traditional action of the left little
finger. In
this manner he worked his way down the flute, to
produce the
now familiar Boehm fingering. He would have liked also to
reverse the E(j key, but he refrained,
fearing lest it might prove
more than flute-players would put up with (although most of
them even then pressed this key open for most
notes).
Indeed, as the conical Boehm quickly became known across
Europe, many players were impatient even with the open G#
key, and within six years, Dorus, a flutist at the Paris Opera,
had devised an ingenious closed G# key ('Dorus
key') that did
not encroach upon the full-venting principle. Thenceforth, the
Dorus key was generally kept on the Continent, while Paris
makers tidied up Boehm's own lay-out of the keywork,
giving
the conical Boehm flute its final form.
Search for yet greater volume and freedom of sound led
Boehm next to reason thus, assisted by experiments with
numerous bits of brass tubing:
321
 HISTORY
I
.
Strength, fullness and clarity of the tone are proportional
to the volume of air set in vibration; and a cylindrical tube con
tains more air than a contracting one.
. Fundamental vibrations can be most perfectly elicited in

wide tubes when there is a contraction at the mouth-hole; he

said that his experimental tubes would not efficiently sound any
fundamental below/' unless this contraction was present. More
over, he had long wondered why the flute, alone among wood
wind instruments, should have been blown at its wider end.
3. While the fundamentals were best when the contraction

(which at first he made conical) began near hole I, the high notes
suffered. Therefore he had to shorten the cone.
4. Now he discovered that this contraction must be curved,

not straight, and that the best curve was one that approached a
parabola.
With this, Boehm had found his cylindrical bore (1847), the
bore of the flute today. The holes, he discovered, should have
at least three-quarters of the diameter of the bore, making
covered action (finger-plates) necessary. Hole I was an
exception to the rule: for the sake of the upper D's it had to be
smaller than the other holes, and placed rather high up the flute.
Boehm's first instruments were of silver, though late in life he
himself changed to wood.
In England the cylindrical Boehm was immediately put into
production by Rudall &
Rose, who introduced the Briccialdi
lever (B[> by thumb alone) two years afterwards. Carte and J.
Clinton were the first leading players to adopt it.

As a bird's-eye view of the flute in mid-Victorian times, the

following section from Lafeur's catalogue of about 1870 may be
of interest. Though the cylindrical Boehm was by then in use
among the leading players, it is still featured as a novelty to

general customers. The list is here somewhat condensed.

Cylindric Bore Concert Flutes (open or closed G#).

THE CELEBRATED CYLINDRIC BORE BOEHM'S
IM PROVED SYSTEM CONCERT FLUTE:
from solid 18-carat gold, down to B complete (^170); the same,
made in white or coloured pure crystal [etc., down to the cheapest] ;
cocoa fcocus^, to C ( ^18).
322
 MECHANIZATION
Ordinary Boehm system Concert Flutes. Conical Bore [also in crystal,

etcj
Our own English London Best-Make Concert Flutes:
8-key, cocoa,
The most splendid English made PRATTEN pattern to order.
Bushed holes (etc.).

Cheap Flute (very good) 8 key (28/-).

Special List of Cheap English Made Fifes and Flutes for Fife and
Drum Bands
N.B. The old-fashioned boxwood Fifes are now excluded from our
the price of boxwood being almost as expensive as good cocoa wood,
list,
and far from being so good or so elegant.
Piccolo in F, E|j or D, 1 key, cocoa; tuning slide extra.
Bb Fife, 1 key.
F Flute, 1 key.

French Flageolets

Every flute-player should use this instrument. It is a most agreeable

one with a small or large Ball-room Band, very easy to learn, and much
less fatiguing than the Flute more powerful and showy, and preferred to
;

the Flute in all dancing rooms and private parties on account of brilliant
and pleasing tone, it takes the same part as the Flute, Violin, or treble of
the Piano. Next to the Boehm Flageolet Messrs Lafleur & Son recommend
the 5-keyed Flageolet; all the ones with 6, 7, or 8 keys are of no use
whatever. Our new Tutor by the celebrated Bousquet is the best book a
beginner can refer to.
The Alliance MusicaU new patent cylindric bore Boehm French Flageolet
(neplus ultra) of solid S.P. metal (12gns.).
Ditto, ebony (etc.).
The regular ball business French Flageolet, with 5 keys and ring for Cjf ,
ebony or cocoa.
Ditto, boxwood, brass mounted.
English flageolet (same fingering as Piccolo or Flute) with or without
Flute head, ad libitum.

[clown to]]: Cheap, boxwood, I key, No Flute head

The FrenchFlageolet, or Quadrille Flageolet, with four holes

in frontand two behind, had been in great demand at dances and
light music, and a popular solo instrument at Jullien's concerts,
at which it was played by Collinet, who is said to have preferred

only two keys on the instrument the E[j and G$ keys in flute-
language (the flageolet actually being pitched a fifth higher).
3SS
HISTORY

JS
i 3f * I
3
 MECHANIZATION
Oboe systems
English audiences and critics of Beethoven's time were proud
of the Philharmonic Society's woodwind principals the players
named against the dates 1815 and 1820 in the table of players on
p. 316. They were all big-tone men. Apart, perhaps, from the
marked individuality of Nicholson's style when he succeeded
Ashe (who had a 'fine, rich sound'), contemporary comment
leaves an impression that the section may have sounded very much
like an old-school German or Russian woodwind section today.
The principal oboe, 'old Griesbach*, as a critic of the time
affectionately calls him, was pure German, from Hanover. He
was said to have used a very broad and strong reed, and to have
made a very full, rich sound resembling that of the clarinet of
his colleague Willman. We do not know whether in due course
he abandoned the classical two-keyed model on which he would
have risen to his high position ; but his immediate English suc
cessor, Grattan Cooke, played on the short-lived English simple-
system oboe with up to ten flat or 'saltspoon' keys and the G$
key on the bottom joint. Its lowest note was still C.
In the sharpest contrast with Griesbach stood the French
soloist Vogt, who now and then came to London on concert
tours. In the comparison, Vogt, with his delicate narrow French

reed, sounded thin and reedy, though yet, as a critic wrote, his
'
tone was possibly more the 'true tone of the oboe. And in Paris,
Brod considered that Germans made a hard, heavy sound with
their too strong reeds.
While Vogt only paid visits, his pupil Barret came to stay,
settling in London in 1829 following a dispute between the
native players and theatre managements over fees. Then for

nearly fifty years Barret held the principal positions in London,

and during this long reign he established in England both the
French style and the Tribert type of oboe, which in its various
forms we use still. The following are the main stages in the
evolution of this instrument.

THE TRIBERT OBOE. l. Tribert pire, a German by birth,

served his apprenticeship in Paris and then, during the 1820s,
made oboes there very much after the general Continental
325
 HISTORY
model of the time. Among the fourteen keys mentioned in
Schott's list quoted earlier, four would have been Sellner's

duplicate keys: extra touches for the c" and b'fy keys, long F and

long E|j. But most makers omitted these, producing a ten-keyed

instrument (Plate XXXI) carrying, in addition to the two old
keys: (a) 'octave key' (as we should now call it), then used
The
mainly for starting a slur upwards into the upper register and
for helping high notes like top E and F. (b) The side keys for
c" and of these, the C key was intended mainly for quick
6'[?;
alternation and trills with B, but the B|; key gave a far better
note than the old fork-fingering in the low register. Otherwise,
for C in both octaves and for the upper B[?, the old cross-

fingerings continued to take first place, just as they still do on

simple-system oboes today, (c} The F# key on the bottom joint
was opened by finger VI to bring the fingering . . . / . o o up to
pitch in those days before the 'brille' rings. The remaining new
keys Gf , F, C$ and low B
require no explanation. This would
have been the type of instrument that Barret came to London
with. Apart from the added keys it was still classical in build,
and its reed was scraped back far further than now
(to 11
millimetres from the tip in the drawing in Brod's tutor).
2. From this point onwards, old Triebert's son Frederic

commands the scene, starting with his systime 3 (c. 184O). This

incorporated the second octave key, the half-hole plate, the

brille (rings for V and VI) and the long E|j key (left little
finger). The brille, with its rings borrowed from Boehm's

mechanism, was applied by Sax to the clarinet at

conical-flute
about the same time, and the next development with both
instruments was a more extensive adoption of Boehm rings and
mechanism, namely the Klose-Buffet patent of 1843, announcing
the Boehm-system clarinet and the Boehm-system oboe.
3. In its key work, the Boehm-system oboe
(fig. 77) closely
follows Boehm's conical flute, with an open C key at the back,
closed by the left thumb for B; an open B[> key on the front,
closed by any of the right-hand fingers (as on the Boehm

clarinet) the usual Boehm F and F# arrangement; and some

;

times side keys e.g. a B/C trill (as on the flute) or a B|> side key.
Tribert manufactured it as well as Buffet, yet, despite several
326"
FIG 77 Various Triebert oboes, etc., from an advertisement
and Pastoral oboe
of c 1863. Above, E\> oboe (left)
car anglais;
(right). Below, left to right: thumb^late
oboe; baritone oboe;
Boehm-system oboe; simple-system
Boehm-system bassoon.
 HISTORY
alterations to the bore, It seems never to have been really
for some
satisfactory. Barret wrote that though It prevailed
years, *'it diminished the compass 'and entirely changed the
quality of the tone*. The tone was bottom-heavy
loud and too
free on the lower and middle notes and thin and characterless on
the upper. Evidently the oboe proved more sensitive to small

rearrangements of the ventages than the clarinet, on which the

system applied with comparatively small detriment to the
is

tone-quality. In England, Lavigne, who was long the principal

oboe in the Hall6, spent most of his life persevering with the
Boehm-system oboe, finally evolving an elaborate design of his
own ('old spider-keys', now preserved in the Bate Collection),
yet in spite of all his efforts, his tone was remembered as having
been coarser than everybody cared for.
4. Though he continued to manufacture the Boehm-system
oboe, Tri6bert must have accepted its shortcomings, for only six
years after the Klos patent, he brought out his own thimb-plate
system, sometimes confusingly named systeme Boehm in tutors of
the time (and by French second-hand dealers even today) on
account of its rings. In this system, the right hand preserves the
simple-system arrangement while the left hand utilizes Boehm
rings in a new manner for bringing the C and B|? fingerings into
one neat scheme (Chapter IV). It will be noticed that the former
note is fingered as it is on the Boehm-system (by lifting the
left thumb), though the mechanical principle involved is

entirely different.
5. Now Barret re-enters the story, this time as an inventor.
In the preceding system, Tribert supplied a side key to avoid
having a trill to the thumb-plate. Shortly afterwards, towards
I860, Barret substituted for this key his right hand action, in
which putting down any of the four right hand fingers could
make C and B|j as an alternative to lifting the left thumb from
the thumb-plate. In England this system was Widely used for a
number of years, as the number of surviving instruments bears
witness, but its complicated mechanism (which includes
automatic octave keys ) too easily goes out of adjustment players ;

gradually found that one could do very well with thumb-plate or

right-hand action, but not with both on one instrument.
328
 MECHANIZATION
6. Towards 1880, Tribert, in Ms model, turned over to
last

substituting right hand C and

the second of these alternatives,

Bj? action (actuatedby ring IV only, however) for the thumb-

plate: the Conservatoire system, to which Lore and Gillet
subsequently added perforated finger-plates (Chapter IV).
Returning to players in England, Barret died in 1875 and was
succeeded by more brilliant foreigners Frenchmen and
Belgians playing on one or other of the Tri6bert models:
Dubrucq, Lalande and de Buscher, all remembered for their
exquisite playing, with pure, steady tone; Lalande's pathetic
sweetness of tone was said to draw tears from the violinists
tuning to his A. Continuing this distinguished line is our leading
contemporary figure, Leon Goossens. By contrast, Malsch, the
first German oboist of note in England since Griesbach, is
recalled as a player of the more
bagpipish kind. He was one of
the four original woodwind principals of the London
Symphony
Orchestra in 1904, the others having been Daniel Wood
(flute),
Manuel Gomez (clarinet) and E. F. James (bassoon).

Again we may quote Lafleur's catalogue of the early 1870s

oboe in Victorian England. Thumb-
for a general picture of the

plate, Barret, Boehm and half-Boehm (i.e. with Boehm right

hand) will all be noticed:
The Oboe, the most delicate of all the Musical Instruments, has been
greatly improved of late years, owing to the constant labours and ability
of the world-renowned maker Mons. Tribert, who may be called the
Stradivarius of Oboe makers. . The instruments are all most carefully
. .

tested by the celebrated Oboe player Mons. Barret, now retired from the
leading situations he occupied at the Opera and societies in London.

Tribert's Oboe, rosewood, 12 keys, German silver or real silver

mounted.
15 keys, with metal-lined joints.
The same with plate for top D
and double use of E flat.
17 keys, with C plate and B|?for left thumb.
The same, with shake for Cf down to low B(?.
,

Tri^bert'sOboe with octave keys at double employ.

The same with Barret celebrated system.
The same with Boehm system for the right hand.
Ditto, down to A. [The dearest:
etc.

329
 HISTORY
Pastoral Oboe in G or Aj? acute, maple, 4 brass keys.
Boehm system, in G, rosewood.
99 10 keys, rosewood Military Oboe. N.B. This is a very
usual Oboe in C being lost
powerful instrument for marching out, the
in the heavy quick-march music.

Our own make Oboes,

Boehm system, cocoa; 15 keys; 1 keys (etc.).
13 keys and two rings, ordinary make (capital for beginners), boxwood,
brass keys (3. 15.0).
etc.

Corno Inglese, Triebert's make.

Baritone Oboe, rosewood, G.S. mounts, Triebert's make.
etc.

Superior Morton's English make Cor Anglais, 13 keys, down to B|?.

Musette (reed included) Pastoral Instrument to imitate the Swiss Pipe.

Trie'berf s make, cocoa, 8 keys (etc.).
Boxwood, brass-mounted.

The 'Pastoral Oboe' was rather like a musette but more

finely constructed, with F sharp brille and two octave keys, and
wider bore (fig. 77).
The firm of Millereau, in their catalogue
of 1874, expressed 'much pleasure in introducing to the notice
of gentlemen artists and bandmasters this charming little instru
ment, which, by its novelty and most striking qualities must
soon become a general favourite. ... A broad reed is used,
therefore there is nothing distressing in the blowing. . Solos . .

upon Highland bagpipe melodies are very effective on this

instrument and they can be made quite a feature of. Pretty and
elegant in appearance, easy to blow, the pastoral
oboe recom
mends itself particularly to gentlemen amateurs/ But there is
no evidence that gentlemen amateurs showed much interest in

it, while bandmasters certainly showed none.

Clarinet systems
It is usually a simple matter to identify the best-loved pro

fessional wind instrument of any given epoch: it is the one which

was especially likened to the human voice. At the end of the
sixteenth century this was said of the cornett; at the beginning
of the eighteenth, of the oboe; and now, in the early part of the
380
 MECHANIZATION
nineteenth century, the distinction has passed to the clarinet.
The clarinet, wrote William Gardiner in 1832, 'approaches the
tone of the female voice nearer than any other instrument, and
as a principal in the orchestra it now sustains a distinguished part.
... In the hands of Willman and Baermann the clarinet is

brought under complete subjection. In quality of tone it is

warm and powerful partaking somewhat of the oboe and the
;

trumpet combined, and the lustre of its tones adds great

'

refulgency to the orchestra.

Baermann was acknowledged the greatest player of the time.
Weber wrote the concertos for him ( 1 8 1 1 ) and he introduced
them on a Griessling & Schlott instrument with ten keys.
Willman was the greatest player in England and, in the
estimation of visiting critics, an artist second only to the
celebrated German. From the 1820s onwards he played on
thirteen-keyed instruments of the typical English type as made by
Key and others, still with the plain C hole for the right little finger
(Plate XXXI). Having as yet no brille, there was an F$ key
for finger VI running up the right-hand side of the bottom joint
for use in conjunction with the . . . / . o o fingering. A
cross-key
for finger V duplicated this and was, in fact, the key that Will
man normally used, reserving the side key for arpeggios and
ascending of rollers or other aids to sliding the
slurs. In the lack
littlefingers, many German makers fitted Muller's two very
useful branches to the C# key and the E|? key. These curved
round behind the joint for operation by the right thumb, greatly
facilitating B-C# and so on. The C# branch is just
visible in
Plate XXXI. Outside Germany the branches were little known

though Willman had one fitted to his B key. The rest of the
fingering, both in England and on the Continent,
was plain
simple-system. Muller gives the fullest analysis of it in his tutor.
Germans played with the reed downwards as we do today.
Willman played with it uppermost; English players began to
change over in the next generation a few years after the
French, who changed in the 1830s when Berr, a German,
became professor at the Conservatoire. Berr advocated reed-
downwards mainly on the grounds that it thus took less effort to
blow; (for tone, Muller wrote that neither method had any
331
 HISTORY
advantage over the other). In Italy, however* some were still

playing with the reed upwards quite recently.

Like his flutist colleague Nicholson, Willman was not only
the leading orchestral principal in London, but also an indispens
able soloist all over the country; these were the last great days
of the woodwind soloist, and these two artists were the public's
favourites. No London, or festival in the
series of concerts in

provinces, was complete without a solo or concerto from one of

them. Of the two, Willman's taste was perhaps the closer to our
own, for besides the inevitable fantasias (Baermann's was a
favourite) he performed his instrument's classics, including
Mozart's concerto. He must have been a beautiful player;
musical journals are filled with praise for the soothing quality of
his tone.Moreover, individual artistry apart, these old thirteen-
keyed boxwood clarinets are almost unbeatable for tone, so long
as the correct mouthpiece and small, hard reed are used with
them. There are no details of Willman's reeds, but Muller gives
about the same dimensions as those of a present-day German
reed (except in overall length) while the mouthpiece described
in his tutor has a narrow, tapered slot and a very long, open lay

(quite SO millimetres long). English mouthpieces were similar,

though even more pointed. The modern big mouthpiece came in
with the reformed simple-system clarinet first brought out in the
1840s by the Belgian makers Sax and Albert (Chapter V).
No front-rank foreign clarinettist came over to settle in
England until the close of the century. Willman was succeeded
by another great English player, Lazarus, and Mr Kendall has
told us what his instruments were: until 1855, instruments
by
Key, of the old type but with a brille added (a twelve-keyed B|?
and a ten-keyed A) then, after five years with an
;
ingenious
design by Fieldhouse, he adopted the Albert instruments (fitted
with the B|? side key), which he played for the rest of his life. He
retained the long lay (one inch)
though using a reed of medium
strength on the large Albert mouthpiece. Bernard Shaw, who
knew about wind instruments from his early days in Dublin,
wrote an interesting comparison between English and German
players during the latter days of Lazarus (the early 1890s).
German clarinettists, he said, 'use reeds which give a more
332
 MECHANIZATION
strident, powerful, appealing tone than in England; and the
result is that certain passages (in Der Freischutz, for
example)
come out with a passion and urgency that surprises the tourist
used to Egerton, Lazarus and Clinton. But in the Parsifal
Prelude, or the second movement of Beethoven's Fourth
Symphony, one misses the fine tone and dignified continence of
the English fashion'. The same comparison is often heard in

England today.
The Boehm-system clarinet (1843) was beginning to interest
Belgian, Italian and American players in the 1870s. In England,
Lazarus recommended it, but did not change to it himself, and
nor did any important player until the arrival of Gomez, from
Spain, who brilliantly held principal positions in the London
orchestras from about 1 890, playing all parts on a B|? full Boehm.
Outstanding among his converts to the Boehm-system was
Charles Draper, who
brings us up to modern times and well-
known players, many of whom were his pupils. Especially
beautiful in Draper's playing was a wonderful unity of tone,

technique and musical feeling. His chamber-music recordings,

made towards the end of his life, remain a rare delight and a
memorial to a very great period of English wind-playing (e.g.
Beethoven's Septet and Schubert's Octet, with E. W. HinchlifFe
on Buffet bassoon, and Aubrey Brain on French horn).
Details of other nineteenth-century clarinet systems are given
in Kendall, e.g. of the Romero clarinet formerly used to some
extent in Spain. Several living British players started on the

Pupeschi system: a simple-system clarinet with articulated G#

key actuated by the B key touch; it lacked the usual G$ touch.
From Lafleur's catalogue of about 1870:

CLARINETS:
Boehm System. The Alliance Musicak celebrated Boehm system clarinet (ne
plus ultra) with two mouthpieces; Brazilian ebony or cocoa, silver
mounted (,).
Set of three clarinets, A, Bb and C ( ^65) .

etc.

Genuine Celebrated Belgian Clarinet, by J. B. Albeit. Superior to any yet

introduced to the Profession and Public.
A, B[;, C or Eb Clarinets, IS keys, two rings, cocoa.
A, Bb, C or Eb with new patent C# key.
Sets of three, A, Bb and C ( 25 to
333
 HISTORY
Musmk Model, 14 keys, 2 rings, the new
Alliance perfect Albert patent
Cf, etc., cocoa.
etc.

Cheap Clarinets, suitable for beginners:

Boehm system, boxwood, brass-mounted (
6. 16. 0).

Albert model, stained boxwood, brass-mounted, 13 keys, 9,

rings (45/-).
Ordinary 13-key.
10-key ditto.
6-key ditto (jgl).
Military Metal Clarinets.

Tenor, Alto, Eb or F Clarinets:

Boehm system, Buffet's make, cocoa.
Ditto, boxwood and brass,
etc.

Bb Bass Clarinets, Boehm system [as above, etc.} :

Saxophones (Very Best Make). These modern

instruments are easily
mastered by any clarinet player and are a powerful addition to the Reed
Instruments in a Military Band. Made of Brass. Bb Soprano, Eb Alto
Tenor, Bb Tenor Baritone, and Eb Baritone Bass (9 to 12 gns.; silver
plated extra).

Bassoon systems
The London woodwind in the time of Beethoven demanded

fine, rich bassoon-playing to support Nicholson, Griesbach and

Willman, and it was the last two great
splendidly provided by
players of the old English school. The elder was Holmes,
mentioned in the last chapter, and from about 180 he was
succeeded by Mackintosh. No details are preserved of their
actual instruments, nor did either leave a tutor to record the
fine points of the technique. But they certainly used London-
made instruments (very likely by Milhouse), which had become
more assertive in tone than formerly, partly through opening
out the bell (which took on a vase or funnel shape in the out
certain low-note holes,
side) and partly through enlarging
particularly the right
thumb-hole. Added
to the eight keys of c.

1800 was a middle C$ key (usually for right thumb) and some
times a 6(7 key for VI. Mackintosh was admired for his full,
round sound; 'it struck me', noted an English visitor to Ger

many quoted by Adam Carse, 'that the bassoons used on the

Continent generally have not the same roundness of tone as
those of English manufacture* (though he added that the
334
 MECHANIZATION
Continental instruments were very sweet, and were loud enough
to balance the other woodwind). Early
nineteenth-century
English bassoons by Milhouse, Key, etc., have a distinctive
quality of their own especially clear and sweet in the tenor
register. The model was one with great possibilities for the
future, and hadsurvived to be improved and developed as the
it

foreign models were, we might have come to possess a very

remarkable instrument today. But the same thing happened as
with the oboe. Hard upon the heels of Barret and the French
oboe, came Baumann, a Paris-trained Belgian, with the French
bassoon. With this (almost certainly a Savary instrument),
Baumann set a new and long-lasting fashion in
England.
Again, the French idea of playing was quite different from the
English. An English writer, in the Harmonicon in 1830, makes
the recommendation, very likely quoted from Mackintosh him
self, 'to play a strong reed down*. The consequence, according
to Barr (bassoon tutor, Paris, 1832), was that the English

players were quite unable to play piano since their coarse reeds
need excessive force in tonguing. However the same writer
in the Harmonicon alludes to 'foreigners whose fuzzy tone and

meaningless execution* recall a turkey-cock sweeping its wings

along the ground in a farmyard. It is not difficult to imagine the
kind of bassoon-sound that gave this impression.
If, however, the allusion is to Baumann, the writer may have
heard him on an off day, for he was clearly a fine player, and
he reigned in London for close on twenty-five years. 'If he does
not possess the full round tone of other performers on this
delicious instrument, he has the greater power of delicate
inflection, and a breathingness of sound that might "create a
soul under the ribs of death*'/ Nothing could sum up the tradi
tionalFrench woodwind playing better.
The celebrated maker Savary jeune (Paris) finished work in
1850, but his instruments were passed down from generation to
generation of bassoon-players like old violins, and several
remained in use until the end of orchestral sharp pitch in the
1920s. William Wotton, the greatly-admired player who suc
ceeded Baumann, and his brother Tom, both played the Savary
(with the old brass keys). Wotton's successor, E. F. James,
 HISTORY
played a Morton flat-pitch bassoon but a Savary sharp-

pitch. At the time of Baumann's arrival the Savary had been an

eleven-keyed instrument with a pin-hole in the crook. By about
1850 there was a crook key operated only by the high A and C
keys ; also middle C$ and E^ keys on the
tenor joint, and

though for many years omitted from cheaper or army instru

ments a low B key.
Besides those of Savary (which were in due course closely
copied in London by Key), bassoons by Buffet and Tri6bert were
becoming well-known by the mid-century. These often in
corporated rings mentioned in Chapter VI, for tuning certain
the mid-
fingerings, and suggested mainly by Jancourt,
century professor at the Conservatoire. Jancourt is now
remembered chiefly for his fine tutor, in which he insists on the
importance of vibration a fingered vibrato akin to Nicholson's
on the though done rather differently, namely by a
flute,
tremblement of the fingers above the holes (au dessus des trous}.
He describes it only for certain notes, thus: shaking with idle

fingers of the right hand for/'$, g', c" and above, and for the
middle C's, C#'s and B's and with idle left hand fingers for the
;

E's and D's. The vibration, he stresses, must be used only to

express real feeling; when it sounds calculated, its effect is

merely ridiculous. Such a means for vibrato may appear quaint
today, but it is interesting to find it prescribed by one of the
leading Parisian woodwind players only a century ago.
Another Triebert experiment was the Boehm-system bassoon
devised by the Paris player Marzoli (fig. 77). Its holes were all

placed at acoustically logical positions, sarrusophone-wise. An

instrument of unbelievable complexity and utter poverty of
tone, fortunately it never caught on. The ingenious Haseneier,
in Germany, devised a far better design of bassoon with holes
laid out logically very much as on his better-remembered
contrabassoon (the contrabassophone) and with Boehm-like
fingering, but few instruments seem to have been made.
From Lafleur's catalogue of about 1870:
BASSOONS:
Triberfs make, Boehm system, maple, G.S. mounted.
Tri6bert*s make, 19 keys, mounted on needles.
33$
 MECHANIZATION
Trtebert's make, 17 keys, long crook key, top F key, maple, metal-lined
joints

Our own make, improved ordinary system, 19 keys, 3 rings, maple,

G.S. mounted.
The following notes are perfectly free: Cf, D
and E|>, 3rd
octave, without the A|> key. B natural of 2nd and 3rd octaves,
without the B|? key.
Ditto, brass-mounted ( ,14).
Ditto, 15-key, maple, Ordinary Bassoon [crook key worked only by
the thumb keys, i.e. not long crook
key'^.
Ditto, 12 keys [no low R natural] .

Morton's perfect English make Bassoon, brass mounted

(25). G.S.
mounted 4 gns. extra; real silver 16 gns.
The tenor joints and all finger holes are lined and bushed with
ebony (a great improvement to the tone).
Tenor Bassoons. Morton's Superior English Make.
Brass keys on pillars.
With extra keys G.S. or silver mounts extra.
;

The New Contra-Fagotto or Double Bassoon in C.

A want greatly and a magnificent addition in a
felt
Military
Band Morton Contrabassophone, see Chap. VI]].
Best English make a perfect instrument, with all the latest improve
ments, brass mounted ( 70).
G.S. mounted, 8 gns. extra (etc.).

Sarrusophones. These newly invented and Patented Reed Instruments are

of great value in bands where Oboes and Bassoons are absent.
Being
beautiful in tone and possessing great sonority, they are destined before

long to take up an important position in the Military Band, in which the

soft powers of the Oboe and the Bassoon are lost. The
fingering is very
much as the Clarinet and it would be very little trouble for Clarinet
players to learn it.
Efr soprano; B|j soprano; Efy alto; B|j tenor; E[j baritone; 6(7 bass; E|>
contrabass; and Double Bass or Contra Bassoon in B|j or C ( 17).

The 'Tenor Bassoon', better known as tenoroon,

in F, a was
fourth above the bassoon. Such small bassoons, already noticed
in Chapter XI, continued to be built by Savary and others for
obscure purposes. Jancourt used to play solos on one, and so
did E. F. James, using a rosewood instrument by Morton with
brass keys. The only recorded nineteenth-century instances of
itsuse in the orchestra are two: (l) At Bordeaux, where the
in Halevy's La Jwve used to be played on
two cor anglais parts
oboe and tenoroon; and (2) in London about 1870, when Dr
337
 HISTORY
Stone had a theory that Bach's oboe da caceia parts were
Intended for small bassoons, and resolutely performed them so
in festival performances, using two Savary tenoroons with an
unnamed accomplice.

THE H ECKEL. The first twenty-five years of the twentieth

century was for London and most English woodwind playing a
period of golden maturity. Boehm flute, French oboe and
bassoon, and the Franco-Belgian clarinets had been in regular
use for upwards of fifty years and become thoroughly assimilated
into the country's own feeling of woodwind-playing 'the fine
tone and dignified continence of the English fashion*, as Shaw
put it so well. But late in the 1920s, fresh movements were
brewing. A few young flutists (Geoffrey Gilbert and Frank
Butterworth were the first) went to study at Paris. The Lanca
shire schools of sensational oboe-playing were
gaining the
upper hand through the influence of Leon Goossens and his
many pupils, and of Alec Whittaker, who came down from
Manchester to be principal oboe in the newly-formed B.B.C.
Symphony Orchestra, 1930. And at this same time -just a
hundred years after the arrival of Barret and Baumann with the
first French instruments the Heckel invasion began.
The story of the Heckel bassoon begins about 1825, when
Carl Almenraeder, a bandmaster and
contemporary of the
Savarys, set out to cure certain faults of the classical bassoon.
The worst trouble lay in the sharpness and wobbliness of the
A's in the middle two octaves. Of course, a
proficient player
overcame this with practice, as he still does today with those
French-system bassoons that preserve traces of the same fault,
but nevertheless it must have proved a
great stumbling-block to
the less apt pupils and a great nuisance to bandmasters like
Almenraeder who had to train them. He located the cause of the
trouble in the position of hole VI, and the
remedy in moving
this hole some 9 inches down the butt, where finger VI closed
it
by a long key. To equalize the octave, he bored a vent in the
adjacent large bore of the butt, this vent beingclosed bya
second key mounted on the same lever
(nowadays the main hole
and its vent are both covered by a
single pad) He also readjusted
.

338
 MECHANIZATION
the position and size of other holes and keys (Carse has quoted
the details in Musical Wind Instruments , p. 196) and added the

open low B key and alternative F$ and A|? keys still character
istic of the German bassoon.
Thus far, Almenraeder was entirely successful, producing an
instrument on which the notes came out as steadily and evenly
as they do on the small woodwind. But the suffered.
tone-quality
Heckel has written, 'the clear, hard tone and greater volume of
the new bassoon was less pleasing than the delicate, soft tone-
colour of the old' 'the old* being the
nine-keyed models by
Grenser of Dresden and others, in which the bassoon had
reached its orchestral zenith in the scores of Beethoven. (The
hard, cutting quality of the reformed design lingers on in many
fairlymodern-looking German instruments by lesser makers
dating from around fifty and sixty years ago some of these are
;

still and are to be avoided.) It has been the

in circulation
achievement of the firm of Heckel to undo the
damage to the
tone while yet preserving the technical benefits. The work
included patient attention to the bore (working gradually
towards a true cone, as Tri^bert did with the oboe) and refine
ment of the manufacture by every possible means. one
During
period, Wagner himself was in and out of the workshop
watching progress with keen interest. Of the perfected model,
said to have made its Bayreuth debut in 1879, Heckel justly
wrote that 'the old singing quality was restored without loss of
volume, clarity and uniform strength of the notes'. Further
gradual improvements since then have led to the instrument as
we now know it.

During the time of the growing-pains of the Almenraeder-

Heckel remodelling in Germany, Austria had its own basSoon,
the old 'Wiener Fagott' of Ziegler and others. This formed a
distinct type of own. Like the Heckel it retained the eight
its

eenth-century German
position of the low E[j key for left
little finger (the low C# key being added next to it in both

cases). Also it had duplicate F$ and G# keys on the butt. But

like the French bassoon it had a partly-cylindrical bell, and the
low B was made by opening a closed key (preserving the
classical venting of long joint and bell, instead of having an
339
 HISTORY
open key, as on the Heckel). The upper part of the tenor joint
was usually made extendable with rack and pinion as a
tuning
slide. Fromabout the 1870s, however, Vienna adopted the
perfected Heckel and has used it ever since.
The story next takes us to Manchester, where Richter,
having taken over the Hall6 in 1899, considered that the local
bassoonists were inadequate, and sent to Vienna for a principal
bassoon. Schieder therefore arrived, with his Heckel, followed a
few years later by a second player also from Vienna. At the
same time, to train local men in the use of the new instrument, a
scholarship was endowed at the Manchester College with
Schieder as professor (his son is now assistant principal to

Oehlberger in the Vienna Philharmonic) and Archie Camden,

today one of the leading British players of the German bassoon,
as the first scholar.

Gradually, interest in the German bassoon began to develop

in London; through recordings of orchestras such as the
first

Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics and the Philadelphia

Symphony
(emigrants from Central Europe had already established the
Heckel in America) and also through Camden's well-known
;

recording of Mozart's Concerto with the Halle, in which he was

then principal. However, the actual shock that brought about
the mass change-over was, as already mentioned, the 19 SO visit
of the New York Philharmonic. The Heckel has its faults, as
we have since discovered; but the effect of the two Americans

upon those who had never heard the instrument in the flesh
before was unforgettable. The strange novelty of their tone at
once appealed to some, though not to others, who said that it
sounded too much what struck everybody was
like a horn; but
how everything they played seemed to come out so
effortlessly
and so clearly, and during the next few years the question
whether or not to change over was in every London bassoon-
player's mind. Richard Newton was among the first to change,
shortly followed by John Alexandra, who successfully brought
off a hair-raising change from the Buffet in the
space of ten days
before recording Beethoven's Fifth
Symphony with Koussevit-
sky. Next, Archie Camden came south to become principal in
the B.B.C. Symphony, and that was that.
340
 MECHANIZATION
It was so unexpected that one wonders what might happen
all

next, especially with our more frequent contact with players of

other countries. Nearly every leading Britishwoodwind player
at present has at least one close friend amongst the star per
formers on the Continent and in America. The number of young
players who go to study in Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Vienna
and Geneva grows yearly (while conversely, two established
British artists, Reginald Kell and Arthur Gleghorn, have become
well known as clarinet and flute teachers in America). And on
top of these things there the unending stream of recordings of
is

foreign artists and orchestras. However, the signs are that

is now
instrument-design drifting towards a world-standard.
With the continual refining of orchestral performance, players

prefer the instruments that give them the feeling of the most
secure control, and America has already picked these out:
metal flute, Conservatoire-system oboe, Boehm clarinet,
Boehm
and Heckel bassoon (and likewise German horns for the same
reason).
It is a possibility that more and more countries will settle on
this particular quartet of models, partly for the reason just given
and partly through the present production trends towards
world uniformity. In the long run, this would be a pity, because
none of the four are perfect, and the co-existence of other
models (which also have faults, but different ones) keeps
criticism alive. Disappearance of the German clarinet or the

French bassoon, for instance, would on these grounds be a very

great loss.
Another stimulating thing is the growing interest in the
'antiques' the classical models of a hundred and fifty years

ago and more. So recently mere prizes for museum curators or

toys for the musician at home, they have now already become,
in several instances in England and on the Continent, profes
sional instruments on which players have performed publicly
and broadcast. How far this can be taken remains to be seen. It
is no joke, after
playing for six days of the week on one's
modern instrument, to perform on the seventh upon one's
antique, probably having already done six hours' recording
on
that day itself on the modern instrument. Nor does this make
341
 HISTORY
for displaying the antique at its best. How it could be managed
iscertainly a problem; but it would make a logical and desirable
continuation of the practical research started by Mahillon and
Dolmetsch years ago. One feels sorry for the poor fortepiano
the classical piano now returning to fashion struggling in one
of its own concertos against our modem woodwind. The players
can and will play as softly as they are asked to but it is a question
;

not of loudness but of the character of resonance and tone. But

surely, somebody always remarks when the subject of the
antiques comes up, Mozart would have been thrilled could he
have heard our modem instruments! Perhaps he would have
been. On the other hand, perhaps
he wouldn't; and to suggest so
implies no disparagement of the genius and devoted labours of
Boehm, Buffet, Triebert and Heckel, who have kept the wood
wind player abreast with the demands of composer and con
ductor, and have placed him so well on top of his work today.

342
 APPENDIX I

List of the Old London Makers and

Suppliers

The following list is extracted from the far

larger list of
particulars of English wind-instrument makers and dealers that
R. Morley Pegge has compiled and has generously placed at
the author's disposal. It enables one to date one's 'finds' from
the name, and often also the address, stamped on the instru
ment.

Astor, maker:
Geo. Astor, 26 Wych St., 1784-97.
Astor (& Co.), 79 Cornhill, 1784-1816.
Astor & Horwood, same address, 1816-20.
Astor & Co., 3 Anne St., 1820-30.
Bilton, maker; ex-foreman to Cramer:
Richard Bilton, 14 Mount Row, c. 1824-26.
93 Westminster Bridge Rd., 1826-56.
Bland, dealer and piano-maker \

A. Bland &
Weller, before 1794 to 1809.
Boosey, publisher; made woodwind from 1879:
Thos. Boosey, 28 Holies St., 1850-56.
T. Boosey & Sons, 24 Holies St., 1856-74.
Boosey & Co., 295 Regent St., 1874-1930.
Boosey & Hawkes, same address, 1930- .

Bressan, maker (especially flutes and recorders) :

Late seventeenth century to middle of eighteenth century.

Broderip & Wilkinson, publisher, dealer: 1798-1809.

 APPENDIX 1

Cahusac, maker:
Thos. Cahusac, Strand, c. 1755-84.
Gt. Newport St., 1784-93.
& Sons, 196 Strand, (1793)-1801.
senior, 41 Haymarket, 1801-05.
114 New Bond St., 1805-07.
W. M. Cahusac, 196 Strand, 1801-11.
79 Holborn, 1811-16.
ClementI, dealer and maker:
Clementi &
Co., 6 Cheapside, 1798-1831; also 195
Tottenham Court Rd. , 1 805-3 1 .

Clementi, Collard & Collard, 9,6 Cheapside, 1826-32.

Collard &
Collard, same address, 1832-
Collier, ? maker: Thos. Collier, working in 1770; no other dates
known.
Cotton, f maker: Wm.
Cotton, working during 1760s; also
John Cotton, Fleet St., before 1820.
Cramer, maker; successor to Miller (though not to his premises] :
J. B. Cramer, SO Charing Cross, 1799-1805.
Cramer & Key, 2 Pall Mall, 1805-O7 (see Key).
Cramer & Son, 20 Pall Mall, 1807-24.
J. B. Cramer & Co., 201 Regent St., 1824-93.

D'Almaine, see
Goulding.
Ylorio, flute-maker: from c. 1757; died, 1795.
Garrett, maker:
Richard Garrett, 2 King St., 1826-33.
64 King St., 1833-62.
Garrett & Davis, 23 Princes St., 1862-68.
Garrett & Co., 5 Gt. Smith St., 1869-93.
Gedney, maker9 successor to Stanesby:
Caleb Gedney, from c. 1754; died, 1769.
Gerock, maker:
C. Gerock, 76 Bishopsgate within, 1804-20; also 1 Grace-
church St., 1816-21.
Gerock & Co., 79 Cornhill, 1821-38.
Gerock, Astor & Co., the same.
Gerock &
Wolf, same address, 1831-36.
Wolf, same address, 1835-40.
344
 APPENDIX 1

Wolf, 45 Moorgate St., 1840-43.

20 St Martins le Grand, 1843-45.
Wolf & Figg, same address, 1845-53.
Goodlad, see Willis.

Goulding, publisher; maker from 1799:

Geo. Goulding, 25 James St., 1784-91; also 6 James St.,
1789-99.
Goulding & Co., also Goulding, Wood & Co., also

Goulding, Phipps & D'Almaine

45 Pall Mall, 1799-1806,
117 New Bond St., 1806-08,
124 New Bond St., 1808-29.
Goulding, D'Almaine & Co., 20 Soho Sq., 1810-12 and 1819-
1829.

Goulding, D'Almaine & Potter, same address, 1812-19.

Goulding & D'Almaine, 38 Soho Sq., 1829-36.
D'Almaine & Co., same address, 1836-38.
104 New Bond St., 1838-66.
Hale, flute-maker \

John Hale, 20 Chandos St., 1784-1804.

Key, maker:
Thos. Key, 2 Pall Mall, 1807-12.
20 Charing Cross, 1812-53.
Fredk. Key, same address, 1853-58, also

Key, Rudall, Rose & Carte, 1856-58.

Kusder, maker: working in 1^99.
Lawson, makers-.
H. Lawson, 29 John St., before 1808.
5 Nassau St., before 1815 to 1828.
J. Lawson, 198 Tottenham Court Rd., 1818-38.

Longman, publisher and dealer:

Longman & Co., 26 Cheapside, 1769-71.

Longman & Lukey, same address, 1771-77.
Longman & Broderip, same address, 1777-98.
Longman & Clementi, same address, 1798-1800.
Metzler, maker:
Metzler, 343 Oxford St., c. 1800.
V. Metzler, 105 Wardour St., 1811-16.
346
 APPENDIX I

Metzler & Son, or Geo. Metzler & Co. same address, 1 8 1 6-4 1
, .

The same, 37 Gt. Marfborough St., 1841 till the 1920s.

Milhouse, maker:
(Milhouse, Newark, Notts., from c. 1763 to 1788.)
W. Milhouse, 100 Wardour St., 1789-99.
337 Oxford St., 1790-1828.
W. Milhouse & Son, same address, 1828-36.
Richard Milhouse, same address, 1836-40.

Miller, maker; subsequently made Jar Clementi:

G. Miller, 79 Cornhill, c. 1780-99.

Monzani, flute-maker :

T. Monzani, 2 Pall Mall, 1799-1804.

3 Old Bond St., 1804-07.
Monzani & Co., same address, 1807-08.
Monzani & Hill, 8 Regent St., 1808-34.
Hill, late Monzani, same address, 1834-39.
Morton, oboe and bassoon maker:

Alfred Morton (various addresses), from 1847 to 1898.

Parker, maker:
John Parker, 52 Long Lane, c. 1770-c. 1815.

Payne, ? makers: G. C. Payne, late eighteenth century; also

Richard and Geo. Payne, 13 Little Newport St., 1835-41.

Potter ^flute-maker, etc.:

Richard Potter, Green Dragon Lane, 1745-64.

5 Pemberton Row, 1764-. 1787.
5 Johnson's Court, c. I787-~c. 1803.
R. Potter & Son, same address, c. 1803-1810.
W. H. Potter, same address, 1809-. 1821.
S. Potter, 20 King St., c. 1S17-C. 1836.
37 Marsham St., 1837-39.
H. Potter, same address, 1839-41.
2 Bridge St., 1841-57.
30 Charing Cross, 1857-after 1901.
H. Potter & Co., 36 West St., from after 1914.

Proser, maker: instruments dated 1777 and 1795.

 APPENDIX /

Prowse, maker, especially offlutes; previously with dementi:

T. Prowse, 3 Wenlock St., 1816-33.
3 Old Jury, 1833-34.
13 HanwaySt., 1834-68.

Rudall, flute-makers :
Geo. Rudall, 5 Clement's Inn, before 1821.
Rudall &
Rose, 15 Piazza, Covent Gdn., c. 1821-37.
1 Tavistock St., 1837-47.
38 Southampton St., 1847-54.
Rudall Rose & Carte & Co., 100 New Bond St., 1854-57,
, 20 Charing Cross, 1856-78.
(See also Key, Rudall, Rose & Carte.)
Rudall Carte & Co., 23 Berners St., lS78-(showroom trans
ferred to Boosey &
Hawkes's premises in 1.955).

Schuchart, maker: died, 1765.

Stanesby, makers:
T. Stanesby, senior, died 1734.
T. Stanesby, junior, died 1754.

Ward, maker; sometime foreman to Monzani & Hill:

Cornelius Ward, 36 Gt. Titchfield St., 1836-60.
172 Gt. Portland St., 1860-70.
Whitaker, maker:
Edw. Whitaker, 75 St Paul's Churchyard, before 1820 to
1833.
Whitaker & Co., 24 Tavies Inn, before 1826 to 1830.

Willis, maker:
John Willis, 3 Angel Court, c. 1808-24.
Willis & Goodlad, 25 Villiers St., 1824-29.
Goodlad & Co., same address, 1829-38.

Wood, maker:
Jas. Wood, 22 Hart St., before 1799, then 76 James St. until
c. 1804, and Stangate St. until c. 1808.

Jas. Wood & Son, 50 New Compton St., before 1817 to 1829.
Geo. Wood, same address, 182936.
Wood & Ivy, same address, 1836-47.

347
 APPENDIX

Parlour Pipes

These are the perfect instruments for anyone who likes to

make wind music, but is obliged to make it all alone. Parlour
pipes are mellow-toned bagpipes suitable for playing indoors as
well as outdoors. They are bellows-blown, so that the
per
former can smoke and converse if he wishes to, just as fiddlers
and pianists can. One type is mentioned in Chapter XI: the old
French musette. The chief species today are both from the
British Isles: the Northumbrian small-pipe, and the Irish union

pipe.

The Northumbrian Small-pipe, first heard of in the seventeenth

century, is thought to be derived from the French musette. Once
the favourite popular instrument of Tyneside, it was
rapidly
falling out of use in the nineteenth century, and would
probably
have disappeared altogether but for the work of Northumbrian
Societies in
Piper's Newcastle-upon-Tyne, through whose
efforts the instrument is now restored to much of its former

popularity.
The bellows, of leather nailed between two boards, are like a
household bellows but with two leather straps instead of
handles. The strap attached to the inner board is buckled round
the waist; the other, attached to the outer board
(which has the
air inlet valve), is buckled round thz
right arm above the elbow.
The nozzle is a leather or mackintosh tube with a lapped wooden
end which is pushed into the socket of a similar tube leading
from the bag. The bag is kept filled with full, firm strokes of the
right arm (avoiding the tendency to do this in time with the
848
 APPENDIX 2

music) while the left arm presses the bag and controls the feed
to the pipes in the usual way.
The chanter has a double reed but a cylindrical bore, with the
usual seven holes plus thumb-hole, and, today, at least five closed

keys. Its unique feature is that the lower end is permanently

stopped, so that if all holes are closed there can be no sound.
Hence by closing all holes between the notes of a
melody, the
pipe can be played in every sort of detached manner (just as a
woodwind instrument is through tonguing) and gracing is used
little. To make the most of this
faculty, the chanter is played
entirely with strictly closed fingering; only one hole is un
covered for each note, thus g*': ./.../.../ o; a': ./.../
.
.o/.; b':
./.../.o./. and so on up to o/.../
. . .
/ .
(#") The tone
is soft and attractive, and a
good per-
formace pleasantly varied with contrasts of smooth legato
is

with a pure staccato. All kinds of tune can be played on it with

The basic keys are those by which the compass
excellent effect.
is extended three notes downwards (/'#, e', d') and two up
wards (a", 6"), any other keys being for semitones. As on
other bagpipes with keys, the keys are operated by the
digits
not employed in the normal fingering, i.e. right thumb and left
little finger. When
making a note with a key, all finger-holes
are closed in order to preserve the closed
fingering.
The drones are held in a common stock. They are closed at the
bottom, the note issuing from a small hole in the side, and a
drone can be silenced by pushing in the bead projecting from the
bottom. Of the usual four drones, three are used at a time,
thus:

* ~
d' d'

g a
d

the left-handcolumn showing the drones set for playing in G,

and the right hand for D (the third drone then being retuned
to a by its tuning slides, or in some cases by
bringing into
operation an exit higher up by a special valve actuated by turn
ing the bead). On some pipes the other drones can also be
34B
 APPENDIX 2
raised a tone to secure tunings suitable for minor tunes, as a' y

e' 9 a for example.

A modern instruction book for the Northumbrian small-pipe
is Fenwick's published for the Northumbrian Pipers' Society,
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 1931, and including valuable reed-
making instructions by W. A. Cocks.

Union Pipe. This the national bagpipe of Ireland, dating back

is

in its present form to the eighteenth century. (There is much

'

doubt as to the authenticity of the name 'uillean pipe which was

put forward as the correct name by Grattan Flood and others.
Leo Rowsome, whose untiring labours the present popularity
to
of the instrument is largely due, calls it 'union pipe', though
he really prefers its other name, the 'Irish organ' or 'organ
also a famous player, used to use.)
pipes", which his father,
The bellows are as described above. The chanter has a com
paratively narrow conical bore (which
some of the old makers
used to bore with army bayonets), with the usual holes and

optional chromatic keys.

A
movement that plays an important part in performance is
stopping the lower end of the chanter against the right knee, and
to ensure airtight stopping, players either tie a square of soft
leather the 'piper's apron' round the thigh just above the
knee, or else they have fitted to the base of the chanter a hinged
valve which hangs open until the chanter is lowered on the knee.
There are different ways of playing the union pipe according to
whether or not the chanter is kept down on the knee (except
that it always has to be lowest note, d', made with
lifted for the

finger-holes covered). Playing off the knee: the little finger is

all

kept on its hole except for low d'. For /, finger VI is lifted, and
so on up to d" (all off). Now comes the great beauty of the
union pipe full upper register, with its
availability of the
sweet, singing tone. To reach it, the chanter is momentarily
lowered on the knee and all holes are closed. This silences the
reed. In this same instant the wind pressure is increased by a
slight jerk of the left arm on the bag, with the effect that upon

resuming the fingering, the reed suddenly vibrates faster and the
chanter overblows the octave cleanly. An undue amount of
330
 APPENDIX 2

jumping from one register to the other is avoided thanks to the

prevailing contour of Irish tunes (e.g. reels, jigs and hornpipes)

in which phrases on the whole rise and stay high for several notes
before dropping again. In slow tunes, vibrato is extensively
made on long notes by trilling on the hole next below the note-
hole for the note in question.
Playing with the chanter on the knee brings in that same faculty
for making detached notes through closed fingering noticed
above on the Northumbrian small-pipe.
The accompanying pipes are all held in one large stock, and
lie ina bunch across the right thigh. They number six: three
drones and three regulators. Of the drones (d', d and D) the
* '
deepest ends with a turned-up brass tube the trumpet
terminating in a round brass or ivory box with exit hole at the
side. This is to assist tuning the drones. To silence one drone
while tuning another, a finger is placed across its end and
gently removed. To restart it, the finger is again placed across
the end, but now suddenly removed, which jerks the reed into
action. On the longest drone the 'trumpet' brings the lower end
within reach for this operation.
The regulators are three harmony pipes of different lengths,
each with conical bore and double reed like the chanter reed (but

graded in size), and the lower end is closed by a stopper. Each

carries a series of large, heavily-sprung closed keys and will
sound no note until one of these keys is pressed. The keys on the
three regulators are so laid out that any three keys in a row give
a simple chord when pressed simultaneously (fig. 78) and they
are struck in this manner by the lower edge of the right hand
while the chanter being played. They are struck staccatissimo
is

to give accompanying chords to a reel or jig, usually four in a

bar, though now and then the second and third beats and the
fourth and are tied, introducing a syncopated effect. As the
first,

diagram shows, they are but simple chords, and they make their
greatest effect if they are introduced only now and then during
a piece, and not all the time. The lift that they then suddenly

give to the music is marvellous, and at the end of the piece the
appropriate chord on the regulators is sustained, to produce a
blaze of harmony under the chanter's last note.
 APPENDIX a
In slow airs the regulators are often employed in a different

way. During moments when only the left hand is occupied

fingering the chanter (i.e. from g' to d") 9 the right hand is
moved from the chanter to play upon the regulator keys with
the fingers, giving not only a wider choice of chord, but also the
freedom to work in contrapuntal figures of accompaniment on
the individual keys. Rowsome and others devise very beautiful
accompaniments to slow tunes like 'Londonderry Air* in this
way. Some older pipes have one or two extra regulators for

FIG. 78. Diagram of Union-pipe regulators. (To the left, the

regulator stock is drawn in section, with the three drones omitted.
)

supplying bass notes (e.g., G, A, B, c) when playing on the

regulators with the fingers in this manner.
Each regulator can be tuned by means of a length of rush that
runs some distance up the bore from the bottom, where it is held
on a brass pin which passes out through the stopper to a tuning
bead. To flatten a regulator the rush is pushed further in, and
vice versa.

The Scottish Lowland Pipe is no longer regularly played. There

are two forms, both with bellows, and with three drones in a
common stock. The ordinary form has a chanter like that of the
Highland pipe, but with narrower conical bore. Its drones are
tuned in the Highland way, a, a, A. The miniature form has a
short cylindrical chanter (though it may be tapered on the

outside), and this, unlike the cylindrical chanter of the Northum

brian small-pipe, is open-ended and fingered in the
ordinary way.
 APPENDIX s
Thanks to this bore, the Highland pitch and scale are obtained

with a shorter chanter, and there has been talk of a revival of the
Scottish miniature pipe in the form of a mouth-blown pipe with
two or three separate drones, for young persons whose hands
are too small to manage the full-sized Highland chanter.

363
 APPENDIX 3

Notes on Maintenance

this is not to dry the bore

Wiping out after playing. The object of
completely, but merely to remove the worst and to avoid

leaving one side of the

bore always wetter than the other.
Therefore the wiper, whether pull-through or mop (or for the
oboe, a feather is suitable), should not fit too tightly, as this can
harm the bore and eventually send the instrument out of tune.

Joints. apply grease. Goose-grease used to be

If too tight,

preferred, but manufacturers now supply various substitutes. If

too loose, apply a few turns of lapping thread over the cork. This
isthread impregnated with a mixture of beeswax Mid tallow.
Manufacturers supply it in reels. The loose joint can then be
re-corked next time the instrument goes to the repairer.

Stiff axk. Occasionally a stiff axle

can be cured by oiling, but
more often it is due to a knock which has bent the outer sleeve
or caused a pillar to press against it. If it is too stiff to be

temporarily cured by an elastic band, the only thing is to remove

the axle and gently try to straighten things (unless the repairer
can be visited at once).

Sticking pad. A key sticks down although it can turn freely

and its is
spring acting properly. Clean the pad and its seating
with spirits on a handkerchief; or dry the pad with French
chalk, or even with a soft lead pencil.

Leaking key. This may be due simply to a lever having got bent
so as to foul another lever; or to the cork-bearing surface having
fallen off a connecting heel in the mechanism. But more often a

pad has fallen out, or become worn or mis-seated; or else a

334
 APPENDIX 3

spring has failed. If the leak is difficult to locate, perform the

smoke test. Stop up the lower end with a handkerchief, blow in
cigarette smoke while covering all the holes and watch where
the smoke comes out, preferably with an accomplice also watch

ing. If key has simply become bent,

it is obvious that the leaking

itcan usually be carefully bent back. In other cases the key must
be removed in order to replace the pad (or the spring see
below). Makers supply sets of spare pads for every instrument.
They are of kid, or of goldbeater's skin or similar tissue. (If
necessary, one can make a home-made pad from an old kid glove,
or from a sausage skin, cutting out a circle a little bigger than
the key and sewing it into a bag; a disc of felt or cotton-wool is

put in the bag, and on top of it a disc of thin card the threads of
;

the bag are then pulled tight and knotted. )

To mount a pad, melt into the cup of the key a little sealing
wax (or glue of shellac dissolved in spirits or, as professional
a ;

repairers often use with skin pads, French cement). Place a pad
of the right size centrally and level in the cup while the adhesive
iswarm. Replace the key on the instrument, warm again (e.g.
with the point of a match flame), and press down lightly to seat
the pad. Occasionally a pad needs to be seated not level in the
which case it can be packed where necessary by extra
cup, in
quantities of adhesive.
Flute pads are perforated, being secured with a screw washer

(which prevents them bulging), and their height can be adjusted

with paper washers placed in the cup. But on flutes with per
forated finger-plates, the pads are glued in. Like oboe pads, flute

pads are difficult to replace oneself owing to the complex inter-

linkage of the mechanism; and indeed with every instrument,

pad trouble is far best dealt with by a professional repairer.
Re-padding really accurately, so that the instrument blows
smoothly and easily right through its compass, is a very skilled
job.

Spring failure. A few elastic bands are best carried in the

instrument case as first aid for this. Sets of spare springs are
obtainable, while a needle spring can also be made from steel
spring wire, or from a sewing needle of the right gauge,
336
 APPENDIX 3

cutting it to length, hammering the thick end flat so that it will

grip fast in the hole in the pillar, and tempering the rest blue.
Having inserted it, it is
given a bias to the desired side with

pliers. A flat spring can be cut from sheet brass, drilling a hole
for the attaching-screw, and hardening by hammering.

First treatmentfor an antique woodwind instrument. Remove keys.

Scrub joints. When quite dry, oil with linseed, especially the
bore, which may absorb a lot. Wipe excess oil oft' the outside
and polish, and when dry, re4ap all joints. Re-pad the keys
for which scrap pieces of soft leather may be obtained from a

piano repairer or from an engineering factory. Springs may have

to be replaced, cutting from brass sheet and tempering by
hammering.
 Bibliography

A short list of material for further

reading. It might have
been handy to confine the list to works written in
English, were
it not that so many of the finest studies of musical instruments
have been in French, German, etc., and at least some of these
must be included.
Among current periodicals, the American
magazines Woodwind and The Clarinet always contain some
thing interesting.
The tutors are selected mainly for their historical interest.
Several of the old ones are still being reprinted, whole or in

part, and remain as useful as ever.

'Grove' denotes Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians,

Fifth Edition, 1954; 'Lavignac' denotes Encyckpedie de la
Musique et Dictionnaire du Conservatoire, by Lavignac and de la
Laurencie, Paris, 1913 and onwards.

GENERAL
Brand, J., Band Instrument Repairing Manual, Selmer, Elkhart,
U.S.A.
Carse, A., Musical Wind Instruments, 1939.
Forsyth, C., Orchestration, 1914, etc. (Still unbeatable.)
Goldman, R. Franko, The Concert Band, New York, 194(>.
Miller, G., The Military Band, Novello, 19 12. (The best
introduction to band scoring. )

ACOUSTICS
Culver, C. A., Musical Acoustics, Philadelphia, 1947.
Hague, B., 'Tonal Spectra of wind instruments', Proceedings of
the Royal Musical Association, 1947.

357
 BIBLIOGRAPHY
Helmholtz, On the Sensations of Tone (English translation by
Ellis, 1875. The classic treatise on musical acoustics.)
Lloyd, LL Music and Sound, 1937, 1951.
S.,

Wood, Alexander, The Physics of Music, 1944.

FLUTE
Boehm, T., Essay on the Construction of Flutes, 1882.
, The Flute and Flute-playing,
transl. Dayton Miller, 1922.

Chapman, F. B., Flute Technique, 1936. (With lists of flute

music. }

Fitzgibbon, H. M., The Story of the Flute, 1914.

Grove: 'Flute', by M. Champion.
James, W. N., A Word or Two on the Flute, 1826.

Lavignac: *La flfite*, by Taffanel and Fleury.

Lorenzo, L. de, My Complete Story of the Flute, New York, 195 1.
Miller, Dayton C., A Bibliography of the Flute, Cleveland, 1953.
Quantz, Versuch einer Anweisung die Fldte Traversiere zu
spielen, Berlin, 1752; facsimile reprint by Barenreiter, 1953.
Rockstro, R. S., A Treatise on the Flute, 1890, 1928.

Welch, C., History of the Boehm Flute, 1883, etc.

Tutors

Compkte Tutor for the German Flute, various editions from 174(>
onwards.
Drouet, Methode, 1830?
Gunn, Art of Playing the German Flute, 1793.
Hotteterre le Romain, Principes, 1707 (the first tutor for the
one-keyed flute); facsimile reprint of 1728 edition, Berlin,
1941.

Langey, Tutor for the Flute (many editions, with charts for
nearly every system).
Lorenzoni, Saggio per ben sonare ilflauto traverso, 1779.
Moyse, Enseignement complet de lafl&te, 1921. (The authoritative
work on the modern French style. )
Nicholson, C., Complete Preceptor, c.l%\6\A Schoolfar the Flute,
1836.
Potter, H., & Co., Flute Tutor for B fiat Flute, F Flute, etc.
(modern tutor for the band flutes).
368
 BIBLIOGRAPHY
Radcliff, Nicholson's Schoolfor the Flute, 1872. (An enlarged
edition, with description of the Radcliff modeL)
Schwedler, Methode, 1893. (The last great tutor for the simple-
system flute.)
Tromlitz, Ueber die Floten mit mehrern Klappen, 1800. (Dealing
with the addition of keys to the one-keyed flute. }
Tulou, Me'thode, 1845?
Wragg, Improved Flute preceptor, 18O6.

OBOE
Bate, P. A. T., The Oboe (in the press as this is being
written).
Grove: 'Oboe*, by E. Halfpenny and P. A. T. Bate.
Halfpenny, E., many historical articles in Galpin Society Journal,
II, etc.

Lavignac: 'Hautbois*, by Bleuzet.

Rothwell, E., Oboe Technique, 1953. (With full list of music for
oboe and cor anglais.)

Tutors

pBannister], The Sprightly Companion, 1695. (The first known

oboe tutor. )

Barret, Complete Method, 1850.

Brod, Me'thode, 1832.
Complete Tutor for the Hoboy, 1750, etc. Also New and Complete
Instructions, 1790, etc.
Freillon-Poncein, La ve'ritable manihe . .
., 1700.
Froelich, Vollstandige theorisch-practische Musiklehre, 1811.
Gamier, Methode, 1797? (The first official tutor for the Paris
Conservatoire. )
Gillet, F. Me'thode pour le debut du hautbois, 1940 (in French and

English together).
Langey, Tutor (with charts).
Sellner, Oboeschule, 1825. (Reprinted later in Italian, etc.)

CLARINET
Grove: 'Clarinet', by F. G. Rendall.
Lavignac: 'La clarinette', by Mimart.
Rendall, F. G., The Clarinet, 1954.
Willaman, R., The Clarinet and Clarinet Playing, New York,
1949.
369
 BIBLIOGRAPHY
Tutors

Backofen, Anweisung zur Klarinette, 1803.

Baermaim, C., Folktandige Clarinettenschuk, 1864, etc.
Compkte Instructions for the Clarinet, 1785?, etc.
Froelich (see above under OBOE).
Jettl, Klarinettenschule, 1949. (For Oehler system.)

Klos<, Methode, 1843. (The original tutor for the Boehm-

system. )
Langey, Tutor (with charts for both systems).
Lazarus, New and Modern Method, 1881.
Lefvre, Methode, 1802.
Mahon, New and Complete Preceptor, I SOS.
Muller, Methode, c. 1825.
Thurston and Frank, The Clarinet, 1945.

BASSOON
Grove: 'Bassoon', by L. G. Langwill.
Heckel, W., Der Fagott, Leipzig, 1931.
Laborde, Essai sw la Musique, 1780, with a long article on the
bassoon by Cugnier.
Langwill, L. G., The Bassoon and Double Bassoon, Hinrichsen's
Miniature Surveys, 1948.
, 'The Double bassoon*, Proceedings of the Royal Musical

Association, 1942.
-,"The CurtaF, Musical Times, April 1937.
Lavignac: *Le basson', by Letellier and Flament.

Tutors

Almenraeder, Fagottschule, 1841.

Berr, Methode complete de Basson, 1836'?
Complete Instructions for the Bassoon, 1790?, etc,
Eley, Tutor, c. 1810.
Froelich see under OBOE).
(

Jancourt, Grande me'thode, 1880, etc.

Langey, Tutor.
Oubradous, Enseignement complet du basson, 1938.
Ozi, Methode, 1797?, 1803. (The first official tutor for the Paris
Conservatoire.)
seo
 BIBLIOGRAPHY
Piard, Enseignement du Contrebasson (modern).
Weissenborn, Praktische Fagott-schuk, 1887.

OTHER INSTRUMENTS
Bagpipes
Borjon, Traite de la musette, Lyons, 1672.
Fenwick, Instruction Book far the Northumbrian Small-pipes,
1931.

Logan, Tutor far the Highland Bagpipe, 1923, etc.

O'Neill, F., Irish Folk Music, Chicago, 1910.

Rowsome, L., Tutor for the Vilkan Pipes, Dublin, 1936.

Recorder
Bannister, The Most Pleasant Companion, 1681.
Complete Flute master, 1690, etc. New Flute master, 1706, etc.
Degen, D., Zur Geschichte der Blockftote ., Cassel, 1939.
. .

Ganassi, Opera intitulata Fontegara, 1535. (facsimile reprint,

Milan, 1934).
Giesbert, Method for the Recorder Flute, 1936.

Hunt, E., Concise Tutor, 1935.

Welch, C., Six Lectures on the Recorder, 1911.
Virdung, Musica getutscht, 1511 (facsimile reprint, Cassel,
1931).

Sarrusophone
Lavignac: 'Le Sarrusophone', by Leruste.

Saxophone
Davis, B., The Saxophone, 1932.
Grove: 'Saxophone', by P. A. T. Bate.
Kool, J., Das Saxophon, Leipzig, 1931.

Serpent
Hermenge, Methode elementaire, 1820?

Shawm
Baines, A. C., 'Shawms of the sardana coblas', Galpin Society

Journal, V.
Coll, J., Metodo de tiple y tenora, Barcelona, 1950.
361
 BIBLIOGRAPHY
PRIMITIVE, ORIENTAL, FOLK, ANTIQUITY
(This is a difficult list to draw up, since much of the best
material is in short articles scattered in
anthropological,
archaeological and other journals and magazines. The following
are among the most valuable works.)

Ankermann, B., Die afrikanischen Musikinstrumente, Berlin,

(
Museum fur Volkerkunde), 1894.
Balfour, H., 'The Old British Pibcorn or Hornpipe', Journal of
the Anthropological Institute, 1890.

Bartok, B^la, on Hungarian and other folk instruments in

Sammelbande fur Vergkichende Musikwissenschaft, 4, 1923.
Broemse, C., Floten, Schalmeien, Sackpfeifen ., Prague, 1.937.. .

(A very account of Yugoslav folk instruments.)

full

Closson, H., in Studien zur Mwikgeschichte (Festschrift fur

Gwdo Adler], Vienna, 1930. (Description and photographs
of ancient Egyptian pipes and reeds. )

Day, C. R., The Musical Instruments of Southern India, 1891.

(There is, as yet, no comprehensive work on Indian instru
ments.)
Densmore, F., numerous studies on North American Indian
music and instruments in Bulletins of the Bureau of American
Ethnology, Washington, 1910, etc.
Donostia and Tomas, 'Instrumentos de musica popular
espanola', in Anuario Musical, Barcelona, II, 1947.
Erlanger, R. de, La Musique Arabe, Paris, 1930, etc. (Transla
tion of the important medieval Arabic works on music and
instruments. )
Farmer, H. G,, Studies in Oriental Musical Instruments, 1931, .

Galpin, F. W., The Music of the Sumerians, 1937.

Gand, H. in der, Volkstumliche Musikinstrumente in der Schweitz,
1937. (An interesting account of
primitive survivors in
Switzerland. )
Harcourt, R. and M. de, La musique des Incas et ses survivances9

Paris, 1925.
Harich Schneider, E., a full description of the
Japanese Court
Music, with flute, hichiriki and mouth-organ sho, with music
examples, in Musical Quarterly, Jan. 1953.
3G2
 BIBLIOGRAPHY
Hickmann, H., Catalogue general des antiquites egyptiennes dm
Musee du Caire: Instruments de musique, 1952.
Howard,, A. A., 'The aulos or tibia', Harvard studies of Philo
logy, 1895. (Propounds a 'speaker hole* theory for the
overblowing. )
Izikowitz, K. G., Musical and other Sound Instruments of the
South American Indians, Goteborg, 1935.
Kaudern, W. T., Musical Instruments of the Celebes, Goteborg,
1927.
Khin Saw, 'Burmese Music', Journal of the Burma Research
Society, 1940. (With an account of the Burmese wind instru
ments.)
Kirby, P. R., The Musical Instruments of the Native Races of
South Africa, 1934. (A splendid first-hand study.)
Kunst, J., Music in Flores, Leiden, 1942. (Very interesting on
bamboo flageolets, etc.)
,
Music in Java, The Hague, 1949. (But beware of the
theory of 'blown fifths'.)
Lavignac:
'Chine-Core', by M. Courant.

'Egypte' (ancient), by V. Loret.

'Grece' (ancient), by M. Emmanuel.
'Inde', by J. Grosset.
'La Musique Arabe', by J. Rouanet.
'La Musique Turque*, by R. Yekta Bey.
'La Musique Persane', by C. Huart.
'La Musique dans la Birmanie', by G. Knosp.
Mahillon, V., Catalogue descriptif et analytique du Musee instru
mental du Conservatoire Royal de Musique, Bruxelks, Ghent,
1893, etc., 5 vols. (A great pioneer work, especially on folk
and non-European instruments.)
Moule, A. C., 'List of the Musical Instruments of the Chinese',
Journal of the North China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society,
1908.
Muller, Dr, in Mittheilungen der Deutsche Gesellschaft fur die
Natur- und Volkerkunde Ostasiens, 1875. (Better descriptions
of the Japanese wind instruments than in Piggott's Music and
Musical Instruments of Japan, 1909.)
363
 BIBLIOGRAPHY
Reinach, Th., article Tibia in Daremburg and Saglio, Diction-
naire des antiqidtis greques et romaines, Paris, 1877-1919.
(The study of the aulos.)
fullest existing

Sachs, C., Geist und Werden der Musikinstrwnente, Berlin, 1929.

(This work is already a classic & master work that holds a
place in ethno-musicology comparable to that held by
Helmholz's celebrated work in the field of musical acoustics.
One waits hopefully for a second Alexander Ellis to translate
Geist und Werden into English. Its central topic is the evolu
tion of types and their diffiision over the world.)

,
The History of Musical Instruments New York, 194O.',

, (Many other works, listed in the ample bibliography of

the last-mentioned well-known book. )
Schaeffher, A., Origine des instruments de musique, Paris, 1936.
(A stimulating general study.)
Schlesinger, K., The Greek Aulos, 1939. (A volume of interesting
conjectures based on practical research with pipes. )
Seewald, O., Beitrage %w Kenntniss der steinzeitlichen Musik-
instrumente Europas, Vienna, 1934. (Details and drawings of

stone-age flutes, etc. )

Stainer, Sir J., The Music of the Bible, ed. Galpin, 1914.
Tanabe, H., Japanese Music, Tokyo, 1936.
Vega, C., Los Instruments muskales aborigenes y criollos de la
Argentina, Buenos Aires, 1946.
Vidal, Lou Tamboitrin, 1862. (The classic work on the Pro-
ven?:al pipe and tabor. )
Villoteau, G. A., Vols. 13, 14 of Description de I'Egypte, Paris,
1812, etc.

WOODWIND HISTORY (from Middle Ages onwards)

Agricola, M., Musica Instrumental Deutsch, Wittemberg,
1528, 1545. (Reprint, Leipzig, 1896.)
Arbeau, T, Orchesographie, Lengres, 1588. (English translation
by C. W. Beaumont, 1925.)
Bessaraboff, N., Ancient European Musical Instruments, Boston,
1941. (Descriptive catalogue of instruments in the Boston
Museum of Fine Arts.)
Bonanni, F., Gabinetto armonico, Rome, 1722.
364
 BIBLIOGRAPHY
Carse, A., The Orchestra in the XFIIIth century, 1940.
, The Orchestra from Beethoven to
Berlioz, 1948.
Dart, T., The Interpretation of Music, 1954.
Day, C. R., Descriptive Catalogue of Musical Instruments at the
Royal Military Exhibition, London, 1890. (With notes on
many important early instruments loaned by the Brussels
Conservatoire Museum.)
Diderot et D'Alembert, Encyclopedie, Paris, 1161, etc.
(With
plates showing the construction of instruments, and instru
ment-makers' tools. )

Eisel, J. P., Music-us autodidaktos, Erfurt, 1738.

Galpin, F. W., Old English Instruments of Music, 19 1O.
Gehot, Complete Instructor of every instrument, 1790?
Karstadt, 'Der Zink' (Cornett), Archwfur Musikfarschung, .

Kastner, G., Manuel general de musique militaire, Paris, 1848.

Kinsky, G., History of Music in Pictures, 1930.
, 'Doppelrohrblattinstrumente mit
Windkapser ('Double-
reed instruments with reed cap'), Archiv
fur Musikwissen-
schaft, 7. (With a discussion of the dolzaina
problem.)
Kroll, 'Das Chalumeau', Zeitschrift fur Musikwissenschaft, 15.

Inventories

Baines, 'Two Cassel inventories', Galpin Society Journal, IV

(with a bibliography of further inventories of the sixteenth
and early seventeenth centuries).
Cothen, 1706, in Bach Jahrbuch, 1905.
Detmold, 1790, in Freiburger Studien fur Musikgeschichte,
1934.
Krems, 1739, in Monatshefte fur Musikgeschichte, XX, 1888.
Ossegg, in Z.fur Musikwissenschaft, 4.

Laborde, Essai sur la musique, Paris, 1780.

Lesure, F., 'La facture instrumental Paris au I6me sicle*,

Galpin Society Journal, VII.
MacDermott, K. H., The Old Church Gallery Minstrels, 1948.
Majer, Neu-eroffheter Musik-Saal, 1741.
Mahillon, V., Catalogue descriptif(see above).
Marix, Histoire de la musique et des musiciens de la cour de
J.,

Bourgogne, 140-1467, Strasbourg, 1939.

366
 BIBLIOGRAPHY
Mersenne, M., Harmonie miwrselfe, Paris, 1636. (In Latin,
1648.)
Philibert Jambe-de-Fer, Epitome musical, Lyons, 1556.
Pierre, C., Lefactwe instrumental, Paris, 1889.
Praetorius, M., Syntagma musicum, Wolfenbilttel, 161819.
Sachs, C., Sammlung alter Musikinstrumente bei der Staatliche

Hochschvle, Berlin, 199,%.(Catalogue of the Berlin collection.)

Schlosser, J. von, Alte Musikinstrumente, Vienna, 190. (Cata
logue of the Vienna Kunsthistorisches Museum collection. )
Speer, D., Grundrichtiger Unterricht, Ulm, 1687.
Stephens, G. A., 'The Waits of the City of Norwich', Norfolk
Archaeology., 1933.
Straeten, E. van de, La Musique aux Pays-Bos, Brussels, 1867-
1888 (especially Vols. IV and VII).
Talbot,J., Manuscript notes on music and instruments, c. 1696

(Christ Church, Oxford, Music MS. 1187). See Baines, 'The

Talbot MS', Galpin Society Journal, I.
Terry, C. S., Bach's Orchestra, I93.
Thoinan, E., Les Hotteterre et les Chedeville, Paris, 1894.
Trojano, M., Dmloghi, Venice, 1569. (Account of the music at
Munich in 1568.)
Turrini, G., 'L'Accademia filarmonica di Verona .e il suo
. .

patrimonio musicale antico % Acti e memorie della Accademia di

agricoltura, scienze e lettere di Verona, 1941.

Wright, R., Dictionnaire des instruments de musique, London,
1941. (Useful references for medieval instrument-names.)
Zedler, Universal-Lexicon, Halle, 1732-54. Articles 'Jagt-
Hautbois*, 'Schallmey', 'RegimentspfeifFer', 'Zinck', etc.

see
 Glossary of Terms

ARTICULATION. Detaching the notes on a wind instrument,

normally by tonguing.
ATTACK. The clean start to a note or phrase.
BARREL. The short joint of a clarinet into which the mouthpiece
is inserted. (But in woodwind manufacture, the axle on which

a key turns. )
BELL. The flared bottom end of many wind instruments.
BRILLE. The F$ correcting device on oboes and non-Boehm
embodying two rings and a small vent key.
clarinets ; basically
CANTABILE. Playing in a singing manner.
CHANTER. The melody pipe of a bagpipe.
CLOSED KEY. A key that rests normally closed by its spring.
CONICAL BORE. A tapered bore, sometimes a true truncated
cone. With flutes, ^generally understood to mean a taper in
wards towards the bottom end (contracting bore] with reed
;

instruments, a taper outwards towards the bottom end

(expanding bore].
CROOK. Any curved metal tube leading from the player's mouth
to the top end of the instrument.
CROSS-KEY. Any small closed key that lies across the body of the
instrument between two finger-holes.
CYLINDRICAL BORE. A parallel-sided bore, sometimes ending
with an expansion in a bell.
DOUBLE HOLE. See HALF-HOLING.
DOUBLE REED. A twin-bladed vibrating reed, made in various
ways.
EDGE. The mouth-hole edge or voicing edge of instruments of
the flute Class. Edge^frequency: the sound-generating
principle of these instruments.
367
 GLOSSARY OF TERMS
EMBOUCHURE. Hie manner In which the player holds his lips,

jaws, while playing. (Also sometimes, though not in

etc.,
this book, the mouth-hole of a flute.)

FLAGEOLET. (
1
) Strictly, a small European 'whistle-flute* with
six holes (two of them at the back in the French
species).
() A general term for all instruments of the Flute Class that
have an artificial air-slit.

FLUTE. Besides its precise meaning of a transverse flute, the

general class-name for all instruments of the edge-vibrated

kind.
FOOT-KEYS. Open keys for the right little finger on a flute.

FREQUENCY. Vibrations per second. Or loosely, .any regular,

sustained, vibration.
FUNDAMENTAL. The full-length vibration of an air-column,
reckoned in the harmonic series as the first harmonic.
GRACING. Bagpipe articulation by means of grace-notes.
HALF-HOLING. Half uncovering a hole with the finger.
Usually,
if the hole concerned is for finger I, it is the upper half that is
uncovered, but if it is for any other finger, the lower half.
(Very often the amount of uncovering required is actually less
than half.) Also: ( l ) uncovering one of the pair of small holes
(double hole) sometimes provided for a single finger on
recorders and old oboes; and ()
uncovering the small
perforation in the half-hole plate of the oboe.
JOINT, (l) Each of the sections that fit together when an
instrument is assembled. () The tenon and socket
junction
by which these sections fit into one another.
KEY. In woodwind mechanism, a
sprung lever bearing a padded
cup or plate, for covering a hole that otherwise lies out of
reach of the fingers.
LAPPING. Waxed thread or thin sheet cork, by which the ends of
joints are kept air-tight.
LEGATO. Slurred, i.e. not tongued.
MOUTH-HOLE. The hole across which a flute is blown, sometimes
called the embouchure hole.
NOTE-HOLE. The opened hole through which
any given note
speaks.
3G8
 GLOSSARY OF TERMS
OCTAVE KEY. A key opened to give the upper register on
certain instruments.
OPEN KEY. A key that rests normally open under its spring.
OVERBLOWING. Sounding the upper and high registers on a
woodwind instrument. Also occasionally used in the sense of
'to blow too hard' or *to force the tone'
(but not in this
book).
PIROUETTE. The wooden lip-rest carried on the staple of
European band shawms.
REED INSTRUMENT. An instrument whose sound is
generated
by the vibration of a reed.
REGISTERS. The various parts of a woodwind instrument's
compass, each being based on certain harmonics, thus:
low register: fundamentals;
upper register: 2nd harmonics (sometimes running into 3rd
harmonics near the top); on the clarinet, 3rd harmonics
throughout;
high register: 3rd, 4th, 5th, etc., harmonics; on the clarinet,
5th, 7th, 9th, etc., harmonics.
RING ( RING KEY ) A metal ring hinged on an axle, surrounding
.

a finger hole and pressed down by the finger.

SHAKE KEY. The same as trill key.
SHARP PITCH. A former English playing pitch, nearly half a
semitone above present standard pitch and still used in brass
bands. See Chapter I.
SIDE KEY. A
key (there may be as many as four of them) on
the right hand side of an instrument and actuated by the middle

joint of the right forefinger. The saxophbne also has three

left hand side keys.

SIMPLE SYSTEM. A term applied to the following types of

instrument (and their variants): eight-keyed flute; oboes
without thumb-plate or Conservatoire action; plain non-
Boehm-system clarinets; French-system bassoons without
additional keywork.
SINGLE REED. A
single-bladed vibrating reed, made either
separately (as for the clarinet) or by cutting a tongue in a
tube of cane (as for a bagpipe drone).
SPEAKER KEY. The left thumb key on a clarinet.

24 w.i. 369
 GLOSSARY OF TERMS
STAPLE. The short, tapered metal tube on which a double reed
Is made (or placed after making) in expanding-bore reed

instruments, e.g. the oboe. If curved, It is called a crook.

STOCK. The wooden holders lashed into the openings of a
bagpipe bag, to hold the pipes.
STOPPED (with Instruments of the flute class). Complete
closure permanent or momentary of the bottom end.

Stopped pipe: a flute tube so closed; or a reed instrument that

reproduces similar accoustlcal phenomena.
TENON. The end of a joint that fits into a corresponding
socket in the next joint.
TONGUING. by the tongue.
Articulation
TOUCH (key touch). The end of a key upon which the finger is

applied.
TRILL KEY. A key intended solely or mainly for making a
particular trill.

TUBE-LENGTH given note on an Instrument).. The

(for a
sounding-length of the instrument from the blowing end
to the note hole (but in fact a little beyond it, the amount

depending upon the size of the hole, the diameter of the bore,
etc.).
VENT, (l) Generally, any aperture in the tube of a wind
instrument. (2) Fent, vent-hole or vent key: an extra hole or
key added for tuning a note.

Venting: the efficiency of an opened hole (aided in many cases

by the open holes further down) in establishing communica
tion between air-column and outer air.
VIBRATO. A common adornment of the tone, consisting of a
gentle, continuous rise and fall in either the strength or the
pitch of the notes, made unconsciously or consciously by the
breathing or by the embouchure.
VOICING, VOICING HOLE. The aperture that provides the edge
in instruments of the flageolet kind.

370
 Index

Adler, 154 Astor, 317

Africa Auks, 36, 195, 198-201
flute bands, 177 Phrygian, 195, 203-4
flutes, 173, 179-81, 183-4
horns, 219 Babell, 279, 310
shawm, 232 Bach, J, C., 304
see also Egypt and North Africa J. S., 27, 74, 96-7, 246, 281,
African blackwood, 91 285, 290, 303-4, 338
Agricola, 43, 233, 238, 244, 250 Backofen, 300, 307
Air-column vibration, 29jf. Baerrnann, 140, 331
Albert, 136, 332-4 Bagpipe
Alexandra, John, 45#., 340 bellows, 214, 218, 348
Almenraeder, 154, 314, 338-9 chanter, 214-5
Alp-horn, 148, 180, 220, 262 construction, %12ff.
=
Alt-oboe Cor anglais drones, 215-7 (see also Drone)
Alto clarinet, 125, 127, 129, 334 East European, 197, 212, 218
Alto flute, see Bass flute in G English, 217
Amadio, John, 58, 68 French, 16, 218-9, 258, 277
Ambras, Schloss, 238, 265 Irish

America, woodwind in, 55-7, 88, Brian Boru, 61, 218

92, 120, 122, 129, 131, 154, union (Uillean), 90, 348,
155, 167 350-2
American Indians war, 61, 218
flageolets, 175, 187-8, 227 204-8, 216, 283
Italian,
flutes j 183 mouthpipe and valve, 212
panpipes, 178 Northumbrian, 76, 90, 348-50
reed-pipe, 189 origins, 197
whistles, 173-4 practice chanter, 36, 215, 235
Amsterdam Concertgebouw Or reed-making, 79, 88-90, l&l
chestra, 93, 127 Roman, 212
Antinode, 30 scale and gracing, 214-5
Arabs, medieval influence of, 231 Scottish
Arbeau, 227 Highland, 90, 214-5, 217, 219
Arghul, 196, 234 Lowland, 352
Arne, 298 miniature, 352
Articulation, see Tonguing Spanish, 212-3, 215, 217
Ashe, 316, 325 typology, 212
Asia, see Burma, China, India, Welsh, 223
Indonesia, Japan, Persia Musette
see also

371
 INDEX
Balnbridge, 208 Bassoon continued
Eal musette, 115-6 French system, 153, 274
Balfour, 193 fingering, 158-9
Bands history, 153, 335-6
cobla, 1 228
14, rings, 159, 336
flute, 59-62 German system, 153-4
medieval, 232 compared with French, 154-7
military fingering, 159-62
eighteenth century, 283-5, history, 338-40
308 low A, 163
modern, 60 96, 100, 115, use of left thumb, 160-2
142, 166-8, 219-30 with French fingering, I59n.
oriental, 231-2 mutes, 163
renaissance, 232-3 origins, 263
sixteenth-century, 240, 268-72 pitch adjustments, 49, 51
waits, 272 price, 153
Bannister, 279 producing the sound, 151-2
Baritone oboe, 98, 327 reed
Barret, 96, 316, 325-9 adjustment, 86
Barret action: oboe, 101 ; clarinet, cane, 77
138 construction, 77-9, 83-6, 155
Bartok, 66, 180 French/German, 86
Bas instruments, 234 335
history, 263, 287,
Bass clarinet, 125, 127-9 single reed, 87
Bass flute sixteenth-century, see Curtal
ancient, 250 sling, 150
band, 60-2 small bassoons, 264, 289, 337
orchestral, 57-9 tonguing, 39-42
Bass horn, 308 vibrato, 14, 155, 336
Bass oboe, 98-9 Viennese old system, 339
Bass pommer, 268, 271 Bate, Philip, 59, 305, 328
Bassanelli, 265 Baumann, 316, 335
Basse danse, 233 Beer, 299
Basse de musette, 286 Beethoven, 95, 100, 123, 164, 290,
Basset horn, 125-7, 306-7, 313 312, 333, 339-40
Boston =bassoon (Fr.), 286 Bell, woodwind
Bassowtti, 290 bulbous, 96, 213, 235, 283, 304-
Bassoon 305
acoustics, 34, 36, 38, 149 origin, 196
Boehm-system, 327, 336 Berlin
construction, 150 Hochsckuk Museum, 238, 258,
crooks, 49, 51, 152 265
eighteenth-century and classical Hofkapette, 241, 258
period, 26, 286-9, 312-4 Philharmonic Orchestra, 128,
fingering, 288 163
keywork, 286-7, 312 Berlioz, 57, 60, 97, 123, 143, 146
later English model, 334-5 Berr, 331, 335
reeds, 287 Biniou, 218-9, 258
fingering, general points, 152 Bishop, 294
372
 INDEX
Bizet, 119, 146,225 Clarinet
Bizey, 304 A clarinet, 118
Bladder-pipe, 17-8, 252 A[? clarinet, 124, 129
Blockftote
=
recorder acoustics, 35-6, 37-8
Boehm, 53, 57-9, 316, 32O-2 Baermann system, 140-1
Boehm-system, see under individual Boehm-system, 122, 131-6, 333
instruments fingering, 133
Bombarde fullBoehm, 134, 333
Breton, 218-9, 230, 258 improved 135
B|?,
tenor shawm, 232, 240-1, 258 plain Boehm, 131-4
Bonanni, 296-7 Reform-Boekm, 135-6
Boosey; Boosey &
Hawkes, 101, bores, 121-2
122, 127, 131, 137, 153 C clarinet,49, 1 19, 299
Borjon, 286 Clinton model, 137-40
Boskowski, 127 Clinton-Boehm, 140
Bottrigari, 260 dispensing with the A, 1 19
Brahms, 71, 117, 123, 165 E|? and D clarinets, 100, 123-4,
Breathing, 41; through the nose, 299
92, 197, 200 eighteenth-century and classical
Brelka, 195, 203 period, 26, 297-302, 312-
Brierly, 93 316, 330-1
Brille, 103, 113, 137, 326, 367 four- to six-keyed, 299-302
Britten, 58 invention, 297
Brod, 98, 306, 316, 325 reed and mouthpiece, 300
Brooke, Gwydion, 154 two-keyed, 297-8
Brussels Conservatoire Museum, F clarinet,125, 300
191, 193, 202, 238, 254, materials, 117
265, 269, 307 mouthpiece and lay, 120-3, 332
Buffet; Buffet-Crampon, 131, 153, with reed uppermost, 300, 331
158-9, 276, 316, 326, 334 MuHer system, 136, 314, 331
Burma, 186-7, 194, 229 obtaining the upper register, 131
Burney, 280, 289 Oehler system, 140-2
pitch adjustment, 49, 51
Cabart, 108 price, 132
Cabrette, 216, 218 producing the sound, 120
Cadenzas, 311 Pupeschi system, 333
Camden, Archie, 154, 340 reed
Campion, 261 adjustment, 87
Cane (reed), 76-7, 199 cane, 77
Cantigas de S. Maria, 216-8, 235 construction, 86-7
Carse, Adam, 25, 334, 339 German, 122
Carte, 67-8, 316, 322 history, 300-1
Cervelas =
racket strengths, 87, 122
Chakmelle==Sh3vmi (medieval) registers, 1178
Chalumeau, 118, 124, 295-7 Romero system, 333
China, 181, 183-4, 186, 192, 194 simple (Albert) system, 136-^0,
Chirimia, 114 332
Chistu, 227 with extra rings, 137
Chorist-Fagott, 263 the 'break', 118
373
 INDEX
Clarinet cmtmmd Cornett, cornet continued
thumb branches, 331 substitutes for, 263
tonguing, 3&-42 tenor, 23&-40, 257, 61
transposition, 46-8 Cvmettino, 261
vibrato, 45 Corno di bassetto^ Basset horn
Garinettf d*amwr, 304 Corps of drums, 60-1
Clarino, 118 Couesnon, 55, 108, 131, 166
Clefs, ancient, 46-7 Courtaut, 265-7
Clinton, G., 316, 333 Cromorne, 237n, 286
, J., 313, 316, 322 Cross-fingering, 29, 243
Cdtla, 114,228 Crumhorn, 36, 236-7, 239-40,
Cocks, W. A., 76, 350 252-6, 258
Coois-wood, 54 ancestry, 218, 252
Coll,Jos, 115 consort, 253-4
Collinet, 323 construction, 253
Concert flute, 60 reed, 253
Conical bore Curtal, 2377Z, 239-40, 248, 263-
flute, 53, 290 265, 285-6
reed instruments, 36-7, 228, Curved construction, 305-6
258 Cylindrical bore
Conn, 143, 154 flutes, 53, 249-50, 321-2
Consort reed instruments, 35-6, 117,
English, 251 194, 252, 256, 265-8, 297
mixed, 256
sizes (general), 242-3 Dart, Thurston, 296
Contrabass clarinet, 125, 130-1 De Buscher, 329
Contrabassoon, 26, 130, 163-5, Debussy, 52, 56, 235
290, 313, 337 Delius, 99, 129
Contrabassophone, 165, 316, 337 Delia Casa, Girolamo, 42, 246, 260
=
Contrafagotto Contrabassoon Denner, 286, 296-7
Contrebasse & anche (contrabasso ad Deutsche Schalmey, 285
anda), 168 Dherin, 155
Cor anglais, 26, 96, 305-6, 313, Diderot, 296
327; reed, 83 Diple, 197-8
Corelli, 310 Divisions, 244^-5
Cornamusa, -en, 256-8 Dobson, Michael, 109
Carnemuse, 216, 218 Dolmetsch, Arnold, 72, 75, 226, 309
Cornett, cornet (the first spelling , Carl, 75

serves to distinguish the Dolzaina, 257

instrument from the modern Dolzfloten,249
valved cornet), 237-40, Doppelmayr, 297
259-63, 271 Double bassoon = Contrabassoon
ancestry, 219-21 Double flageolets, 195, 208, 221
construction, 221, 259 Double pipes, 194^-208, 223
fingering, 243-4, 260 Daufaine, 221, 234-5, 257
mouthpiece, 260 Draper, Charles, 122, 316, 333
mute, 239, 257, 261, 267 Drone, 185, 196-8, 201, 203-5,
revival of, 262 215^8, 231
straight, 261 Drouet, 42, 317
574
 INDEX
Dubrucq, 316, 329 Flamenca, Roman de, 222
Duda, dudy, 218 Fttcke, 78
Dufay, 234-5 Fleury, 56
Dulcina, 234 Florio, 294
Dulzaina, 221, 235 Fliigelmeister, 305
Dulzian, see Curtal, 2S7w, 263^ Flute
Dunstable, 234 acoustics, 30-1, 37-8
Dutch rush, 82, 85 B[? flute, 5&~62, 294-^
Boehm flute
Echecs amoureux, les, 232, 234 Briccialdi key, 63, 322
Egerton, 316, 333 Brossa key, 64
Egypt and North Africa, 183, 196 fingering, 62-6
Egypt, ancient, 181, 192, 196, 199, G#, open and closed, 63, 321
201-2, 222 history, 320-22
Eichentopf, 303 low B, 66, 313
Eighteenth century perforated plates, 66
general construction of instru Rockstro model, 64
ments, 276 split E, 66
performance style, 309 vented D, 66
End correction, 36 bores, 53 (see also Conical bore,
Etf*w=Bagpipe, medieval Cylindrical bore)
Exiknt=Soprariino, 243 central embouchure, with, 174,
'Extra Instruments', 26 185
conical Boehm flute, 320-1, 323
Fagottino, 289 D|> flute and piccolo, 60w.
Fagotto, see (a) curtal, (6) bassoon Dorus key, 321
Fanfare la Sirene, 167 eight-keyed flute, 70, 294, 317-
Fieldhouse, 332 320, 324
Fife, 60, 239, 247-8, 294, 323-4 eighteenth-century and classical
Fiffaro, 237. period, 26 % -

Fifteenth century
one-keyed, 291-3, 313
-
<^
bands, 232-3 six-keyed, 292-4, 313
chamber music, 234^-6 and see eight-keyed flute
Finger-hole horn, 211, 219 English school, 55
Fingering F flute, 60-62, 294, 313
basic, 28, 37-9 Bands
flute bands, see
charts, explanation of, 27 French school, 56
closed fingering, 349 harmonics, special use of, 37
early development of, 181, 202 holes, large, 70, 317, 320
Fischer, 281 material: wood, 54; metal, 55
Fistula, 209, 234 medieval, 211,222,234
F&zgw/=flageolet, medieval; 222 metal or thinned head-joints, 55
Flageolet oriental, etc., 181-4, 234
English, 323-4 origin of flute, 171, 174
European (general), 209, 211, pads, 355
221, 302, 368 Pratten model, 69, 320, 323
French, 228, 323 price, 55
primitive, 173-4, 176, 181, 187- primitive, 174-7, 179-81
188 producing the sound, 54-6
375
 INDEX
Flute cmtmmd Gajda, 18
Ra*Mlff model, 55, 68-9 Galm^t, 5
Reform flute, 71 Ganassi, 46
Reform mouth-hole, 71 Gardiner, 331
RudaH Carte 1867 model, 53, Gamier, 81
67-8 Gautrot, 166
Schwedler model, etc., 70-1 Gavotte, 19, 75
SIccama model, 30 Gedney, 94
sixteenth-century, 37, 39-40, Generation of sound, 31
German flute, 91
consort, 250 German silver, 316
stopper or cork, 53 Gevaert, 6
tonguing, 39-42 Giesbert, 73
tuning slide, 5 Gilbert, Geoffrey, 45w., 338
vibrato, 44, 55-6 Gillet, 108-9
FMU d*amow, 58, 60, 30 Giustiniani, 6
FIMe douce, see Recorder Gleditsch, 81
Ffamdtflavid, 26, 8 Gleghorn, Arthur, 341
Folk instruments (Europe) Globular flute, 173, 184, 08
Balkan, 181, 196-8, , 9 Gluck, 6, 94, 96, 305
Basque, 196-7, 5~7 Goldbeaters* skin, 82
Czech, 197 Goldman, Franko, 167
English, 190, 19~-3, 17, 95~7 Gomez, 316, 39, 333
French, 15-9, ^5, 7 Goossens, Leon, 45w., 93, 3, 39,
general, 45, 195, 01, 09jf. 338
Hungarian, 147 Gordon, Gavin, 35
Italian, 7, 04-8, 17, 1, 30 Gracing, 15
Polish, 17 Grattan Cooke, 316, 35
Rumanian, 180, 4 Greece, Ancient, 189-01, 09,
Russian, 03, I, 4 3
Scandinavian, 191, 0-1, 3 Grenser, 339
Scottish, 3 Griesbach, 316, 35
Spanish, 113-5, 212, 15, 0, Griessling & Schlott, 331
4, 6-8, 35 Grundmann, 81
Welsh, 196, 3 Guillotine, 78
Fontanelle,33 Guthrie, 4
Fork-fingering, 9
Formants, 34 Halvy, 337
Forsyth, Cecil, 60, 74 Halfpenny, Eric, 59;*.

Fr^jus, 77 Halle, Adam de la, 15

Frestele= whistle or panpipe Hall Orchestra, 9, 137, 38, 340
(medieval) Hammig, 54
Fundamental, 3-3 Handel, 27, 74, 08, 46, 78, 80,
Furstenau, 317 89-90, 94, 96, 99
Furtwangler, 95, 127 Harmonics, 3-8
primitive use of, 175, 179
Gaisseau, Pierre, 176, 178 Harrington, 89, 316
Gaita gallega=Galidzn. (Spanish) Haseneier, 165, 316, 336
bagpipe, 13 Haut instruments, 3
376
 INDEX
Hautbois =oboe (Fr.); see also Kamesch, 95
237rc., 277, 280. Kastner, 262, 283
Hautbois alto, 306 Kaval, 181
Hautbois de Poitou, 258, 275, 277 Keiser, 285
Hawkes, 57, 101 Kell, Reginald, 45/r., 341
Haydn, 158, 289, 305 Kena, 183
Haynes, 55, 57 Key & Co., 331-2, 335
Heckel, 71, 98-100, 128, 150-1, Keywork
154, 316, 338-40 attention to, 354
Heckelphone, 98; reed, 83 history, 241, 292, 314
Heckelphone, piccolo, 99 naming of, 28
Helmholtz, 29 Roman, 201
Hichiriki, 192, 199, 202 Kinsky, 258
Hinchliffe Ernest, 333 Kirby, P. R., 177, 180
Hoboy, 237w., 280n. Klose, 113, 131,326
Holborne, 254 Koch, 314
Holmes, 289, 316, 334 Kodaly, 57
Hoist, 58, 99 Koktan, 140
see Contrabasso-
Honegger, 146 Kontrabassophon,
Horn, finger-hole, 211, 219 phone
Hornpipe, 189, 195-6, 209, 222 Koussevitsky, 340
Hotteterre, 72, 275-8, 286, 290 Koza, 218
Howarth, 101 Krumhorn, see Crumhorn
Hsuan, 184 Kuan-tzu, 192
Httller, 130 Kunst, Jaap, 178, 188
Hunt, Edgar, 75 Kytsch, 280

La Borde, 274, 306

India, 183, 185, 219 (Toda), 197
Lafleur, catalogue extracts, 322,
Indonesia, 178, 188
329, 333, 336
Intonation, 31
Lalande, 316, 329
Inventories of instruments, 239-40,
Landino, 234
302
LangwiU, L. G., 272
Irish organ or union pipes, 350-2 Lassus, 246, 250, 256-7, 268
Irish war pipes, 61, 218
Launeddas, 195, 204
Italian woodwind, 56, 66, 92, 119-
Lavigne, 316, 328
120, 122, 129-30, 153, 168,
Lay, mouthpiece, see Clarinet
184, 332
Lazarus, 122, 316, 332-3
Leblanc, 131
Jagd-hautbois, 304-5 Leningrad Orchestra, 95
James, Cecil, 153 Le Roy, 56
,E. F., 316, 329, 335, 337 Leycester, Sir P., 261, 275
, W., 316 London Philharmonic Orchestra,
James, W. N., 317
Jancourt, 159, 336-7 London Symphony Orchestra, 329.
Japan, 183, 192, 202 Lor^e, 93, 97-8, 108
Jarde, 108 Lorenzoni, 311
Jazz, saxophones in, 144 Lot, 55, 276
Joints, tight or loose, 354 Louis & Co., 101, 122, 226
577
 INDEX
Lowland pipes, 352 Mulier, 129, 136, 300, 314, 331-2
Loci, Fanica, 24 Murchie, 55, 64, 316
Ludwig, Kurt, 85, 155 Muse, 216
Lully, 258, 275, 278, 283, 286 Musette, 115-6, 330; bagpipe:
=
Lyzarden ? tenor cornett 267, 275, 277, 286, 292, 348
Muskaficta, 244
Mackintosh, SW, 334-5 Musical signs and phrasing indica
Mahillon, 97, 101, 153, 168, 262 tions, 40
Mahler, 41, 66, 97, 100, 120, 123, Mute 267
cornett, 239, 257, 261,
163 Mutes: oboe, 284-5; bassoon, 163,
Mahon, 316 285
Maintenance, 354
Majer, 298 Nam, 224
Malseh, 316, 329 Nay, 183, 234
Mandrel: oboe, 81; bassoon, 85 New Guinea, see Melanesia
Marigaux, 55, 108, 131 New York Philharmonic Orchestra,
Martel, 122 153,340
Marx, Joseph, 278 Newton, Richard, 340
Marzoli, 336 Nicholson, 316, 317-20
Mayrhofer, 306 Node, 30
Medieval bands, 232 Northumbrian small-pipe, 76, 90,
Medieval performance, 211, 216-7, 348-50
222-3, 227, 230 Nose flute, 180, 184-5
Melanesia, and New Guinea, 174- Notation
175, 177-81 bass clarinet, 46
Mersenne, 238, 248, 258, 260-1, designation of notes, 27
263, 267, 277, 286, 295 flute bands, 59

Meyerbeer, 127 meaning of dots, slurs, etc., 39-

Milhouse, 305, 334 40
Military bands, see Bands transposing instruments, 45-7
Miller, 289, 299 Notched flutes, 173-5, 181, 183
Millereau, 330
Mock trumpet, 296 Oaten pipe, 190
Mollenhauer, 127, 140, 154 Obizzi, 238
Monaulos, 202 Oboe
Monnig, 54, 71 acoustics, 34, 36, 38
Monteverdi, 262 bores, 91, 94-5
Morley, 246, 251 eighteenth-century and classical
Morley Pegge, R., 343 period, 26, 278-83, 312-4
Morris, Gareth, 55, 64 fingering, 282
Morris dance, 225 keywork, 278, 325
Morton, 97, 165, 330, 336-7 reed, 281-2
Moyse, 56 invention of oboe, 277-8
Mozart, 274, 310, 342; basset materials, 91
horn, 126-7; bassoon, 149, modern (French) oboe, 92, 100-
289; clarinet, 117, 119, 111
299, 302, 332; flute, 291, Barret action, 101, 111
294,317; oboe, 95, 281 Barret system, 111, 328-9
Muhlfeld. 123 Boehm system, 113,326-8,330
378
 INDEX
Oboe continued Pal-wee> 187
modern (French) oboe con Paris Conservatoire, 106, 131, 281,
tinued 310, 331, 336
Conservatoire system, 106-11, Museum, 97, 238, 277
329; action, 108 Pastoral oboe, 327
Eb oboe, 96, 327 Performance, see* Medieval, Six
Forked-F vent, 103, 110 teenth-century, Eighteenth-
Gf keys, 104, 106, 110 century; also 317-20
German models, 94, 1 1 1-2 Persia, 231-2
Gillet model (with plates), Philharmonia Orchestra, 55, 93,
109-10 122, 153
half-Boehm, *Sax fingered*, Philharmonic Society, 325
113,329 Philidor, 271, 278, 283
history, 325-9 Phrasing, 40-1, 42-4
octave keys, 105, 111, 326 Pibcorn, 36, 196, 223
simple system, 100-1, 326-7 Piccolo, 56-7, 294, 324
spatula, 104, 107, 111 Eb piccolo, 60-1
thumb-plate system, 101-6 F piccolo, 61
328; action, 101-3, 104 Piffaro, 230, 237w
trill keys, 106, 110 Pifferari, 208
Viennese model, 95, 1 13, 281 Pipe (biblical), 198
price, 106 Pipe, three-holed, see Pipe and
producing the sound, 91-2 tabor
reed Pipe and tabor, 211, 224-7, 234-5,
adjustment, 82 239, 247
cane, 77 beating, 227
construction, 77-83, 93, 95 fingering, 225
history, 278, 281, 326 Pipers' Guild, 221
single reed, 88 Pirouette, 114, 230, 269, 285
79
staple, Pitch, 48
wiring, 83 continental pitch, 49
tonguing, 39 $2 eighteenth-century, 274
vibrato, 44, 93, 281 nineteenth-century, 314
oboe da caccia, 96, 304-6, 338 Philharmonic pitch, 49, 50
oboe d'amore, 96-7, 303; reed, 83 retiming, 49
ocarina, 184, 324 sharp (high) pitch, 50-1
Oehlberger, 155, 340 sixteenth-century, 242
Oehler, 128, 140 standard pitch, flat pitch, 48-9
O'Loughlin, James, 165 Plagiauks, 222
Ornamentation in performance, Plaque (tongue), 82
309-10, 317 Polynesia, 185
Ottavino = piccolo ( Ital. ) Pommer, 237n., 268
Oubradous, 155 Potter, 61, 225, 294, 317
Overblowing, 37-8 Powell, 55
Overtones, 32 Praetorius, 238, 242-3, 248, 251,
Ozi, 310 256, 258, 261, 264-6
Pratten, 316, 320
Pads, 354-5; history, 241, 314 Prehistoric whistles, flutes, 173, 181
Paisible, 283 Prowse, 317
379
 INDEX
Puccini, 19, 165, 167 Reynolds, 9-S
Purcell, 7, 78, 86 Reznicek, 55
Ribas, 316, S0
Quantz, 42, 80, 9,
SOS, 309 Richardson, 316, 30
Quart-bass, quint-bass, 46, 48 Richter, 147-8, 340
r== flute; 237. Rigoutat, 108
Rimsky-Korsakov, 164
Racket, 63, 67, 97 Rings, introduction of, 31
Radcliff, 316 Ritter, 89-90
Ramra, 81, 89 Rockstro, 64, 68, 49
Ravel, 35, 5, 58, 98 Romans, 189, 198, 04, 09, 1,
Recorder, 71-5
ancient and baroque designs, 7 Rossini, 95-6, 306
consort, modern, 74 Rouget, G., 180
early history, 11, !-, 34-6 Rowsorne, Leo, 350, 35
echo device, 73 Rozhofc, 1

eighteenth-century, 75-7 Rudall Carte, 54, 59, 61, 67

fingering, 73 Rudall & Rose, 3
great bass, 43, 47 Russian woodwind, 44, 95, 11 -3
great consort, 47-8 Russian bands, 177-8
sixteenth-century, 37, 39-40, Russian bassoon, 308, 313
4,46-8
tone-projector, 75 Sachs, Curt, 174, 184, 196, 00-1,
use in orchestra, 6, 74-5 9, 40, 58, 80;*.

Reed, 31, 36 Sackbut, 33

cane, 76; gouged cane, 79 Saint-Saens, 167
double reed, origins, 190; Sardana, 114
ancient, I9, 199; oriental, Sarrus, 166
9 Sarrusophone, 130, 166-7, 337
elder, wooden, bone, quill, 89, Savage, R. Temple, 131
19O-1, 300 Savary, 335-8
free reed, 193 Sax, 99, 17, 138, 14-3, 316
gouging machine, 78 Saxophone, 14-7, 334
metal shapes: oboe, 79; bassoon, bands, in, 19, 130, 14
84 fingering, 146
plastic, 88 invention of, 14
single reed, origins, 190-1 orchestra, in, 146, 148, 63
see also Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon, sizes, 143
Shawm, Bagpipe, etc. Schalmey=Sh&wm, 37, 71 (see
Reed cap, 53, 58 also Deutsche Schalmey}
Reed-cutter, 87 Schein, 54
Reed horns, 191~ Schieder, 340
Reed instruments, 31 Schmidt, 16, 135, 140
Regulators, 351 Schonberg, 131
Renaissance, use of wind instru Schott, 31-S
ments, 31-6 Schreiber, 154
Rendall, F. G., 127, 99, 306, 33-3 Schreierpfeifen, 40-1, 58
Repairers, woodwind, 49 =
Schryari Schreierpfeifen
Repairs, 354^-6 Schubert, 333
 INDEX
Schunda, 147 Sub-contrabass clarinet, 131
Schiitz, 265 Suisse romande, Orchestra de la, 94
Schwedler, 70-1 SvHng, 187-8
Sellner, 314, 326 Sumeria, 181, 199
Selmer, 55, 108, 130-1 Surna, 229
Serpent, 307-8 Sidney, 93
SutclifFe,
Shakuhachi, 183 Swannee whistle, 35, 324
Shaw, B., 332
Swegel-horn, 223
Shawm Syrinx =panpipe
early history, 203, 211, 228-33,
235 Tabor pipe, see Pipe and tabor
285
later type,
Taffanel, 56
modern, 113-5 Tailk, 283, 303; faille d'amow, 304
sixteenth-century, 237w,, 240, Talbot, 278, 285, 290
268-72
Tambourinaires, 225;z.
see also Pirouette
Tarogato, 147
Shepherds and herdsmen, 179-80, Taylor, 282
196, 207, 22O-1, 223 Tchaikovsky, 44, 57, 66
Siccama, 320 Telemann, 296, 303
Side keys, 28
Tenora, 114-5
Sixteenth century Tenor clarinet = alto clarinet
construction of instruments, 241 Tenor oboe, 283
music played, 239-40, 256, 271
Tenoroon, 289, 337
pitch, 242
Theophrastus, 199, 201
technique (general), 242-6 Thurston, Frederick, 122, 298
Slings, 150 Tibia, 189, 198, 234; ntricularis,
Sordoni, 263, 265-7 212
Spanish woodwind, 113, 129, 165, Tinctoris, 234
167 148
Tiple, 114^-5,
'Special instruments', 27 Tonal spectra, 33
Springs, 316, 355 Tone-colour, physics of, 32-4
Squeakers, grass, 189 Tonguing
Stadler, 299 diri-diri, 42
Stamitz, K., 299 double, 41-4
Stanesby, 290 flutter, 42
Staple, 79; history, 228 single (ordinary), 39-40
Stationary wave, SO; stopped pipe, Toscanini, 153
35 Tower music, 262
Steinkopf, Otto, 262 Tracey, Hugh, 180
Stieber, 72 Transposition, 45-8; flute band,
Stock-and-horn, 223 59
Stopped pipes, 34-5, 179 Transverse flute =ordinary flute
Storto, 237 Traversa, traversitreditto 29 1 ,
;

Stotijn, 93 302, 309

Strauss, R., 66, 95, 98-100, 120, Trtebert, 92, 98, 100-1, 106, 108,
124, 126-7, 165 316, 325-9, 336
Stravinsky, 39, 46^-7, 58, 129 Trill keys, 28
Strobel, 155 Trills, ancient execution of, 244,
Stuttgart, Hofkapelk, 268 246, 311
381
 INDEX
anche Wagner, 46, 71, 99, 124, 128-9,
Trompttte de$ menestreb, 233 147-8, 162-3, 333, 339
Trumpets, primitive, 176, 283; Waits, 247, 272
oriental, 31 Wdd-hmtbds, 304-5
Tulou, 70, 317 Walking-stick instruments, 313
Turrini, G., 239 Walter, Bruno, 100
Walther, 261
Walton, Bernard, 122
Uebel, 126, 140
Uillean pipes == union pipes Walton, William, 146
Weber, 123, 140, 331, 333
Union pipes, 218, 348, 350-2; reed
90 Wendling, 289
sizes,
Whistle-flute, see Flageolet
Whitaker, 57
Vaughan Williams, 146 Whit-horn, 191, 193
Vent hole, key, 370 Whittaker, Alec, 93, 338
Ventura, 115 Willman, 316, 331-2
Verdi, 125, 129 Wlach, 123, 148
Verona Wood, D., 329
Accademia Filarmonica, 238-41 Woodwind
BibUoteca capitolare, 238-9, 242, French v . German, 94
254 history of section, 25
Vertical flute, 173, 175, 177, 18O-1, Wotton, 316, 335
198 Wunderer, 95
Vibrato, 44 (and see under instru
ments ) ; Vibration *, 318, Zacconi, 257-8
336 Zachau, 290
Vienna Zampogw, 204-8, 216, 218
KunsthistorischesMuseum, 238, Zamr=surna (Egyptian)
265, 268 Zedler, 305
Philharmonic Orchestra, 55, 95, Ziegler, 339
123, 126, 155, 340 ZM=cornett, 237n.
Vincent, 280 Zuffalo =whistle, panpipe (
Ital. )
Vivaldi,296 Zuleger, 95, 113
Vogt, 325 Zummara, 189, 196
Voicing (flageolets, etc.), 370 Zurla, 229
Vox humana, 283 Zwerchpfeife=f(Mte i

382
104 538