It’s been quite a year in the double reed world. Yes, those of you who are not aware of our existence, there is a thriving community of us double reed geeks. Not only are there Yahoo and Google groups dedicated to the oboe and bassoon, a number of e-mail listservs, and many businesses catering to the double reed player, both professional and amateur, best of all there is the International Double Reed Society, now in it’s 35 year. I happened to be studying with co-founder Gerald Corey at the time the IDRS started, so I’ve been a member since the beginning.

The IDRS has an annual convention, a periodical that appears three times a year (‘The Double Reed’), a website (http://idrs2.colorado.edu/home) and a forum. (http://www.doublereed.org/IDRSBBS/index.php). This past year the convention was at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana; next year the convention will be in Ithaca, New York at Ithaca College (http://idrs2007.org). There is an annual competition held each year for players under the age of 31, alternating years of oboe and bassoon, the ‘Fernand Gillet - Hugo Fox Competition’ named for the former principal oboist of the Boston Symphony, Fernand Gillet, and the former principal bassoonist of the Chicago Symphony and founder of the Fox double reed instrument factor, Hugo Fox. This year’s winner was Bence Bogányi, principal bassoonist in the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin. The newest venture of the IDRS is a podcast (http://idrs2.colorado.edu/idrspodcast/idrspodcast.html) and a videocast! (http://idrs2.colorado.edu/weblog/idrsvideocast)

The IDRS used to have a e-mail based listserv, which was phased out this past year and is now read-only. The demise of the interactive e-mail mailing list caused a huge outcry; change can be difficult and many people really had a hard time adjusting. The size of the list and the difficulty of moderating grew to be too much, there were problems with inappropriate postings and a few users had to be banned as well as a host of other problems and hard feelings. The IDRS executive board met at the convention in Indiana last July and it was decided to switch entirely to the forum that had been established about a year and a half ago. It’s been six months now since the listserv was changed to read only (some messages can come from the IDRS officers, classified ad listings and other IDRS business); the forum has 867 registered users and there’s been over 2300 postings, so although that number is less than the approximately 1500 people that had been signed onto the list, there are quite a few people using our new format and hopefully there will be more in the future. (Guests are welcome to visit!)

The IDRS has a number of Honorary Members, This year we celebrate the 90th birthday of Norman Herzberg and the 80th of K. David Van Hoesen, both of them were important teachers that I was lucky enough to be able to study with during my student years. Norman Herzberg was the long-time teacher at USC & the Music Academy of the West; his pupils are in almost every major American orchestra. He was also a prominent studio musician in the golden years of Hollywood. His father-in-law was the legendary Simon Kovar, of the NY Philharmonic and teacher of many prominent bassoonists in the mid 20th century. K. David Van Hoesen was the bassoon teacher at Eastman for many years and was also principal bassoon with the Rochester Philharmonic. My best wishes for many years to come for both of them!

There were many deaths this year in our community of prominent double reed artists, including John Mack, Felix Krauss and George Goslee of the Cleveland Orchestra, Ralph Gomberg of the Boston Symphony , James Caldwell (Oberlin conservatory) Richard White (English Horn, National Symphony), and at the very end of the year, Cynthia Steljes of Quartetto Gelato passed away at the relatively young age of 46. Now, in the first few days of the New Year, comes word of the death of legendary French oboist Pierre Pierlot.

They say deaths come in threes, and the three Cleveland Orchestra deaths have had a profound effect on me as all three of them were important to me at the end of my years of learning to play the bassoon and moving on to professional life. I studied with George Goslee at the Blossom Music Festival and at the Cleveland Institute of Music. I also did coaching and chamber music classes with both John Mack and Felix Krauss, who were very positive and encouraging influences for me at an age where I needed all the encouragement I could get!

My affection for George Goslee is more than just as a bassoon teacher; for me he was just the right person for me at the right time. He was calm, relaxed and reassuring, confident and full of stories and information that I soaked up as much as possible. Lessons with him were frequently at his home on the shore of Lake Erie, and would usually go on for several hours. He taught me so much more than bassoon skills; he really helped me prepare for life in the professional world and for that I will be forever grateful. Unfortunately, living in Hawaii and raising children on the Honolulu Symphony’s salary meant not being able to travel frequently so after I graduated I only saw him a few more times, but we did correspond from time to time including the ubiquitous annual holiday card. Now that he’s gone I regret not having the opportunity to see him more often than I did, but in may ways, even though my time with him was brief in contrast to the many years I’ve been here in Hawaii, he is with me still every day when I go to the orchestra and ply my trade. He told me that he loved his job because he got to do what he wanted to do most and got paid for it too, that music was a wonderful profession, and I believed him. Even in the darkest days of the cuts and layoffs here in Honolulu I was able to remember his optimistic attitude and that helped me cope immensely. He was lucky in death, too, remaining healthy and cogent until the massive stroke that felled him struck; he never really regained consciousness until his death a few days later with his family by his side. I’m glad that his end came in that way instead of a long, slow decline.

He lead a charmed life, playing principal bassoon briefly with the Philadelphia Orchestra but mostly with The Cleveland Orchestra from the early 1940’s through the ‘80’s, during the tenures of Leinsdorf, Szell, Maazel and von Dohnanyi. What a career! The full obituary can be found here-

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/ba...618091450.xml&coll=2

He will be missed not only by me but by many in the bassoon, double reed and orchestral communities. My condolences go to his wife, Nancy, and to his family , four children and four grandchildren, ranging in age from 33 to 4.


(Note- here is a link to an article on Polyphonic.org that lists many other deaths in 2006)

http://www.polyphonic.org/article.php?id=104&page=1

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Paul Barrett,