Bassoon Question(s)

[JSngry]

Searched in vain for a YouTube clip of it, and if I knew the repertoire better (or at all..) I'd probably be able find this information myself, but anyway...

On Season 2 of Mission Impossible, there's a part in the "dossier" scene (right when the "selections" have been made and the IMF folder tossed on to of the stack) where the bassoon plays a theme that involves two (?) notes that sound like they're the result of overblowing to get a harmonic. The effect is, to me that of a "choking" sound...not unpleasant at all, just very ear-catching and impactful.

My questions are:

1. Is there a specific name for this technique? If so, what is it called?
2. How is it scored, i.e. - indicated on the part?
3. What are some examples of this technique being put to use in non-soundtrack music?

I was thinking there was something like it on Sketches Of Spain, on "Saeta", but no...although on the intro to "Solea" Miles plays something that produces a similar effect.

Anyway, thanks in advance for any light to be shed.

[Alexander Hawkins]

Not quite answering the question, but my two favourite improvising bassoonists are Mick Beck and Sara Schoenbeck - both incredible with all this extended technique stuff.

Here's a clip of Mick with the great Phil Minton:

...he's a great guy, and they made a nice film about him recently:

Sara is on a tonne of great stuff. She's amazing in the Braxton ensembles. There's also a really nice trio record with Taylor Ho Bynum and Joe Morris (here's a live clip of the group:

). She's also part of Wayne Horvitz's totally brilliant Gravitas Quartet...not to mention Harris Eisenstadt's incredible Golden State (with Nicole Mitchell and Mark Dresser):

Oh and I forgot to mention Katie Young!!!

[MomsMobley]

[JSngry]

Thanks for those clips..such an expressive instrument, and such a bear to play!

Unfortunately, none of them have the specific effect I'm wondering abut...I did find this clip from MI, it occurs twice in the passage beginning @ 3:36. I think it's just basic overblowing, but...I'm not a bassoonist at all (have tinkered with one years ago, but for just a few months), so maybe it's something else.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caKdYMIjYYQ

Anybody willing to ask any bassonists they might know? I don't really know any myself.

[jeffcrom]

Thanks for those clips..such an expressive instrument, and such a bear to play!

Unfortunately, none of them have the specific effect I' wondering aobut...I did find this clip from MI, it occurs twice in the passage beginning @ 3:36. I think it's just basic overblowing, but...I'm not a bassoonist at all (have tinkered with one years ago, but for just a few months), so maybe it's something else.

http://files1.coloribus.com/files/adsarchive/part_177/1776505/file/haagen-dazs-caramel-small-29031.jpg

Anybody willing to ask any bassonists they might know? I don't really know any myself.

I played bassoon for a few years in high school/college, and I've been curious to hear what you're talking about, to see if I know what's going on. But your link just leads to a picture.

[JSngry]

Well, crap, that was the wrong link, wasn't it. Fixed it. Would be curious to hear what you've got to say.

[jeffcrom]

Okay, I don't think that any particular effect was intended here. I just think that it's an extremely high note, and in this register, all the notes are overblown/harmonics.

I haven't played bassoon in years, so maybe I'm wrong - but that's what I think. A "better" bassoonist might have been able to minimize the difference in timbre between that note the the surrounding ones - or maybe the player emphasized the difference because it sounded cool.

[JSngry]

Okay, I don't think that any particular effect was intended here. I just think that it's an extremely high note, and in this register, all the notes are overblown/harmonics.

I haven't played bassoon in years, so maybe I'm wrong - but that's what I think. A "better" bassoonist might have been able to minimize the difference in timbre between that note the the surrounding ones - or maybe the player emphasized the difference because it sounded cool.

Ok, thanks for that insight! I only spent a summer playing one in high school (great way to spend an adolescent summer break..shedding a freakin' basson for no other reason than the sheer fun of it), and then again in woodwinds class in college. Until I got a semi-grip on the double reed thing, all of my notes sounded like that. After I got a semi-grip on the double reed thing...only many of them sounded like that.

If it's not a known, specific effect, then I'd go with the latter notion...listening to all the scores (or pieces of music put together for each episode), there's nothing else that gets played that has any indication of "struggle" to it...anything but...some TV shows you can hear that folks were doing the classic read it and take it, things betray themselves too often, but the MI scores are always nailed.

Still, I wonder if it originated as a goof and Schiffrin (who I think conducted this cue, not sure, but it gets used a lot, an d it's in line with his other known cues) just said, hey, that's cool, leave that in there. Because hte first time I heard...it got my attention, if you know what I mean, definitely a WTF! moment, pause, rewind, did I just hear that?

Speaking of the MI score...the theme known as "The Plot" could easily be played as something from one of those early 70s Elvin bands. Easily.

[jeffcrom]

Off topic, but here's the story of my last bassoon performance. I was a junior at the University of Georgia, and hadn't played bassoon for a couple of years. The UGA big band was on the way back to the school from a concert tour. We had an upcoming concert with a guest trumpeter, and our pianist, Steve Dancz (still active and excellent), decided that he wanted to write a complex extended piece to feature the trumpeter. He walked through the bus, asking all the saxophonists what their doubles were. I said, "Clarinet, but I used to play bassoon." Steve got very excited, and a few weeks later presented me with the handwritten manuscript of my part. It featured a long, very exposed, and very difficult bassoon solo. It was harder than anything I had ever played, and went higher than I had ever played. After building to an extremely high point, the solo slowly descended to end on a low D, near the bottom of the bassoon's range.

I broke into a sweat, but borrowed a bassoon, bought some reeds, broke out a fingering chart, and hit the practice rooms. It took me weeks of practice, but I finally was able to play it. At the concert, everything stopped for the unaccompanied beginning of my solo. It sounded pretty good, and I played all the high notes perfectly. I played the descending passage, landed on the low D - which sounded fine for about two seconds, then turned into the most horrendous squawk possible on the instrument.

So close!

I just realized that that was the last note I ever played on bassoon. Damn!

[Teasing the Korean]

Off topic, but I loves me some Lalo Schifrin! I think I may have about 40 or so albums, either under his own name, soundtracks, and arranging for others, especially Dizzy.