My arrangement of Claude Debussy’s “Syrinx” is now available at trevcomusic.com This is great piece to add to a recital, and is flattering for bassoon and contrabassoon ..read more

Ive had to ship a few contrabassoons for trials, or for repair; and making a sturdy shipping box is essential. If you do a good job making a shipping box, it will last for the entire time you have the instrument, and you will not be at the mercy of the postal service’s packing job. This is for a Wolf Kronwalt contrabassoon which is compact compared to other contra cases, so you might buy a little more material than what I used here. I used 7 pieces of 1” thick 2’x2′ foam board, this is used for wall insulation. 2 heavy duty large double corregated cardboard boxes. The cardboard dimensions don ..read more

After a year+ hiatus I am back making reeds for people. I have narrowed down what I’m offering too include bassoon reeds, contrabassoon reeds, and contraforte reeds. Keeping it simple is going to make it a more efficient use of time for me. If you are interested in custom contra shapes, message me and I can make something custom for you. Currently shipping is limited to the USA kingbassoonreeds.com ..read more

I went to Kronach, Germany to visit the Wolf workshop. It was on a day off between operas at the Wagner Ring festival in Bayreuth which is about a 40 minute drive away. I had made an appointment with Peter a few weeks prior and he was very nice to give so much of his time to talk to me and show the instruments. He had brought the Kronwalt and Contraforte for people to try at IDRS in Boulder, CO this year but I wasnt able to attend. Here are Contrafortes #75 & 76. It was interesting to learn that it has become industry standard that the workers who fabricate the keywork work almost entire ..read more

sundowning-iiDownload Sundowning II by Lily Chen was written for Keyed Kontraptions in 2018. She based the subject matter on her own personal experience with her grandmother, and the changes that occured with her dimentia. Here is an excerpt from the forward of the piece: “Sundowning is a neurological phenomenon most commonly seen in sufferers of Alzheimer’s disease. Patients with sundowning usually begin to show behavioral problems after the sun sets. Sometimes they get agitated, restless, or even aggressive; sometimes they suffer from auditory hallucination, illusion, or even delusional dis ..read more

My wind quintet, Avenue winds performed a recorded concert at the San Francisco Center for New Music last month. This was a project that was scheduled for the begining of 2020 and due to the pandemic has been delayed for a year and a half. So we were happy that this project came together! Filmed by Zach Miley Program ADRIENNE ALBERT — Sam’s Dance JOHN BILOTTA — First Light I’LANA COTTON — The Light of Darkness BRIAN FIELD — Five, Four by Four ANDREW ROBINSON — Three Studies for Wind Quintet, #3 ROBERT STINE — Three Pieces for Wind Quintet, II. Andante DAVIDE VEROTTA — Sonata Breve for Wind Qu ..read more

I bought the Maartin Vonk Dutch Leg Stand. I had wanted to try it for years (my high school teacher had one) and I finally found one. They had been out of stock everywhere for a while but now Hodge Products has them for sale. This version is different from the ones I had seen before, the baseplate that rests on your leg is anodized black and the bar that supports it now has preset notches for the adjustment screw to slot into. The strap that holds the support onto the bassoon is made of steel and I initially thought that I would be able to install this myself, but I have nothing at the house ..read more

Heckel Contrabassoon #449 is up for sale at Aria Double Reeds. It has a low C bell and a metal low A bell ..read more

Here is my arrangement of Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings. I used Kristian Oma Rønnes Expanded Bassoon Register fingering chart to play the high register in the first bassoon part. I would highly recommend checking it out! Below is a PDF of the arrangement. Adagio for Bassoons PDF ..read more

I was looking to try a Takeda Bassoon, which has been hard to locate in the USA. In my searching I looked through the Takeda website and I saw that they have developed a new wing joint which is touted to improved air flow and pitch. Their new system switches front tone holes 2 & 3 and makes them point up the bore. This ends the tone holes in a stretch too wide for a natural finger spread and so keys have been added. Whenever I play on a bassoon that has the left hand third finger tone hole key added I notice a big improvement in my technique. So I would be curious to see what adding two ..read more