Design in My Hands

It is easy to go through life without realizing that all things man-made are designed. The extent to which these objects are carefully crafted and thought through is not always similar, but none-the-less, they were designed by their creator.

During symphony rehearsal last Thursday, I had a long break between two pieces where I found myself sitting and noting different architectural features in the music building and peoples expressions as they performed. Scanning around my eyes landed on the bassoon that was sitting in my lap. Although I know exactly what my bassoon looks like, I had never really taken the time to appreciate it's long tradition of crafted technique. I never cared about the way the upper joint bulges elegantly without any flaws or the way that the dark polished maple wood juxtaposes against the shiny polished silver.

It's not just the instrument that expresses years of thoughtful creation; even the small 2.5" long reeds (or mouth-pieces) are works of elaborate design in themselves. Made from dried cane, bassoon reed-makers spend hours,

days, even months putting together just one single reed. They use machines to notch, cut, wet, dry, etc. The cane is wrapped with twine in a specific pattern passed down through generations, then painted with urethane or clear nail polish, finally only able to be tested out!

After all this preparation, a reed is hardly complete, now it is the performers job to take the role of the designer and shape the reed with knives and sanding equipment. Some days the reed will need to be shaped several times, and some days it will be fine with no tune-ups needed.