EP3398190B1

EP3398190B1 - Bocal of a bassoon

Info

Publication number: EP3398190B1
Application number: EP15832970.6A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Anton TROFIMOV; Özge USTA
Original assignee: Yasar Universitesi
Current assignee: Yasar Universitesi
Priority date: 2015-12-30
Filing date: 2015-12-30
Publication date: 2023-03-22
Anticipated expiration: 2035-12-30
Also published as: EP3398190A1; WO2017116327A1

Description

FIELD OF INVENTION

This invention is about the improvement of a specific part called "bocal" of the musical instrument called "bassoon".
Currently, four different bocals are used during the tuning of bassoons. The invention subject to the written description on the other hand, suggests the usage of only one bocal and a new adjustment apparatus that is connected to the bocal physically instead of using four different bocals. The tuning process will be completed without disjoining and rejoining the parts of the musical instrument.
The invention is mainly on the innovation that allows tuning without disjoining and rejoining the parts of the bassoon with the help of a single bocal and a connecting adjustment apparatus instead of four different bocals and thus facilitating the tuning process.

PRIOR TECHNIQUE

Music, in its widest description is giving the sounds a certain form with meaningful vibrations. It is the art of reciting certain thoughts and emotions by harmonic sounds and within certain rules. In other words, music is a form of art in which the sound and the silence are expressed in a pre-determined time interval. It is the one and only language that everyone understands and all is able to comprehend. Music is a field of art that directly addresses to the emotions without discriminating on language or race.
Music is composed of four main elements: pitch, intensity, duration and timbre. The pitch expresses how "low" or "high" a voice is. "High pitched" means the voice is highest pitch. "Low pitched" describes a bass sound. Each musical note has a different pitch. Same notes may also express different pitches depending on the octave they are in. The acoustic unit of the pitch is frequency.
Intensity describes the strength of a voice and is also called "nuance". The acoustic unit of intensity is decibel.
Duration is the amount of time in which the sound continues. This notion is expressed by the times of 2 (whole, half, quarter and eighth). The dots put next to these values elongates the duration for one half of its initial value.
Timbre implies the color of the voice. For instance, the difference between a violin and a flute playing the same note from the same octave, with the same intensity and for the same duration is due to the timbre difference. This element is the most complex among the other four elements. Timbre varies acoustically depending on the harmonic structure of the sound.
Due to the unlimited variations of the elements that form music, up until today, various musical instruments have been developed and used. There are cultural and historical differences among musical instruments. Bassoon is a wind instrument made of wood and has a very important place in today's western world, especially in orchestras. This instrument is derived from "Curtal" which is a single pieced instrument with double reed, encountered in Europe of 16th century. Sound interval of bassoon is 3.5 octave and it is made of maple wood and metal joints. Bassoon is the developed version of a member folded in two and carved as a cone. Normal length of a bassoon is 1.3 meters; however this reaches 2.5 meters when the joints are opened.
It is composed of 4 pieces joint together:

1. Bell Joint
2. Boot Joint (Double joint)
3. Bass Joint (Long Joint)
4. Tenor Joint

Bassoon has three resonance ranges:

1. Bass sound range: This covers the range that exists between the most bass note B flat of an octave to the octave above. It has a dark, full and rich timbre. It is extremely difficult to play low sounds within the five most bass intervals.
2. Middle sound range: This covers the range that exists between the C of the second staff and the C on the additional staff in the octave above. These sounds have a faint, dry, soft and solemn timbre and resembles to a baritone human voice in linked passages.
3. High-pitched sound range: This covers the range that exists between the D on the first additional staff and all the other higher pitched sounds. The sounds intensify as their pitch gets high. The highest pitch may be disturbing.

Bassoon, besides being used solo in the orchestras, is also used together with clarinet to create bass sounds or with cello to strengthen the sounds of wind instruments. Therefore a need for different tones occurs in bassoon, depending on the changes of tones of the piece and the spaciousness and the acoustic properties of the place of performance. Bocal, attached to the main body of the instrument, is used to answer this need. Different sound tones can be produced with different types of bocals. Different bocals have to be used regarding the different factors mentioned above in order for the performer to catch the desired tone and tuning. This change is mostly required to be done on the stage, during performance of the piece.
In order not to change the bocal during the performance, the artists search for different solutions such as changing bocal or "the reed" that is attached to the bocal and touches the lips or changing their finger positions by trial and error. However, none of these methods give a safe and definite result and cannot guarantee the right tone of sound. For this reason, the most efficient method to overcome this obstacle of fine-tuning is to change the bocal. In the previous technique, to solve this problem, 4 different bocals were used in bassoon that can be listed as 0 (highest pitch), 1 (middle pitch), 2 (bass) and 3 (most bass).
Although the method of changing the bocal is the most certain solution applied on the intonation problem; it also brings out some difficulties. These universal difficulties may be listed as the stress that the performer goes through due to pausing during the performance to change the member thus disconnecting himself from the integrity of the piece and also not being able to follow the notes further. In addition to these, since bassoon can only be played on a single tone of a bocal; changing the bocal is obligatory for the tuning process. This process decreases the dominance of the performer on the instrument. It is estimated that the main reason for the bassoon not being preferred to be played solo is the tuning problem. To summarize, the problems encountered due to the obligatory change of bocal are listed below:

There occurs a decrease in the dominance of the performer on the piece and in the quality of performance due to the only tuning process possible that requires changing the bocal,
The change of bocal depends on other factors such as the changes in the tone of the piece itself, the tones of other instruments played along the bassoon and the acoustic of the place of performance,
Performer needs to pause the piece to change the bocal and this distracts him.

Although there have been studies conducted to increase the sound quality and to facilitate the usage of bassoon in prior techniques, there is not even a single study on resolving the problems explained above. It is known from the patent US3094032 published in 1963, the body of the bassoon was manufactured with plastic material by using a plastic injection method thus creating an adjustment sledge attached to the bassoon functioning easily with the friction force. The manual of this sledge also points out that there is no need for a rigging screw.
Owing to the patent DE 202006003643 published in 2006 , the technical difficulties that children encountered while playing normal bassoons have been eliminated. It was found that children under 8 years old had difficulties in the usage of bassoon due to their anatomy. For this reason, the bocal was developed to make it possible for the children to grab the bassoon easily while playing it.
This invention presented in this written description allows fine-tuning of the bassoon during the performance of the piece thus eliminating the intonation problem. Thanks to this new bocal system, the performer will be able to have all toning levels from 0 (highest pitch), 1 (middle pitch), 2 (bass) to 3 (most bass) with a single bocal.
To conclude, in order to eliminate the unfavorable situations mentioned above, the current system needs to be restructured. Therefore innovations have been made in the system of tuning and toning of the bassoon.
WO 03012773 A1 discloses a bassoon comprising a bocal, a reed, an adjustment member placed between the bocal and the reed and which can be moved back and forth for tuning, wherein a first end of the adjustment member is connected to the bocal and a second end of the adjustment member is connected to the reed, and a fixing element for fixing the position of the adjustment member within the bocal when the right and appropriate position is found.

OBJECTIVES OF THE INVENTION

This invention is about the new generation of bassoons that answers the needs mentioned above, eliminates all the disadvantages and brings in new advantages. Prior purpose of the invention is to shorten the time and decrease the effort needed for the tuning process and also to realize the harmony of the tonality.
Second purpose of the invention is to prevent the artist from distraction caused by the necessity of the current technique to pause the piece in order to change the bocal. Another purpose can be explained as encouraging the solo use of bassoon by eliminating the bocal changing process carried out to reach tonality and right tuning in the current technique.
The last objective of the invention is to decreasing the number of bocals thus decreasing the number of pieces of bassoon and resolving the problems caused by disjoining and rejoining the instrument.
To implement all the advantages mentioned above and which will be explained in much detail below, the single bocal bassoon contains:

Bocal
Adjustment member (apparatus),
Clamping ring.

The structural and characteristic features of the invention will be clarified below with the help of the figures and the detailed explanations thereof. This is why the evaluation needs to be performed having regard to these figures and detailed explanations.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order to effectively comprehend the structure, the additional elements and the advantages of this invention, it has to be evaluated having regard to the given explanations and figures.

Figure 1 :: A disjoint depiction of the bassoon that has the invented bocal and adjustment member.
Figure 2 :: A figure showing the position of the adjustment member at its maximum depth in the bocal of the bassoon that has the invented bocal and adjustment member. Any musical note played at this position of the bassoon will be high-pitched.
Figure 3 :: A figure depicting the position of the adjustment member at the first possible hole that it can be fixed in along the bocal of the bassoon that has the invented bocal and adjustment member. Any musical note played at this position of the bassoon will be bass.
Figure 4 :: An illustration of the mounting process of the bassoon that has the invented bocal and adjustment member.
Figure 5 :: An illustration showing the internal structure of the bocal and the cone on the outside of the adjustment member of the previous technique. The adjustment member is attached and fixed onto the bocal with this conical structure. The angle α shows the draft angle.
Figure 6 :: An illustration of the conical surfaces of newly designed bocal and adjustment member. The angle β refers to the draft angle and has a different value from the angle α.

REFERENCE NUMBERS

1.: Single Bocal Bassoon
2.: Bocal
3.: Adjustment Member
4.: Reed
5.: Butterfly screw
6.: Tenor
7.: Connecting lever between Tenor and Bocal

DETAILED EXPLANATION OF THE INVENTION

This section explains the single bocal bassoon (1) and its preferred structures in order to clarify the topic. The small future changes on these figures shall not be considered to have a restrictive effect on the idea that this invention was established upon.
This invention aims to solve the problems of intonation of the musical instrument named "bassoon". In many musical instruments tone harmony is established by the tuning process. However, tuning may occur as a major problem in wind instruments. Technically, this invention eliminates all the problems encountered during the process of tuning and tone harmonization in bassoons.
In the current technique, four bocals (2) are used for each bassoon and each of these members creates another sound tone. Therefore different bocals have to be attached to the bassoon for tuning and tone adjustments. In the current technique bocal is attached to the tenor joint (6) with a tenor connecting lever (7). Tenor joint is connected to the u-shaped boot joint with the bass (long) joint. In a bocal bassoon, the reed (4) is attached to an adjustment member. In the current method, the bocal and the reed are connected to each other by installing the conical surfaces (surfaces shown with the angle α) as depicted in the Figure 5. With the adjustment member of this invention, four bocals that exist in the current technique are excluded. The tuning and the tone adjustments will be done by changing the position of the adjustment member (3) within the bocal.
Instead of the conical locking system, a butterfly screw (5) or another type of screw will be used to fix the position of the adjustment member within the bocal. This is why another bocal with a draft angle β has been manufactured. It is obvious that angle β will be different from angle α. As illustrated in the Figure 2, when the adjustment member reaches its maximum depth in the bocal, the notes played with a single bocal bassoon will be at a high pitch. The Figure 3 on the other hand, depicts the position in which the adjustment member is at its minimum depth in the bocal. Therefore in this position the notes played with a single bocal bassoon will be bass. Tuning and tone adjustments between these two positions (Figure 2 and 3) will be carried out easily. Single bocal bassoon will be ready to use as soon as the appropriate position is found and the adjustment member is easily fixed on the bocal with the help of a butterfly screw.

Claims

A bassoon comprising
a bocal (2),

a reed (4),

an adjustment member (3) placed between the bocal (2) and the reed (4) and which can be moved back and forth for tuning, wherein a first end of the adjustment member (3) is connected to the bocal (2) and a second end of the adjustment member (3) is connected to the reed (4), and

a screw (5), more particularly at least one butterfly screw, or a clamping ring, for fixing the position of the adjustment member (3) within the bocal (2) when the right and appropriate position is found

characterized in that the outer surface of the first end of the adjustment member and the corresponding inner surface of end of the bocal are tapered (β) in such a way that the adjustment member (3) can be placed into the bocal (2).
A bassoon (1) according to Claim 1 wherein the second end of the adjustment member (3) is a cone-shaped surface.
A bassoon (1) according to Claim 1 wherein the outer surface of the first end of the adjustment member (3) and the corresponding inner surface end of bocal (2) are tapered with same angle (β).