A bassoon-ee clown is almost always a little sad. My Harlequin’s backstory has a fondness for existentialist ‘loneliness, a falling leaf’ poetry, hoping that it will impress the fair Columbina.

Charlie Chaplin composed, charming and dramatic music for his films. He played a prince of the paupers whose frenetic movements were balletic and full of grace.

This is a Chaplinesque scene in suburban Ottawa.

Playing the clown puts us in touch with our inner child. We get to play with the coolest of toys for a job. What a joy it is creating music for and with kids.

Sometimes you have to ask for inspiration. 

“Hey, Dottore, what fancy idea should I base my bassoon quartet on?” 

“Simple Harlequin. The bassoon quartet. It is Fun Music.” 

And so this became the goal as well as the title for the quartet. The fact that the piece ends in a blues (or bloose for the double oo in bassoon 🙂 tickled my funny boone. The bloose smiles while telling us its sad story. Neither Major nor Minor. Mixolydian mode makes me moody.

The thing that clowning around the way can most teach us as respiring bassoon players is to let go and open up. To use all of our air, and to fill the bassoon with all that it wants to take, and sometimes that little bit extra ends up being the growl in our voice. Part of the sadness we show, as we more often sing than talk.

We walk, dance, and prance. Craftspeople and Artists combined. When carrying a tune, say, as a loon on a lake of soft strings, blow your horn like it is on your bike as you ride down your favourite hill.

Go with the flow. Plan lots, but if life zigs when it could have wagged (and you feel like a bird on a bumping bike), then playing with those gags as a joyous act that brightens our way, is embracing what it is to be human. This is a clown’s first and only tool. Embracing and mocking humanity.

The rest is props and masks 🙂

Ben is the Principal bassoonist of the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra, the Kingston Symphony Orchestra, a regular extra with the National Arts Centre Orchestra and is bassoonist with the Bel Canto Quintet, the Ayorama Quintet, Harmonious Pigs and the Prisme Ensemble. 

Where My Dreams Took Me

I am grateful to share with you some of my Finnish musical journey from the past few years; it’s been so formative in so many ways! I’m also glad to reconnect with the Canadian bassoon community as I have been away for some time! I have been given a world of opportunities and experiences I wouldn’t trade for anything. Learning the local language was a big part of my integration in the society and culture here;  language works a lot like music, connecting us to one another at the deepest level. [photo above…Mikko-Pekka Svala, Erkki Suomalainen, myself, Noora Van Dok]

My time playing with these orchestras definitely taught me more than I could have learned by playing solely in student orchestras! The trust Finnish orchestras give to students is incredibly motivating, giving us the push we sometimes need to raise our level beyond what we thought possible! Notable repertoire included Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique, Debussy’s La Mer, Strauss’ Symphony for Winds, Brahms Symphony No. 4, and Rachmaninov Symphony No. 2, – to name only a few. [On the left below…Jussi Särkkä, Tuukka Vihtkari, myself; centre…winds of the Turku Philharmonic; right…with conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen]

Meeting your role models.

They say you should never meet your role models, but I must admit at least in this case that I strongly disagree! As a student at the Sibelius Academy I have had the honour to play for two bassoonists I have admired for a long time, Carlo Colombo and Sophie Dervaux. Having these inspiring bassoonists and musicians by my side even for a short while gave me lots of insight into what I want to do with my music making and how I want to shape my sound and voice through my instrument. For Carlo, I played a selection of orchestral excerpts for an upcoming audition I had at the time, and with his help I reached the finals of that audition. With Sophie, I was nervous but excited to play the piece I first discovered her for performing, the famed Jolivet bassoon concerto. I soon after performed this piece on my Masters recital in spring 2022, and with her guidance was able to feel expressive and grounded during my interpretation of this monstrous work that has always been a dream of mine to play. In short, playing for and learning from my greatest inspirations has allowed me to unlock a new level of feeling comfortable and capable on the bassoon and reach new heights!

EDUCATION IS KEY

As I mentioned already, studying at the Sibelius Academy has given me many opportunities to develop my musicality and create important lifelong connections with my teachers and peers. I initially chose to study here for my year-long exchange from McGill University in my Bachelors degree, but soon after felt that my time there was not over, and I returned for a 3-year Masters program some years later. I was studying with Jussi Särkkä and Jaakko Luoma as my main teachers and also received instruction from Otto Virtanen and many guest artists, not to mention my wonderful teachers in other subjects as well. I performed my final recital in April 2022, performing Jolivet’s Bassoon concerto, Mozart’s Quintet for winds and piano in Eb-major, Gubaidulina’s Duo-sonata for two bassoons, and Corrette’s Le Phénix for four bassoons and cembalo. I graduated that same spring with my Master of Music and specialized certificate in pedagogy. [on the left…colleagues from the Sibelius Academy; centre…oboist Lucia Castillo and English Hornist Michael Lawrenson; on the right…me in recital]

MUSIC CONNECTS US

The musical community in Finland is very tight-knit and highly inclined focused on collaboration and education. For instance, the Helsinki Conservatory’s teacher extraordinaire Mikko-Pekka Svala organizes a yearly bassoon extravaganza inviting bassoonists from all around the country (and even abroad!) to join forces and play many different arrangements for various sizes of bassoon ensembles. A highlight this year was an arrangement of select movements from Mozart’s Requiem by Ashby Mayes for bassoon octet! Other highlights include performing a selection of songs by Jean Sibelius with a superstar of the classical music world, soprano Karita Mattila, as well as playing with the world-renowned Finnish a cappella group Rajaton for a Christmas concert in the quaint town of Kemi in the north of Finland last year. The close musical circles in Finland allowed me to collaborate with various artists and participate in different types of projects, inspiring me further to imagine other types of collaborations that could one day be possible…

[Photos: below left with cellist Aslihan Gençgönül and Karita Mattila; centre…a choir of eager Finnish bassoon students!; right…with Rajaton!]

EVERYTHING IS CHAMBER MUSIC

In addition to the abundant orchestral and solo experience I have gathered both within and outside of my studies, chamber music is always an important part of any musician’s life, as we know that anything can be and often should be seen as chamber music! Notably, I was happy to participate in a chamber music festival run by up-and-coming young classical musicians in Helsinki called Kamarikesä (Chamber Summer) last August, performing Barber’s Summer Music wind quintet and an arrangement of Ravel’s Tombeau de Couperin for the same ensemble. It was an enriching experience and allowed me to form more intimate bonds with my fellow colleagues and perform in one of Helsinki’s most elegant and beautiful venues, Ritarihuone (The House of Nobility). A few years ago, I also began learning to play baroque bassoon and have been studying with Jani Sunnarborg, a virtuoso period bassoonist in Europe. I attended the Kälviä baroque music camp this past summer for the second time and was able to perform pieces such as Platti’s Trio Sonata in c-minor for oboe, bassoon and continuo as well as Fasch’s Quartet for two oboes and two bassoons in F major. I hope to continue working on exciting chamber music projects in the future and also deepen my skills and knowledge on the baroque bassoon. [Below right…with oboist Nahoko Kinoshita, bassist Julius Pyrhönen, cembalist Laura Vihreäpuu]

Coming Full Circle

In May of this year, I was honoured to be invited by my high school alma mater De La Salle in Ottawa to teach a masterclass for woodwind students as part of the 40th anniversary of the school’s arts program, the Centre d’Excellence Artistique de l’Ontario. This truly felt like a full-circle moment to me as I was able to connect with the young bassoon students and help them on their musical journey, even if just for a day. I evidently saw a lot of myself in them as I was once in their very shoes, and my dear first bassoon teacher Jo Ann Simpson came to support both me and her current students, which was a treat. That day I also performed C.P.E. Bach’s Sonata in A minor for solo flute arr. for bassoon in D minor. [Photos…DLS students, with Dantes Rameau and my old teacher Jo An Simpson]

BACK TO BASICS

As I now prepare for my move to the small city of Kotka in Eastern Finland to start my first trial as co-principal bassoon in the Kymi Sinfonietta orchestra, I am reflecting on these past years and how they have shaped me as a musician and a person. I feel grateful to have had these opportunities, experiences, and adventures and am looking forward to what more lies ahead, hopefully also back in Canada. For now, I will continue my daily work at the reed desk with my favourite reed-making activity, watching tennis (if you can spot it in the picture below)… Thank you for reading.  I wish you all happy reeds and fun music making!

New Bells, Old Heckels and Covid in Calgary

My partner at home is not terribly enthusiastic about me attaining these goals, because she believes that each day I play in the orchestra makes me a little bit more deaf.  She would like me to still be able to hear her talk after I retire.  She’s not wrong, but I still am having fun playing.  I think that comes from my belief that my career really has been like winning the lottery.

I was once asked what the high and low points have been in my career. I honestly couldn’t think of any low points.

That being said, coming to work these days is not as simple as it was 41 years ago when I first started with the Calgary Philharmonic.  Back then, I would just hop on my bike, ride 10 minutes to the hall, take out my horn and start playing.  Nowadays it’s a good deal more complicated.  My days of bike riding are long gone, so I take public transit.  From my beautiful (but quite suburban house) it takes about 50 minutes to get to the hall. For a number of reasons, I have to leave quite early now – the main one being that in order to play properly, I now have to warm up and practice way more.  Even with pieces I’ve been playing my whole career.  The best way to do this is to come way early.

Also, before rehearsal starts, there are now a few finicky steps I now need to take before I start playing:

Change my glasses to ones with special lenses for reading music.  They make mid-distance stuff on a music stand crystal clear, but the sacrifice is that I cannot see objects at distance very well at all.  These objects might include conductors…

Remove the face mask I now wear everywhere outside my house. I got Covid a few months ago – I don’t want that to happen again.  It was inconvenient…

Remove my hearing aids – worn to alleviate the hearing damage I’ve acquired after sitting directly in front of the aforementioned principal trombone player for the past 41 years…

Remind the stagehands to please install a plexiglass shield behind my chair, then insert my Musician’s Earplugs to prevent more damage from aforementioned trombone player…

Insert a non-adhesive grip shelf liner on my chair (tip: a shelf liner greatly improves posture and playing position. I’ve just discovered this!  Only because it’s gripping surface completely prevents your seat strap from slipping or moving around anywhere.  They cost $1.75 at the dollar store.  A steal).

I often wonder if the secret to having a long and happy career is being a second player.  Playing second bassoon you get to play in the fun part of the instrument most of the time.  You’re important but not terribly exposed, and you still get to enjoy the music around you without the stress of the first chair. I have loved playing 2nd bassoon in this orchestra; it was the first job and will be the last job I will ever have.  It’s the life!

Playing second is an art unto itself.  I enjoy the responsibility of setting the foundation for the woodwind section’s pitch, stabilizing things by blending, and the most important part of the job – supporting my principal.

I’ve now had three principal players in my career.  All fine players with different strengths.  One was a lovely poet with the instrument, with a gorgeous sound always ripe with overtones. (Stephen Franse) He could make all the great lyrical solos sound like he had composed them himself.  Another (Chris Sales) was a technical master who could player faster and louder than any bassoon player I have ever heard.  My current principal player (Antoine St. Onge) is a splendid young man (younger than both my kids) who has a solid technique, a lovely sound, fine musicianship and perhaps the most enviable quality of all:  He is uncommonly nice. This is a quality that can make you as valuable a colleague as anyone could ever be.  It certainly makes Antoine remarkably easy to play with and a gift to me as a colleague and friend.

Antoine is also very smart.  At only 28 years of age he has already started wearing earplugs. I wish I had at his age.

He also plays a fine Bell Bassoon – #123. It is a very handsome horn with a “gentlemen’s cut” long joint and bell.  When ordering the instrument in 2012, Antoine had decided to get a thin wall instrument. (that’s what he was used to having played on a 9000 series Heckel that he had borrowed from the conservatory in Montreal) However, Antoine was surprised when he  saw in 2013, that Ben had made him a thick wall bassoon.

Apparently, Ben was familiar with Antoine’s playing and decided to make a bigger instrument thinking it would fit his playing better. After all, Ben has an incredible understanding of bassoon playing and he was right about that instrument fitting Antoine better. Since then, Antoine says it’s just been more and more joyful to discover making music with such a rich sounding instrument.

It took Antoine and me a little while to find just the right blend.  We eventually did it by being patient, listening (despite our constant earplug use…) and simply feeling things through. I think part of the challenge with this was finding common ground with the sounds of our different instruments – Antoine with his Bell and me with my Heckel.

Antoine with his Bell, and me with my 5000 have had fun times in the Calgary Phil.  From playing the most challenging of pieces to simply enjoying the everyday camaraderie that goes into the splendid life of being bassoon players.  Whether it’s a Mahler Symphony or a Jeans n’ Classics concert of Rock and Roll tunes, we always feel lucky to have jobs as splendid as ours.

Our last concert of the season was a blast where Antoine and I got to play the mysterious bassoon duets at the beginning of La Valse.  I then got to hear Antoine completely nail the tricky and nerve-wracking solo from Bolero.  Of course, he made it sound easy – his specialty with difficult solos – and very, very expressive and stylish.  On my end, I had the more subtle challenge of playing the accompanying triplets on the high G in a way that sounded hopefully just right.  Most people who have played Bolero know that this is much harder to do than it sounds.  (If nobody notices you, then you’ve done it the way Ravel intended).

As I prepare and condition myself for the final 9 years of my career before hitting season # 50, I’ll continue to stay healthy, avoid complaining, keep using my earplugs, and most of all cherish this wonderful job that seems to somehow keep me feeling young.

When I first won the audition for this job, I asked my teacher at the time (Otto Eifert in Cincinnati) what the secret was to not becoming jaded.  “Drink beer”, he said. I think I may have done a bit of that over the years, but I think the best advice is to always feel lucky, to always be a good colleague, to help others around you to thrive, and most of all to revel in every single note you play.

• Michael Hope is a CCOB Board Member who has been playing second bassoon in The Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra since 1982.