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Sound Characterization of a New Experimental

Bassoon: the Bassoforte
Timo Grothe
Erich Thienhaus Institut, Hochschule fr Musik Detmold
Detmold, Germany

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ased on an idea of Guntram Wolf, an interdisciplinary

team of musical instrument makers, engineers,
and musicians developed a new bassoon. The first
fully playable prototype of the new instrumentcalled the
Bassofortehas been tested at the Hochschule fr Musik
Detmold, where the present author carried out a series of
acoustical measurements to characterize the Bassoforte in
comparison to the modern German bassoon.
In 2009, Guntram Wolf came up with the idea to develop
a wind band bassoon. Adopting design principles Wolf along
with Benedikt Eppelsheim of Munich had already successfully brought into practice with the Contraforte and more
recently the Lupophon, this series of modern double-reed
instruments should now be completed with the Bassoforte.
The development of this new bassoon-like instrument was
accompanied by an interdisciplinary research initiative at the
Technische Universtitt Dresden, where the present author
had at that time worked on double-reed research during
his PhD under the supervision of Prof. Roger Grundmann.
The practical development process of the new instrument as well as some of the modern German bassoons
peculiar acoustical properties (including air column and
tone hole concept) that have inspired the Bassofortes design
have already been reported in German in Rohrblatt and in
English in Double Reed News (British Double Reed Society).1
This article presents a comparison of the sounds of the
bassoon and the Bassoforte using the first fully playable
prototype of the new instrument.

Specifications of the Bassoforte

So that the reader may better understand and interpret the
measurement results, a short overview of the Bassoforte
will be given here, along with some of the objectives that
led to its invention.
At the heart of the development of the Bassoforte was
Guntram Wolfs wish to make an instrument for bassoonists
to play in a wind band. To compete with the brass instruments, it should play louder and have a clearer sound color
than the modern bassoon. The new instrument should

Figure 1a. The

Bassoforte (r) next
to a modern German
bassoon.

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SOUND CHARACTERIZATION OF A NEW EXPERIMENTAL BASSOON: THE BASSOFORTE

provide an even and stable tuning through a logical

fingering system. (After all, the instrument should still
be intuitive for bassoonists to play.) And, the instrument should preserve the typical double reed sound.
As it became obvious that achieving a greater dynamic
range and clearer sound required a drastic redesign of
the bore and tone-hole concept, a larger objective arose:
to design a new air column that overcomes some of the
intonation troubles inherent in the modern Heckel/
Almenrder concept.
After many tone hole calculations and recalculations,
laboratory measurements on simple mock-ups, and
development of manufacturing strategies and special
tooling, the initial ideas came to fruition in this first
version of the Bassoforte.
Widening the conical bore created a greater dynamic
range and tonal volume (the Bassoforte has a taper of
1/56 compared to the 1/70 typical for bassoons). The bore
was elongated, extending the bass range by a semitone to
Figure 1b. Reeds for bassoon (l)
A1. Manufactured of maple, this first version Bassoforte
and Bassoforte (r).
is considerably heavier than the bassoon and so comes
with a spike to rest on the floor for convenient playing.
The tone holes are short and wide and fully operated by keys. This helped in making a
more ergonomically convenient keywork. As shown in Figure 2, the positions of the fingers
are identical to what would be used on the bassoon. However, the Bassoforte has four additional keys (marked by bold characters in the following picture):
E f : No fork fingering is needed for E f3. The E f key operates an E f hole.
A: The B f1 hole is closed by the little finger of the left hand, to play the lowest
A1 (all holes closed).
o (octave key): Contrary to the bassoon, the Bassofortes piano hole (whisper key)
is closed by default. To overblow the octave, press this octave key to open the
piano hole. The additional action of the right hand for notes higher than C4 is
obsolete (Cs4F4 are fingered like Cs3F3 with additionally pressed octave
key).
f (flageolet key): This key opens the flageolet hole on the bocal, some centimeters
downstream of the reed which facilitates overblowing to the twelfth (Fs4-C5 is
fingered like B3-F4, using the flageolet key instead of the octave key).
The Bassofortes fingering system is different but logical, requiring less finger action in the
right hand for the overblown notes. It overcomes the need for the many odd helper fingerings
that are needed on a German bassoon to establish proper intonation.2

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99

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Figure 2. The Keywork of the Bassoforte. The four extra keys are marked
with bold characters (Ef, A, o, f).

Scientific Study
The completion of the fully playable prototype enabled the following comparative in vivo study.
Acoustical Measurements
Four different measurement methods were applied to both the bassoon and the Bassoforte:
1) Measurement of acoustic input impedance to determine the air column resonances
2) Calibrated sound pressure measurements of single notes in a reverberant chamber
to determine the upper dynamical limit
3) Measurements with an acoustic camera in a concert hall.
4) Studio recordings of music to investigate sound color by means of spectral
characteristics.

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SOUND CHARACTERIZATION OF A NEW EXPERIMENTAL BASSOON: THE BASSOFORTE

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Figure 3. Acoustic impedance curves of four notesB f1 (f0= 59 Hz), B f2 (f0= 117 Hz), F3 (f0=175
Hz), and B f3 (f0= 235 Hz)for bassoon and Bassoforte. The curves are shifted vertically for
better readability of the plot. Vertical black lines mark the partials of the sounded note.

1) Air column resonances

Although the player influences the sound to a large extent by his reed design, embouchure,
and blowing technique, the intonation properties and the generic sound color of reed wind
instruments are determined by their air column.
Acoustic impedance is the ratio of pressure to acoustic volume flow. It is a local quantity
that, in a pressure antinode of a standing wave, has a maximum because the acoustic volume
flow in the denominator becomes very small. When measuring the acoustic impedance at
the input end of wind instrument resonators, observed peaks in the impedance spectrum
indicate air column resonance frequencies. Near these peak frequencies, vibrations of the
air column are initiated easily because only a very small volume flow amplitude is needed
to establish the pressure standing wave.
The input impedance spectrum is the acoustical fingerprint of the resonator. It is a very
convenient and reliable measure as it can be measured without reed and musician.
Figure 3 shows the acoustic impedance spectra of some corresponding fingerings on
bassoon and Bassoforte. (To produce these plots, the measured impedance curves have been
corrected for reed mouthpiece equivalent volumes; 1.8 cm3 for the bassoon and 3.4 cm3 for
the Bassoforte.) The vertical black lines mark the fundamental frequency and its integer
multiples of the note corresponding to this fingering. It is observed that the first peak of the
Bassoforte accurately matches the fundamental frequency.
Furthermore, due to the greater regularity in its tone-hole grid, the Bassofortes higher
impedance peaks align slightly better to integer multiples of the fundamental. This is an
indication of greater tuning stability.

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As mentioned above, the impedance curve excludes the effect of the musician, and so
the interpretation of these curves is somewhat vague. However, a general and meaningful
difference is clearly observed: the cut-off frequency, which is the threshold above which
sound waves propagate in the air column, is shifted. The cut-off is indicated in the impedance
curves by the occurrence of smaller, irregular peaks. For the bassoon curves shown in Figure
3, the cut-off is found around 500 Hz whereas at the same point the Bassofortes impedance
peaks are still well aligned. This aspect will be further discussed later on.

Bf1

Bf2

F3

Bf3

88.9

93.7

95.1

96.1

Sound pressure
level [in dB(A)]

bassoon
Bassoforte

92.6

92.6

95.2

97.7

Loudness
(in Sone)

bassoon

68.7

78.2

87.3

92.3

Bassoforte

75.7

82.0

97.7

106.1

Table 1. Sound pressure level and loudness of bassoon and Bassoforte notes played in a reverberation chamber

But as the sound of the Bassoforte has much more energy in the higher overtones, it
appears to be significantly louder to our ears. This is reflected in the results for the loudness
(see Loudness in Table 1). Loudness is a psychoacoustic measure that takes the frequency
dependent sensitivity of the ear into account when quantifying perceived dynamic level. It
is measured on the Sone scale, with a doubling in Sones expressing a doubling in loudness
perceived. (This relationship is different in the logarithmic Decibel scale used for A-weighted
sound pressure levels).

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2) Reverberation chamber measurements

To measure the dynamics and sound of the instrument, it is necessary to consider not just
the resonator but the full systemto measure the sound pressure created by the reed
and player in their surrounding acoustic. This then brings up the question of the optimal
microphone position for comparable recording of both instruments.
Generally, the bassoon has a complex radiation pattern, due to the distribution of tone
holes across the long and slim instrument body. The Bassofortes radiation pattern may be
different, since the tone holes are shifted and pads are hanging above all of them. To create
a measurement configuration insensitive to differences in radiation characteristics, we
decided to measure both instruments while they were played in a reverberation chamber.
In such a roomwith oblique, sound-reflecting wallsa diffuse sound field develops. This
means that the air particles are moving randomly without dedicated directions. Therefore,
given a stationary sound excitation, at every position in this room the sound pressure will
be the same. Furthermore, the sound power will be proportional to the square of the sound
pressure.
As we were interested in comparing the sounds of the bassoon and Bassoforte in terms
of their overtone content and measuring the upper dynamic limits of both instruments, the
reverberation chamber at the Erich-Thienhaus Institut of Hochschule fr Musik Detmold
provided an ideal measurement environment. The measurement system was not very convenient
for the player, however, as he was advised to play as loud as he could on both instruments.
Averaging many repetitions of the same note, played and recorded at several positions in the
room with calibrated measurement microphones, we found that the integral sound power
radiated from both instruments is about the same (see Sound pressure level in Table 1).

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SOUND CHARACTERIZATION OF A NEW EXPERIMENTAL BASSOON: THE BASSOFORTE

Figure 4. Sound spectra of four notesB f1 (f0= 59 Hz), B f2 (f0= 117 Hz), F3 (f0=175 Hz), and B f3
(f0= 235 Hz)played on bassoon and Bassoforte. The curves are shifted vertically for better
readability of the plot.

The sound spectra measured in the reverberation room are shown in Figure 4, where
we can observe that the spectral envelope over the peaks (which characterize the strength
of the overtones) is about the same in the frequencies up to 1 kHz. However, the overtones
in the Bassoforte between 2 and 4 kHz are significantly enhanced as compared to those of
the bassoon.
3) Acoustic camera measurements
For musicians, a much more common surrounding than the reverberation chamber is a
concert hall.
We asked our musician to repeat the experiment in the large concert hall at the Hochschule
fr Musik Detmold. To measure and visualize the sound radiated from the bassoon, we used
an acoustic camera.
An acoustic camera is a two-dimensional array of microphones (we used the system
Noise Inspector by CAE, Gtersloh, Germany, with forty digital MEMS microphones). The
differences in time of flight and in the pressures at the nodes of this array allow for an estimation of the locus of the sound source. The distribution of sound power in a plane parallel
to the array, typically at the same distance as the sound source, can then be calculated. In
the center of the array is a camera, and to its optical image the acoustical image from the
microphone analysis can be overlaid in real time. This allows an intuitive and demonstrative
inspection of the sound field (see the snapshot shown in Figure 5). The frequency range of
the microphone analysis was here adjusted to between 2 and 4 kHz. These visualized sound
measurements confirmed the large dynamical difference between bassoon and Bassoforte
in this frequency band as observed in the previous experiment. Despite the differences
between bassoon and Bassoforte in terms of tone-hole design, their locations relative to the

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103

Figure 5. Snapshot of acoustic camera recordings of the note D2 (f0 = 73.9 Hz) played on
bassoon (right) and Bassoforte (left) in the concert hall of Hochschule fr Musik Detmold. The
distance between camera and musician is 2.7m, the analyzed frequency band is 2-4 kHz. The
colors display sound pressure levels according to the color bar below the image (in dB SPL).

4) Studio recordings
To compare the sound color of both instruments in more detail, we asked another musician to
play both instruments in a recording studio. Five studio microphones were set up at various
distances from the players position by a professional sound engineer in the recording studio
of Hochschule fr Musik Dresden. To get comparable sound files, the musician was sitting
and trying to keep both instruments in the same position relative to the microphones. In
contrast to the previous single note measurements, we now asked the musician to play a
short piece of his choice.
In the subsequent analysis, we cut short snippets of constant pitch and analyzed the
sound spectrum separately for each of the five recording channels. The process of inspection
of the spectral envelope of the overtones mentioned earlier allows the creation of a timbre
characterization from a formant analysis.
A formant is an elevation in the spectral envelope that occurs when a group of neighboring overtones are pronounced in the spectrum. The center of gravity of this raised
frequency band is the formant frequency. Formants are the reason we can identify vowels
independently of pitch. The existence of one or more formants in a sound and the ratio of
their center frequencies strongly influences timbre perception. A rough characterization of
a complex musical sound can be made by comparing it to the formant frequencies of vowels.
The formant analysis of our bassoon and Bassoforte sounds revealed three formants below
3 kHz. These occur near 500 Hz, 1 kHz, and 2.1 kHz, as shown in Figure 6 (following page).
The shaded regions mark the spread of formant frequencies as observed from the five different microphone positions. Here we can observe two characteristic differences: 1) The

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main bore axis, and in their coverage by keywork, we were not able to identify a significant
difference in radiation characteristics.

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SOUND CHARACTERIZATION OF A NEW EXPERIMENTAL BASSOON: THE BASSOFORTE

Figure 6. Formant center frequencies in the sounds of bassoon and Bassoforte. The shaded
regions mark the scattering of observed center frequencies from the five different microphone
positions. The dashed horizontal lines mark the center frequencies of the vowels o, , a, and e.3

Bassofortes third formant (around 2 kHz) is higher compared to that of the bassoon. 2) Even
more significantly, the curve of the Bassofortes main formant increasingly shifts from 500
Hz to 750 Hz as it approaches the upper end of the low register. At the register margin, the
formant drops rapidly back to 500 Hz for overblown notes above F3. The main formant of
the bassoon, on the other hand, barely changes for these same notes.
Whereas the energy boost between 2 and 4 kHz and the increased third formant are
individual sound characteristics that give the Bassoforte a recognizably enforced sound
when playing along with the brass instruments of a wind band, the shifting of the main
formant is an indication of an unevenness in timbre. Our ears spectral analysis identifies
this shift easily: The tone color becomes very open and nasal for the notes D3 to F3. This is
definitely an aspect to reconsider when creating a second, refined version of the Bassoforte.
Coming back to the input impedance measurements of the resonator (Figure 3), we
find an interesting relation between the cut-off frequency of the air column and the main
formant center frequency. The importance of the cutoff frequencys impact on timbre has
already been emphasized by Arthur Benade4 but was not studied in a systematic way. The
present results are an indication that the wind instruments rear end (the open tone holes
in the downstream part of the bore after the first open, pitch-determining hole) creates
formants. This hypothesis provides a link between the geometric design of the resonator
and its sound color attributes; a link that can help further developments and may be of use
for a directed sound design.

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105

Conclusion

Timo Grothe is a trained woodworker fascinated by musical instrument

making. He experimented in self-taught string instrument making (guitar
and cembalo) and later studied mechanical engineering at Technische
Universitt Dresden. As a graduate student, he had the opportunity to
join the research team of Prof. Roger Grundmann, who just had developed
a new bend for the bassoon bocal based on computational fluid dynamics.
For his very recently submitted PhD entitled Experimental Investigations
on Bassoon Acoustics, Grothe developed an artificial mouth for double
reeds, an experimental setup that allows researchers to precisely measure embouchure actions
under realistic playing conditions. Grothe is now at Hochschule fr Musik Detmold, where he
teaches and researches musical acoustics at the Erich Thienhaus Institut (ETI) for Tonmeister.

Acknowledgement
Professor Malte Kob is acknowledged for his support in the measurements carried out at
Hochschule fr Musik Detmold. Thanks to the bassoonists Stefan Pantzier (studio recordings) and Hannes Fritsch (reverberation chamber and concert hall). Maximilian Pauls of
Hochschule fr Musik Dresden carried out the studio recordings. Help with the acoustic
camera was provided by Nico Zurmhlen of CAE.
The Bassoforte is the result of a research agreement between Guntram Wolf Holzblasinstrumente
GmbH, Kronach, and Technische Universitt Dresden. Benedikt Eppelsheim largely

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Standard acoustic measurements provide an insight into the acoustical properties of the
Bassoforte. As compared to the modern German bassoon, it can be shown that the Bassoforte
plays significantly louder and has more overtoneswhich may increase the audibility of
bassoon parts in wind bands. Furthermore, an unevenness in timbre is shown by means
of formant analysis. The results indicate that the acoustical properties of the air column,
namely the cut-off frequency, should be taken into account in further developments of the
Bassofortes tone hole design in an effort to correct unwanted nasality.
Todays orchestral instruments have undergone centuries of development and the
remaining modifications with which instrument makers experiment nowadays are small (if
they experiment at all) and the yielded effects are matters of nuancecertainly important
to musicians, but oftentimes complicated to measure and to understand.
In this context, however, it was a fascinating opportunity for a researcher to study an
instrument such as the Bassoforte, which is a quite drastic redesign when compared to
other state-of-the-art descendants of its family. It is also a testimonial to the spirit of the
company of Guntram and Peter Wolf, which dares to undertake experiments like these: In
order to better understand the performance characteristics and experience the sound of a
new instrument in a musical context, it was crucial to stop doing laboratory measurements
on modified mockups and to instead build a fully playable prototype to be evaluated in vivo
by musicians.
It will certainly require more time to further develop the Bassoforte, but already it has
provided much invaluable experience to the multidisciplinary team who has dared to leave
the beaten path.

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contributed to the Bassofortes acoustical design, and throughout the development Stefan
Pantzier provided valuable advice from the viewpoint of the musician and reed maker.
The contribution of the present author in the development of the Bassoforte was supported
by the German Federal Ministry of Economics (BMWi) in the project ZIM-KF2229603.
Professor Roger Grundmann and Dr. Johannes Baumgart are also gratefully acknowledged
for their scientific support.

Endnotes

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1 Timo Grothe, Das Bassoforte: ein Fagott fr die Harmonie, Rohrblatt 27 (2012): 83-87.
Timo Grothe, The BassoforteA Bassoon for Wind Bands, trans. Michael Johnson,
Double Reed News: The Magazine of the British Double Reed Society, (Summer 2013):
8-12.
2 James Kopp, The Not-Quite-Harmonic Overblowing of the Bassoon, The Double Reed
Vol.29 No.2 (2006): 61-75.
3 Jrgen Meyer, Acoustics and the Performance of Music: Manual for Acousticians, Audio
Engineers, Musicians, Architects and Musical Instruments Makers (Springer, 2009).
4 Arthur Benade, Fundamentals of Musical Acoustics (New York: Dover Publications, Inc.,
1990).

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