Gloucestershire Double Reed Day- 2nd July 2023 (by Liam Fleet)
For over 40 years, the annual Gloucestershire Double Reed Day has been one of the UK’s foremost regional double reed events. Now organised by Caron de Burgh and Peter Kerr, it has come a long way since its foundations as a regional oboe day back in 1980 with Janet Baldwin running the show- the modern GDRD is open for oboists and bassoonists of all ages and has many regular participants who return year after year- testament to the enjoyment of the day.
GDRD 2023 featured George Caird and Jarek Augustyniak as the respective oboe and bassoon masters, both leading excellent masterclasses for beginners through to the most advanced players throughout the day. These welcomed equally positive responses from both the players and the observers who were able to learn by listening to others. Both masters gave inspiring performances at the very end of the day with Jarek first presenting a collection of orchestral excerpts and George beautifully performing the first movement of Rubbra’s oboe sonata.
Other features of the day included classes in reedmaking for beginners, Alexander technique and of course the wide array of trade stands, including Howarth and Crook & Staple among others. GDRD consistently programmes sessions that make the essential basics of double reed playing accessible to beginners and new amateurs as well as providing challenging opportunities for the more advanced players with years of experience. This is most evident through the chamber music sessions towards the end of the day, where every participant is allocated a small group of like-ability players and an apt piece of chamber music corresponding to their collective ability. This is then rehearsed for an hour with a specialist oboe or bassoon tutor to perform to each other and any attending family members at the end of the day. This is in addition too the massed ensemble session which takes place every year, which involves every oboist and bassoonist playing three pieces together, which are specifically arranged to include beginner parts to accommodate for less experienced players and easy transposing parts for children’s bassoons in F or G. The specially-commissioned arrangement also featured three separate contrabassoon parts! Double reed ensemble playing is always a highlight of the year, and 2023 was no exception.
One of the most popular sessions of 2023 was the instrument trial session, giving anyone who was interested the chance to explore the extended family of the double-reed. This year, the session not only included the orchestral auxiliary instruments (cor anglais, oboe d’amore and contrabassoon) but historical instruments as well, following a brief talk on the history of the oboe and bassoon families. Understanding the roots of our instruments from their earliest ancestors is invaluable to the understanding of their modern counterparts: oboists were fascinated by the shawm and baroque oboe, while bassoonists were interested in the curtal/dulcian and baroque bassoon which have considerably fewer keys for the thumbs!
All considered, GDRD 2023 was as wonderful and important an event as its four decades of predecessors, and the performances given by both the participants and the masters to mark the end of the day was, as ever, the perfect finale to a thoroughly enjoyable day of all-things double reed.
12 year old Laura Ware-Heine writes:
GLOS DRD was my first proper double reed day and for my first one it was absolutely fantastic. It was so much better than the woodwind day I went on 4 years ago.
My favourite part of the day was the master class because – even though I didn’t play in it – it was really interesting watching Alison Teale teaching. Her tone on her Oboe was absolutely amazing. After the class I just wanted to go home, grab my pieces, come back and practise them.
Before that I had chamber music: My group ended up working on some truly beautiful pieces and having a good time as well. The piece we played was simple but because it was simple it sounded stunning. All the parts fitted really well together. I wanted to have a Cor Anglais in my group but it didn’t matter that we didn’t have one. After lunch (which was delicious) we had a reed making class however my reed wasn’t thin enough to make a noise so I am going to finish scraping it at home. This was my second reed making course, and the way we were taught at the double reed day was quicker and the method he used for tying on was unfamiliar.
After supper we had the concert. It went on a long time but it was worth it. We started with and orchestral piece which was Handel’s Fireworks music. It sounded really good; it had changed over the day since our rehearsal first thing. I played it better in the rehearsal because I was tired at the end of the day. Dominic Hawley who took our orchestra rehearsal was awesome and he really got the piece good.
Then we played chamber music and all the groups were good. To finish off the people who took the master classes played some solos. The bassoon went first and played part of the wonderful Saint-Saens Sonata. It took a long time but the quality was unbelievable. Then Alison played her Cor Anglais and it truly blew me away. It made me want to play Cor Anglais. Who knew Cor Anglais’ could play jazz?
The whole day was so inspiring and I can’t wait to go next year!
Rowan Douglas, Andrea Lee, Emily Reith write:
On Sunday, 28th June, many double reed players from across Gloucestershire eagerly made their way to the Cheltenham Ladies’ College for a day of playing, learning and meeting new people. In the morning, we all played in a massed band conducted by Dominic Hawley, the head of music at CLC. We played the music for the Royal Fireworks. It was very enjoyable, playing with others as it is very rare that you can get an opportunity to play with so many double reed instruments. The participants were then split into four groups and took part in various challenging activities, ranging from making our own reeds to a master class run by Alison Teale who made some very interesting and helpful comments and was very patient, whatever the standard of playing.
In the evening everyone performed in a concert, starting with the massed band followed by all the various chamber pieces we had practiced in our groups throughout the day.
Overall, the day was a great success and a fantastic experience. Everyone tried extremely hard and this was shown in the delightful concert in the evening.
Stanley Kaye-Smith writes:
On Sunday 28th June I made the journey to Cheltenham Ladies’ College to experience the very inspiring and wonderful Gloucestershire Double Reed Day 2009. When I got there, just after 9.30am, I was very excited because there were more bassoonists in the same room as me than I’d ever seen before. However I seemed to be the only student with a contrabassoon, and I later played this in the concert at the end of the day in Handel’s Royal Fireworks Suite. This was very energising because it was loud and fun, even though I had the smallest part.
During the break I got to have a chat with my friends Andy King and Kat Wyndow from the Schools’ Philharmonic Orchestra in Bath, and I discovered that the Cheltenham Ladies’ College did good drinks! After this I had my masterclass with the professional bassoonist Sarah Burnett, who proved to be a lovely, helpful person. I was able to introduce a new work to her, The Narwhal (Opus 11) for contrabassoon and piano by the American composer Alan. This piece was first performed by the great Susan Nigro who is a huge inspiration to me. Even though Sarah had not heard of the piece she helped me into the piece and taught me how to improve it. Later she was brilliant again when she showed everyone in the room how to make reeds.
There was a great shop in the corridor and I bought a high-quality reed there after trying it on a Fox Reynard bassoon. The final concert, particularly the Handel, was great fun, and I also enjoyed playing in the piece for six bassoons called The Policeman’s Lot. The other players put on an epic show and I really enjoyed watching the students doing the Bach – they were my favourite group. I would like to do that piece.
Sarah Burnett and the oboe teacher Alison Teale gave stunning performances at the end, which was a fantastic close to the day.
I am really looking forward to next year.
“We just wanted to say thank you for a great day on Sunday. We really appreciate the effort that goes into putting on one of these events, even more so when Covid throws unexpected curve balls, several times!”
“These shows aren’t really about making money for us, it’s about meeting our customers, gaining new customers and having a catch up with colleagues in the industry, all of which we successfully achieved! We actually met quite a few customers who live round the corner from us which was great, such a small world!”
“Peter, as always your partner is a star with the refreshments, the continuous supply of biscuits, tea and coffee powers us all through the day and we appreciate the spread at the end of the day too. A homemade packed lunch doesn’t quite have the same effect! In future I must remember to thank her for the strawberries instead of the Paella man! We like him too tho! I never realised she did all the strawberry hulling!”
“We hope you both enjoyed the day as much as the three of us did at Crook and Staple and thank you for having us.”
“I just wanted to say from the three of us how much we enjoyed the day on Sunday! I know the boys particularly enjoyed the chamber coaching and we’d all love to come back next year. It was a great day.”
“I had a great time. Everything was fantastically well organised and a special thanks from me to Peter for getting me to the right place at the right times!
And the food! Amazing!.. Nice to meet you all yesterday and to play with Sarah Roper. If you need me again I would be very happy to come.
Best wishes
Steve Marsden.”
“A quick further thanks for all the work you and the GDRD team put in for making yesterday such a wonderful event. Great experience and lots of lovely music making 
Thank you and see you soon.”