| Among the
competitors for the 1994 German musical instrument
prize in the woodwind Instrument group, there were 5
German bassoon producers, participating with 1
instrument respectively. With all instrument testing
and evaluation work being terminated, and the prize
winners nominated by the adjudicators - with the
committees approval - I can inform you today on the
results achieved. First of all, however, here the most
important testing details. The bassoon test series
started with an objective test method,
eliminating the layers influence on the
instrument. To this purpose,the bassoons were incited
by means of a special impedance measuring head,
replacing the tube at the S-bow; then, the resonance
characteristics were measured for all finger
positions, chromatically from B1 to C2.
The summarized objective testing results were rated
35% in the subsequent overall classification. As
regards the objective evaluation, your instrument
acquired a total of 69.89 points out of 100 possible
points, and is thus qualified in the first place,
together with a different instrument that achieved
66.55 points. Secondly, the workmanship of the
bassoons was assessed by an expert in this field. In
this examination, the accuracy of the sound holes and
interior hole, the pin connection and the surface were
to be judged. As regards the mechanism, the following
items had to be considered: the surface, including
solder spots, the mechanism allowances, the exact
function of the keys, the padding and regulation, the
spring quality and finally the smoothness of the key
connections. The number of points acquired in the
workmanship examination covered 20% of the overall
final evaluation. In this category, your bassoon
gained 58.50 of 100 points. The remaining 45% of the
total evaluation comprise subjective test results,
worked out by five famous musicians (Prof. Klaus
Thunemann/ Hannover; Thomas Starke /Hamburg; Uwe
Grothaus/ Hannover; Carsten Wilkening/ Frankfurt;
Thomas Held/ Hannover). These tests were carried out
in individual sessions in the PTB studios. At the
beginning of the test, every musician had enough time
to get used to the instrument and could try out
different tube and s-bow combinations, while he was
allowed to use his private set of s-bows. After the
ideal combination had been found for a particular
bassoon, the musician had to answer questions
concerning sound, balance, response, intonation,
sonority, dynamics, mech. performance etc. This test
period was marked by considerably darkened room,
i.e. only the music stand, with the test paper to be
filled out, was visible; the instrument to be tested
was, however, not distinguishable. This procedure was
considered necessary to eliminate the possibility that
the mere appearance, the identification of a
particular brand of type of instrument could influence
the player and his evaluation of the instrument.
With questions concerning the sound and technical
characteristics answered, the studio lights were
switched on. Then, the producer-stated peculiarities
and the sales price of the instrument were read
aloud. The last question in the test-paper served to
judge these peculiarities as well as the fairness of
price, i.e. the price-performance ratio. In this
subjective test with bassoon-players, your instrument
was rated at 64.12 of 100 points; therefore it ranks
foremost among all competing instruments.
In the individual classifications with varying
emphasis on different characteristics, your bassoon
was graded as follows: |
