Heckel Biebrich Bassoon Bocal - themusicgrove

A bocal is a curved, tapered tube, which is an integral part of certain woodwind instruments, including double reed instruments such as the bassoon,

contrabassoon The contrabassoon, also known as the double bassoon, is a larger version of the bassoon, sounding an octave lower. Its technique is similar to its smaller cousin, with a few notable differences. Differences from the bassoon The reed is cons ...

English horn The cor anglais (, or original ; plural: ''cors anglais''), or English horn in North America, is a double-reed woodwind instrument in the oboe family. It is approximately one and a half times the length of an oboe, making it essentially an alto ...

, and

oboe d'amore The oboe d'amore (; Italian for "oboe of love"), less commonly , is a double reed woodwind musical instrument in the oboe family. Slightly larger than the oboe, it has a less assertive and a more tranquil and serene tone, and is considered the ...

, as well as the larger recorders. In the double reed instruments, the bocal connects the reed to the rest of the instrument; in the case of larger recorders, the bocal directs air from the player's mouth to the

fipple The term fipple specifies a variety of end-blown flute that includes the flageolet, recorder, and tin whistle. The Hornbostel–Sachs system for classifying musical instruments places this group under the heading "Flutes with duct or duct fl ...

. Bocals can be made from a variety of metals, including

nickel silver Nickel silver, Maillechort, German silver, Argentan, new silver, nickel brass, albata, alpacca, is a copper alloy with nickel and often zinc. The usual formulation is 60% copper, 20% nickel and 20% zinc. Nickel silver does not contain the eleme ...

brass Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), in proportions which can be varied to achieve different mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other wit ...

, sterling

silver Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...

, or even

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile ...

, and are covered at the lower end with a cork sleeve, allowing the bocal to fit tightly in the socket at the top of the instrument. More recently, at least one maker is producing bocals made of hardwood.{{cite web, url=http://www.robertronnes.com/paraschos.bassoonbocal.html, title=Paraschos Bassoon Bocal, website=robertronnes.com, archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071230111246/http://www.robertronnes.com/paraschos.bassoonbocal.html, archivedate=2007-12-30 The reed either fits directly on to the tapered end of the bocal (as with the bassoon) or is tied to a metal tube which fits to the bocal (as with the English horn).

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Woodwind instrument parts and accessories

See also

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