Adrienne Block: Part of Something Amazing

(light music) - My bassoon's name is Henry.

It's named after my first bassoon whose name was also Henry.

So this is Henry the second.

There were a lot of things I liked about bassoon when I started playing it as a kid.

But now the things that I like about it are that it has so many different personalities.

It can play the same part as the flutes and be a high woodwind.

Or it can be part of the low brass section, like a tuba.

Or it can hide somewhere in the middle and and play all those sounds that no one hears but that have to be there to make the music complete.

Performing music is amazing.

I enjoy sitting there with my instrument and playing, knowing my part well enough that I can close my eyes and listen for a minute and actually hear myself match up my sound with a clarinet sound or match up my sound with a viola sound.

And you can hear the bassoon sort of move around the orchestra in and out of all these other parts of all the other instruments.

It's part of being that whole bigger thing of a musical performance.

Each performance of a piece of music is completely unique and it can't be replicated.

It's like a stamp on a moment in time.

Makes me feel like I'm part of something amazing.

It's my bassoon solo.