FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – This summer, Ronda Mains, chair of
the department of music and professor of flute in the J. William Fulbright
College of Arts and Sciences, attended the International Double Reed Society’s annual
conference.
The five-day conference included concerts, recitals,
master classes and workshops presented by some of the leading double reed
artists from around the world. Five members of the university’s music
department participated the conference. Professors Theresa Delaplain (oboe), Er-Gene
Kahng (violin), Ronda Mains (flute) and Richard Ramey (bassoon) all performed as
did graduate student Lia Southern (bassoon).
“Attending the International Double Reed Society’s annual
conference was amazing,” said Mains, professor of flute and chair of the department.
“Double reed instruments are particularly difficult to master, and it was an
honor to have our department and the University of Arkansas represented by such
outstanding artists.”
Double reed instruments use a type of reed in which two
pieces of cane vibrate together to create sound rather than single piece against
a mouthpiece of metal or resin. The oboe and bassoon are the most common double
reed instruments, but other modern orchestral and period instruments also use
double reeds.
This was the
society’s 41st annual conference. It was held July 7-11 at Miami
University in Oxford, Ohio. The International Double Reed Society has 4,400
members from 56 countries. Past conferences have been held at universities and
conservatories in Canada, the United Kingdom, Argentina and across the United
States.