hulk smash

I smashed my hand this week with my bassoon. Unfortunately, I also smashed my bassoon with the floor. Except for its horrific appearance, the damage was shockingly minor and it still plays beautifully.

As you can see, the ring on the end of the bassoon was obliterated, but it seems to have absorbed most of the impact. No, it isn’t ivory. It is a lovely plastic that mimics ivory that I’m told Moosmann created himself (it’s slightly translucent when you hold it up to light). Whatever it is, it saved my bassoon from a much worse fate.

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Aside from that loss and the hairline crack that runs down about 3 inches from the ring, the only other damage sustained is a now non-functional high e key and a bent-to-heck joint lock. I am a lucky, lucky bassoonist. I am also terribly lucky that it took me 22 years of playing to have anything like this happen and that it happened after I took the trouble of insuring it.

Hand is fine! Got an xray to prove it and spent all day Thursday and half of Friday alternately icing and soaking it. I also spent much of that time ping-ponging between “It’s all going to be fine” and “Oh my god, in twenty years I’m going to be saying I had it great ’til I fell on my damn instrument!” and “My poor bassoon, I’m so sorry bassoon!” and “WaaaaaHhhhh! *blubber blubber sob blubber blubber* WAAAHHH!!”. But I’ll never admit I was anything other than the coolest of cool cucumbers.