Photograph by Rick Yoder
Lou Skinner, 1972
Louis Skinner (1918-1993) was an American bassoonist who devoted his professional life to the study of bassoon reeds. These pages are based on my visits to study with Lou in the 1970’s, first at his home in suburban Pennsylvania and then in Jonesport, Maine, a tiny fishing village on the coast near the Canadian border, where he moved in 1972. Days and evenings with Lou and his wife Betty Anne were filled with wide-ranging talks, listening to music, walking, wonderful food prepared by Betty Anne, and of course reed-making.
The information presented on this website about Lou and his reed-making is far from comprehensive. Over his long career, Lou constantly experimented and revised his ideas and methods. My experience with him was limited to just a few of these years. Over at least 50 years, Lou taught hundreds of students. Three of these students, James McCay, Russell Hinkle and William Woodward, published a book about Lou in 2001 (The Bassoon Reed Manual: Lou Skinner’s Theories and Techniques). The Manual includes more biographical information about Lou, and much more detailed step plans for making several of his reed models, based largely on how he presented his concepts in later years.
Lou’s enduring legacy, however, is not only the fact that he radically changed our understanding of bassoon reeds, but also his humanity and his infectious enthusiasm and love for life, music, the bassoon, and reed-making, and the many people who have been brought together as a result of having known him.