| dc.description.abstract | Betty Johnson’s career in bassoon performance and education spanned six decades. She was an early pioneer and prominent teacher of the bassoon in the Midwest. She began her tenure as a charter member of the Oklahoma Symphony Federal Orchestra in 1937 as a talented teenager with minimal formal training and retired as an influential member of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic who had shaped the professional careers of many bassoonists. One of the first women playing principal in a major symphony, she was heard internationally through radio broadcasts of the Oklahoma Symphony, and developed a reputation as the premier teacher of bassoon in the Midwest. Participation in summer festivals increased her national exposure as she was the principal bassoonist for the Peninsula Music Festival (Fish Creek, WI) for 27 years and performed in other summer festivals with colleagues from across the country. She and music educator Art Johnson agreed when they married in 1939 to spend their lives building a strong base for music education in Oklahoma, a promise that they carried out. Betty Johnson’s techniques often stemmed from the belief that the bassoon was an extension of the voice, therefore being a natural process, harmonious with the body. Playing the bassoon was a simple process when approached properly. Johnson understood how to present bassoon pedagogy to her students in an effective manner.
When Johnson died in early 2000, she left a large network of students and colleagues who admire her and attribute their successes to her guidance. Despite her broad body of work, accessibility, and outstanding, even legendary, reputation in the field, no thorough study or collection of her life’s work has been compiled. Interviews with colleagues, students, and friends combined with research of the available primary sources, newspaper articles, and historical documents, have resulted in a comprehensive narrative of her life, personality, career, and celebrity. The overwhelming conclusion is that beyond the broad group of fans who admired her playing, teaching, pedagogy, reed-making talent, and character, Johnson influenced those who crossed her path in memorable ways. Most of those interviewed attribute their professional success to the guidance she provided through bassoon lessons. Colleagues learned from her model of performance as well as attitude, technical approach, and acumen, and have based their careers on the examples that she set for them. | en_US |
