Bassoonist devoted to instrument

Fingers flew amid a maze of black appendages: suit sleeves, music stands and folding chairs. Noise and motion jumbled into a mish-mash of bows poking upward, toes tapping and metal gleaming. \nJunior and bassoon major William May played contrabassoon, the largest and lowest-pitched of the double-reed wind instruments, in a student orchestra last Sunday.\nMay prepared to play, soaking his hand-carved reed in a pill bottle of water. He tries to avoid any sort of mental preparation before performing, he said.\n"I try to go into everything as cold as possible to avoid panic," he said. Nerves can cause May's right hand to shake, but if he focuses and thinks about the music, he can control the quivers.\nHe said he wants to convey the message of the music when he plays.\n"There's only so much to go by on the page," he said. "The rest is up to your imagination. You have to bring a little something into it."\nMay still remembers the bassoon poster hanging on the back wall of his elementary school classroom. He fell in love after learning about the instrument on a field trip to hear the local orchestra play Sergei Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf." \nIn junior high in Frankfort, Ky., May played first-chair clarinet. The gentle baying sound of the bassoon was absent from his band class. At the end of the year, his band director asked if any student was interested in learning to play the instrument.\n"I was too shy to talk to him about it myself, so I made my dad call him up and ask him for me," May said.\nOnce a week, May made the 50-minute drive to take private bassoon lessons in Louisville, Ky. \n"It took me forever to actually be able to get a note out of it," May said.\nRoger Soren now teaches at IU part-time and has recently taught May how to play the contrabassoon, an instrument whose sound is an octave lower than the regular bassoon.\n"(Bassoon) is that one thing that's there and gives me something to do," May said. "It's the one thing I'm really good at. It's what I'm supposed to do."\nJenny May, William's mother, said William could always sing and has perfect pitch.\n"He's a natural," she said. "He really loves it. He's so self-disciplined, always trying to be the best. We never have to tell him to practice."\nMike Agnew, William's roommate since the beginning of this semester, said he once heard William practicing at 1:30 a.m. \n"It never bothers me, though, because I don't find the bassoon annoying in any way," he said. "I think Will is very talented."\nMay said he knows he would be better if he practiced more. He tries to practice an hour a day, but isn't always able to fit it into his schedule.\nHe attends rehearsals for the Concert Orchestra six hours a week and takes a one-hour private lesson with bassoon professor Arthur Weisberg.\nWeisberg said May is among the better students he has had. \n"He is very committed to becoming a fine bassoonist and works very hard toward this goal," he said.\nIn March, May is scheduled to audition for the Colorado Symphony Orchestra. He also must prepare to compete in the International Double Reed Society competition in July at Ball State University. \nMoreover, he attends academic classes, including French and music history. \nWilliam also likes to shop, hang out with his friends, cook or eat good food and attend concerts. \n"I try to keep my taste opposite outside of (Bassoon music)," he said, noting he's a Foo Fighters fan.