Bocal

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A bocal is shown here inserted into a trombone. The bocal is the part starting at the brown cork, and extending to the reed, which has gray thread on it. (Whoever posted this image was a comedian, since the trombone does not use a bocal. But both the picture and sound concept are too funny to suppress. Readers should note that although the main article notes correctly that the length of the bocal does not affect the pitch of fipple instruments such as recorder, it would definitely affect the pitch of a trombone, not that this matters very much in practice. Compare PDQ Bach's use of the double-reed slide music stand.)

A bocal is the mouthpiece of a musical instrument. It's a curved, tapered tube, which is an integral part of certain woodwind instruments, including double reed instruments such as the bassoon, contrabassoon, English horn, and oboe d'amore, as well as the larger recorders. In the double reed instruments, the bocal connects the reed to the rest of the instrument; in the case of larger recorders, the bocal directs air from the player's mouth to the fipple. Bocals can be made from a variety of metals, including nickel silver, brass, sterling silver, or even gold, and are covered at the lower end with a cork sleeve, allowing the bocal to fit tightly in the socket at the top of the instrument. More recently, at least one maker is producing bocals made of hardwood.[1] The reed either fits directly on to the tapered end of the bocal (as with the bassoon) or is tied to a metal tube which fits to the bocal (as with the English horn).

Since the early days, the bassoon bocal invariably has had a small hole drilled in the side just above the cork to assist in overblowing at the octave. On baroque and Classical-era bassoons, this hole is very small in diameter and remains open all the time. On bassoons fitted with a "whisper" or "pianissimo" key (post 1900), the hole vents through a raised "nipple" and can be closed as needed to facilitate the response in the lower register.

Bocals are made in varying lengths, often with markings such as "1", "2" and "3", which allow the instrument to be played at higher or lower pitch levels.

Bocals for larger sizes of recorder sometimes include a valve to remove condensation and sometimes are adjustable to permit playing while seated or standing. Recorder players blow directly into a bocal and its length has no influence on pitch.

In Britain, the term crook is much more commonly used.

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