Rocke’s Mission to Elevate the Contrabassoon and DEI in Classical Music

August 1, 2025

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With diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives under attack on multiple fronts in our current political climate, it stands to reason one of the ways to counter these threats is greater visibility. So believes Kai Rocke, a member of Local 99 (Portland, OR) and a bassoonist and contrabassoonist with Oregon Symphony.

“At a very basic level, just being seen is crucial. So many arts organizations in this country are doing very thoughtful work to acknowledge historical and present injustices and develop a culture that allows for all people to fairly participate,” says Rocke. “They’re doing what they know to show that there is so much cultural breadth in the world, and we can and should embrace it.”

Rocke practices what he preaches, having been involved with various organizations and projects since his early years in music. He is eager to discuss these initiatives and the positive outcomes they’ve had on his career—but first, he wants to talk about the contrabassoon.

We’re Gonna Need a Bigger Bassoon

Most people think the bassoon is the lowest member of the woodwind section. They are wrong. The contrabassoon, or contra for short, the bassoon’s big brother, is twice the size of the bassoon.
“That’s why it’s also called the double bassoon,” explains Rocke. “It’s quite a different instrument from the bassoon. The first octave is similar, but then after that, the fingerings are different. And so are the reeds, which have a different shape and are much wider.”

Ah, reeds. Rocke is not as eager to talk about those, the eternal bane of the woodwind player, so we save that topic for later in the interview. Back to the contra.

“The contra is an octave lower than the bassoon, and it’s the lowest member of the orchestra,” he continues, though he admits that tuba players might argue with that statement. “It has just as much depth and range as the bassoon, but it’s not as nimble or easy to get around on. We don’t tend to do much of the acrobatics like the higher pitched instruments. Contra writing is usually more about its distinct sound color and support.”

To illustrate this, Rocke highlights two pieces of music. The first is the opening of Maurice Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the Left Hand. It starts with quietly menacing arpeggios on the bass, from which emerges the sound of a solo contrabassoon. “It’s deep and grumbly, but also melancholic,” he says.
The contra also employs its unique sound to create characters, as in Ravel’s Mother Goose suite, wherein a conversation between Beauty and the Beast employs the contra to great effect. (No points for guessing whether the contra portrays Beauty or the Beast.)

All Roads Lead to the Contra

Rocke says his relationship with this unusual instrument feels in some ways inevitable, despite being raised in a household that rang to the sounds of African and Latin percussion. “I was born and raised in Virginia,” he says. “We had lots of music at home. My mom was in the first graduating class of the LaGuardia High School of Music & Arts and Performing Arts, playing violin and viola. Dad is the percussionist, having played since he was 3. Music is just a part of who we are.”

Many different styles of music in the house gave Rocke lots of options to explore. “I sang in the church choir and started on saxophone in the 5th grade.” He says he always had an affinity for woodwind instruments.

“I actually wanted to play the flute, and we had an oboe in my class. Then, I saw the bassoon in a video.” That video is a now-infamous rendition of the theme from Super Mario Brothers—played by a bassoon quartet. “I was sold,” he laughs. “I bugged my teacher to let me try it.”

Rocke had further incentive: “We had scale tests in school. If you could play over an octave, you got extra credit. The bassoon has over three octaves. So that’s a lot of extra credit.”

Shortly thereafter, the Rocke family moved to another part of Virginia. “The band director heard I played the bassoon, and she got excited and introduced me to classical music.”

Rocke played the contrabassoon in 9th grade, and in his junior year took part in the National Symphony Orchestra’s Youth Fellowship Program, an orchestral training program for students interested in pursuing orchestral music as a career. There, he was assigned to work with the NSO’s contra player Lewis Lipnick, of Local 161-710 (Washington, DC).

After that came college—and more contra. “I was accepted into the New England Conservatory—in the midst of deadlines and financial circumstances,” Rocke recalls. “I was eventually placed in the studio with the contrabassoonist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Gregg Henegar of Local 9-535 (Boston, MA). In the end, it feels sort of like the contra chose me, because it just kept following me.”

Music Education and the Bigger Picture

One of music’s other crucial roles—that of bringing different cultures together as a kind of social glue—first struck Rocke through another video he stumbled on. “It was the Simón Bolivar Youth Orchestra with Gustavo Dudamel conducting. It got me interested in digging into the work of El Sistema, and I really admired what I learned,” he says. “I was struck by the idea of cultivating a community of musicians through shared cultural values. Plus, the Simón Bolivar Orchestra wasn’t only good at orchestral music—they were good at everything they played. The excellence in all of the styles they perform was incredibly captivating. They also played music that blended Latin and African aesthetics, and that was really close to home for me.”

Rocke originally harbored plans to pursue music education, in part due to his own experiences. “The Simón Bolivar video really lit a fire in me. I saw myself being part of creating a program which adds value beyond just playing notes and making music,” he says.

Toward the end of his schooling, Rocke took auditions and sought out opportunities to further develop. “I was looking for programs to time with graduating from my master’s degree program at Rice University,” he says. “I knew about the Detroit Symphony’s diversity fellowship program, and then a fellowship with the Minnesota Orchestra popped up on a Google search.”

Minnesota Orchestra’s Rosemary and David Good Fellowship, according to the orchestra’s website, is an ongoing program of two-year residencies for emerging professional orchestral musicians from diverse backgrounds early in their careers. 

“At the same exact time as my Google search, I randomly got a text from one of my teachers. She knew I was interested in community engagement and happened to mention the Minnesota program in the same week that I had been looking into it. It felt like just the confirmation I needed to apply,” he says.

Rocke took part in the Minnesota fellowship 2019-2021. “I got to see, hear, and participate as a musician in that amazing ensemble,” he says. “The people in the Minnesota Orchestra are truly great mentors and colleagues who taught me the power of standing up for each other and being supportive. I had some truly memorable moments where I saw examples of that support. They gave me crucial insights into the kinds of organizations I wanted to be a part of in my career.”

Digging In

The Minnesota fellowship encouraged Rocke to start digging further into the work around diversity, equity, and inclusion. “I had an aha moment that people of color have been part of classical music the entire time. It was eye-opening to really sit with this, because that wasn’t a conversation I saw happening in most places in 2019. Discussions around DEI issues had really just started—and then the COVID-19 pandemic put a halt on things.”

And then came George Floyd’s murder by white policemen in 2020. “Suddenly, everyone in the country was faced with some stark realities. American orchestras also started to grapple in a very visceral way with their own participation in practices of exclusion, and how they could begin to address these practices,” says Rocke.

Rocke’s own investigations led him to the Sphinx Organization, a nonprofit dedicated to developing young Black and Latino classical musicians. He says Sphinx has played a direct role in his professional journey.

“At the surface level, Sphinx recognizes the lack of diversity, especially among Black and Brown musicians, in the classical music world,” he says. In particular, he was the recipient of an audition grant awarded by the organization’s National Alliance for Audition Support (NAAS). “I don’t come from an economically advantaged background, so the NAAS grant really helped me to set myself up for success, easing some of the financial burden of taking auditions and buying equipment I needed.”

Rocke says he would like to be more involved in the work Sphinx is doing. “They have been more string-oriented in the past, but they have started to help out wind players, and I’d love to engage with them more.”

He has taken part in the Gateways Music Festival, which has a mission to connect and support professional classical musicians of African descent. He has also been involved with the Black Orchestral Network, which supports Black orchestra musicians by advocating for fair practices and providing resources.

Making the Donuts

Prior to winning the job on bassoon and contra with the Oregon Symphony, Rocke performed with groups that included St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, New Bedford Symphony Orchestra, Shreveport Symphony Orchestra, and Amici Wind Quintet. He currently serves on the faculty of Youth Orchestra of LA’s (YOLA) National Festival during the summer and plays with the Bellingham Music Festival in Washington State.

All of these gigs, of course, have one common denominator: they require reeds.

Rocke attributes much of his reed making style to another of his teachers, Benjamin Kamins, of Local 65-69 (Houston, TX). While the process of making bassoon reeds is not as all-consuming as it is for oboists, it’s still a heavy lift. “Oboe players can make a decent reed in an hour. Ours is a multiday affair.” Rocke employs machines that transform cane from a tube to a reed’s standard flat shape, then uses wire and glue in a process involving several days of wrapping and drying of the cane.

“After that, I can try them out in the bassoon. I’d say more than half of the reeds I produce don’t even work.” He laughs, but it’s hard to miss the faint undertone of defeat beneath his amusement, which makes the comment even funnier. The reeds that pass inspection after testing will last maybe two concert cycles, he adds. “If it’s a really good reed, I’m saving it for when I really do need it.”

If all of this sounds somewhat nightmarish, Rocke says it’s easy to multitask while working. “I can do other things. I’ll often listen to music for an upcoming Oregon Symphony program, for instance, or maybe a podcast.”

Rocke first joined the AFM when he moved to Minneapolis for the fellowship in order to be able to play with the orchestra. He feels it’s unfortunate that music schools typically don’t teach students about the benefits of union membership.

“In my undergrad years at the New England Conservatory, I played some gigs that didn’t pay union scale,” he remembers. “Doing that taught me that the AFM is here to safeguard our rights as performers. The Federation gives us a better chance to succeed in the industry, because we live in a capitalist world with a history of our labor being exploited across many industries. The union provides protection against the worst aspects of that.”

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