Mine are Mozart's Concerto and Crusell's Concertino.
Hey everyone, I was wondering how y'all produce vibrato for bassoon. I know as a beginner my teacher used to tell me to use my jaw and kinda gnaw at the reed to make vibrato, but now that I'm in college I'm trying to improve my quality of sound. I've been trying to use my diaphragm and pulse the air, but I'm not too good at it. Any tips or advice for this?
Looking to buy a bassoon for my daughter who is going into 9th grade. She would like to be able to keep the same instrument and go to college with it. I am hesitant to spend the extra money at this point in her journey...but I do want her to have a quality instrument.
Looking at a Fox 222 and a Fox 220 with a $2100 price difference. Is it worth the extra money for the 220?
I'm reading on here that you can upgrade the 222? So in the future we could either buy a new instrument or upgrade the 222 if we went this route?
Thoughts? And thank you!
In Canada Long and McQuade is the biggest music store for band instruments. Is it OK to go there for servicing and repairs or would you rather ship your instrument over to a specialty bassoon repair where the quote is $90/ hr?
But if I only have a basic plastic bassoon and not in need of restoration of a rare Heckel, would it be fine for a general band store with experience to look at it?
so, i’ve been playing the bassoon for five or six years now and i’m taking my grade 8 exam in around two weeks. it’s just starting to hit me that i’m making zero progress with my practice.
one particular area of trouble i’m having is with the weber bassoon concerto (first movement), particularly with the tongued semi-quaver scales which are always so shoddy and uneven. i’ve tried practicing them super slowly and gradually increasing the tempo, taking it completely out of context.. everything i can think of for weeks and yet it still is just as bad as ever.
my practice was so bad today that i almost broke down in tears out of frustration. for the last couple of weeks i have devoted every spare moment i have to the bassoon and yet it really doesn’t seem to be paying off - and it’s making me worried about my exam.
does anyone have any tips to help me, especially with tonguing.
i never expected to reach out to reddit but i’m really desperate and am at a complete loss in terms of what to do.
I saw a couple of postings of a used Fox 41 bassoon but it says "The bell is from a different instrument" and "Despite having multiple serial numbers, this instrument plays pretty well".
https://www.mmimports.com/product/used-fox-renard-41-46xx-with-bell-16xxx/
Another one listed on ebay says "Please note : the bell is not original to the instrument and this is how it was sold to me. "
What do different bells indicate and does having a different bell give you pause or generally worth the discounted price?
As a clarinet player, I have access to the excellent "Foundation Studies" by Baermann organized by David Hite into scale exercises for every key. For example, here is page 1 of C major.
I'm hoping to find a similar book for Bassoon. The Weissenborn is great but all the scale work is spread out throughout the book. Does anyone know of a collection that's just scalework and arpeggios grouped by key?
Edit: Wow, you all are super fast for such a small sub. Thank you!
Hi all, I was wanting to know your opinion on a matter.
Lately I've been interested in learning the bassoon. I've been in marching band for about three years, and I've been playing the tuba for about two years now. We don't have any bassoons available right now, so I can't exactly start, but do you think it would be possible for me to switch from the tuba to the bassoon during my freshman year of college so it could become my main instrument?
Hi all
I decided yesterday to sit down and have a go at the fugue style as an exercise to improve my contrapuntal writing after about a year away from composing. So this is a little piece for Clarinet and Bassoon.
I hope you enjoy it and I welcome any thoughts and feedback you may have:
https://youtu.be/y0SVpLJKf1w
Thanks Dan
Perhaps lockdown is getting to me. Instead of sleeping I was scrolling on Reverb and saw a Fox Renard 41 for a good price and offered them $500 under what they were asking. To my surprise, they accepted! Also did not expect them to accept at 2 am. So I now have a bassoon on the way. I played a bit in high school, but my primary instrument was always flute.
Any suggestions of first method books to use? This is casual play only, so I’m looking more fun stuff and less academic to start, though my flute repertoire tends to lean towards the Baroque. Any starter suggestions welcome.
Lessons will not be an option for a while, I’m guessing next year due to public health guidelines around here. Though if I can find reasonably priced zoom lessons, I would be up for that.
I’ve noticed that in all the orchestras I’ve been in, there has only been one male bassoonist. Having seen other statistics regarding the gender of people playing instruments, I’m honestly just curious about the demographics from here in r/bassoon. So, I ask, who do we have here?
I haven't held the Fox 51 yet but I'm used to playing the Fox 41, which should be standard size.
A local store is promoting the 51 and the description reads:
Redesigned In 1970, The Renard Model 51 Provides A Unique Combination Of Playability, Practicality, And Durability. Built With Short Reach Key Configuration For Both Hands, This Model Is Suitable For Beginning Or Middle School Students And For Budget-conscious Schools And Institutions.
Hi all! I’m a middle school music teacher and I’m trying to create some listening lessons for my general music students. (the ones who don’t take band/orchestra/chorus)
Each class we’ve been listening all the main instruments of each instrument family. I’m trying to find modern, recent examples of all the instruments and I’ve had a decent time trying to find something for everything except bassoon.
Can you all think of a good modern example where the bassoon has been in the forefront of a soundtrack for a movie or video game? I know I could do something like Fantasia or Star Wars Cantina Band. I’m just trying to think outside the box and find stuff that annoying 12 years will connect to. (I say annoying with all the love in my heart. Haha)
Thanks so much! Google hasn’t been much help!
I just saw a collection of antique bassoons from the 1800s pop up on Facebook Bassoon marketplace but it is somewhat disappointing that they all require significant repairs. Has anyone here bought or played an antique bassoon straight from the case (not period replica)? How well did it play and does the age or rarity make it a valuable instrument?
Hi there! I got bored so I rearranged Autumn leaves for 5 bassoons. Hope you like it ;-)
Hey guys
I didn't know where else to put this, but I am busy transcribing a Classical piece of music onto Musescore, and the score I'm transcribing occasionally puts the fist and second bassoons (individually) (and the horns as well) on one single stave, then puts them on two staves. Whys is this?
Thanks
Mozart's only surviving bassoon concerto (other three were believed to be lost) which he wrote at age 17, doesn't seem to be the most known or performed compared to his piano and violin concertos.
How do you rate the bassoon concerto among Mozart's entire musical corpus? Was the bassoon concerto popular and performed widely during his lifetime at all?
Hi all,
Knocked over my bassoon today whilst reaching for some music. Was able to catch it before it hit the ground, but does have a minor dent in the bell from hitting my desk corner. All keys are fine, instrument plays the same.
I'm fairly new to repairs and such, and have never dented an instrument before. Is this an easy fix, or would I have to send it off to a repairer? Is there a way I can smooth it off and make it seem normal?
Any advice would be appreciated thank you all.
