Hello im a young musician and i was thinking about playing bassoon?

Question

i was thinking about playing bassoon and i catch on really realyy really really quickly ad i have no problem l;earning new instruments but the reason why i question the bassoon is becuase it has a biollion thumb keys. is it easy to play and the remember?

Answer 1

I say go for it. The bassoon is a marvelously expressive instrument. Some of the most famous solos in orchestral literature have been written for the bassoon... notably the opening to Stravinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps (Rite of Spring). Many great composers favored the bassoon... Beethoven, Rossini, Tchaikovsky, Ravel, Berlioz, Prokofiev, Mozart and the list goes on.

Don't let the keys (even the thumb keys) intimidate you. Once you associate a pitch with the fingerings, you'll have no more difficulty remembering them than you would the flute, clarinet or saxophone.

Answer 2

Well, it'd probably be a lot easier learning it now, while in school, than when you're older. Like all instruments at first, it will be difficult. Yes, the fingerings are complex. There are 2 different types of fingering systems for Bassoon. They are Buffet, and Heckel. I believe Heckel is mostly used today. I'm sure with a bit of practice you could definitely memorize the fingerings with no problem. Another difficulty you might encounter is the double reed. The double reed is the mouthpiece, 2 reeds put together. It is difficult to blow, and produce a good sound at first, but again, practice will help. There are also single reed mouthpieces for Bassoon, like a clarinet or saxophone, but it sounds worse than using a double reed.

Before you start you should ask yourself some questions. Like, do you enjoy the sound of the Bassoon? What type of music would you like to play? If you want to play jazz, don't play bassoon, if you want to play classical music, then it's perfect. Do you think you'd enjoy playing Bassoon?

Also, are you in a school band? If so, you should ask your conductor/band director about playing the Bassoon, and see what they say. Also, do they have bassoons at your school availible to play? If you're buying one, the could be expensive.

Answer 3

hi im a young musician and i started playing the bassoon last year.

i picked up the fingerings in under two weeks.

its like learning any other instrument.

in fact the fingerings very much resemble clarinet fingerings and when changing octaves some stay very much the same but without the whisper key.