How To Be A Good Bassoon Player?
Hi, everyone. I am a tenth-grader, I play bassoon in my school’s band. I really like it. Ive been playing for about 8 months & have improved some. What should I do to improve hugely? I can’t afford a private teacher. Also, I played piano when I was very young. I played for about 9 years & stopped. I want to start to play piano again. I feel my piano skills suck now. How should I start?
July 10th, 2010 at 8:20 pm
I am also a tenth-grader & play bassoon for my school & youth symphony & take private lessons. I would suggest scales which really helped me a ton. I know they are boring but they really help with technique in the long run. The most important etude book at this level is the Weissenborn doesn’t really matter which one. It has some easier technique stuff but also a ton of really hard stuff so you will be able to get a lot of use out of it. There is no real easy way to do this even with private lessons.. I would also suggest getting some recordings of different professional bassoon players to hear what a really “good” bassoon sound is & try & make your sound as much like theirs as possible. Personally, I play close to the tip of the reed with the corners of my mouth in & my chin flat. Also when practicing technique do everything really slowly & try to keep your fingers close to your bassoon. I play everything at least as slow as half tempo & work it up from there.
Good Luck
July 11th, 2010 at 1:13 am
Focus on your basics. I mean seriously. Every time you practice, spend at least an hour (more if you can) on your basics. Scales, studies etc. Develop your diaphragm strength. For a young player (8 months is young) i wouldn’t recommend venturing into your higher range now. your diaphragm muscles are not strong enough & there will be a tendency to bite too hard. ie you will spoil your embrochure. so practice on your lowest range. anw the lower range is important on the bassoon in most if not all pieces.
practice long notes to train your diaphragm. try to hold a note as long as possible. but make sure than when you’re ending the note you dont change the pitch. yes that’s another thing you have to take note of. how you begin & end a note. it’s more important than most people give credit for.
articulation is exceptionally important on the bassoon. especially staccato. you will find many parts that require bassoon to play in staccato due to the tonality of the instrument. as in. we get alot of playful sounding parts & they are usually staccato. so work on it. also work on slurring from notes below open hole F to those above open hole F. these tend to sound muddy if your fingers dont move in unison. arpeggios are good for these.
it’s basically the same for piano. basics are always the most important.
and practice. you have to practice all the time. once you slacken then you’ll have to be ready for a fall.
all the best in both your bassoon & piano. rmb. practice your basics.