Fundamentals of Bassoon Playing

Join SrA Nicole Pompei as she takes you through her play-along warmups and fundamentals exercises!

[@user-un3fx1mf2v]

I am a high school student in Japan. Your video is very wonderful!! I'll use it as a reference when I practice. Thank you very much.

[@laurant4282]

This is useful not just for bassoon players, but composers that want to be comfortable with the bassoons sound!

[@katherinemartz8102]

This is great!! Thank you for sharing your warm-up exercises! I'm getting back into bassooning after a way too long break, and this video is super helpful for getting back in shape!

[@USAFBandoftheWest]

You got this!

[@patchoulicolt7093]

Thank you for sharing! I'm getting back into bassoon after a 10 year hiatus. This was great, and I love the on screen text!

[@USAFBandoftheWest]

It’s never too late. Enjoy the journey!

[@diegoalfredosalva7658]

thank you for this great video. argentina, santa cruz

[@nesquik7340]

Thanks so much for this video!

[@Alisen12]

Thank you, this really helped me in learning how to REALLY practise! The bassoon is very underrepresented here on KZbin. I just started learning the bassoon at 27 years old and I LOVE it so far, but my tone is not nearly as good as yours :( I have been playing for around 5 months now but I don't see my tone or ability of playing fast improving very much. Maybe I am expecting too much of myself, but after playing the flute for nearly 17 years I get frustrated very easily when I can't produce a sound on my instrument or keep forgetting the fingerings.

[@trainliker100]

Once you play more, you will learn what sort of reed stiffness and dimensions work out for you. It is possible you are using a reed that is perhaps soft and very easy to play, but puts the sound more in the direction of a kazoo. This is pretty typical for those beginning. You you probably find it hard to play a stiffer reed at this point because your embouchure isn't yet strong enough. It can take a long time. I assume you are buying reeds and not making your own. And probably not modifying reeds you buy. You could purchase a variety of reeds such as "medium soft", "medium", and "medium hard" and start practicing with them to see which general direction might work out better for tone. Also, until your ear gets highly trained, how the instrument sounds to you won't be quite like it sounds to others because you are right on top of the instrument. You may be sounding better than you think. You can find endless practice tips if you look around. One that always helped me was to always do some practice of things that were just a little more difficult than my skills. And to avoid playing only what I could play easily. And for a really difficult piece, practice in sections from the end to the beginning. Such as playing the last 4 bars only. The move 4 bars earlier and play the final 8 bars of the piece. Then the last 12 bars. And so forth. Eventually you start at the beginning and you will have played the last 4 bars many times by then.

[@mintymagma1027]

Ty for the video! As someone who plays trombone and trying to convince my directors to let me play bassoon for concert season, I enjoy practicing bassoon a lot and this helped guide me into what I need to get better at ty!

[@colepettit8550]

Same situation here :)

[@twistedandTangledYoyos]

This really helps me cause in band I just got a basson

[@aurel9197]

Could you maybe do a video on developing a fast staccato with single tongue and double tongue?

[@USAFBandoftheWest]

Absolutely. We’ll work that into the plans for the near future. Thanks for the suggestion!

[@aurel9197]

@@USAFBandoftheWest Great, thank you for your reply!

[@jasiubolek3523]

Very helpful and inspiring :) thanks!

[@USAFBandoftheWest]

Glad it was helpful!

[@tw4106]

I thought about maybe auditioning for Bassoon for a military band... I'm 27 and have been playing bassoon for 12 years... however I'm afraid of being deployed haha XD I just want to play Music with great musicians haha.

[@jerrymei2511]

So I have a question. My low G and low F sound a bit weird do you know of anything that might cause this?

[@ignaciovaldiviezzo4715]

Nombre de la obra o lección del mínuto 9:29 ?

[@snydergross9313]

yellowflash aliyajanell why