History of the Bassoon
In Medieval times Shawms were the closest equivalent to the bassoon, having tubular wooden bodies and a double reeds. Shawms sounded rather strident and loud, therefore ideally suited to consort music and strolling players who often had to perform outside. By the Baroque period the bassoon was more recognisable as an ancestor to the modern bassoon, with a similar reed and using an embouchure more in line with modern technique, producing a mellow and expressive sound. It had very few keys and players had to use many complex fingerings to be able to play all the notes of the chromatic scale. The Classical bassoon was a further refinement designed to resonate more in keeping with the needs of small orchestras of the Classical period, but still with precious few keys. The modern bassoon emerged during the 1800’s and with further development in resonance and power to cope with the demands of the larger symphony orchestras of the Romantic period. It has since evolved further, gradually developed by small specialist manufacturers with ever more helpful keywork, and improved tonal balance and intonation. ©David Blyth
The Bassoon Section
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Young players (up to 11 or 12 years old) may need to start on the smaller Mini-Bassoon or the Short-Reach bassoon.
Bassoons have delicate mechanisms and must be handled with care – teachers will usually show pupils the best ways to handle and care for the instrument during lessons.
Players should always clean moisture from the inside of the instrument after each time they play, and either Mop Sets or Pull-Throughs are available for this purpose.
Cleaning the outside of the instrument is best performed only occasionally with a special Silver Cloth – never be tempted to use silver polish as this will enter the internal oiled mechanism and damage the instrument.
