The bassoon has a compass of 31 octaves. It is written for in a bass or tenor clef on a stave in between the clarinet and the horn.

This large woodwind instrument, usually made of maple, can be identified by the fact that it is held diagonally across the body, supported by a neck sling or sometimes by a floor spike in the butt or bottom of the tubing. The longish, curved crook that carries the double reed is another distinguishing feature. The sound has different characteristics in different registers, but in legato passages in the upper register the sound has been compared to that of the human voice, and therefore has been called vox humana. The lower register has a solemn, even ponderous quality which when given rapid staccato passages can sound comical, the effect being of an elephant trying to dance like a gnat.

With reed and crook the total bore-length of the instrument is about 9ft 2+ inches. The bassoon can be dismantled into five parts; the matching grain for all the components is important not only to the appearance but to the sound, since knotted wood of unmatched grain would not make a good sound conductor. Some cheap bassoons are today made of synthetic material, but no synthetic ever produces as interesting and rich a sound as the natural material.

Technique

Double reed players have a habit of blowing their reeds divorced from the instrument and producing Mickey Mouse sounds, called croaks or crows. These sounds are made in order to establish the frequency or pitch of the individual reed, and for the bassoon this should be between F and G sharp. Most bassoons are sold with two crooks, one being shorter and therefore sharper than the other. Which combination of reed and crook is used for which instrument and what music will depend on the player.

The production of clean and accurate notes on the bassoon is notoriously difficult partly on account of the large size of the double reed, which is held in the mouth. This makes double tonguing difficult. Triple tonguing is hardly ever used. Intonation is adjusted by lip pressure on the reed, but if the reed or sound holes clog with moisture, the instrument sounds like a punctured air bed, and the `gentleman of the orchestra’ becomes the clown.

Bassoonists can sometimes be observed blowing discreetly into the key holes of their instruments to clear the moisture. There is also a water key in the butt end to drain off accumulated condensation. Reeds have to be washed, and crooks cleaned with a bristle brush. And most bassoonists will carry the odd elastic band for immediate emergency repairs in the event of a spring breaking.

As there are different key systems for different bassoons, so there are various methods of cross-fingering which themselves may be adapted to suit a particular bassoon. Even though a series of bassoons may come from the same maker, each will have a distinct character of its own. And while many instrumentalists will, in a crisis, be able to transfer from one instrument to a substitute and play with a fair amount of success, if also a good deal of grumbling, bassoonists cannot do this. The difference between one instrument and another is too great.

Repertoire

Orchestral music abounds with effective passages for bassoon, such as the second movement of Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra. Although the bassoon is frequently used to provide comical effects, such as the `Dance of the Clowns’ in Mendelssohn’s incidental music for A Midsummer Night’s Dream, its repertoire includes many richly expressive passages particularly for the vox humana register. This can be heard in the waltz in Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony and in Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. Greig gives the bassoon the theme in the `Morning’ section of his Peer Gent suite, as does Dukas in L’Apprenti Sorcier. Beethoven scored generously for the bassoon in all his symphonies, using the double or contrabassoon as well in the Fifth and the Ninth. Weber and Mozart each wrote a bassoon concerto and Vivaldi wrote 37 of them. The human voice quality of the timbre was also used by Mozart in certain of his operas to accompany the voice, and in Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf the bassoon actually performs the part of the grandfather’s voice.

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dodoHome Theater, Music Box, Music Equipments, Woodwinds23 Aug, 2008