Year 8 Instrument Projects - The Bassoon

Bassoon JASMINE & SAMANTHA

What is a bassoon made of?

• Today, bassoons are made of hard maple wood mostly from Europe. The color of a bassoon depends on the manufacturer.

How does a bassoon sound?

• Bassoon sounds very low. If you listen to a bassoon, you can hear how smooth the notes are.

Which instrument family does bassoon belong to?

• Bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family. Bassoon is also considered to be in the oboe family because of its double reed.

This is a bassoon reed!

Fun Facts • The Bassoon is the largest and lowest sounding member of the woodwind family except, of course when the contrabassoon is asked to play.

• The early bassoons were called Dulcians or Curtals.

• The main difference between the modern bassoon and the early bassoon is that the instruments were carved from a single piece of wood and they didn't have any keys. To play the instruments, the player would cover holes with his/her fingers.

• The bassoon is held to the side of the player because it's way too big to hold in the middle like the other woodwind instruments. Because the bassoon is too heavy, it is supported by a seat strap which is hooked to the end of the bassoon and then placed over the player's chair.

Contrabassoon VS bassoon!

This is a Bassoon

This is a contrabassoon

How do you play the bassoon?

• To make a sound, the bassoonist blows air through a double reed, causing it to vibrate. This vibration is what makes the sound. To play notes, the bassoonist covers various combinations of tone holes with fingers or keys. Each new note requires a different fingering combination allowing the air to travel through a different length of tubing before escaping out through the uncovered holes and the bell.

Music Piece • Here is some beautiful piece of music by Beethoven, Devienne and Donizetti.

• Feel free to listen to the whole piece • Please skip to 6:50 if you only want to hear the bassoon and stop at 7:06. The whole piece finishes at 9:14.

Thank you for making it to the end!