Learning Fingerings

Bassoon fingerings in the lower two registers are reasonably sensible. Lift up a finger and you get a higher note because what you are doing is shortening the length of the tube. It is a bit like the fingering on a treble recorder. However once you get into the third octave the fingerings become all peculiar - one finger here, another there, one fingered half-holed one note, full holed the next. It is really difficult to remember. All I can do is play these new notes time and time again and hope that the fingering patterns sink in. I practice until my lip tires out.

Bassoon playing is an odd activity. It is not a solo instrument and it plays either the bass or tenor line - the foundation parts that orchestral music cannot be without but which probably rarely register with the average audience. Needless to say it is a classical instrument. You need a lot of patience to master it as it takes a lot of practice to play in tune. In physical terms it is an effort. The instrument itself is heavy. It consists of eight feet of tubing and it takes quite a lot of puff to play the notes.

So why bother playing? Well in amateur groups there are always too many top line players and not enough bass players so once I have mastered the basics I am always assured a warm welcome in amateur ensembles. It is just a matter of patiently plugging away at my practice and in time I will have lots of invitations to come and play with other people.