THE ORCHESTRA: A USER'S MANUAL

Introduction	Orchestration	Orchestration	Resources	Historical	Andrew Hugill
	by section woodwinds brass percussion others strings combinations tuttis	by instrument flutes oboes clarinets bassoons saxophones horns trumpets trombones tubas percussion keyboards harps fretted strings voices electronics violins violas cellos basses conductors	select... score layouts seating plans ranges/transpositions harmonic series language/phonetics notation charts	select... 20th/21st Century 19th Century Classical Baroque pre-Baroque	Philharmonia

BASSOONS

Section: Woodwind
Transposing? No

Construction
Range
Articulations
Effects
Extended
Player's Tips and Tricks

Links

 

Construction

BASSOON

Pan-shot along the instrument
The conical bore of the instrument
The bore seen from the inside
(and an explanation of the bird perched on Meyrick's bassoon!)
How sound is produced
Crook lengths and distances
French and German systems
The registers of the bassoon
The characters of the bassoon

Finally, Meyrick plays one of the most famous bassoon solos: the opening of The Rite of Spring (1913) by Igor Stravinsky. This exploits the high register of the instrument:

CONTRABASSOON

Pan-shot along the instrument
The construction of the contra
The folds of the instrument
The keyholes
The history of the modern contrabassoon
The reed
Changing reeds
The agility of the coontrabassoon