Norman Herzberg (a premier bassoon pedagogue of the 20th century) assigned standard bassoon etude books in a specific sequence. He had every student work through every etude—in order. He required his students to use standard fingerings on every note because, “There is no point in trying to avoid a technical difficulty by changing a fingering. After […]
Continue readingMore TagAuthor: Jessi Vandagriff
Playing High Eb, E and F
Have you ever wished that you could get some special high note fingerings from one of the world’s great bassoonists? Thanks to William Short of the Metropolitan Opera, now you can. His blog post The Stratosphere provides fingerings he learned from Bernard Garfield. You’ll have to link to his blog for the actual fingering diagrams, but […]
Continue readingMore TagHelp for Moldy Reeds
Reeds that are stored in wet, moist, or humid environments often grow mold (sometimes referred to as mildew). I’ve compiled advice from many bassoonists on how to get rid of the mold once you have it. I’ve also written up advice for preventing mold in the first place. You don’t have to do all of […]
Continue readingMore TagStanding vs. Sitting
*UPDATE: See the end of the post for the product that finally got me standing My students love watching bassoon videos on YouTube. It doesn’t take very many videos before they start asking me if they should be playing the bassoon standing up. I have never been really confident in my answer, as I tried […]
Continue readingMore TagVirtual Recitals on YouTube
What do you do when your students have a conflict with a scheduled studio recital? I usually have one or two students in this boat, but this year it happened to over half of my bassoonists! All of my high school students qualified for the Utah State Solo/Ensemble Festival—and the festival just happened to coincide […]
Continue readingMore Tagorchestralbassoon.com – A Review
Once in a while I find a resource that is excellent in every way. Orchestralbassoon.com is one of those resources. It contains performance scores, autograph scores, audio examples, historical notes, harmonic analyses–and the list goes on. It is a clean, thorough, and intuitive website that I return to again and again. I always learn something new. […]
Continue readingMore TagHighlighter Tape – My New Favorite Office Supply
Over the past year I attended a few masterclasses that focused on teaching students how to practice. Most of the techniques I learned involved writing on, highlighting, and basically destroying the student’s music. I saw teachers using everything from sharpies to erasable highlighters. I myself used the erasable highlighters for a year, but now I […]
Continue readingMore TagBartering and the Bassoon Teacher
Bartering is a common and accepted way for you to receive compensation for teaching lessons. It’s so mainstream that even the IRS provides a space for you to report bartering transactions on your taxes. So how do you know if a bartering arrangement is right for you? Figure out what your needs really are Don’t […]
Continue readingMore TagCollege Auditions
From Barrick Stees (Cleveland Orchestra and Cleveland Institute of Music): Read the rest of this article at steesbassoon.com. Don’t miss the sections for bassoon teachers and parents at the end.
Continue readingMore TagTeaching Bassoon Embouchure
A correct bassoon embouchure is not something that students figure out on their own. While there are multiple acceptable embouchures (dependent upon teacher, country, reed style, bassoon setup, etc.), the embouchure most beginning bassoonists default to is incorrect. A thin, wide, lips around teeth, biting embouchure is never appropriate. I guarantee that you will have […]
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