If you're seeing this message, it means we're having trouble loading external resources on our website.

If you're behind a web filter, please make sure that the domains *.kastatic.org and *.kasandbox.org are unblocked.

Main content

Bassoon: Interview and demonstration with principal Nancy Goeres

Want to join the conversation?

  • starky sapling style avatar for user god of thieves
    Why is it when you play just the reed it sounds like a dying goose, but it makes a musical sound when on the instrument. What makes the difference?
    (9 votes)
    Default Khan Academy avatar avatar for user
    • starky seedling style avatar for user Daddy
      The reed starts the vibration of the air, then it gets carried throughout the instrument, and the walls of the bassoon allow for the air to vibrate in different ways and with different resonances, which gives it the bassoon sound.
      (4 votes)
  • leaf green style avatar for user Y
    At , Ms. Goeres says the bassoon is 9 feet(!) long. I wonder whether this means that bassoonists must blow really, really hard to get air to travel all that way. If so, their lung capacity must be phenomenal (and in the videos, she sure doesn't look like she's huffing and puffing like I'd imagine one would). Can someone compare it to say, a clarinet or oboe? Or better, a flute (as I played that for a little while)? [and yes, I had great difficulty with good breathing there, which is why I'm so curious.]

    Many thanks.
    (2 votes)
    Default Khan Academy avatar avatar for user
    • male robot donald style avatar for user Mikey Henderson
      Consider that the instrument is already full of air and the player only needs to move additional air through it. The bore of the bassoon is pretty narrow from what I remember, and not much air is expelled through those double reeds. It is probably a lot less than you think.
      (10 votes)
  • female robot grace style avatar for user yliang
    Okay, I have a thousand questions: 1. What type of wood is a bassoon made out of? 2. How many bassoons are in an orchestra? 3. At I saw two, but one was black and I think the other was brown. Is the wood painted or are the different colours of the wood natural?
    (4 votes)
    Default Khan Academy avatar avatar for user
    • aqualine ultimate style avatar for user harperist
      Bassoons are usually made of four different types of wood I believe. Mountain maple (the most popular for professional instruments, but one of the most expensive woods), black maple (often preferred by orchestra players), red maple (preferred among professional performers often), and sugar maple (which is often popular in schools). The number of bassoons varies slightly depending on the orchestra, however there are generally two to four. The different colors are due to the wood stain I believe.
      (6 votes)
  • duskpin sapling style avatar for user angela
    At why can you only use double reed to blow into the bassoon, why can't you use any other material like a metal bite or something like the stick on the mouthpiece of the clarinet?
    (3 votes)
    Default Khan Academy avatar avatar for user
    • leaf blue style avatar for user Peterson
      From what I understand, using any other material besides a double reed would alter the sound of the bassoon, and make it sound like a completely different instrument. Just blowing into a double reed makes a thin, nasally sound, but when that sound is channeled into the bassoon, it transforms it into something musical and expressive.
      (3 votes)
  • spunky sam blue style avatar for user Jo Reilly
    which clef does the bassoon play in? Also the Oboe?
    (2 votes)
    Default Khan Academy avatar avatar for user
  • duskpin ultimate style avatar for user quintoalexiao
    What is the history of the bassoon? Where did it originate?
    (3 votes)
    Default Khan Academy avatar avatar for user
  • duskpin ultimate style avatar for user Nathan William Brown
    At , she mentions that the bassoon is the largest member of the woodwind family. Does that include older instruments as well or is this just referring to modern orchestras? I was mostly wondering how it compares to the Contrabass Clarinet or Contrabass or Sub-great bass Recorders?
    (2 votes)
    Default Khan Academy avatar avatar for user
  • leaf blue style avatar for user nicholas.yi
    How does one acquire good bassoon reeds? I get mine from Forests.
    (2 votes)
    Default Khan Academy avatar avatar for user
  • duskpin ultimate style avatar for user 🐠Frostbite629🐳🐚🦌
    I saw different coloring wiring near the reed does that affect the sound of the basson? I havn't noticed any sound change but I was woundering if that affected the sound.
    (2 votes)
    Default Khan Academy avatar avatar for user
    • starky seedling style avatar for user Daddy
      To seal the bassoon reed and give the bassoonist something to hold onto when putting it onto the instrument, most bassoonists will wrap their reeds in cotton or nylon thread. This can also be used to identify which reed is which. It doesn't affect the sound, but some bassoonists choose to use certain colors because they feel it makes the instrument respond better, but it really doesn't do anything different.
      (3 votes)
  • female robot grace style avatar for user Anna
    If bassoons sit next to other woodwinds and sit in the middle of the orchestra does that mean that an orchestra has 4 layers in this order from furthest out to closest to conductor:
    Percussion(pitched and unpitched) -> Brass -> Woodwinds -> Strings

    Also where does the solo instrument in a concerto sit like if it is a solo violin where does it sit, what about a piano, or solo cello etc.?
    (2 votes)
    Default Khan Academy avatar avatar for user
    • leaf blue style avatar for user Peterson
      Concerning your question regarding the position of the soloist during the performance of a concerto, they are located at the very front center of the orchestra, close to the conductor. The piano is normally positioned behind the conductor (closest to the audience), while string soloists and singers are located to the side of the conductor (usually on the left). As for your first question about an orchestra's layers, that really depends on the size and position of the rest of the players; orchestras can be arranged in a large number of ways.
      (2 votes)

Video transcript

(intense dramatic orchestral music) - This is the bassoon. It's the largest member of the woodwind family, therefore it plays the lowest notes. It's also very special because one uses a double reed to play it, and this is the reed. It's two pieces of bamboo cane tied together with wire and thread. And when you blow into the reed, the two pieces of cane vibrate against each other and that's what makes the sound. (reed buzzing) Doesn't sound like a bassoon at all, but when I put it on the end of the bocal here those silly vibrations have a chance to travel throughout the entire instrument and that's what makes the characteristic bassoon sound. Now, I mentioned this is a large instrument, but the tube of the instrument is even longer. It's nine feet long. So, underneath here, the tube turns. And it's very small on the top and since it is a conical bore it gets bigger, largest at the top. There are lots of keys, of course, and the bassoon is unique from the other woodwind instruments, the clarinet, the oboe and the flute, because we have a lot of keys that are depressed by using our thumb. (mellow orchestral music) One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, on the left thumb, and one, two, three, four, five, on the right. When I push this key, which is all the way here, all the way here, then it closes the final hole for the intsrument, and that's why it's the lowest note. (blows very low note) That's the lowest note on the bassoon, B flat. It is the highest key, but, when this key is closed, that means the note comes from the entire tube being closed. Actually, that's the only note that comes out the top of the bassoon. So, if I play a low B flat, and someone puts their hand over the top, the note won't come out. That's the only note that won't come out. (soft, gentle orchestral music) The bassoon in the high register has a little bit brighter, I hate to use this word 'cause it's a little bit negative, but a little bit more shrill and bright. And then for the low register it's much more deeper and mellower sound, which is of course, what I love about the bassoon. It has a very mellow sound, and it blends beautifully in the orchestra, but it also comes out very prominently in solos in a very beautiful way, I feel. (light peaceful orchestral music) The bassoon has many roles in the orchestra, and, a composer like Stravinsky wrote the wonderful Rite of Spring starting with a bassoon solo, with very high notes, and at the time it was written, it was rather scandalous, well, in many ways, but for bassoon players, especially, because of the extreme high register, and, I think his idea was something primal, he wanted screaming in a way, and now, as bassoon players, we practice very hard on those high notes, so that they can sound lovely, and we don't maybe play it as shrilly as it was done when it was written, but Stravinsky then again, when he wrote the Berceuse of The Firebird ballet, he used the bassoon for the lullaby. So, in a very, very soft, beautiful middle range of the instrument. (subdued orchestral music) I always loved playing the Berceuse from The Firebird, because it really gives me a chance to show emotion and beauty in my playing, and, so, that's very special for me. It was one of the first recordings that I had as a child. My aunt Linda gave me an anthology of recordings, and the Berceuse from The Firebird was on there, and I just thought, oh, that is so beautiful, so beautiful, I wanna play the bassoon, and, at age seven, I started playing the piano. And, I loved to play the piano, but I didn't love to practice the piano, and I didn't have, maybe a super aptitude for it, but, I used to practice under pressure from my lesson coming up every week. So, when it was time, at the end of fifth grade, to choose a band instrument, and I say band, because we didn't have a string program in Lodi, where I'm from. So, it was time to choose a band instrument, and my older sister played the clarinet, and even in this small town, they probably had 20 clarinetists in the band, and every week they had to have challenges for where they would sit, and they would fight about who got the first chair. She said, Nancy, play the bassoon, because we don't have any. So, I thought well, that's the instrument that I've heard, and I loved, so this is the perfect choice for me, and I did, I loved it right away. My family did not love it right away. I practiced, and practiced, and practiced, and practiced, and sounded like, to them, well, they had two words for it, bedpost and sick cow, or I guess they had another word, foghorn. (Interviewer laughs) So, when I started playing the bassoon, immediately something just worked, all the parts just came together, and then I got, I was serious, so I started going to, I went to Madison, which was fairly close to my home town, and I went there to the University of Wisconsin for lessons. In seventh grade, eighth grade, age 13, and 14, I was practicing, and I loved it, and I also loved playing in the band, but then when I started playing in the youth symphony, which happened, also very good, the Wisconsin Youth Symphony, which happened quite early on, then learning the symphonic music to me, then, my whole world was opened, and, being a bassoon player, it's certainly very important in order to play Brahms, Shostakovich, Mahler, Bruckner, all these wonderful symphonic pieces, they were not solo pieces written for the bassoon, by those composers. So, it's wonderful to be part of a large group and play in an orchestra, and have all that sound surrounding you. Bassoons always sit right in the middle of the orchestra, and it's been wonderful to play in an orchestra.