Tenth Bassoon Lesson, Part 1
Comments on the Ten Lessons. Playing C#3/Db3. By Terry B.
Comments
Comments on the Ten Lessons. Playing C#3/Db3. By Terry B. Ewell. BDP#201. www.2reed.net/bdp.
The original transcript is available here.
Videos
Captions are unavailable. The complete transcript follows.
Chapters
Transcript
0:00Intro Music: Home Sweet Home
Intro Music: "Home Sweet Home" from A Tune a Day, lesson 29 number 6.
0:14Lesson 10 and the Ten-Lesson Sequence
Well, this is lesson 10 and we are coming to a conclusion in this series.
0:19Section
Let me just say a few brief points before we go onto the lesson material.
0:26Section
These ten lessons should not be viewed as a rigid mandate.
0:31Section
Rather, I have put in order the sequence of pedagogical ideas that I think are best timed for your progress as a student.
0:46Foundational Bassoon Principles
These concepts I present in the ten lessons are foundational, absolutely vital to good bassoon performance technique.
0:57Section
I hope that you seriously consider them and work on them daily.
1:03Section
These are so important as principles that I often repeat them with my college students.
1:09Section
When I play, I think about these principles as well to coach myself into being a better performer.
1:16Correction to the Weissenborn Bassoon-School Reference
When I wrote the article "Teaching the Beginning Bassoonist" in 2000, I incorrectly identified the Weissenborn Bassoon-School as Opus 8 number 1. Teaching the Beginning Bassoonist
1:28Section
Apparently there is no opus number for this work.
1:32Section
The Opus 8 number 1 is a different collection of studies.
1:37Section
The edition of the Bassoon-School that I use is published by Rob. Forberg, distributed by G. F. Peters Corporation.
1:55Additional Bassoon Fingerings
As you progress in your studies you may need to know additional fingerings. Please be aware that I supply for free standard fingering on the bassoon on 2reed.net. You may download and print out this PDF. Standard Bassoon Fingerings
2:09Lesson 10: C#3 and Db3
Now let's move to the lesson 10 materials. In a prior video I introduced the difficult fingering Eb3.
2:15Section
In this lesson I will have another difficult fingering--C#3 or Db3.
Open full-size figure
2:26Music and the Bassoon
I recommend to you again the website by Professor Kristen Wolf Jensen. She has videos on playing C#3 that are excellent and can be companions to what I give in this video. Music and the Bassoon
2:47The Left Thumb
In the English language when we say that someone is "all thumbs" that is usually a comment on how clumsy they are with their hands.
2:56Section
However, on the bassoon the thumb must be the most agile member of your fingers.
3:02Section
Particularly the left thumb has incredible things that it needs to do. You have already learned about the flicking that the left thumb needs to do.
3:09Section
Now you will learn about what the left thumb has to do with the C# key.
3:14Producing C#3
To produce C#3 the left hand thumb must depress three keys.
3:23Section
Often the music moves step wise to C#3 so you must also learn to roll the thumb to open the correct keys.
3:30Rolling the Thumb
For example, let's take a look at the Weissenborn Bassoon-School on p. 14.
Open full-size figure
3:58Keeping the Whisper Key Depressed
Notice how I keep the whisper key depressed.
4:06Section
I don't lift it in the first measure. Instead I roll my thumb back and forth. Similarly in measure 3 I don't lift the thumb. Here it is again.
4:25Practicing Smooth C#3 Connections
This will take a good deal of practice to master this technique.
4:33Section
But it is absolutely essential if you are going to play smoothly to and from C#3.
4:40Closing Music
Closing Music: "Home Sweet Home" from A Tune a Day, lesson 29 number 6. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Copyright (c) 2016 By Terry B. Ewell. All rights reserved.
Resources
References
- Reference: Terry B. Ewell, “Teaching the Beginning Bassoonist,” The Double Reed 23/2 (2000): 35–43.here
Credits
- author Terry B. Ewell