Hello everyone!

I'm in grade 9, and I have played nothing but alto sax for the last 3 years. I was getting kind of miffed about playing one of the easier instruments in the band, so I decided to learn a harder instrument. And what better than bassoon?

I haven't started playing yet, but I'm about to, so I'm asking all of my fellow musicians what things I will need and helpful tips for me!


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Also, I've read in other threads in this blog that saxophone players who switch to bassoon generally tend to do well once at bassoon once they switch. Is there any truth to that rumor?

*Sorry for the double post, couldn't find an edit button...*

I know that almost every single bassoon player would highly reccommend private lessons from a professional, but herein lies a problem... there seem to be 0 professional bassoonists where I live! If anyone could suggest a way around this, it would be much appreciated. I have also noticed that some people say it's mostly a full time instrument, and I need to still be able to play sax. Is there any way that I could continue playing sax while still learning bassoon?

There is much truth to that rumor! I know several professionals, including a bassoon professor at the University of Evansville (a dear friend of mine) who formerly played saxophone.

I'm in grade 8, and have played bassoon since grade 6. Beforehand, I played alto saxophone for about a year and a half. Now I perform with a local youth orchestra and have placed 1st desk at all-county honors band 2 years in a row.

My two biggest adjustments had to be reading bass clef and changing fingerings. The bass clef is an easy fix; just write note-names in, then wean yourself off bit by bit. Fingerings, however, are more difficult. Many are similar on both instruments (for example, the fingering for second-line G on alto is the same as second-space C for bassoon, except you add another key, the whisper, but that comes later.)

However, I'm sure you will be great on bassoon! Best of luck!

Thank you, Dest!

I already play the piano, so bass clef won't be a big problem. But I am finding the fingerings quite challenging, so that will be one of the first things to work on(that and tone, of course). I suspect that I'll have an amazing time learning bassoon. I love the sound of it, and the fact that I'll finally be playing the bass lines(I'm one of those players who doesn't mind background parts). Again, thank you for the suggestion and the help!

that is very true also it will improve your saxophone ....the only advice i can give (mostly if ur the only bassoon player (and i still have trouble with it))use lots of air an play out make sure you can be heard over the bass clarinet tenor and bari and sometime lowbrass when ur playing with them and when there is an open spot or u have a solo belt it out even if its piano and in an all wood wind spot and u are the bass line play out it must be heard

Well let me start out with the fact that I switched from tenor saxophone to bassoon, and the air support is very similar. Note that once you've been playing on a quite large mouthpiece for a while, switching to a small double reed is somewhat a big change. Also, the first few days I started to play, I had kind of an egotistical issue, being that the sax is relatively loud and can blast over all of the band, while the bassoon can have issues being heard over just a full clarinet section. So you'll have to get used to giving up the spotlight.
The first time I looked at a bassoon fingering chart, I nearly passed out, being that the sax charts have just basically six holes, but the bassoon chart splits into four different sections of the instrument! Fingerings should come naturally and over time. It helps if (call me crazy, but it works) you have a moderately difficult piece of music to practice. In about a 5 month period, I was able to play from Bb1 all the way to F4 chromatically. I believe that switching from any woodwind in general helps to learn bassoon.
As far as my saxophone abilities go, they've changed just a little. Because my mouth is now set for bassoon reed, I tend to tighten my mouth around my sax mouthpiece, making me play a little sharper, but tuning and practice can remedy that. However, one big perk is that I have greater dynamic control, being that the bassoon is very picky about the air flow, so my control in dynamics has gone through the roof!
Excuse my long post, but I hope it helps
Good luck!