Sid's+Bassoon+Project

= ﻿ The Bassoon=

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The bassoon is a woodwind instrument that has a double reed. It generally plays music written in tenor and/or bass clef, but it can play a little bit higher in pitch (in terms of clefs). The bassoon mostly appears in orchestras and concert band. Its sound is very similar to that of a male baritone voice: a warm, dark, reedy sound.======

It is best known for its tone colour, wide range of pitch and variety of character.


The modern bassoon first made its appearance in the mid 1800's, coming in two primary forms: the Buffet (French) system, which most of the world plays, and the Heckel (German) system, which is only seen to be played in France, Belgium and certain parts of Latin America.

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The Heckel system was developed by performer Carl Almenräder and acoustic researcher Gottfried Weber. Together they created the 17-key bassoon, which has a pitch span of four octaves. The Heckel system gets its name from Johann Adam Heckel (and descendants) who started a factory with Almenräder in 1831. The Heckels were the ones to semi-invent and refine the modern bassoon.======

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The Buffet system was developed soon after the Heckel bassoon, and as a matter of a fact it achieved its basic acoustical properties much quicker than the Heckel bassoon. The French developed the Buffet system by even more refining of the Heckel bassoon. The Buffet system was refined by mostly change of keywork.Buffet bassoons are best known for a much reedier sound than other bassoon and for greater ease when playing higher in pitch. 

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Usually you play the bassoon, but it can be used for other purposes... ======

=How To Assemble It= Before you can play the bassoon, you will need to assemble it. Below are the steps to assemble the bassoon:

1) First off, soak the reed in some water while assembling the instrument. 2) Put the five parts of the bassoon together (the boot joint, the tenor joint, the bass joint, the bell joint and the bocal/crook). 3) Attach the neck strap and adjust the length so that the reed is at proper height and you feel comfortable (no neck cramps, trouble with holding it up etc.). 4) Put the reed firmly over the bocal/crook.

Now that you have put your bassoon together, you are now ready to play it!



=**How To Play It**=

Before you actually try playing the bassoon, you might need some practice.....

Below is a solo from a bassoon player. This is what a bassoon sounds like.
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=**What the Bassoon Plays**=

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The bassoon plays a very large variety of repetoire. Though it is most commonly seen in orchestras, it is also seen to play other styles of music such as jazz, romantic, baroque (a style of highly onramented music) and much more.======



=﻿**Interesting Facts!**= The bassoon is one of the lowest-pitched instruments in the woodwind family.

The average bassoon has approximately 7 feet of tubing (that's over 2 metres!).

The Italian name for bassoon is "fagotto" meaning "bundle of sticks".

The bassoon is commonly known as the "clown of the orchestra".

=﻿Bibliography= These are all of the sources I used to help me create this wiki page;

**"Bassoon." //http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bassoon//. Wikimedia Foundations Inc., 2010. Web. 3 Aug. 2010.**

"Bassoon, Instrument." //http://www.dsokids.com/listen/instrumentdetail.aspx?instrumentid=26//. Dallas Symphony Association, 2010. Web. 4 Aug. 2010.


 * "Bassoon Solo." //http://www.blip.tv/file/3363266///. Blip Networks Inc., 2010. Web. 5 Aug. 2010.**

"Google Images." //http://www.google.com.au/imghp?hl=en&tab=wi//. Google, 2010. Web. 1 Aug. 2010