Studio

Welcome to my studio!  Below you will find information about my studio policies, practice techniques, Region Band required audition music (TX), links to several useful sites and general information about the bassoon.  

 

STUDIO POLICIES

I try to keep official policies to a minimum.

 

  • Please come prepared!
  • Please notify me by email, text or phone 24 hours ahead if you will miss a lesson.  If you become ill or have a family emergency within the 24 hour notification period, please let me know what is going on and we will work thinks out. If you simply don't show up you will be billed for my time. 
  • Show respect and I will do the same. 
  • Do your best!

 

REEDS

Playing on good reeds is tremendously important.  The characteristics of your reed will impact every aspect of your playing and your ability to be successful. We can spend a lot of time adjusting and evaluating reeds in lessons.  To keep this reed time to a minimum I strongly recommend that my students play on my reeds.  I sell two types of reeds;  a beginner reed for $16 and a standard reed for $20.  I usually have these in stock, but it is best to request your reeds a week in advance.  Stable bassoon reeds are produced through a series of steps that will take several weeks.  These steps include processing and soaking the cane, forming, drying and trimming.

 

If you are not one of my students, but would like to buy reeds you may do so by email of phone.  I accept cash and checks.   

 

PRACTICE TECHNIQUES

Consistent careful practice will bring you success.  I recommend a minimum of 30 minutes a day for 6 days a week.  Your practice sessions should include a warm up, technical practice, and then work on anything you are preparing for a performance (concert, test, audition).  

 

Warm Up

I recommend that you begin each day with long tones.  They help develop sound quality, breath capacity and control.  You should listen that the tone remains even in pitch and quality throughout.  Beginner students (middle school) will simply start with open "F", take a relaxed deep breath and hold it as long as you can.  You will repeat this on each note going down a scale (doesn't matter which) all the way to low B-flat.  Intermediate and advanced students will do variation on this. When they are almost out of air, they will slur down to the next note down and hold that for 4 counts.  

 

Everyone should practice scales everyday.  Beginning and intermediate students will practice scales from tonic (1st note, F in F Major, etc) to tonic for however many octaves their range will allow.  Advanced students should practice throughout the whole range of the instrument and vary articulations (I refer to these as the Herzberg/Ullery/Kamins Scales).  Many Texas students are tempted to practice their scales only as they are tested for the Region Band auditions (tongued up, slurred down, first notes of each octave longer).  DO NOT DO THIS!  You need to practice slurring up and down, tonuging up and down, and with all the notes even.  When you can do this, Region Band scale tests will be a snap!

 

The bassoon has the ability to produce very fast articulated notes, so it is essential that we practice tonguing throughout our lives.  I like to use a pattern of sixteenth notes and rests that can be practiced at any tempo.  If we imagine that we are in 4/4 and "1e&a" represents the counting of 4 sixteenth notes in beat one, here is my pattern:

  1e&a2   3e&a4   1e&a2e&a3   rest   1e&a2   3e&a4   1e&a2e&a3   rest   

We start by playing this pattern on open "f" and then repeat it on every note going down to low "F" and then back up again. Each note should begin and end cleanly(even the ones before the rests), and like the other pitches as well.  Do not speed up until you can do this cleanly at your practice tempo. Often we can create quicker tonguing by using a softer tongue (not quieter, but rather squishier).  Beginners may start with the metronome on 60 beats per minute and professional players will expect to practice up to 160 beats per minute.     

 

Technical Practice

Etudes and other technical practice exercises are excellent for developing your technique.  These should give us an opportunity to get comfortable with various techniques before they are needed in performance. We always start with small sections and slow tempos and then build up to our final performance.   As we begin a practice session we can pick out a section of music we will work on. This may only be a few measures, or it could be longer if we are advanced or the music is easy.  We will always begin with small pieces like measures or smaller groups of notes and work on only one group until it is comfortable.  This may mean practicing just the notes without the rhythm and articulation first and then adding them back in. Ideally, you should be able to play that group of notes at least 3 times consecutively without error at your chosen practice tempo after you have worked on it. Now, do the same with the next measure or group of notes. Then put the two measures or groups together.  Now, practice the end of group one and the beginning of group 2, layering your work like building with lego blocks. 

 

I will not attempt to provide a complete list of materials for this work, but there are a few good books that will work for much of middle and high school.  I have started many beginner student with "New Millennium Bassoon Method" by Michael Curtis.  It is progressive, has a nice fingering chart and technical explanations, and duets that can be played with the teacher almost right away.  Julius Weissneborn's "Method for Bassoon" has long been a standard in the bassoon world.  The progressive lessons can be used by students for several years, and the "Fifty Bassoon Studies" (included in the printing for most editions) are often used as test pieces for late middle school and high school students.  Douglas E. Spaniol has recently produced an excellent updated version called "The New Weissenborn Method for Bassoon" based on the original method.  This newer work offers a more user friendly version of the original progressive lessons, as well as extensive writing on all aspects of bassoon playing and common practice.  It does not include the "Fifty Studies", but they are available separately.

 

 

TEXAS REGION BAND AUDITION MUSIC

 

2015 Bassoon etudes with performance guide.  

 

TEXAS UIL SOLO & ENSEMBLE MUSIC

 

2015 Link to bassoon solos on utexas.edu

 

 

 

USEFUL LINKS

 

International Double Reed Society The IDRS is "THE" society for double reed players. Their site offers good information, and topical list serves.  They hold annual conferences which are fun and informative.  Have you considered joining the society?  

 

Forrests Music These double reed specialists have equiptment, music and reeds available for order on the internet or by phone.  While they are not always the cheapest option they have given me excellent customer service over the years.  

 

TrevCo-Varner Music This music shop may have the largest single collection of bassoon music available.  The searching mechanism on the site also allows you search by composer or instrument.  You can even tell them exactly what instruments will be playing and it will search for music for that combination.

 

Music and the Bassoon  This site created by UT Austin's Kristin Wolf Jensen is an excellent resource for bassoon students.  

 

Additional Info about the bassoon