Tenth Lesson, Part 2

Tenth Bassoon Lesson, Part 2

Tenth Bassoon Lesson, Part 2. Playing C#3/Db3. Review of prior concepts. Time signatures. Studies by A Tune a Day and Weissenborn. By Terry B. Ewell. BDP#202. www.2reed.net/bdp.

Well let’s conclude this lesson by playing some examples that emphasize the proper techniques for C#3. This first example is from A Tune a Day lesson 19 number 3. Again I count pulses not numbers. So I don’t think of the numbers given here. This is in 4/4 time with a quarter note getting a beat.

<Example: A Tune a Day lesson 19, #3>

Tune A Day 19 #3

The next study is from the Weissenborn Bassoon-School page 14. Notice that the time signature is 6/4. That means that there are six quarter notes in each measure. In this case each quarter note will receive a beat. Now a Db is written here instead of a C# but it is still played the same way on the bassoon; it is fingered the same way on the bassoon.

<Example: Weissenborn page 14, Moderato in 6/4>

Weissenborn p. 14

Well, the last example I want to play for you illustrates several things. Let’s discuss the first eight measures from the Weissenborn Bassoon-School page 14. First, it illustrates again the correct thumb motion for performing the new C# fingering. Notice that I keep the whisper key depressed. Second the articulations featured in the study provide a chance for us to practice what we have learned before. Most of the notes in the first eight measures I stop with the tongue. I play all these tongued notes on the wind, focusing my phrasing toward the downbeat of the fourth measure of each phrase.

Weissenborn Page 14, playing on the wind

The two notes I stop with the air and embouchure are the last notes of each phrase: the D3 in measure 4 and the A2 in measure 8.

I have time there to make a nice rounded taper to each of those notes, finishing each phrase.

Last of all, Alla breve indicates two beats in the measure with the half notes receiving the beat. Notice that the time signature has a line through the “C” indicating “cut time.”

Weissenborn p. 14, cut time

I know that this can be a little bit confusing when you first see this. So you count in two, again thinking of pulses, two pulses for each measure. It is not unusual for half notes to receive beats in music. This is quite common, for instance, in marches.

<Example: Weissenborn Bassoon-School page 14, Alla breve>

Weissenborn p. 14

Well, our ten lessons now draw to a close. I hope that you have learned from them and will continue to improve on the bassoon. God bless you!