Frank Zappa once said, “Some people crave baseball – I find this unfathomable. But I can easily understand why a person could get excited about playing a bassoon.”
All tutors at International Music School Cardiff are hand-picked, highly trained professional musicians with an enthusiasm for teaching their instrument. Lessons take place in our city-centre venue, and it is our vision to create a place where music tuition of the highest quality is delivered alongside regular professional concerts and public performance opportunities for our students.
What should you expect from bassoon lessons?
The bassoon is a challenging instrument to play.
Similarly to the oboe, the initial steps of learning to produce a sound will take slightly longer than on a clarinet or flute. The best age to start bassoon lessons is around 9, when the attention span, lungs and hands are big enough to cope!
Since bassoons are less popular among children than flutes, saxophones and clarinets, the bassoon is a sought-after instrument in youth orchestras and ensembles. Master the bassoon, and you will stand out among the crowds of mainstream woodwind players.
So, don’t shy away from a challenge and give it a go! Learning the bassoon is a unique and rewarding journey regardless of whether you are a child or an adult.
A little bit about the instrument
Others have described the sound of a bassoon as being like the voice of a sea-god. Prokofiev, in Peter and the Wolf, gives the bassoon the role of the grandfather.
This very special instrument is the largest and lowest woodwind instrument. Unlike some instruments in the woodwind family, the bassoon doesn’t have a mouthpiece. It’s double-reeded, which means that the player blows through a double reed to produce the bassoon’s distinctive sound.
The bassoon is the double-bass of the woodwind family, with its stately, low voice.