The Bassoons of the Past and Present |
While not as famous as a clarinet or a tuba, the bassoon has had the greatest amount of sheer staying power in the modern orchestra, becoming important during the Renaissance and remaining relevant throughout the past centuries. The bassoon is a woodwind instrument that uses a double-reed to make the initial sound. The instrument stands at four feet long, however the tubing inside if stretched out would reach eight feet, making it one of the most easily-recognized instruments in the modern orchestra. The bassoon's creation evolved out of an earlier instrument known as a dulcian, which itself had been around, and in many forms, since the 1500s. The bassoon came into its own as an instrument separate from the dulcian family when members of the Hotteterre family started to work with various designs to create the bassoon as we know it today. The original dulcian had two keys and eight finger holes, and was constructed of one solid piece of wood. Through Hotteterre family's work, the instrument began its evolution to the piece we know today, with 17 keys and multiple pieces of wood used in the assembly. Some facts about the bassoon:
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