Contemporary Techniques for the Bassoon

Book excerpt: Italian bassoonist Sergio Penazzi was the first instrumentalist to introduce multiphonics to Bruno Bartolozzi, which lead the latter to publish the revolutionary book New Sounds for Woodwind. Since then, however, bassoonists have fallen behind in the development of their contemporary sound. While researching materials for Contemporary Techniques for the Bassoon: Multiphonics, twenty bassoonists, who range in age, experience, and specialty, were brought together to test over 350 multiphonic fingerings. This resource includes: - a summary of the distinction between monovalent and polyvalent fingerings - notation suggestions - pitch content for each of the 271 reliable multiphonic fingerings - embouchure suggestions - a table of multiphonic fingerings categorized by prominent pitch - a list of selected compositions that include bassoon multiphonics.