This welcome volume encompasses the entire history of the bassoon, from its origins five centuries ago to its place in twenty-first-century music. James Kopp draws on new archival research and many years' experience playing the instrument to provide an up-to-date and lively portrait of today's bassoon and its intriguing predecessors. He discusses the bassoon's makers, its players, its repertory, its myths, and its audiences, all in unprecedented detail. The bassoon was invented in Italy in response to the need for a bass-register double-reed woodwind suitable for processionals and marching. Composers were quick to exploit its agility and unique timbre. Later, during the reign of Louis XIV, the instrument underwent a major redesign, giving voice to its tenor register. In the early 1800s new scientific precepts propelled a wave of invention and design modifications. In the twentieth century, the multiplicity of competing bassoon designs narrowed to a German (or Heckel) type and a French type, the latter now nearly extinct. The author examines the acoustical consequences of these various redesigns. He also offers new coverage of the bassoon's social history, including its roles in the military and church and its global use during the European Colonial period. Separate historical chapters devoted to contrabassoons and smaller bassoons complete the volume [Publisher description].

Woodwind Basics: Core concepts for playing and teaching flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and saxophone is a fresh, no-nonsense approach to woodwind technique. It outlines the principles common to playing all of the woodwind instruments, and explains their application to each one.The ideas in this book are critical for woodwind players at all levels, and have been battle-tested in university woodwind methods courses, private studios, and school band halls. Fundamental questions answered with newfound clarity include:- What should I listen for in good woodwind playing?- Why is breath support so important, and how do I do and teach it?- What is voicing? How does it relate to ideas like air speed, air temperature, and vowel shapes?- What things does an embouchure need to accomplish?- How can I (or my students) play better in tune?- What role does the tongue really play in articulation?- Which alternate fingering should I choose in a given situation?- How do I select the best reeds, mouthpieces, and instruments?- How should a beginner choose which instrument is the best fit?Woodwind Basics by Bret Pimentel is the new go-to reference for woodwind players and teachers.

From the three-time Emmy nominated actor, climate activist, and author of Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution—Rainn Wilson’s memoir is about growing up geeky and finally finding his place in comedy, faith, and life. For nine seasons Rainn Wilson played Dwight Schrute, everyone's favorite work nemesis and beet farmer. Viewers of The Office fell in love with the character and grew to love the actor who played him even more. Rainn founded a website and media company, SoulPancake, that eventually became a bestselling book of the same name. He also started a hilarious Twitter feed (sample tweet: “I'm not on Facebook” is the new “I don't even own a TV”) that now has more than four million followers. Now, he's ready to tell his own story and explain how he came up with his incredibly unique sense of humor and perspective on life. He explains how he grew up “bone-numbingly nerdy before there was even a modicum of cool attached to the word.” The Bassoon King chronicles his journey from nerd to drama geek (“the highest rung on the vast, pimply ladder of high school losers”), his years of mild debauchery and struggles as a young actor in New York, his many adventures and insights about The Office, and finally, Wilson's achievement of success and satisfaction, both in his career and spiritually, reconnecting with the artistic and creative values of the Bahá’í faith he grew up in.

The early chapters deal with the origins and historical development of the bassoon, with a wealth of detail, illustrations, and fingering charts. The work of Almenräder, the Heckels, Adler, Jancourt, and Triebert is emphasised for their part in the progress made during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, with improvements in keywork and design. Full account is taken, too, of how the bassoon has been employed by various composers from 1600 until the present day. The sections on acoustics, materials, and reeds will enable the student to grasp the peculiar tone-quality and characteristics of the instrument; while the final chapters discuss technique and capabilities, with notes on celebrated players. --Jacket.

Teaching Woodwinds: A Guide for Students and Teachers is a comprehensive resource perfectly suited for university woodwind technique classes, band directors needing woodwind details, or anyone looking for in-depth information on how to play flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, or saxophone. Teaching Woodwinds is the only resource of its kind: a book and a website. The book contains playing exercises for each instrument, group exercises in score form, and fingering and trill charts. The website contains information about how to play each instrument including sub-chapters on getting started, technique, intonation, tone and much more, and offers over 300 full color images, 130 videos, audio files, PDF downloads, PowerPoint/Keynote quizzes, and hundreds of links. Designed to be a lifelong resource, the platform of a book and website has provided the authors with a rich palette with which to deliver the content with clarity and precision. This format serves as an effective woodwind methods curriculum, and will continue to be a valuable resource for music educators long after graduation.