I love many types of music. Classical music is one of my favorites. My two most favorite classical musical instruments to listen to are the French Horn and the piano. But another favorite sound of mine comes from the Bassoon, which it seems most people don’t know a lot about.
On the other hand, if you ask me what my MOST favorite instrument in the world is, it would be bagpipes playing music of Scotland. But … that’s a topic for a different blog post.
Here is a fun bassoon piece below. Lazara B. Santana has recorded herself playing both parts of a bassoon duet. She’s really good, and she’s pretty cute in her delivery. 🙂
For a little different take on the bassoon, there is lots of bassoon presence in Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. Find a copy of Rhapsody in Blue on the internet and listen for woodwind notes that are just a touch lower than the opening clarinet notes.
So … what is a Bassoon? And what’s it like to play one? The video below is a very good introduction by a professional bassoonist (Amy Harmon) about what a bassoon is, how it’s played, what it’s like to play one, what bassoons are they made of (maple wood), etc.
Here’s a LINK to another explanation, but in this case it’s about the contrabassoon, the really deep lower sounding bass bassoon. Take a look at how long/tall the original contrabassoons were … holy smokes!
Of course, with all of these videos, it’s sure ok with me if you want to stop playback in the middle and move on. Enjoy as much of each one as you wish, and then move on. 🙂
I suspect most everyone knows what a French Horn is. The video below is one of my most favorite French Horn concertos, the Mozart horn concerto No. 4. It’s short. It’s snappy in tempo and feel. When I need a little pick-me-up, this always does the trick!
I love bassoon music and french horn music and piano music and cello music, and yet one of my most favoritest of favorites of pieces of music of all times highlights a bass clarinet. I think I may have included this piece in a blog post a few years ago, but I’m going to include it here again, just because I can. 🙂
The woman playing the bass clarinet is Hilary Coleman. The string instrument in this piece is a bouzouki played by Neil Davey. I could listen to this music practically all day long. Sadly, the group Dalla is no longer producing/recording music as a group, though the individual musicians are still playing professionally and are still friends.
What music do you listen to? What musical instruments do you play? I purchased a tenor recorder a few years ago, still haven’t taken lessons, although I’ve been learning fingering on my own with books. How about you folks? What music is in your life?