This was an instrument with two parallel wooden pipes which was made from 1513 onward by the Italian collector of musical instruments Afranio degli Albonesi. It is not known in which workshops dulcians, the direct antecedents of the modern bassoon, were first made.įor many years the so-called phagotum was regarded as the direct forerunner of the modern bassoon. The other end flared out to form a bell.īecause this new instrument possessed a mellow and pleasant sound which distinguished it from the pommers it was given the name dulcian (“sweet-sounder”). A small S-shaped tube was attached to the narrow end of the tube to which the double reed was fixed. The tubing was conical along its entire length. In the second half of the 16th century these attempts resulted in the construction of an instrument the body of which consisted essentially of a hollowed-out, U-shaped wooden block. The dulcianĪttempts were therefore made to construct a maneuverable bass instrument by “folding” the tubing after the fashion of the trumpets and trombones to make it shorter. With the great bass shawm, the deepest member of the family, the shawms had reached the limits of their development: aside from the fact that its almost 3 meters long, straight tube was extremely unwieldy, a further downward extension of its range (to below F2) was out of the question due to the fingering problems it posed. In the course of attempts to extend the range downward it became necessary to produce a bass instrument also for the woodwind family which was on the one hand sufficiently agile and loud and on the other easy to handle. The name was derived from the low instruments, the bomhardes (from the Latin bombus meaning “muffled sound”, “rumble”). During the Renaissance period the bombarde or pommer family included instruments in seven ranges, from the third octave above middle C (treble shawm, the direct antecedent of the oboe) to the contraoctave (great bass shawm). This development led to the construction of instrument families. In the 16th century instrumental polyphony evolved, following the example of vocal music. The forerunner of modern bassoons and oboes was a kind of shawm which generally had seven sound holes, a conical tube and a double reed. In the Middle Ages shawms - wind instruments played with either a single or a double reed - were common throughout Europe. Its tube is narrower, which means the highest notes speak more easily. The French Buffet model, the basson, has 22 keys and six open fingerholes.

In the 20th century the German Heckel bassoon (that originated with Carl Almenraeder and Johann Adam Heckel) with its 24-27 keys and five open fingerholes became the international standard. If an A bell is fitted to the customary Bb bell the instrument's range is increased by a half tone downward to A1. Long joint: This is the longest piece of tubing, and is parallel to the wing joint.īell: is often finished with an ornamental rim of ivory or plastic. The hand rest for the right hand is screwed onto the boot, which ends at the bottom with a metal U-bend. Wing joint: the bocal joins the straight, wood wing joint or tenor joint, which is shorter and narrower than the long joint that runs parallel to it.ĭouble or butt joint, boot: the boot is a U-shaped hollow piece of tube which is attached to the wing and long joints. The bassoon's conical tube consists of the following five components:Ĭrook or bocal: A narrow, curved metal tube connecting the double-reed mouthpiece to the wood body the bocal has an aperture for the so-called piano mechanism the bassoon's overall intonation can be altered by the use of bocals of differing length. Unlike the oboe the shawm-like sound that this mouthpiece produces is tempered by the U-shaped bend of its wind duct, so that bassoon notes are not a homogeneous continuation of the lowest notes of the oboe's compass. Like the oboe, the bassoon is a double-reed instrument, because the mouthpiece has two reeds that lie very close together. The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the tenor and bass register. Bell: Cylindrical, finished with an ornamental rim of ivory or plastic.Keys/fingerholes: 24-27 keys, 5 open fingerholes (Heckel bassoon).Bore: Very narrow tapers from 4 mm (wing) to 40 mm (bell).Tube: Length 250-259 cm, U-shaped, conical.

Mouthpiece: Double reed, 15.5 mm wide: two reeds lying close together (material: arundo donax), striking reed.

Material: Maple (wood body), brass, nickel silver (bocal, keys, U-bend).

Classification: Aerophone, double-reed instrument, woodwind instrument.

Tongue note recorder