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Doublereed Archive - Posting 000072.txt from 2004/04
From: "arthur grossman" <artg@-----.edu>
Subj: [DR-L] a "radical" approach to G#
Date: Wed, 14 Apr 2004 19:16:38 -0400
One of the most problematic notes on the bassoon is the G# at the top of the
bass clef staff. Arlen Fast (contrabassoon in the NY Phil.) has
convincingly shown that a vent can provide for the overblowing of 3
semitones. We have always assumed that the three overblown notes provided
by opening the first finger of the left hand (called half hole, but of
course, it is never exactly a half hole, and for G# we often try very hard
to find the exact amount of opening) are F#,G and G#. But what if the three
notes provided by that "half hole" are F, F# and G? Of course, we do not
use the F, because we do not overblow the low F, but that does not mean that
the hole would not provide such a note. Now, the next possible vent is the
A speaker key. This key provides a very good A and a passable B-flat
(B-flat is really better with the high C key). So, where is the 3rd
semitone? Try playing G# with the whisper key closed, the first finger
closed and opening the A speaker key. I !
think you will be amazed. It is true that on many bassoons, it is
difficult to close the whisper key and open the A speaker key
simultaneously. If you have a whisper key lock, that is one way, although
there are many passages in which there is no time to do this. Yet, there
are difficult passages in which there is time to lock the whisper key before
a crucial G#. Further, if your bassoon has a high A key bridge to the
whisper key, it will automatically close the whisper key when you depress
the A key, so that will also work. Although it is not wise to have two
vents open at the same time, I found that, at least on some bassoons, the A
key produces a good G# even if the whisper key is open.
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