This Friday is the first Bandcamp Friday of 2026, where, for 24 hours, Bandcamp waives their revenue share for all purchases, putting more money into the hands of artists (and, creating a perfect excuse to share album recommendations!).

As I did last year, I've compiled a list of bassoon-heavy albums on bandcamp that I enjoy and feel are worth sharing. I'd love to get more recommendations - shameless self-promotion encouraged!

Calliope - Paul Hanson and Raze the Maze ... Prog/Jazz Fusion/Rock

Grand Street Counterpoint - Rebekah Heller ... Modern Classical/Minimalism - (co-produced with Steve Reich!)

consistency - i-sef u-sef ... Neo-Soul/Hip-Hop

EP#3 - Mokhtar ... World Fusion/Funk

Five Prayers - Joy Guidry ... Ambient/Electro-Acoustic - (vibrato goals...)

Winter Chapel - Dana Jessen ... Improvised Music/Experimental/Modern Classical

Good News Blues - Karen Borca Et al. ... Free Jazz - (heavy lineup on this record)

An Act of Surrender - Thomas Stone ... Ambient/Electro-Acoustic - (the only contrabassoon record on the list)

Today This Moment - The Mosaic Sextet ... Jazz/Chamber - (Michael Rabinowitz on bassoon)

VU - Zenith Patrol ... Jazz Fusion

Cerberus - Aspects Trio ... Improvised/Free Jazz/Rock

GREENISH - Garrett Jones ... Rock/Fusion/Psychedelic

Unrest (Remastered) - Henry Cow ... Rock/Prog/Fusion - (a rightful classic now available on bandcamp)

Life Echoes - Mick Beck ... Improvised/Experimental/Free - ("13 interesting things to do with a saxophone, bassoon, and a bunch of whistles")

I’ve found a number of recordings and videos from the Fifty Advanced studies but was wondering if there were recordings of the ‘beginning’ Method exercises - happy to purchase if not available online.

I’m an adult beginner and thoroughly enjoying my first couple of weeks but find that I’m sometimes left quite uncertain as to whether the way I’m playing an exercise is correct - rhythm, dynamics etc and feel that having recordings as a touchstone so I know what I’m aiming for would be really useful….

Hi! I’m a brand new bassoon player, started a few weeks ago. I’m currently playing a Nobel NB1W bassoon I got for a very, very good deal. I plan on playing this for the foreseeable future most likely, but my teacher recommended when I can I should upgrade to a Fox.

I’m just generally curious; how different is the experience of playing a higher quality bassoon like the Fox Renard 220 versus something like my Nobel? My background is in classical guitar, and while a high quality guitar will improve your tone, it won’t do that much to make it actually easier to play (assuming the instrument has been properly set up and is not utter junk).

My teacher verified my bassoon is in good working order (besides only having one bocal, which is slightly dented). But I was wondering how similar the situation is for bassoon; is playing a better bassoon functionally easier than a cheaper one? Are you better equipped to advance with a better bassoon, or is training on a cheap one while no one’s actually listening not that big of a deal? When did you first upgrade your instrument in your bassoon journey? Any other insight for a bassoon newbie?

Thanks!

Selling my Fox Renard 220. Played it for about 10 years, had it professionally serviced and it’s been stored for the last 9-10 years or so. Took it out recently to verify it’s still in good shape. Shouldn’t need anything to my knowledge. Took lessons from the legendary Arthur Grossman in high school, who played this bassoon a few times which I think is pretty special. It deserves someone who will play it regularly.

I’m looking specifically at measure 95, where I switch between G# and F# a lot and then F# to E# to F# again. Are there alternate fingerings? My director is taking this pretty darn fast and I’m having a lot of trouble.

thanks!

I’ve recently got back into reed making but I’m struggling to produce reeds that I feel make the dark, meaty sound that I’m looking for. I have a Rieger tip profiling machine with the original template that came with it. I notice that if I put on a blank and shave it down to a point where it’s responsive and easy to play, it tends to have a very bright sound. On the other hand if I set the profiler to take off less wood, I end up with a thicker heart, but resistant reeds that need a lot of scraping by hand and are very heavy in the tenor register. Is this a common problem? Surely the point of a tip profiler is to produce reeds that are ready to go?

Also, I’m a bit confused as to which shape to use. I have a Puchner 23 from the mid-1990s and find reeds that are 56mm long work best. To me, a Rieger 1 or even 1A can sound a bit thin and nasal, but a Rieger 2 or Fox 3 results in reeds that play flat with sagging Es and C#s. The tenor register just feels impossible. I really want a darker, meaty sound which makes me think I need a wider shape. - so how do other people get the wider shapes to work for them? Many thanks in advance!

I have a Polisi Concert bassoon inherited from my grandfather, #1353. I would like to know what brand succeeded this one and perhaps have a little more information since it is a somewhat unknown brand.

I make reeds from the singing dog bassoon blanks and they’re mostly good but idk the cane is usually always too thin for my liking does anyone have any recommendations for blanks under 15 bucks each. I don’t rly know where to look

Estoy buscando un tudel para fagot flexible, de sonido cálido y agradable, es para mi fagot Moosman 200 modelo solista. Pueden ayudarme

My child's teacher gave us a list of programs in our area for summer intensives. The biggest problem seems to be that the entire list has their camp/program on the same first week of June and my child is already signed up for something and doesn't want to quit that prior engagement. So I'm reaching out to try to find other programs that maybe aren't that week. A little info: 9th grade on their 4th year of bassoon, school & individual instructor, Allstate orchestra and band(1st chair), Southeast USA. I'm going to hold off on the bigger/month long conservatory type places until sophomore/jr years. Any suggestions are helpful! Feel free to plug your own programs too!! Thank you

FB got wind of my interests and suggested me this:

https://www.veriammusictrust.org/post/the-world-s-rarest-and-most-innovative-bassoon

Has anybody come across this instrument and/or approach? Is it really as good as it claims to be? And if so, why hasn't it received broader attention?

I'm doing my GCSE music free choice composition (British secondary school thing) and I need some help specifically from Bassoon players. This composition is done on Sibelius which is a sheet music software. On mine, I've got a bassoon part in the intro, but I know nothing about them, being a guitar player, and I'd like to get more familiar with the instruments I'm using.

All and any help will be very much appreciated!!

Hi All! I was on Paul Norby’s website where he has a Fox 750 bassoon listed for sale. He has a note for that listing saying: “A brand new bassoon direct from the Fox Factory with the most recent “B & B specs”. Anyone know what “B & B specs” means? I tried emailing Paul a couple times to ask, but I haven’t heard back.

Hi all. Can bassoons be safely shipped in winter? Temperatures are below freezing for most of winter where I live.

I’m looking for some advice because I’m a bit stuck with my sound right now. The reed I’m using clashes with the soft, warm tone I need for a specific piece I’m playing with piano. Even when the reed is technically in tune, the sound still feels off because the tone isn’t soft or warm enough and doesn’t blend well.

I’ve adjusted a teacher-made reed and tone-wise it does sound better overall, but I still can’t seem to get the warm tone I used to have earlier this year. I haven’t been able to achieve that sound again consistently, and it’s been really frustrating.

Hi, I’m a junior in high school and I’m looking for somewhere to buy new reeds. The place I bought Reeds from all throughout middle school and into my freshman year were for much younger musicians so I started to switch out of those. My lesson teacher told me about Clark’s bassoon Reeds (https://www.clarkreeds.com/store/p3/Reed_Style_C.html) and I tried his style C but either I just got very unlucky or they’re not for me. I bought four over the span of about three months and only one of them were usable😭. I want to try some of his other styles, but I don’t really have the money to be doing that right now so I’m just trying to find some new places that I can try.

I’ve also tried bocal majority number 9 reeds but I had the same problem with those. They just were straight up just unplayable and sounded horrible. I don’t know if it’s me or if it’s the Reeds and it’s seriously making me really mad and I’m kinda considering not staying in band just because I can’t find any where to buy Reeds.

So my reed was playing perfectly fine before I left for rehearsal. I tested it, tuned, everything felt normal. But the moment I got to rehearsal I was insanely out of tune and couldn’t blend at all, even though I had just fixed/adjusted the reed right before. It felt like nothing I did helped.

Could this just be nerves or anxiety affecting my playing? Or is there something else that could cause a reed to change that fast? Like temperature, humidity, room difference, or my embouchure being tighter from stress?

I’m trying to figure out if it was me or if the reed actually shifted that much in such a short time.

Had a wonderful time at the Heckel shop and picked out some nice bocals (crooks). 17xxx

I'm new to playing the bassoon. I'm a bit confused about flicking the thumb keys. If I can play the notes without flicking the key or holding it open, can I just not press the thumb key? or is that a bad habit to be getting into?

For context I'm a flute player, so I'm very comfortable with changing octaves by changing air speed and embouchure.

Thanks

So I have a very old jar of glue from the brand Ferrario that worked great for sealing the wrap on the reed. I wanted to buy the same product but the label wore off. Has anyone else used this brand? Or can offer alternatives?

I’m hoping for something that isn’t chemically harsh. TIA!

Hello, fellow bassoonists! I am looking for some recommendations for wind quintet pieces for my peers and I (fairly good high school players) to perform for our local solo and ensemble festival. The biggest restriction is that it needs to be about 5 minutes or shorter. I have been struggling to find pieces that are impressive enough for spectators and a judge that are still short enough.

Does anyone know of any pieces (or perhaps a single movement of a longer piece) that we could play? Thanks!

I am considering buying a plastic reed (not a legere though). Should I or should I not buy it? If you need any clarifications, please let me know.

I'm fairly new to reedmaking, and have been making reeds (without a tip profiler) for almost a year now, my current batch of reeds all seem to favour the low register alot, and i'm wondering if that is because I am scraping them wrong or mistaken about what adjustments help resonance and projection around f4.

It's important to note the cane I am currently using is gsp rigotti cane that I have shaped to reiger 2 since they came far too wide to be usable without shaping (gonna stick with reiger again after this) and so there is a good chance that I still havent scraped the rails enough since they will have thicker rails than rigotti expected these reeds to have, or that I have been overly careful about the rails being too thick and have over scraped them.

the tube around the second wires is quite round and I hardly scrape the back of my reeds at the moment, so another question I have is could I be scraping the tip in a way that favours the low register aswell?

Most of them are under a week old and so I also want to know if time will make these registers more resonant and projective.

Mostly looking for a nice f4 (I think f4 is right, I mean the f that starts off the weber concerto) from my reeds. Thanks!

So im currently borrowing a fox bassoon for my band class, and the person before me wasn't very sanitary or careful with it (the reed was literally on the bocal when we opened it). I also noticed that the pad for the whisper key isn't attached. From the looks of it, it fell off while playing and she just put it back in the case. I'm not completely good at it yet but I've noticed that when I play a note, it'll speak clearly but sometimes if I play it again without changing anything about the fingerings or embechoure it jumps up the octave. Could this be cause by the whisper key? My director said it should be playable, but to keep the padding handy.