Goood mooooorning, everyone! I hope you're all doing fantastic.

As you could undoubtedly deduce from my title, I have some questions for you all. If you'd be so kind as to answer, that is. =) I am a flauteress, but lately have become interested in exploring some of the other instruments out there, and the bassoon is my first choice outside of the flute family (since bass flutes are around $7/8 grand for good quality, and my budget is limited). My school doesn't have a bassoon, and even if it did, my band director usually has a stick up his butt and would probably bite my head off if I asked about it. It's not going to be easy going from a flute to a reed, but it's worth a try, right? Right. All in the pursuit of musical knowledge! This all being said, on to the questions we go!

-How difficult?
By this, I mean a few different things. How difficult is the bassoon to learn, in general? Again, I am a flauteress, and have no idea how the reed thing works and if I should learn another reed/double reed instrument first. How difficult is it to switch from my instrument to yours? Are the fingerings hard to manage, especially when you're a shorty like me?

-Cost?
This one pretty much speaks for itself. How much would a decent beginner bassoon cost? How about pre-made reeds? I realize that it would probably be wiser to rent the instrument at first, but if I do fall in love with the bassoon, this information would be good to have in the memory banks.

-What brands should I look for?
Every instrument has its good and bad brands. As stated above, I'm looking for a decent beginner brand -- definitely not something professional and top-of-the-line, but anything that would be good to learn on and not ridiculously costly.

Hm, I think that about covers the basics. There may have been more, but these are the important ones for now (unless you can think of anything else that would be good to know). All of this may sound stupid, but I really do want to try the bassoon. It's been at the top of my "must learn!" list for years now, and I don't have anything else to do this summer, so why not give it a whirl? Sorry if I've taken up too much of your time with this thread, as well -- I have a bad tendency to ramble, if you couldn't tell.

Thanks for reading and replies, it's all very much appreciated!
Kito

Well. Lots of questions. Number one, go to your local music shops and find out if they repair bassoons. Then find out if they HAVE any. Tell them you don't know anything about them but think you want to buy one. They should let you try them. This way you will get a little understanding of what it is to blow through a reed. (You might have to spend money and buy a reed, but this is just the price you might have to pay to find out about bassoons.) It is more difficult than, say, a clarinet, so you should be prepared in case you decide it's too hard to do. I had a flautist friend who tried to blow my bassoon and could not get a single sound out of it because she didn't understand the concept. This will also help you in deciding if you want to play a big horn like this. Don't forget you will have to lug this thing around, and you don't just throw it into your backpack like a flute. They're HEAVY.

The repair shops will also give you ideas about prices, but you can also research prices for used bassoons on eBay. You will have to be careful about this just like you would if you were buying another flute on eBay - you never know what you are buying until you've bought it, bad condition and all. It's a shame someone in your school doesn't already play the bassoon because you should know something about them before going out for one. If your band director isn't sympathetic, I would think twice about it, unless you think you can convince him after a summer of studying on your own.

As to types, my advice for a beginning bassoon is to stick to the used German brands (beware of the horns coming out of China which sound like German but aren't) or a Fox Renard. You will spend up to $5,000 for something of decent quality but might get lucky and find something for $3,000-4,000.

Difficulty:
Depends on musical experience. Fingering on all woodwind instruments is quite similar to start with and if you play the recorder first then that's great. With reeds the way you use your mouth will be very different to playing flute and this might be a difficult adjustment. You will have to read bass and tenor clef.

Cost:
Reeds - don't go for the super expensive ones (£15+) because they are just bits of plant and will all vary. You can adjust them yourself a lot as well. DO NOT get plastic reeds.
Bassoons - If it's less than £1000 it isn't worth it. For a beginner look for between £1000 - 5000. 2nd hand ones can be good. Do ask at music shops because on Ebay you never know how good the instrument actually is. In a shop they might let you or your teacher have a go.

Brand:
I started on a Schreiber which was a good beginner. I now have an Adler which is what everyone I know uses. it's a very average make but does everything I want. Definitely get a german system (not French) bassoon unless your teacher or orchestra specifically wants French.

(Eep, I apologize now if there are any grammatical errors being nuisances in this post; my computer is being a dinghy and is not letting me preview.)

Thanks for your replies, both of you, it's really appreciated.

I know that going to a music store and asking is what a person would normally do, and I probably should have included this in my post, but the nearest music store is approximately an hour away from my community. The latter of which we will call "The Middle of Nowhere", New York. And so, we turn to the internet, hot dog!

Drew: I was more interesting in renting at first, actually -- a "try to buy"-type thing -- because that was what we did with my flute and it worked well enough. Took four years to finish payments, but that's perfectly fine. The low woodwinds seem so much fun; the sound is beautiful and strong and it would look so peculiar to have little 5'1 me lugging around that huge instrument. And my band director is an arrogant berk who dislikes anyone who is female. 'sall good. Thanks a lot, you really helped me, I'll hold your advice to heart!

HeathJ: The bass and tenor clef thing is no problem; not to sound conceied, but I'm a pretty fast learner and it'll better expand my range, correct? Buying a reed to practice with also wouldn't be a bad idea, and the fact that I enjoy the taste of reeds is a good thing, too. =X And thank you for naming more brands. You've helped a lot, too, and I can't thank you guys enough! ^_^

On a completely unrelated note: I'm rather the noob to 8notes forums, so is there any way one can edit their own posts?

And now I must go, for my bus definitely just went buy and it might be a good idea to go get dressed now. Thanks again!