Hi everyone my name is kevin i play the flute but i also want to play the bassoon in band next year...i just wanted to know if its a hard insterment to play if i would need to take lessons to find out how to play it..

-kevin-

I believe that with any instrument you will get on much better learning with a competent teacher - not just someone who is keeping one lesson ahead of you - if you can find one. He/she will be able to prevent you picking up bad habits & will be able to help sort out any problems you have.

Go for it - it's a much better instrument than the flute. Not so easy to carry around though!

Ian

I have a friend at school that plays the bassoon and I like the instrument. He says he made sure to know what he was doing first.

I started on flute too (gives Ian *evil look* flutes beautiful! Lol.) and that helped me out a lot when I started on the bassoon. It is a difficult instrument to play because I think there's a bit more to think about in terms of reeds and controlling pitch with air support etc. But if you started on flute it should be easier, people who don't start on bassoon tend to make much faster progress. Also, if you're thinking at all about making a career out of music, the bassoon is much much much (much much) less competitive (to give you an idea - for my year at music college, there were 12 auditionees on bassoon, and 140 on flute).

There is so much you can do on your own - putting it together, reading the music, learning the fingerings - but like Ian said you can build in bad habits that you may otherwise avoid with a teacher. I also feel there's only so far you can go without some sort of guidance.

Bassoon's a cool instrument, do it anyway :p

lol im still going to play flute in band just in the more advanced class and bassoon in the other band class.

I be quite honest, Flute is probably the best instrument to switch from. Some good things to realize is that they are VERY DIFFERENT. The main difference that I noticed is that on Flute, you run out of air whereas on bassoon, you run out of oxygen. It's great to know both because one trains you to hold a ton of air while the other strengthens your diaphragm. Because of this, I'm able to hold out notes longer than the other bassoonists.