I used to play the clarinet because I couldn't afford a bassoon at the time.
Once I had the money together I bought a bassoon and haven't looked back.
I found playing the clarinet easier (less variables) but now when I go and play it the whole
setup with the reed and mouthpiece feels very constricted, not as wonderfully free and complex
as on a bassoon.
If you get bored with the technical work (lift those fingers at the same time and fight with the pitch) there
are just so many different things of interest on the bassoon, eg the historical roots (dulcian) different bocals, alternate fingerings. Also bassoonists seem to like to be social types.
In the end you can't be half hearted on the bassoon, but it's SO much fun to play on.
Cheers
James
p.s. : I'd like to let Alan Fox himself speak on the nature of bassonists, as in this extract of an interview you can see here
http://www.norapost.com/fox.html
Quote :
POST: Along those lines, I'd like to ask you about bassoon players as personalities. If you look at the flute world, when someone comes out with a new head joint, for example, two thousand people at the flute convention descend like locusts to try it. oboe players are terribly conservative and I'm wondering how you find bassoon players to be.
FOX: oh heavens, they're always running to try something new, especially new bocals and shaper tips.
POST: Do you find a big difference between oboe players and bassoon players?
FOX: Yes. For example, if I go to a city and call three bassoon players and say let's try some instruments and get together and have a little beer and have a good time, within four or five hours twenty bassoonists will show up. If I do the same thing with a group of oboe players, I'm lucky to get the two people I called on the telephone.
