its tyte

Jay,

Flicking is for about 4 bassoon notes that are in the middle/higher range....A B C D are the main ones, sometimes when you first tongue the note or slur to it, the begining of the note may crack, and especially in solos you don`t want that to occur! so by flicking, you literally flick a key with your thumb * there are 2 main flicking keys...some bassons have 3* and by flicking the key at the begining of the note it gurantees a clear sound. It takes practice, i`ve been playing for about 5 years and now * this month* i`m decided to flick more, and it does help.

Hopefully you`ll start bassoon,

Bob

i can`t freakin flick either but i`m crap at the bassoon anyway

We all know that we`re supposed to flick and that it helps, and no one will believe it. I`ve been starting to flick more for 1 week seriously and i like how it works.....you just HAVE to try it....but starting is the hard part.

Good luck,

Bob

I will sometimes flick on top line A to assure I get a pefect attack.

I specialize in all woodwinds and ive always been in love with bassoon, i picked it up this year. I hated how my top A sounded when i would first toung it. IT WAS AWFUL..... I stumbled on flicking by simply looking for a way to make it sound clear on my own... Then i heard about flicking and read about it, i was so mad i didnt really make something up lol!!!

just to clarify somethin, my bassoon has 9 LEFT thumb keys, but 3 connect so that u can hold one to hold them all down at once. there are i think 5 right thumb keys but i have a student bassoon so its missing the 5th

ok... so i finally started on basson (YAY!!!) and i still can`t get used to flicking... my band teacher`s got me doing really easy pieces, but the problem is, a lot of them have notes in the upper register (above the open f) and it`s hard for me to get the high notes out... i mean, the notes are pretty easy, and the highest note he`s got me doing is only middle c... but it`s so hard to get the high sounds out.. and when i finally get those notes out, when i try and play in the lower register again, it continues to play in the upper register! ARGH! and here`s another problem... when i `flick` the a key, for example the B key, i don`t get a nice high B or Bb, i get a high Bb that drops back down to a low Bb once i let go of the key... how is my embouchure or my blowing supposed to be once i move to the upper register?

I buy reeds from David Brundage.

David Brundage
Brundage Reeds
and
Brundage Woodwind Repair
15036 Holleyside Drive
Montclair, VA 22026-3014
USA
(703) 670-0824
davemarc@erols.com

He is a professional bassoonist. The reeds are no where near $30.

With respect to going from flute to Bassoon. The flute takes way more wind. The bassoon has more back pressure. Go for it.

Tom

The bassoon isnt realy that hard to play ive ben playing it for about a year now and I am injoying every minit of it.

Jay. If your this new to the bassoon you might want to focus a hell of a lot more on the music and a hell of a lot less about flicking. I`ve been playing for bout 6 years and i`ve never even heard of flicking. From what i understand flicking is only for the best of the best. when you really have nothing more to improve on.(Although it seems like theirs always something to improve on)

haha yea, but it became a problem really fast b/c the teacher got me into the high notes REALLY fast and it kind of took me by surprise. haha. i don`t even try flicking though. i just hold onto the flick key haha... that`s such a bad way to get the notes to work but it`s better than hearing the wrong Bb... haha. is there a way to change the embouchure to get the higher Bb instead of the regular one?

if you mean to play the Bb one octave above the normal one so in that case it would be above the top bar line the way to do it is to speed up the airflow and tighten your embouchure. when i was learning my bassoon teacher told had me hold notes for as long as i can on each note this will help you play the notes and gain more playing stamina. thanks to him i can hold a note longer than anyone in the group. this might help ya

thanks man, i`ll try that next time i practice. i mean, i already try to do that, but i guess it`s something about my embouchure. i`m so used to the old register key onth e clarinet... =/

Well, I switched from flute to bassoon. It`s really not that hard. I don`t know. The biggest problem I had was trying to cover the holes with my tiny fingers. Eventually, you`ll get used to it, though. Just practice. It`s a wonderful instrument once you understand how to play. It`s also really easy to get into district band and orchestra if you know how to play well.