Hello Everyone!

My name is Emil and I am currently studying classical composition.
I'm currently working on a wind quintet piece, and if it is possible, I would like to ask a question about the instrument.

I am interested in the "timbre trills". I am watching the educational videos of the Royal Philharmonia orchestra, and the bassoon player Meyrick Alexander is talking about the timbre trill in this video:

http://www.mti.dmu.ac.uk/~ahugill/manual/bassoon/movies/timbraltr.mov

He says it is done by open/closing a tone hole which is not used for the played pitch. In the video, he is playing a C. I want to use the D a seventh below that C (under the first ledger line of the bass clef).

Is this possible? Is there an available tone hole for that pitch? If not, can you please tell me which pitches in that register are available for the effect?

Thank you very much, for making music, and also for your replies (in advance)

There are many possibilities for a lot of notes however the lower you get the fewer there are. In general trilling on any key or hole below the note you are playing will affect the sound a bit - either brightening or muting the sound &/or altering the pitch slightly. For the low D the only one is to trill on the C# as the left thumb controls the low D, C, B & B flat.

Low D is AWESOME for timbral trills! It's actually very flexible (as most bassoonists who are trying to play it in tune will tell you), and therefore can be manipulated by the mouth as well as by a few keys. A good place to start, as was previously stated, is by trilling the low c# key. Another one is adding the low Bb key, which seems awkward but is actually pretty easy. This gives a nice color change (brings out the lower tones) and also lowers the pitch.
You may also want to experiment with split tones on the low notes. If the player puts more reed in their mouth and pinches down slightly, the overtone series will pop out. Intonation is difficult with this, but the sound is pretty cool.
I play in a rock band as well as a professional symphony, so I've done a lot of experimenting with different sounds! I'd be glad to offer tips on any other ideas you have!

Cheers,

Darcy

That's great!

I will get together with the bassoon player soon, and we will try everything you mentioned.

Thank you very much for your support =)