It's been my first year in concert band playing the bassooon, seasons over but we're still playing music like First suite in Eb, should a beginner bassoon player know how to play that? I really don't want to ask my director cause he'll go berserk.

I assume it's the suite by Holst you're talking about. It must be 25 years since I last saw this but (when I'd only been playing a year or so) but my memory is that there is nothing very tricky in it, however if you've only been playing bassoon for a year you would need to put in a quite lot of private practice on the bits you find tricky.

Maybe the way to appproach the BD or your bassoon teacher is to ask about specific places where you are having difficulty rather than make a general comment about being expected to play it!

It might be possible to simplify the part to make it easier. For example if there are runs of 1/16 notes just play the first of every group of 4 for the time being.

Good luck.

The first time I played this, I had been playing for a year and a half. As long as you have a good bassoon teacher, it shouldn't be a problem. There are a few short runs in there (like 2, in the second movement) but if you run over those a few times its pretty simple. You're a lucky duck, that's a really cool piece to play. (: