{"id":798,"date":"2026-09-28T22:30:25","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T22:30:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bassoon.org\/?p=798"},"modified":"2026-09-28T22:32:37","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T22:32:37","slug":"bassoon-fingerings-what-your-band-book-gets-wrong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bassoon.org\/?p=798","title":{"rendered":"Bassoon Fingerings: What Your Band Book Gets Wrong"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For a beginning bassoonist, it is natural to assume that the fingerings on the fingering chart in a band method book have been carefully checked by someone who knows the instrument. Unfortunately, that isn’t always the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of the bassoon fingerings printed in common band method books are wrong.<\/strong> They are often simplified versions of a quality fingering but are not the fingerings that a bassoonist would normally teach or recommend. And some of the most important technique needed to play certain notes are barely explained\u2014or aren’t explained at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This matters for students, but it also matters for band directors. If you don’t play bassoon, you may have no reason to question the fingering chart in the method book. Your student may be struggling with a note, and it can look like a problem with the student’s technique when the real problem is the fingering they were given.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are some of the notes that deserve a closer look.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

E\u266d in the Bass Clef Staff<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

E\u266d in the bass clef staff is one of the most troublesome notes you’ll encounter on a beginning bassoon fingering chart. I’ve seen many band method books with terrible E\u266d fingerings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The fingering on the left uses both the right and left hands. Adding the right hand increases accuracy in both pitch and stability. If the right hand is left off (as is shown in the incorrect band method example), students will be frustrated and assume that any difficulty they have producing the note is their own fault, which isn’t the case. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For students, the lesson is simple: if your E\u266d is difficult to produce, unstable, or consistently gives you problems, check the fingering before assuming that you are the problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For band directors, this is a good example of why a bassoon-specific fingering chart is worth having available to your students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A, B\u266d, B, and C at the Top of the Staff<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The notes from A through C at the top of the bass clef staff introduce another issue: flicking<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These notes are particularly important because the bassoon’s register mechanism requires a technique that beginning players need to learn\u2014not simply a fingering that they need to memorize.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Many band method books give students the fingerings for these notes without adequately teaching the flicking (or “venting”) technique that goes with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Flicking overcomes the lack of an octave key on the bassoon. If you look at the fingerings above, you’ll notice that they are the same as the notes for the octave below. You can’t overblow on a bassoon and hope that the upper octave comes out. That’s not the way the instrument works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your band method’s fingering chart answers the question, \u201cWhere do my fingers go?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It does not answer the question, \u201cHow do I get this note to come out in the right octave and speak cleanly when I move to it from another note?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Is Flicking?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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