The bassoon is the bass member of the woodwind family. Like the oboe it has a double reed and overblows an octave higher. The bassoon is considered to have a register tone similar to that of the human voice, particularly in the central and upper register. The instrument has a significant length (slightly over 8 feet), made playable by doubling the tube back on itself. A metal keying system is vital to allow the player to operate the widely spaced holes, which control pitch. A large relative, the contrabassoon (or double bassoon), plays an octave lower.

The range of the bassoon begins at B♭0 (the first one below the bass staff) and extends upward about three and a half octaves; higher notes are possible but difficult to produce and very rarely called for. Bassoon music is written in untransposed bass clef, while tenor clef is frequently used for the higher ranges.

History

The first bassoon was invented about 500 years ago. It was called a dulcian meaning "soft and sweet" in Latin. This instrument was one piece and had a double reed made from cane. The English version of the dulcian was called a curtal.

Around 1643-1715, French instrument makers developed a new curtal that had four separate pieces. It had about 4 or 8 keys. It is similar to today's traditional bassoon. Use of this new kind of bassoon spread like wildfire throughout Europe. Throughout the 1700's, more keys were added and more notes could be played.

Though more keys were added, the tone of the bassoon was awful. In 1820, Carl Almenader and his partner, Adam Heckel, developed a bassoon with many notes it could play and the tone was not damaged. They had developed the German bassoon, which is still used today, except with some minor changes.