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Where are the bassoons?


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Flute and clarinet suffer from the fact that everyone seems to have played them in high school. Any time someone says "
oh, what do you do?
" and I say "
I'm a flautist
" - guaranteed they will say..."
oh I used to play flute
".

 

 

Seriously, this happens to me at LEAST once a gig (someone telling me they used to play trumpet in high school). WELL LOOK AT YOU NOW, LOSER! WHADDYA DO NOW, SELL INSURANCE? MEANWHILE, I'M ON STAGE RAWKING YOUR BALLS OFF!!@!221213#@$

 

(I don't really say that :o )

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Seriously, this happens to me at LEAST once a gig (someone telling me they used to play trumpet in high school). WELL LOOK AT YOU NOW, LOSER! WHADDYA DO NOW, SELL INSURANCE? MEANWHILE, I'M ON STAGE
RAWKING YOUR BALLS OFF
!!@!221213#@$


(I don't really say that
:o
)

 

You might not be saying it, but the feeling is there.

 

Rawk those balls!

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Actually, the accounts, characters and the instrument itself from the movie are entirely ficticious. The location of course (Cremona, Italy) is very real because the world's most famous violin makers came from this town.

I brought it up as an OT because it is a such a good movie that, I think, most musicians would enjoy.

The super natural elements in it make it too bizarre for some folks I suppose. Bussotti (fictional violin maker/luthier) is especially interesting because his creation of the red violin in 1681 predated the master template that Stradivari perfected by around 1710, when he essentially broke away from the thicker Guarneri models he learned from.

This is what made the movie especially interesting for me.

 

The red violin is about 10 miles from here. Seriously. It is real, and its owner is in Cleveland teaching every summer.


a I am a pro symphony violinist. I had one on loan to me that cost 1.7 million bucks. And it wasnt that good. The modern ones are the way to go, mine was made in 1992 and can hold its one against most fiddles. I also have an older one, indeed in the price range you quoted. Dont forget the bow, they can be 5 figures and up.


Bassoons can be 30-40 grand at the symphony level. I think it could be my favorite wind instrument with one caveat: only a handful of people can play it WELL. Flute players are a dime a dozen, fiddle players too. I have only come across a few people who can make the bassoon sing, and when they do, its fantastic sound.
:thu:

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I had a 5th grade beginner in my band last year who had her own bassoon. She was doing pretty good by the Christmas concert. . .for a bassoon player anyway.

 

The first school I taught at, my HS band was 8 students and 5 of them played the flute. Talk about torture to the resident tubist.

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A zillion good fiddle players, but a handful of good violists.

 

 

In that case, you'd think that more violinists would double on viola. I realize violins play in treble cleff and violas play in alto, but Bassoons play in bass, tenor, and somtimes alto. Or do violinists get enough gigs to not have to worry about a secondary instrument?

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In that case, you'd think that more violinists would double on viola. I realize violins play in treble cleff and violas play in alto, but Bassoons play in bass, tenor, and somtimes alto. Or do violinists get enough gigs to not have to worry about a secondary instrument?

 

Most like playing the violin.:thu: Yeah, other than reading the clef, the instruments arent much different. However, since most of us are orchestra players, the part you play is radically different i.e. violins have the melody and the fast notes and violists play oompahs!:D

 

In most pro symphonies, a lot of the violists started as violinists and switched in college. Most colleges make every violinist play a semester in the orchestra on viola. I did, and it really made me appreciate the violin PART.:thu:

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