Now we're going to meet up a bassoonist on our Symphonic Safari Adventure.

Let's go.

Hello.

Hi, I'm Violetta Vibrato, but you can call me Vi.

Hi Vi.

So you are Jeff.

I am.

I'm Jeff Keesecker.

Hi, Jeff Keesecker.

I am the professor of bassoon at Florida State University.

That's wonderful.

I cannot get over how huge that bassoon is and all of those keys.

Can you tell me about the bassoon?

Yes, there are a lot of keys, and they help us play all the notes that we play.

The bassoon has finger holes.

Like a lot of old instruments, had back 300 years ago, but then they started adding metal keys that would reach the holes that fingers couldn't get to.

I also have a whole lot of thumb keys.

I like to say we're all thumbs when we play the bassoon because we have so many thumb keys.

These nine keys here are all for just my left thumb and these five keys here are all for my right thumb.

So yes, there are a lot of keys and there's a lot of metal on a bassoon, but that makes it very interesting to play.

So you mentioned the wood, so the bassoon is in the woodwind family.

Yes, it is.

Is it because it's made of wood?

That is it.

And because we put wind through it.

And the wind goes where?

the wind starts when I blow into the reed and then it goes through this pipe and into the wooden part of the bore, it goes all the way to the bottom.

It turns, a U-turn at the bottom and then it comes all the way up and goes out the top.

That's a long way to travel.

Yeah.

Is that a reed or a double reed?

This is a double reed.

And the thing that makes it a double reed is that it has two pieces of cane strapped on each side, so the wires hold it together.

And then there's cane on both sides, and that makes it a double reed.

That is notable.

And it sounds like this if you want to hear it; let me hear.

You can make a noise just like that.

How old were you when you started playing the bassoon?

I was twelve when I started.

Wow, what made you decide to play that?

Well, as I was growing up, I knew I wanted to be involved in music and I wanted to do something in the band, but I couldn't pick an instrument.

I had two brothers, two older brothers who were already in music, and they would make suggestions.

How about this instrument?

How about that instrument?

I'm like, No, no, I wasn't really interested in all those things.

So finally, I decided, All right, I guess I'll play the saxophone.

So on the first day of school when we went to band.

The band director said, what instrument do you want to play?

And so I said saxophone.

I wasn't really committed to it, and I think he realized that.

So he put together a bassoon and he said, Would anybody like to play this instrument?

Not many people play it, and it's very unusual.

And I saw these keys and I thought it looked fascinating and I said I was the only person in the class, so I said, Well, I'll give it a try.

And so then he gave me a bassoon and I started playing it and I just loved it, especially the low register.

I love the the soft, velvety, low register.

And so I took to that and then my parents started giving me lessons and it all went from there.

Wow.

So you like adventures like I like adventures?

With a new instrument like that.

What was the very first song that you played?

It was a piece that was called Allegro Spiritoso, and at the time it was very challenging.

And now I think it's still pretty challenging.

But I've remembered it all these years and it was it was a long time ago when I played it and I brought it with me today.

Would you play it for me then?

I would love to hear it.

This is the melody from Allegro Spiritoso That was wonderful.

Do you know on our safari We find that instruments sound a lot like different animals.

What animal does that sound like to you?

Well.

I can do one thing that sounds sort of like an animal.

What's that?

Well, I already did one thing when I made the reed sound, we call that a crow.

Yes, because it sounds sort of like a crow.

Yes.

But as long as we're in the bird family, I can do something that we call.

A swan fart.

Would you like to help me make that sound?

Oh, I can help you?

Yes, yes.

Tell me how.

OK, so all you have to do is put your hand over the top of the bassoon like that.

Ok, so I can touch right up here?

Yup And you just cover it up.

Oh!

that was wonderful.

That is an animal noise, to be sure.

Do you have a favorite piece that you like to play?

Yes.

Now, I don't know if everybody knows, but the bassoon is one of the largest woodwind instruments and it can play the lowest sounds.

Is that right?

It is.

We are the lowest member of the woodwind family.

There are instruments that can go lower than the bassoon.

But in the woodwind family, we go the lowest.

And that low note is the B-flat down below the bass clef staff.

So there, if you know the ledger lines, there are two ledger lines and it goes to that B-flat below.

Would you like to hear it?

I would.

It sounds like this.

I'm going to go down to it.

How low can you go?

That was fantastic.

It's amazing.

Now, does your favorite piece have a really low note like that?

It doesn't.

one of the things that's great about the bassoon is that we can play these low notes and play bass lines.

Yes, and we often do that in the ensembles that we play in.

But the other thing we do is play in our upper register above the bass clef staff.

And then that sounds more like a singer, like a tenor singing.

And so I have a piece here that's actually a Brazilian folk song, and it's in that register.

I'd love to hear that.

Well.

Oh, that was smashing.

How many bassoons are in an orchestra?

Usually two, sometimes more.

We have some pieces that have five bassoons in the orchestra, and that's a lot of fun when we have that all together, all playing together.

Yes.

Do you have a favorite orchestral piece that you like to play?

I do.

I absolutely love Peter and the Wolf.

Oh me too!

While all of the other instruments get to play animals, the bassoon gets to play the role of the grandfather.

Oh, he's a bit like an animal because he barks.

I don't know if he bites so much, but he's got a big bark, and Prokofiev was such a smart composer.

He uses our growliest notes.

So we have two notes that are particularly growly.

one is the low B, which is right next to that lowest B-flat and our f sharp.

And he goes back and forth between these two notes.

Would you like to hear that?

Yes.

I could hear the growling.

It's very growly, isn't it?

Yes.

So wonderful.

I loved that.

I really find the bassoon so amazing and fascinating with all those buttons and how you keep up and the sounds that come from it are absolutely incredible.

Thank you for sharing all of that with me.

But before you go, I want to ask a few questions called rapid fire questions that have nothing to do with the music.

OK, but let me learn a little bit more about you.

So here we go.

Just say the answer without even thinking very much OK. All right.

Coffee or tea?

Coffee Pastel or neon?

Neon, Beethoven or Mozart?

Beethozart.

Mo Beethoven, I like Mo Beethoven Nike or Adidas?

Nike, I guess, and paper or plastic?

Paper, you have been so much fun.

Thank you so much for teaching me about the bassoon.

Thank you Vi.

Thank you so much, Jeff, and thank you all of you.

Bye bye.

Till next time.