Contemporary Techniques for the Bassoon: Multiphonics - BSN

Contemporary Techniques for the Bassoon: Multiphonics

by Jamie Leigh Sampson- American composer and bassoonist

Italian bassoonist Sergio Penazzi was the first instrumentalist to introduce multiphonics to Bruno Bartolozzi, which lead the latter to publish the revolutionary book New Sounds for Woodwind. Since then, however, bassoonists have fallen woefully behind in the development of their contemporary sound world. With the limited and unreliable resources available, composers have been left with few options for expressing themselves in new ways through the bassoon's traditional acoustic palette. While researching materials for Contemporary Techniques for the Bassoon: Multiphonics twenty-one bassoonists, who range in age, experience, and specialty, were brought together to test over 400 multiphonic fingerings. This study includes a summary of the distinction between monovalent and polyvalent fingerings, as well as a thorough description of four additional categories of bassoon multiphonics. The multi-phase test process implemented in Contemporary Techniques for the Bassoon: Multiphonics – including elimination of unreliable fingerings, notes on embouchure settings, and pitch content analysis – incorporated bassoon models from multiple instrument makers, which together will ensure that this is the most reliable resource for bassoon multiphonics published to date.

Features include:

• Definition and instruction on the multiple types of multiphonic fingerings
• Pitch content
• Notation suggestion, including quick read notation similar to Heinz Holliger's oboe multiphonic notation
• Embouchure suggestions
• Multiphonic fingerings for works in the repertoire