Page 20 - Embou-Sure Book Series

Bassoon Embou-Sure
by Richard Polonchak
The bassoon embouchure is an overbite where the lower jaw is slightly behind the upper jaw. There is a little pressure from the bottom lip and none on top. Since most people who play the bassoon are usually transfers from clarinet or saxophone (where there is a bite or pressure from the top) or the flute (where the lower jaw does not recede but is in a more for ward position), it is import- ant to understand what the beginning bassoonist may struggle against.
Try this simple demonstration:
1. Place the tip of the little finger on your lower lip.
2. Now draw the finger into your mouth and take the lower lip with it. 3. Next bring the top lip down slightly over your teeth.
This is the basic bassoon embouchure. It is a soft type embouchure with a little pressure from the bottom. It is not a hard type embouchure.
Since everyone has a different lip structure (for example, men usually have thicker lips than women, black people usually have thicker lips than white people, etc.), I don’t form a rigid concept of the bassoon embouchure other than letting the lips-jaw-teeth form the way that they will when the finger is drawn into the mouth.
Now repeat the same exercise, but this time with the reed instead of the little finger:
1. Place the tip of the reed on your lower lip.
2. Now draw the reed into your mouth taking the lower lip with it. 3. Bring the top lip down slightly over the top teeth.
Drawing from Primacy Handbook for Bassoon by R. Polonchak courtesy of Meredith Music Publications, P.O. Box 24330, FL Lauderdale, FL 33307
When the reed is in the mouth, the top lip should be almost up to the first wire with the bottom lip slightly behind it.
Why the “overbite”???? Every reed has a good side and a bad side, and profes- sional bassoonists always mark the side of the reed that goes on top (towards the sky). As a reedmaker, I try to scrape both blades of the reed exactly the same-to balance the reed. While I can come close to getting each blade the same, it is humanly impossible to get both sides exactly alike. One side will always have a little more wood or cane on it. The heavy side of the reed faces the ground while the lighter side faces the sky. Then the lower jaw/lip pushes up just enough on the heavier reed blade to make it “think” that it is the same as the other blade-it plays better because it’s really balanced! Playing the reed with the heavy side facing the sky will cause the following:
1. Flatness throughout the range of the bassoon, especially on the tones that use very few fingers.
2. Soft attacks will be either very difficult or impossible. 3. Various intervals will be very out-of-tune.
While it takes a skilled bassoonist to play each side and determine which side is best, a very simple test is as follows:
Embou-Sure – 23