Alternate Fingerings

You should always feel as though you can create fingerings that fit your hand. The Essentials of Bassoon Technique by Lewis Hugh Cooper and Howard Toplansky (Published by Howard Toplansky) is still my “bible” to go to look for alternate fingerings The bassoon is such a pliable instrument. You just need to be the master of the sound through what you do. My fingerings are mostly modifications to notes that use left and right little fingers, and left-hand thumb key. I am using the IDRS fingering designation for notes. Our lowest Bb is Bb1, B1, then the next note is C2 with octave numbers changing at C. But I’ve also written them out on the fingering charts I’m sharing below.

 Fingerings for Bolero for small hands

One of the more difficult solos for bassoonists with small hands is Ravel’s Bolero because of the extreme stretches of the fingers and the rapid repetitions of the high note pattern. The fingerings on this page were inspired by Mark Popkin (1929-2011) who created them. Mark taught at the North Carolina School for the Arts and was the Co-founder of the Glickman-Popkin Bassoon Camp. Further modifications have been done from the original fingerings.

Disclaimer: Not all fingerings will work for everyone!