"The basson belongs to the double-reed family. Its tone is weighty and thick in the low register, dry and sonorous in the middle, reedy and intense in the upper. It is one of the most flexible and useful of the bass instruments. Capable of a hollow-sounding staccato and and wide leaps that create humorous effect, it is at the same time a highly expressive instrument."
-Joseph Machlis

Bassoon

"The wedding guest here beat his breast

For he heard -" I'm sure you know the rest,

But readers constantly infer

It was the Ancient Mariner

That spoiled his day and changed his tune,

Ah, no, - "he heard the lound BASSOON.

This half a cord of wooden plumbing

Enjoys the habit of becoming

First deep and dismal, fierce and snarly,

Then laughing at you jocularly.

(A contra-bassoon can be had

Just twice as long and twice as sad.)

Italians call this bag of tricks

"Fagotto" (meaning "bunch of sticks")

Which helps to clarify the motto

I cling to: "Horn but not fagotto."

-Laurence McKinney

Bassoon Noise

For all of those who care, I play Sonora bassoon with a #2 bocal, and a medium reed.