# French Basson Fingerings



## Enthalpy

Hello nice people!

I'd like to discuss here *fingerings for the French basson*. (The German bassoon might overwhelm the French one, so a separate thread seems more prudent).

My sources up to now are

Maurice Allard: Tablature, trilles, gammes diatoniques et chromatiques
Pierre Ganzoinnat: Préambule, initiation au basson
I'm looking for

Fingerings above the F
Other fingerings for all notes, as my instrument has no fourth register key at left thumb
Be it as web addresses, book titles, documents... The very helpful
wfg.woodwind.org​ignores the French system altogether.

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To start the discussion, I propose variants not given in my books. Some may be useful on a more complete instrument too. Click the images for full size.









Pink keys are not available on my instrument. Cross noteheads follow the Obukhov notation.

D demands the fourth register key in my books. Emission is unstable using the third key. But this improves if I push the third register key partly, which opens the cover but doesn't close the piano hole.

E isn't bad, but 1L half-closed stabilizes it, so it can be better lipped down, like the D.

F is unstable and very flat with usual fingerings, but half-closing 1L stabilizes it too. It is then easier to raise, by the known 3R optional position, by adding LT (not in my books), and by lipping up.









Bb is more stable with 1L half-closed, like lower notes. Easier to lip down. Especially if adding LT, 4R can be freed then, which eases some slurs.

B is more stable with 1L half-closed, like lower notes. Easier to lip down.

C is more stable if the second register key is added to the third. Easier to articulate and to lip down.

This .zip file can be opened by 7zip, IZArc and other archivers.
View attachment BassonFing_Pattern1.zip​MSPaint and others can edit the contained png to draw your own proposals.

Marc Schaefer, aka Enthalpy


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## Enthalpy

Today I tried the fingerings proposed there
http://www.idrs.org/resources/BSNFING/FINGNOTF.HTM
but none worked better on my instrument than what Maurice Allard recommends.


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## Enthalpy

More *French bassoon fingerings*:

E is less sharp without 4L, and 1L half-closed stabilizes it in that case too.

C# is more stable if the second register key is added to the third, like for C. Useful in more difficult cases, like double détaché.









Marc Schaefer, aka Enthalpy


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## Enthalpy

I train high notes on the French bassoon using Ravel's Boléro presently, and my fingerings help tremendously. Two registers keys opened for Db and C, and half-opened 1L for Bb and A, make articulation easy.


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## Enthalpy

Finally, I found a *fingering for the D* on my old French bassoon. Very stable, intonation like C and E, doesn't need the third register key nor the 1L trill keys I lack. It even slurs nicely with the A for the _Rite of the spring_. Neither Allard nor Ganzoinat had a working fingering. Did you hear my victory cry?









I ignore very precisely how useful this fingering can be on more recent French bassoons.

Marc Schaefer, aka Enthalpy


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## Enthalpy

*Medium F#* sounds really harsh on my instrument with the standard fingering. My fingering is as mellow as G but is almost as sharp as A. _Legato_ E-F# demands much practice.

*D* is even stabler if adding 1R to my precedent fingering. The intonation resembles more the C (and less the E).









Marc Schaefer, aka Enthalpy


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## Enthalpy

This *D* fingering adding 2R isn't sharp and is almost as stable.









Marc Schaefer, aka Enthalpy


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## Enthalpy

Here are fingerings for *French bassoon's G-A trills*, slurs and ornament. It seems obvious, but I didn't see it from Allard nor Audin.









The left thumb and right pinkie press simultaneously. The left index too can press simultaneously with the left thumb, its costs and brings nothing on my hundred years old Buffet-Crampon.

Keeping the left index half closed might fit other instruments better. The register key one step higher fits less well on my instrument.

Emission, intonation and evenness are rather good for trill fingerings.

Marc Schaefer, aka Enthalpy


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## Enthalpy

My old French student bassoon has no third register key at the tenor joint, but the *half-pressed second register key* leaves the bocal's whisper hole (= fourth register hole) open, which stabilizes the D and D#










Marc Schaefer, aka Enthalpy


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