Article: Don't wear any type of balm or cosmetics on your lips. Either brush your teeth first or gargle with mouthwash before you play your bassoon. Otherwise, food and bacteria residue can build up on your reeds and affect how they play. Keep your instrument at a 45 degree angle across your body. Holding it straight up can interfere with fingering and playing the lower register. Embouchure refers to the placement of your mouth, lips and tongue when playing an instrument. Place the reed in your mouth. Cover your teeth with your lips, keeping your lips relaxed. Don't bite down on the reed or flatten out your lips. Imagine that there is a drawstring in your lips, and someone is pulling the string towards the back of your mouth, forming a cushion over the reed with your lips. Your upper lip should almost touch the first wire. Keep your chin muscles stretched downward and your cheeks smooth. Practice in front of a mirror to make sure your embouchure is correct. Use the tip of your tongue for articulating; for example, accent and staccato. Think of the way you would move your mouth to say the word "dough." If you are playing very fast, there is a special method for that called "double tonguing." Repeatedly make the noises of the letters "d" and "g" in succession inside your mouth, up against the reed. Breathe in with your diaphragm and out with your abdominal muscles. To better grasp this technique, try relaxed breathing by lying on your back on the floor (without your bassoon). This is a simple way to observe how you properly breathe with straight posture. Consult a fingering chart and keep it nearby for reference while you are still learning. The whisper key is your left thumb's home base. Don't rest your right thumb on the bassoon. If you want to play sheet music, you'll need to learn music notations. You can learn how to read music and play the bassoon simultaneously by taking lessons. Practice fast and slow air flow. This will help you to observe how air stream affects pitch. Blow into the bocal slowly. Then increase your air flow without changing your embouchure. Practice vibrato. Vibrato is when you add pulsing to notes. Try not to use pressure from your jaw to make a vibrato effect. Use your abdomen primarily and your larynx secondarily to create vibrato pulsations.
What is a summary of what this article is about?
Make sure your mouth is clean. Position the bassoon. Practice embouchure. Place your tongue properly. Breathe comfortably. Learn fingering. Try different air techniques.