The following material has been extracted from the Metodo per Fagotto by Sergio Penazzi. [1] The Penazzi method book is specifically designed to give the modern bassoonist practice in the most modern techniques. It includes exercises in quarter tone scales, quarter-tone arpeggios, differently fingered timbres for the same pitch, portamento fingering, a table of homogeneous chords, the linking of single sounds to a chord, trills between multiphonics, 574 different fingerings for all varieties of timbres and pitches, and many other exercises. The method was inspired by the earlier book New Sounds for Woodwinds by Bruno Bartolozzi. [2] The author recommends an inspection of both of these most interesting publications.
The following table of quarter-tone fingerings can be of use to the modern bassoon student not only as an expansion of the technique of the instrument and the instrumentalist but also in developing and sharpening his/her pitch sense as well. With a little practice one can distinguish between a D# and a D## in not only one's own playing but also in the playing of colleagues and fellow instrumentalists. It is suggested that the bassoonist practice by using a Stroboconn tuner turned up to "plus 50%" (+ 50) to assist in adjusting the pitch of the quarter tones accurately. (Another beneficial factor to the mastery of these fingerings is that they also give the modern bassoonist some alternative sonority to the "clicking of the keys" which seems to be almost mandatory in every new composition for the bassoon!)
The notation for quarter-tones used here is:
The three columns of the diagram represent:
[1] Penazzi, Sergio; Metodo per Fagotto, Edizioni Suvini Zerboni Milano, 1971.
[2] Bartolozzi, Bruno; New Sounds for Woodwinds, Oxford University Press, London, 1967.
a. b. c. E+- play low F add low eb, db F+- play low F add low eb, low d, low f# F##- play low F# add low d, db, f#, f&f# G+- play low G add low Bb, B. C, D, Eb G##- play low G# add low Bb, E, E, Ab A+- play lowA add low Ab A##- play Bb add low Bb, B. Ab, rthumb Bb B+- play B add low Ab, right thumb Bb c+- play c add right thumb Bb, G key c##- play c# add left thumb C#, low E, c# trill d+- play d add low Bb, c#, c# trill d##- play eb add left thumb c#, right thumb Bb e+- play e add left thumb c#, eb trill f+- play f add 1/2 hole, 2, 3/1, 2, 3, F f##- play f# add low D, F#, F. f# g+- play g add c flick g##- play g# add a flick, low Db a+- play a add a flick, low Ab a##- play bb add low Bb, B. C, D, low Ab, right thumb Bb b+- play b add d flick, c flick, right thumb Bb c'+- play c' add left thumb c#, 1, 2, 3/1, 2, 3, F c'##- play c#' add left thumb c#, right thumb Bb, c# trill, low G, F d'+- play d' add c# trill, low Ab d'##- play eb' add low C, D, Eb, right thumb Bb,/ 0, 2, 3 e'+- play e' add left thumb c#, 1, 0, 0/0, 2, 3 f'+- play f' add right thumb Bb, low Eb f'##- play f#' add right thumb Bb, low Eb g'+- play g' add right thumb Bb, low Eb g'##- play g#' add a flick, right thumb, Bb/1, 2, 3 a'+- play a' add c flick, a flick,1, 2, 3/0, 0, 3 a'##- play bb' add a flick, c# flick,1, 2, 0/1, 2, 0, low Ab b'+- play b' add d flick, c flick b'+- play c'' add c flick, right thumb Bb, low Eb, 1, 0, 0/1, 0, 0, low F c''##- play c#'' add d flick, c flick, low Eb, 1, 0, 0/1, 0, 3, low Ab d''+- play d'' add d flick, low Eb, c# trill, o, 0, 3/0, 0, 0, low Ab