A new book of great interest to players of the German system bassoon has been written and published last year by Lewis Hugh Cooper and Howard Toplansky. 372 pages list and analyze more fingering possibilities than I have ever seen catalogued before.
The book is a bit expensive at $10.00, but I have heard of some particularly gruesome trill fingerings for just two notes "selling" for $ 10.00. Perhaps a real bargain is at hand.
I have had a copy for a few months and have not had time to deeply absorb the massive content. But already I have eased myself out of some difficult fingering and intonation problems, so I'm convinced of the book's practicality.
I can see a usefulness for Cooper's book by almost any professional and in music school libraries it will be of great help to students. There is a careful explanation, by the way of which fingerings are in most common use and the possible disadvantages of using special fingerings for other than occasional need. I am happy to see this contribution made available by Mr. Cooper, who was one of my first teachers played in the Detroit Symphony and is currently Professor of Bassoon at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. I do not know Mr. Toplansky, but believe he is another former Cooper pupil. This book is available from: Howard Toplansky, 559 Winthrop Road Union, New Jersey 07083. $10.00.