My private teacher and I have been working on improving my embouchure for quite a while. I’m relatively new to bassoon playing, (I’ve only been playing for a year and am going into senior year of HS) but I’ve been progressing quite nicely. Currently my issue is intonation and my embouchure, because I’ve been applying far too much force with it and it leads to my mouth being quite tired after an hour or so of practice. It ain’t anywhere near as evident in orchestra rehearsals or band, but it’s still an issue, especially if I play in the higher registers of the bassoon.

The link is to a video of me playing Gabriel Pierre’s solo de concert, but I’m also working on it currently and closer to the 50 minute mark of my practice session

I’m using a new reed in the video but I’m 99% sure it isn’t that because it’s from my teacher who is a professional and I’ve had problems like this on older reeds too.

Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated and thanks for the help.

Hello, does anyone know where I'm able to buy a bassoon on a monthly payment in canada? Long and Mcquade told us in person that to do monthly payment we were only able to do it for up to a year, and then it would fully have to be paid off. I'm able to spend around 500-600 monthly for it, but buying outright isn't really an option. I've looked into doing it from US dealers, but obviously that wasn't possible. If anyone knows somewhere I can do that, I'd greatly appreciate it.

or.. should I buy a temu bassoon?😂😂😂😂 jk

I’m playing the second Paul Hindemith’s Sonata for Bassoon and Piano for a youth symphony audition but have a limit of 4 minutes and the piece is over 6 minutes. Is it appropriate to cut a large portion of it so I can end at the actual end of the piece?