Playing Above the Speaker Key Register

50 Playing Above the Speaker Key Register

Higher notes need cold, fast air. The higher the note, the colder and faster the air needs to be.
- Imagine you are going to shoot a spit wad, or a watermelon seed all the way across the room. Use the muscles of your core to supercharge your air speed.
Keep your shoulders, chest, neck, arms, hands, and fingers relaxed because effort from any of these areas will not be helpful.
Place your lips at least halfway up on the reed. As you move higher in the range, move your lips closer to the first wire.
Upper D and upper F are the flattest notes on the bassoon. Be sure to:

- Use your very best breath support.
- Blow very fast, cold air.
- Voice a high vowel shape (“ee”) by raising the back of your tongue.
- Use the natural speaking space in your oral cavity (AVOID “hot pizza mouth”).
- Firm lips support the reed, but the jaws remain soft and relaxed (AVOID clamping down on the reed.)

Use the Matching Pitch exercise regularly to check the intonation of these notes.

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