Bassoon

Bassoon, bass double-reed woodwind instrument. It has about 2.4 m (about 8 ft) of conical-bore wood tubing in a narrow U shape, in four sections, or joints. The slightly flared bell joint is set into the bass, or long, joint, which is set in turn—like the tenor, or wing, joint—into the double, or butt, joint. The bassoon normally has eight finger holes (usually controlled by keys) and ten or more additional key-controlled holes. The reed is placed in a curved metal tube, or crook, set into the tenor joint. Developed about 1650 from the similar curtal (which was bored into a single wood block), the bassoon has a range of about three octaves upward from the third B-flat below middle C. The modern French bassoon, played in Belgium, France, Spain, and Italy, was developed in the mid-19th century by the French firm of Buffet-Crampon. The German bassoon, played elsewhere and perfected by the 19th-century German manufacturer Wilhelm Heckel, has a more consistent, less flexible tone than the French bassoon.