but reluctantly began lessons on a smaller version of the bassoon called the fagottino. My first bassoon teacher, Bob Codd, was simply brilliant; he inspired me and encouraged me to persevere!

Then there’s the story of how Mark Gigliotti came to play the bassoon in the first place. He started as a pianist, then at age 10 took up the clarinet — first studying with his father ...

Contrabassoon - this makes a fantastically deep sound. I first saw the bassoon while singing in a school production. Several months later the music teacher asked for a volunteer to take up an ...