Meaning & use
bassoon
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Meaning
nouncountablemusic
A tall wooden wind instrument with a long bent metal tube and a double reed, which plays low, warm notes.
Grammar: Countable: play the bassoon, two bassoons in the orchestra.
Patterns
- play the bassoon
- a bassoon solo
She plays the bassoon in the school orchestra.
The bassoon opens the piece with a slow, rich melody.
Two bassoons carried the bass line in the quartet.
Word forms
| plural | bassoons |
|---|
Common combinations
- play the bassoon
- My uncle learned to play the bassoon at sixty.
- bassoon solo
- The bassoon solo was the highlight of the concert.
- bassoon player
- The bassoon player adjusted her reed.
- bassoon concerto
- They performed a Mozart bassoon concerto.
- bassoon section
- The bassoon section sits behind the oboes.
Synonyms and how they differ
- fagott
- Fagott is the German and Italian name for the instrument; in English it appears mainly in orchestral scores.
- contrabassoon
- A contrabassoon is a larger relative that sounds an octave lower, so it is not a true synonym.
Word family
- bassoonist noun
- a person who plays the bassoon
- contrabassoon noun
- a larger bassoon that plays an octave lower
Commonly confused: bassoon or oboe? bassoon or bason?
bassoon vs oboe
An oboe is a smaller, higher double-reed instrument. The bassoon is much larger and plays far lower notes.
bassoon vs bason
Bassoon has a double s and a double o. The spelling basson is a common misspelling.
Practice
Which instrument has a double reed and a deep, warm sound, and is played in the woodwind section?
Choose one answer.
The bassoon is a low double-reed woodwind. The flute has no reed, the clarinet has a single reed, and the trumpet is a brass instrument.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “bassoon”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.