When I was in sixth grade, I played bass clarinet in the Nimitz Elementary School band. I switched to bassoon in seventh grade (Ortega Jr. High). I had seen a bassoon when attending my brother Steve's concert with the California Youth Symphony, and was impressed with the way it 'stood above the crowd'. I earned the position of fourth bassoon with the California Youth Symphony, but only stuck with it a little while. I let Steve's negative energy towards the conductor, Aaron Sten, influence me, and quit the symphony just before they went on a tour of Switzerland. What a loss!
At Archbishop Mitty High School, I played bassoon in the concert band, cymbals and glockenspiel in the marching band, and bassoon in the Jazz band. Mitty was a small school and we only had three qualified trombonists. I played the fourth trombone part. The conductor, Frank Otto, was an important part of my musical and high school experience.
Just to show you that not all bassoonist can sing, here is The Song That Never Ends.
Acknowledgements
The bassoon wave file you can hear by
clicking on the picture of the bassoon was downloaded from
Isaac Bull of Vancouver's personal
web site. Since there was no E-Mail address on that site, I have not
been able to ask permission to include this WAV file on my web site.
Sorry, Isaac.