Studying bassoon at Laurier provides you the foundational skills to grow and achieve your goals in music. There are numerous opportunities to play and perform. Each faculty member is available and willing to help and our unique family environment nurtures and supports you on your musical path.
The intimate size of Laurier’s bassoon studio provides additional resources to ensure personalized individual instruction and quality music education. Beyond weekly hour-long private lessons, our weekly masterclasses allow us to delve deeper into many topics covered during lessons as a group. This includes reed making, excerpts, playing styles, practice techniques, performance psychology, vibrato, double-tonguing and performance anxiety management.
Being part of the bassoon studio provides you the benefit and community of a private reed room, with all the tools necessary to make a reed from beginning to end.
Our professional coach-accompanist will work with you weekly, coaching you through new repertoire and accompanying you during major recitals, masterclass and juries.
You have the flexibility as a bassoon student to pursue your Bachelor of Music in composition, education, integrated musical arts, music history, theory and critical analysis, performance or self-directed studies. Pathways to the Bachelor of Music Therapy are available in your third year.
Admission to the Bachelor of Music is based on the collective results of your audition, academics, theory and ear training test, interview, reference and optional portfolio.
Audition repertoire should be performed at a Grade 8 RCM level or higher. RCM formal training and exams are not required.
The best advice is to prepare well, and in advance. Practice slowly so you may always have control and consistency.
For double reed players, make enough reeds to so that you have a good collection that respond well, have enough stability to stay in tune, but enough flexibility to make small intonation adjustments. Know your parts intimately well and know the context of how your part fits in with others. Once you have some of these basics down, be free, have fun and try to play in a way that connects with the audience on an emotional level.