Program Overview
Bassoon
Our bassoon program offers a collaborative studio environment for weekly lessons, master classes of solo, chamber, and orchestral excerpt study, and reed making with double-reed room access.
Members of the Oberlin Orchestra performing on tour at Chicago’s Symphony Center.
Photo credit: Yevhen Gulenko
Program Facts
- Program Type: Major, Performance Diploma, Artist Diploma
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- Bachelor of Music (BM)
- Performance Diploma (PDip)
- Artist Diploma (ADip)
- Division: Winds, Brass, and Percussion
Quick Links
The 2014 Senior Concerto Competition winner Carl Gardner gives a solo performance with the Oberlin Chamber Orchestra.
Oberlin Chamber Orchestra
Oberlin sponsors approximately 500 concerts on campus each year, including recitals and concerts by the more than 25 student ensembles. From historical performance to contemporary guitar, classical to popular, computer-generated to acoustic, and from time-tested compositions to newer works, the college and conservatory present performances to satisfy any musical interest.
Performance EnsemblesMaster Classes
Weekly studio classes and regular master classes for the bassoon studio involve mock orchestral auditions, reinforcement of fundamentals, chamber music performances, solo recital performances, guest master classes, and many other types of performance opportunities. We encourage students to support their colleagues with positive and constructive feedback. Oberlin cultivates a learning environment in which students are open to making mistakes without consequence in larger public performances.
Drew Pattison coaches a bassoon student in studio class in Kulas Recital Hall.
Photo credit: Courtesy of Oberlin Conservatory
Bassoon Faculty
Conservatory faculty maintain active performance schedules while remaining accessible and committed to their students. Individual instruction is paramount to helping students develop their mechanical, technical, stylistic, psychological, and musical skills.
The biggest difference between a student and professional is their skill level at practicing. The art of practicing is my primary focus with every student at Oberlin. That way, rather than being limited to my ideal concept of playing, the student can achieve their own ideal style of playing.
Bassoon News
Conservatory Celebrates Recipients of 2022-23 Honors & Awards
May 23, 2023
Recipients of Oberlin Conservatory’s 2022-23 Honors and Awards included 43 outstanding students from across the Conservatory’s 11 divisions. Most of the prizes were given to graduating...
Oberlin Ensembles Perform for United Nations at Carnegie Hall
November 10, 2022
December 2 concert before U.N. General Assembly celebrates new partnership; public preview in Oberlin slated for November 29.
Composer, Instrumentalist, and Educator Katherine Young '03 Earns Guggenheim Fellowship
May 18, 2021
Collaboration lies at the heart of Katherine Young’s creative existence. A bassoonist and composer as well as an educator, she writes for and plays with chamber ensembles and rock bands,...
Life After Oberlin
Bassoon graduates are prepared to pursue professional music careers as soloists and collaborative artists with a range of ensembles—from major orchestras to contemporary chamber groups, with several earning principal appointments. Others work as teachers and professors in schools of music and conservatories, as well as in professions outside of music.
Notable Oberlin Alumni
Ben Roidl-Ward ’15
Assistant Professor of Bassoon at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; Solo Bassoonist of Chicago’s Ensemble Dal Niente; Contemporary Leader for the Switzerland's Lucerne Festival Switzerland
Rebekah Heller ’02
Bassoon faculty at The New School-Mannes; Co-Artistic Director and bassoonist of International Contemporary Ensemble
Monica Ellis ’95
bassoonist of Imani Winds; faculty at Curtis Institute of Music and Manhattan School of Music