Working Through Rubank's Bassoon Method
I picked up the Rubank Advanced Method bassoon book back when I was starting out because it was everywhere. Half the bassoon players I knew had it. It still shows up on syllabi at most universities. The layout is straightforward: scales, arpeggios, etudes, and some excerpts woven through. That's about it. Nothing fancy. The Rubank publication itself is widely available through music retailers. Hal Leonard handles distribution now after they acquired Rubank. You can find it on Amazon, Musician's Friend, or directly from the Hal Leonard website. Physical copies run about twenty to thirty dollars depending on where you shop. For sheet music retailers that carry educational methods, they usually stock it too. If you're looking for digital versions, that gets trickier. Hal Leonard does offer some digital sheet music through their website, but the Advanced Method isn't always digitized in full. Some players scan pages themselves. I won't go into how to do that. Just saying it happens. A lot.
What the book actually contains: The first volume covers fundamentals like air support, finger technique, articulation patterns, and extended range work. The etudes are by various composers. They're not flashy but they're effective if you actually practice them slowly first. The scale patterns cover all the major and minor keys across the instrument's range, which matters more than people realize because bassoonists often skip flat-key work entirely.
How This Method Actually Works in Practice
The progression is logical but it assumes you already have basic bassoon skills. If you're picking this up as your very first method book, you'll struggle. The etudes assume you can already produce a decent sound and read music at a reasonable tempo. The book is called "Advanced Method" for a reason. It's not advanced in the sense of concert repertoire. It's advanced relative to beginner methods. My recommendation on how to use it: go through one section at a time. Don't bounce around. The scale work builds directly into the etude that follows it. Skip the connection and you're just doing exercises without purpose. I see students do this constantly. They play through the scales twice and jump to the etude before their fingers actually know what to do. That wastes time. Here's something most people miss about the Rubank approach. The articulation studies use a specific pattern of tonguing that's deliberately limited. You might think that restriction is a problem. It's not. It's forcing you to solve musical problems with breath and finger coordination rather than relying on varied articulation to mask technical gaps. When you finally get to repertoire that demands more flexible tonguing, your foundation is actually there. Beginners who only practice with varied articulation from the start often hit a wall later because they've never developed clean finger articulation independently.
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The Problem I Ran Into
I had a persistent issue with the etude in the middle section that deals with wide leaps and fast passage work. The fingering indicated for a particular trill passage wasn't ideal for my instrument. The bassoon I was playing at the time had slightly different key heights than what the method was designed around. I kept hitting the key guard on the lower register transition and it was throwing off my timing. My workaround was simple but it took me a while to figure out: I transposed the problematic passage into a different octave within the same exercise and practiced it slowly there first. Once my fingers learned the coordination, I brought it back down to the written range. It cut the practice time on that section from probably two weeks down to three days. The Rubank method doesn't address individual instrument variation. That's expected. You have to adapt it yourself.
What This Method Doesn't Do Well
The sound production section is thin. If you're working on tone quality, this book isn't going to help you much. It touches on it but doesn't go deep. You'll need a separate method for that, like the Milde method or something from a private teacher. The Rubank approach assumes your sound is already acceptable and focuses on technique. That's fine if that's true for you. If you're still developing your basic tone, you're using the wrong book for your current needs. Another gap: modern extended techniques aren't covered at all. No multiphonics, no key clicks, no alternative fingerings for contemporary repertoire. That's not a flaw in the book itself. It's just old. Published long before those techniques became standard in conservatory training. If your program requires you to learn contemporary bassoon literature, you'll need supplemental materials regardless. The etude selections are also somewhat dated. They're functional but not inspiring. Some players quit this book after six months because the music doesn't hold their interest. That's a real problem. I'd suggest pairing it with something more engaging for sight-reading and musical development. Any of the standard classical repertoire collections would work. The Rubank method is mechanical work. Don't expect it to make you a musician. It makes you mechanically capable. The musical part comes from elsewhere.
Who Should Actually Use This
Bassoon majors in college should already be past this unless they have gaps. Serious high school students who are committed to continuing into college music programs will benefit most. The scale work alone is worth the price if you do it systematically. Players who skip flat keys tend to develop weak technique in those areas and it shows up later when they encounter repertoire that demands it. If you're an amateur adult learner, this might be too structured for your situation. The book assumes daily practice with a teacher giving you assignments. Without that framework, it's easy to go weeks between sections and lose progress. In that case, a method with more standalone pieces might serve you better. The Rubank Advanced Method remains the standard for a reason. It's not the best method ever written. But it's the one most teachers know how to assign, the one most students have access to, and the one that covers the technical gaps most bassoonists develop. That's enough to keep it in print fifty years later. Not spectacular, but reliable.
