What kind or reeds does it take? What kind of embouchure is best for the Baroque Rackett?
As I have said in the review, I had my reeds made by Keith Loraine. However, I also tried some modern bassoon reeds, and, after some experimentation and some judicious scraping by my teacher, they work quite well. I was pleasantly surprised by this, since buying stock bassoon reeds is considerably cheaper than having them custom-made. I use both plastic reeds and cane reeds–the former make excellent learning reeds because they don’t require any soaking and last practically forever. Also, with plastic reeds the notes above middle c pop out more easily. Conversely, cane reeds yield a smoother, more organic sound. As far as embouchure, I am using and being taught a traditional bassoon technique, which works very well–i.e. with a relaxed, upper-lip overbite and forming a letter “O” with the mouth. With this embouchure, the Rackett sounds very much like a bassoon, with a nice, dark tone and without any harsh or reedy qualities. Are you taking lessons? Yes. Since finding a Baroque Rackett
