William Short

William Short was appointed Principal Bassoon of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in 2012. He previously served in the same capacity with the Delaware Symphony Orchestra and has also performed with the Houston and Detroit Symphonies and the Philadelphia Orchestra. William has performed as soloist with the Vermont and Delaware Symphonies, the New York Classical Players, and the Strings Festival Orchestra. He is a founding member of the Gotham Wind Quintet and has performed many times with the Camerata Pacifica, Dolce Suono, and Met Orchestra Chamber Ensemble chamber music series.

A dedicated teacher, William serves on the faculties of The Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, and Temple University, and is a Valade Fellow at Interlochen Arts Camp. In addition, he is a Visiting Faculty member at The Tianjin Juilliard School and has held visiting guest positions at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music and the University of Colorado at Boulder. He has presented classes around the world, including at conferences of the International Double Reed Society, for which he served as a board member from 2017-2021.

William has performed and taught at the Lake Champlain, Lake Tahoe, Mostly Mozart, National Orchestral Institute, National Youth Orchestra, Stellenbosch (South Africa), Strings, Twickenham, and Verbier Festivals. An occasional arranger, editor, and composer, his work has been published by the Theodore Presser Company and TrevCo Music.

William received his Bachelor of Music from the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Daniel Matsukawa and Bernard Garfield, and his Master of Music at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, where he studied with Benjamin Kamins. As a student, he attended festivals including the Music Academy of the West, Pacific Music Festival, Spoleto Festival USA, and the Verbier Festival. Additional major teachers have included Jeanine Attaway, Kristin Wolfe Jensen, and William Lewis.

A Fox Artist, William plays on a Model 750, which he is proud to have helped develop.

The Stratosphere

April 24, 2015  /  William Short

High E-Flat, E, and F occupy an intimidating place in the bassoon range. I think this can be helped with some slightly off-the-beaten-path fingerings. Note that, like all extreme register fingerings, these don’t work equally well on every instrument. However, I’ve seen enough success with them, on enough different equipment, that I think they’re worth sharing.

Worth Keeping in Mind

  • Stronger reeds work better in this register.

  • Keep your embouchure very close to the first wire, with very little overbite.

  • Your vowel sound, created by repositioning the back of your tongue, should be very closed (an “E” rather than an “O”, with the back of the tongue quite high in the mouth).

  • These fingerings don’t respond well to heavy articulation—air attacks are generally best.

  • Your air stream requires a bit of finesse in this register—you can’t overblow.

This fingering is relatively easy to attack and can be reliably slurred to from the E-Flat fingering above.

This fingering is relatively easy to attack and can be reliably slurred to from the E-Flat fingering above.

To slur to an F, simply add the A key in the left thumb. The stiffer your reed, the more you can depress the key; with a reed that’s borderline, it’s best to barely depress the key. It cannot be articulated.

To slur to an F, simply add the A key in the left thumb. The stiffer your reed, the more you can depress the key; with a reed that’s borderline, it’s best to barely depress the key. It cannot be articulated.

Thanks to Bernard Garfield for these fingerings and to Bret Pimentel for his fantastic fingering diagram builder.

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