I remember vividly my first performance exam at Music College. It was like one of those ‘out of control’ nightmares most of us have had. But this nightmare was real. Not only had I failed to prepare my bassoon piece adequately but the Principal Bassoonist of the London Symphony Orchestra was on the exam panel. My performance started well, until the first technical challenge. The panel stopped my performance, and asked me to name the musical key of the piece. I answered Bb major correctly. They then asked me to play the Bb major scale the piece was based upon continuing the scale into the top ranges of the bassoon. It was as if a powerful searchlight was shone on my poor preparation.
The question came: how could I possibly play a piece based around Bb major, without actually being able to play the fundamental scale itself across all ranges of the bassoon? Put another way, I was attempting to run without first learning to walk!