The bassoon is a unique instrument with a characteristically quirky and idiosyncratic sound. In terms of modern instrument development it also is something of a dinosaur, lagging behind the other woodwinds in acoustical developments by centuries in certain aspects. Therefore, the bassoon has some intrinsic issues associated with its acoustical design that lead to response issues. A common term for one form of response issue is "cracking" and that is what I would like to deal with in this article.
