Chris Allen was born in Gt. Yarmouth in 1954; he began learning the clarinet when he was 13 and went on to study at the Royal College of Music from 1972 – 1975. After a brief freelance career he settled into working as a peripatetic woodwind teacher in Bedfordshire until his retirement in 2008. His compositions — mainly educational pieces — have been printed by various publishers, with many instrumental studies featuring in examination syllabuses. He now lives in South Wales with his wife, Allison, and Welsh Terrier, Ricky.

Progressive Studies for Bassoon shares the same aims as Chris Allen's hugely successful Progressive Studies for Clarinet: to provide students with instructive material written in a…