The 20th century French repertoire remains some of the most fruitful and varied music written for our instrument. But in fact it was written for another instrument entirely. While these two instruments share the exact same role when it comes to orchestral playing and every other practical sense - under the hood the instruments could not be further apart in terms of mechanics. So how is it that the bassoonist should go about tackling the intricacies of the French Repertoire - which as a whole offer very challenging pieces - when another layer of intricacies is added on top in the fact that it was all written for an entirely different instrument. Through careful and methodical changes to technique and exercises it is possible to alleviate many of the major problems so that they become more manageable. The hope of this paper is that others shall continue their own research into understanding and overcoming some of the shortcomings and complications related to our instrument in hopes that we may continue to build on our established technical and musical foundations.   Keywords: basson, bassoon, alternative fingerings, complications of performance, double tonguing, reed style