Allison Dettloff, instrument repair technician, bassoonist, and composer, began studying piano at age 9, and went on to learn flute at age 11 and settled on bassoon as her main instrument a year later. She studied with Vicky King of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra while playing in the DSO’s youth orchestras and youth wind ensemble before earning a Bachelor’s degree from Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, which she attended on the prestigious Barbara and David Jacobs Scholarship. In addition to her major of bassoon performance, which she studied under Kathleen McLean, she took lessons in flute, clarinet, and saxophone, as well as in classical composition and finally earned a minor in music scoring for visual media, in which she has been mentored by composers Larry Groupé and Rick Marvin. She gained invaluable experience as part of the inaugural group of composers chosen to participate in Film Independent’s Project Involve. She has recorded bassoon and additional woodwinds (including Irish flute, recorders, and penny whistle) for both film scores and pop music, and can be heard most recently in the Rod Lurie film The Senior (2025), the upcoming Omar Apollo song Roman Rain, and alongside the distinguished string quartet ATLYS in album Fair Winds and Following Seas, for which she also provided arrangements. She has adored playing with community orchestras, including the Symphony of the Verdugos and the Pasadena Community Orchestra while she was in Los Angeles, and currently plays with the River Valley Community Orchestra.
In 2024, after years of being called a “blue collar dad” by her friends for her propensity for fixing things and tendency to take things apart and put them back together, she decided to attend school for wind instrument repair. In Fall 2025, she began studying at Minnesota State College Southeast, and is having a blast learning how the instruments she loves work.
In her free time she is a devoted rock climber, is knitting a sweater (again), and is doing her best to read every book in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series.
Dettloff Music and Repair 