Owner: Jason Heath's Double Bass Blog URL:http://jasonheath.blogspot.com Join Date: Sun, 22 Apr 2007 00:33:20 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: Classical music and double bass news, funny stories, videos, MP3s, practicing tools, educational resources, and much more. Site statistics:Click here
Contrabass Conversations Episode 17 - Interview with Andrew Anderson Part 3 and music of Gunnelpumpers 2007-04-22 13:31:00 The next episode of Contrabass Conversations is now available for your listening pleasure. This episode features a talk with Lyric Opera of Chicago bassist Andy Anderson
and music from the double and electric bass band Gunnelpumpers. Enjoy!CBC 17 Show Notes Episode
Length: 47:12Release Date: 4/22/07Website: www.contrabassconversations.comBlog: www.doublebassblog.comVoicemail: 206-666-6509 E-Mail: contrabassconversations@gmail.comPodcast t-shirts, hats, and more: www.cafepress.com/doublebassSubscribe in iTunes: Click to listen (right-click to download)or click player below:Music from the Gunnelpumpers: www.myspace.com/gunnelpumpers Interview with Andrew
Anderson Part 3 News and Notes My Take a Friend to Orchestra Initiative essay was just published on Adaptistration, a great blog on the changing face of the modern orchestra authored by Drew McManus. Click below for my article: http://www.artsjournal.com/adaptistration/archives/2007/04/tafto_2007_cont_2
IRIS Orchestra member Eric Stephenson in NYC subway 2007-04-22 01:21:00 Want to hear some real busking? This is a video featuring IRIS Orchestra
cellist Eric Stephenson and beatbox flute player Greg Pattillo which has been circulating YouTube like wildfire. The New York Times is planning a feature on Greg's flute playing, which should prove to be very interesting.Eric and Greg are great examples of classically trained musicians putting their creativity into overdrive and creating new and compelling music. These two musicians (along with bassist Peter Seymour) started a non-profit organization based in New York City dedicated to putting on performances and creating educational opportunities. These guys are truly a positive example of how musicians are extending and furthering the art of music performance.Visit myspace.com/pattillostyle for more information on Greg's flute playing. I'll let people know when the piece in the New York Times comes out.
IRIS Orchestra now an independent entity 2007-04-22 01:12:00 The Commercial Appeal put out a feature today on the IRIS Orchestra
and its new status as an official nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization. You can read the article for more information on how this new organizational structure will impact future endeavors.Some of the facts quoted in the article are not entirely accurate, so take some of the statistics with a grain of salt. This is really exciting and positive news for the IRIS Orchestra, and it should help the group to continue to grow and innovate in new and interesting ways.Click to read Breaking Free: The IRIS Orchestra from the Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) Read more:independent
Henry Peyrebrune featured on Adaptistration 2007-04-22 00:53:00 The last of the "Three Bassists" of TAFTO (Roger Ruggeri and I were the other two authors), the Cleveland Orchestra's Henry
Peyrebrune writes a great article on the delicate balance between asking and coercing friends to orchestra concerts, and he points out that the social conventions of the event cause more discomfort in the novice concertgoer's experience than does the actual music. Great writing!Check out Henry's article here, and check my contribution out here.
European double bass train travel woes 2007-04-21 17:23:00 Double bassist Jean-Yves Bénichou recently sent me this item about the increased difficulties and hassles that Europeandouble
bassists are encountering while traveling with their basses on trains. In Europe, trains tend to be used as the main method of transportation for musicians (much like planes in the United States), so these developments are of great concern to to professional musician.October 7th 2005 AFP Two young bassists were penalized with an infringement of 142 euros (193.00$) for excess luggage because they both travelled accompanied by their double basses. "I often travel with my double bass between Paris, Vierzon and Bourges and it is the first time that I encounter a problem. The conductor asked us to pay a 45 euro fine per double bass and 26 euros of expenses for filing a claim on each instrument ", explained 22 year old Jean-Marc to the press, who travelled last Monday with a young woman. "We were two in a compartment of eight people. We did not obstruct. But t
Funny gig story from Doug Johnson 2007-04-20 15:47:00 Double bassist Doug Johnson
has a great gig story
that I'd like to share with blog readers. Doug is an active double bassist in the Chicago area, and he performs with ensembles raging from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra to the excellent bass and percussion band Gunnelpumpers.Here's Doug's story. Enjoy!_______________So I have freelanced as a bass player in and around Chicago for years, so it's only natural that strange things happen from time to time. In my book, this wedding takes the cake.A pianist, violinist and myself were hired to play at a Jewish wedding at a small synagogue on Chicago 's north side. The couple to be wed were fond of the Beatles, Billy Joel and others, so our plan was for our trio to play some simple arrangements of these songs. We had rehearsed the previous day, decided the song order, and that Billy Joel's "Just the Way You Are" would be the processional at the beginning of the ceremony.On the way to the synagogue for the wedding, it so happened that Ch Read more:Funny
Listen live to IRIS Chamber Orchestra online 2007-04-20 15:41:00 I've got a bunch of IRIS ChamberOrchestra
posts this morning (as you can see)--if folks are around their computers at noon today (U.S. Central time zone), visit WKNO online
, the Memphis metro area's classical music radio station website, to hear a live broadcast of the IRIS Chamber Orchestra in rehearsal. This is an interesting collaboration that has been going on between the orchestra and WKNO for the last several seasons. It is interesting to be able to hear an orchestra of this caliber rehearse live, so check it out if you've got a minute.Listen
to IRIS live at noon today here.
IRIS Chamber Orchestra performance Saturday, April 21, 2007 2007-04-20 15:32:00 The IRIS ChamberOrchestra
will be performing a program of Brahms and Rachmoninov this Saturday
(4/21/07) evening at the Germantown Performing Arts Center at 8 p.m. Click here for ticket and location information. The concert will feature the Fourth Symphony and Variations on a Theme of Haydn by Brahms and the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini by Rachmaninov. Michael Stern will be conducting and the piano soloist will be Jon Kimura Parker.Here is some biographical information about Jon Kimura Parker. You can also visit his website for more information about this artist.Internationally acclaimed concert pianist Jon Kimura Parker was born, raised, and educated in Vancouver. His extraordinary career has taken him from Carnegie Hall and the Sydney Opera House to Baffin Island and Zimbabwe. A true Canadian ambassador of music, Mr. Parker has given two command performances for Queen Elizabeth II, special performances for the United States Supreme Court, and has performed for the Prime Minis Read more:April
IRIS Chamber Orchestra commission wins ASCAP Morton Gould award 2007-04-20 15:25:00 Finding Rothko, The IRIS ChamberOrchestra
's latest commissioned work by composer Adam Schoenberg, just won one of the 2007 ASCAP
Foundation Morton
Gould Young Composer Awards. This is exciting news for Adam, and it is more evidence of the high level of musical activity associated with the IRIS Chamber Orchestra.You can read more about this award from the ASCAP Foundation's recent press release. I also wrote a post about Finding Rothko when it was premiered several months ago, and you can read that post here. Finally, you can click here to read all posts about the IRIS Chamber Orchestra on this site.
Getting out of the practice room 2007-04-19 11:59:00 This is a post from double bassist from Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music student Nicholas Hart. Nick will be contributing weekly posts to the bass blog about life as a music student in one of the nation's most exclusive programs. I think readers will find this different perspective on the double bass world and the music world in general to be quite interesting, and I am looking forward to reading these posts. You will be able to read all of Nick's contributions under the tab 'Hart Posts' or in the sidebar under Double Bass Features. Enjoy!____________I have talked in previous posts about the importance of getting out of your practice room, and going to concerts or doing some unrelated activities. So I thought I would write about what I do away from my practice room. First, take some classes that don’t pertain to music. If you go to school at a university you will more than likely have to take one academic class a year, but I highly recommend taking two. By doing this yo
Fun with colored pens 2007-04-19 11:23:00 Double bassist Matt Heller (former New World Symphony member and recent addition to the Calgary Philharmonic bass section) put out an interesting post recently about the used of colored pens (or pens) as a making device for musical scores. Check out the post here.This is something that I have been experimenting quite a bit with recently, and so far I am really finding value in the results. I have primarily been using them on music with my students, marking fingerings in red, bowings in blue, musical reminders in orange, etc. I have noticed a much faster absorption rate in the lessons which I have been using this method than in normal lessons, so I will definitely bee keeping this practice up.It's funny--I always knew that conductors marked their scores in different colors. I guess we can learn something from our stick-waving colleagues.Speaking of stick-wavers, I have some hilarious video footage that I will be sharing in coming weeks on just that topic....
More double bass TAFTO contributions - Roger Ruggeri 2007-04-19 11:10:00 Drew McManus is featuring several contributions
from bassists this month for the Take a Friend to Orchestra initiative on his blog Adaptistration. I was just featured yesterday, and Bill Harris (from Facilitated Systems) was also featured earlier this month.I'd like to direct people's attention to Milwaukee Symphony double
bassist Roger
Ruggeri's post from earlier this week. Roger is a multi-talented individual with a great perspective on the music biz, and I think that people will really get a lot out of his essay.
My TAFTO post for Adaptistration 2007-04-18 13:32:00 My contribution to the Take a Friend to Orchestra initiative is now posted, so folks can check out today's post at Adaptistration (the excellent blog that Drew McManus authors) to read my thoughts on how to introduce classical music to a newbie. Drew has been featuring a wide array essays from classical music figures in all niches of the business, including conductors, authors, critics, administrators, and orchestra musicians. Reading the various individual takes on this subject is quite interesting, and I'd urge people to check out all of the many offerings from these authors. A complete list of contributors is available at Drew's blog here.Folks who are visiting the blog from a link in Drew's post could probably use a primer on what's available on this blog, so here are some posts that you may want to consider checking out while you're here:Road Warrior without an Expense Account Series - an analysis of the classical music biz from the perspective of a freelance musicianTain
Northwestern University offers full fellowships to all incoming DM students 2007-04-18 13:18:00 Double bassist Ben Rothschild recently sent me some interesting bits of bass and music world news, and I will be doling these out over the next few days. For starters, NorthwesternUniversity
recently announced that they will be offering full tuition to all incoming
Doctor of Music students. Here is an excerpt from their recent press release:The Northwestern University School of Music has announced that beginning fall 2007, it will provide full tuition for all entering doctor of music students (17 new students per year) and the same for 20 entering master of music students. Each award covers two years of study, the normal time frame needed to complete required coursework. All Ph.D. students in the School of Music already receive full tuition support. Toni-Marie Montgomery, dean of the School of Music, said, “Our goal is to raise the competitive bar with peer
Student Performance of Bottesini Concerto 2007-04-18 13:14:00 Here is a video of a 17-year-old student playing the first movement of the Bottesini Concerto
for a competition. I like how the camera is carefully hidden from the audience--it makes the space he is playing in look quite bizarre. He admits (in the comments for this video) that there are a fair number of missed notes during this performance, but I think that his tone is quite nice. Read more:Student
, Performance
New Scale Sheets - no fingerings 2007-04-16 13:21:00 I have a page with a (slowly) growing collection of odds and ends for download. You can visit this downloads page here. In addition to technique routines from various bass players and some transcriptions of pieces, here are currently scale fingerings that I created for all major and (natural, harmonic, and melodic) minor scales. I created them, uploaded them, and then promptly deleted them from my computer. A few days later, I realized that there were a bunch of misprints in these scales, making reediting the parts extremely difficult. Aargh!Grant Park Symphony Orchestra and Northern Illinois University bass instructor John Floeter also sent me some fingering charts for the same selection of scales, and these can be downloaded from that same page. He also found some errors on his own fingering charts, so you may have to do a little minor editing on either of these sets of fingerings.A colleague of mine asked recently if I could make a available the same set of slace sheets withou Read more:Scale
, Sheets
Concerto de Aranjuez - Paco de Lucia 2007-01-15 07:48:00 As a follow up to my recent IRIS Chamber Orchestra post about our concert with Jason Vieaux playing the Conterto de Aranjez by Joaqin Rodrigo, I thought it would be approtriate to post this video of Paco de Lucia
playing this work. the video is about 23 minutes, so fast forward for a bit for the famous second movement. Read more:Concerto
, Aranjuez
IRIS Chamber Orchestra - Finding Rothko 2007-01-14 06:21:00 We just completed the January IRIS concert tonight here in Memphis, Tennessee, and it really got a great reception. Jason Vieaux played fabulously, and the commission by Adam Schoenberg went really well.Finding Rothko (Adam's commission) was a really rich and satisfying piece. It was based on the paintings of Mark Rothko. Here is a sampling of Rothko's work--the piece was based on four of his paintings, and these paintings were projected above the stage during the concert. The images are pulled from the NGA.gov website: Read more:Orchestra
, Chamber
IRIS Chamber Orchestra with Jason Vieaux 2007-01-12 14:32:00 The IRIS ChamberOrchestra
will be performing Saturday, January 13, 2007 at the Germantown Performing Arts Center with the great classical guitarist Jason
Vieaux. Additionally, the orchestra will be premiering a work by composer Adam Schoenberg.The program will consist of:Adam Schoenberg - World Premiere of IRIS Commissioned Piece - Finding Rothko Rodrigo - Concierto de AranjuezBeethoven - Symphony No. 8 in F major, Op. 93The IRIS Chamber Orchestra commissions one new work each season, and the results have been quite varied stylistically. Finding Rothko combines slides of the paintings of Mark Rothko with music from the orchestra. I will post more information on this piece after the concert.Jason Vieaux - BiographyJason Vieaux is expanding the definition of “Classical Guitarist” and changing the face of guitar programming, building a solid audience and fan base along the way. His ever-growing reputation for putting his expressive gifts and virtuosity at the service of t
Time for Three Rocks! - IRIS Chamber Orchestra Concert 2006-12-17 07:05:00 We just finished up our IRIS ChamberOrchestra
concert with the bluegrass trio Time for Three
, and these guys completely brought down the house. It was really amazing. These three guys (Zach, Nick, and Ranaan) combine the best of bluegrass with the best of classical playing. Their tunes are filled with quotes and structural components from classical music blended with raunchy bluegrass, and the result is irresistable.The Germantown Performing Arts Center audience was about ready to storm the stage with excitement. Never in the seven years that IRIS has been in existence have I ever seen such a positive audience reaction.timePlaying bluegrass for a Tennessee audience (even one as refined as the IRIS crowd) is like throwing raw meat to a pack of wolves. The audience went nuts, letting their country side out and loving it.These guys are really awesome in every way. I was hanging out with them last night on Beale Street in Memphis, and they were just as cool and fun in person as they Read more:Rocks
, Concert
IRIS Chamber Orchestra and Time for Three 2006-12-15 07:52:00 The IRIS ChamberOrchestra
of Germantown, Tennessee will be performing this Saturday (12/16/06) with the extremely cool trio Time for Three
. Time for Three is made up of Nicolas Kendall and Zachary DePue on violin and Ranaan Meyer on bass. The trio are active MySpacers--you can find their MySpace page at myspace.com/timeforthree. They have around 600 friends on MySpace, which basically means that they are considered very cool among the younger generation.The program consists of:Dvorak: Symphonic Variations, Op. 78John Hedges, arr.: American SuiteJohn Hedges, arr.: FoxdownSchumann: Symphony No. 4 in D minor, Op. 12I have played the Schumann and the Dvorak numerous times before, and it is a breath of fresh air to play the these pieces with a great ensemble like IRIS. I had a week three years ago where I played the Dvorak Symphonic Variations in three performances with two separate orchestras. One was the Lake Forest Symphony of Lake Forest, Illinois, and this was a very high quality
Grant Park Symphony Audition Story (BRAAAAAAACK!) 2006-11-28 17:28:00 I heard this great audition story a few years ago firsthand from the people who were involved. This was one of the rare times where I actually knew both the committee members and the audition candidate in this story.The Grant
Park Symphony
of Chicago, Illinois was having violin auditions and needed to assemble a committee. This orchestra has a ten week season in the summer, and the majority of the musicians live out of town and only come in to play for the summer. This is a perfect situation for musicians who play in a orchestra that doesn't have a summer season (most professional orchestras still do not have a summer season here in the U.S.) The orchestra plays in the beautiful new Frank Gehry-designed Pritzker Pavillion in Chicago's Millennium Park. This is an outstanding place to see a concert. I have played in this facility before, and you can read my story about those experiences here.The orchestra used to play in a vile little concrete bunker called the Petrillo Music She Read more:Audition
more IRIS Chamber Orchestra trivia - bass section 2006-10-29 06:23:00 All of the IRIS bass section substitutes have gone on to have great full-time orchestra jobs:Charles Carlton - Cleveland Orchestra
Matt Medlock - Naples PhilharmonicIra Gold - National SymphonyJeff Kail - Kansas City SymphonyMy stand partner Scott Best has been principal bass of the Memphis Symphony since the beginning of IRIS. The two of us have been the core bass section for the past seven seasons.By the way, this photo is the only bit of terrain in the drive from Chicago to Memphis. Anyone who has driven I 57 between these cities knows this hill. It occurs about 30 miles from the Illinois/Missouri border around Cairo. This is a view from the south. You can see how the land rises up to the Illinois plains plateau. If it is raining in the south it will often quit after ascending this hill, and if it is snowing in the north it will often switch to rain after descending this hill. Read more:Chamber
IRIS Chamber Orchestra on CD and iTunes 2006-10-29 01:08:00 I recently discovered that some IRIS ChamberOrchestra
recordings are available on iTunes
. Search the iTunes Store for the Gliere Horn Concerto and you will find a recording that we did a few years ago with Eric Ruske.There are four great audio clips of IRIS that you can listen to on the IRIS website. Click the numbers in the lower left of the page. To view the current IRIS season, visit this website.Additionally, recordings can be purchased from Amazon and Naxos at the following links:IRIS on NaxosIRIS on AmazonIRIS on iTunes (will open iTunes on your computer) technorati tags: IRIS, Chamber, Orchestra, iTunes, CD
IRIS Chamber Orchestra – experimenting outside the box 2006-10-28 01:05:00 The IRIS ChamberOrchestra
does not operate like a typical symphony orchestra. It reminds me much more of a summer festival atmosphere (like Aspen or another such festival). We perform approximately one concert a month during the regular season (September through May). Since we only get together once a month things always feel fresh. There are never any Pops concerts or any smarmy, low-quality programming events. The concerts combine a fair amount of modern music with pieces from the standard orchestral repertoire. Gathering together once a month (with a fair number of new faces each month) also means a period of readjustment to each other’s playing styles. Usually things gel partway into the first rehearsal. We have four rehearsals for each performance. This is usually ample time to get the repertoire together, but only two of them are typical rehearsals. The first rehearsal is at 6 p.m. on Thursday night. This rehearsal has no audience, but the whole orchestra is
They locked me inside and made me conduct violas! 2007-04-23 15:50:00 For years I worked as a coach and lesson teacher in the public schools of suburban Chicago. I ran sectionals, did some chamber music coaching, and taught a gaggle of kids during and after the school day. Although I was pretty hesitant about doing this work when I started freelancing, worrying that it would be a massive time sink, I quickly came to enjoy it and I looked forward to the variety that each day of teaching would bring. I quickly learned that you can be called upon to do ANYTHING in a music department. I usually got to these schools around 8 a.m., coffee in hand, bleeding from both eyes, feeling the pain of both burning the midnight oil as a freelance bassist and being a schoolteacher in the early mornings. I was always surprised at how great I felt on days when I finally got more than four or five hours of sleep—I had conditioned myself to think of sleep deprived Jason as normal Jason, and I was always amazed to se how all the colors looked brighter, all the sme Read more:inside
New World Symphony live webcast this Sunday - 4:30 p.m. EDT 2007-04-28 13:47:00 The New WorldSymphony
will be performing Stravinsky's Pétrouchka with Michael Tilson Thomas this Sunday
at 4:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. Here is some more information on this event from the NWS website: On Sunday, April 29 at 4:30PM EDT, the New World
Symphony, America’s Orchestral Academy, will webcast a performance Igor Stravinsky’s Pétrouchka live from the Lincoln Theatre on Miami Beach. Introduced and conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas, this free, audio-visual webcast is part of the New World Symphony’s ongoing efforts to make its presentations accessible to a wide array of listeners. Originally written for the Ballets Russes in 1911 and revised in 1947, Stravinsky’s Pétrouchka is a masterpiece of the orchestral repertoire. Sandwiched between the resounding popularity of The Firebird and the controversial premiere of The Rite of Spring, Pétrouchka depicts the story of a straw puppet that comes t
Mstislav Rostropovich dies at 80 2007-04-28 13:13:00 Here is some sad music world news: Mstislav Rostropovich, the cellist, conductor and champion of human rights who stood at the center of musical and international life for more than half a century, died Friday of cancer at a Moscow hospital. He was 80. (continue reading)I only got a chance to work with Slava once, but it was a very memorable experience. In 1999 he conducted the Civic Orchestra of Chicago in a concert featuring Shostakovich's 5th and 9th symphonies. I remember being very excited to get a chance to work with someone that I had seen and heard so many times in the past, both as a cellist and as a conductor.Music critic and blogger Alex Ross has put up a clip of Slava playing the Britten Cello Suite No. 1. Click here to play this clip.Many classical music bloggers have been posting memories of Slava. Here are some worth checking out:Mstislav Rostropovich - from oboeinsightSlava - from OhMyTrillSlava, R.I.P. - from On a Pacific AisleFriPod: Slava - from Musical Percepti
How to Polish Ebony Fingerboards - guest post from Jean-Yves Bénichou 2007-04-27 15:22:00 This is a guest post by double bassist Jean-Yves Bénichou on how to correctly polish ebony fingerboards. Benjy has been a member of the Strasbourg Philharmonic since 1985, and he studied double bass at Temple University with Edward Arian and at Yale University with Homer Mensch, as well as additional studies with Roger Scott.I really appreciate the opportunity to post this excellent and informative article. Feel free to leave your thoughts and questions for Benjy in the comments to this post.____________Musical instruments are extensions of the human voice. If we wish to project our inspiration into them, we must rely on our hands to do so and in the case of wind players, our mouths as well. A lifetime of practicing involves constant physical contact with these artistic means of producing sound, resulting in unknowingly forging a different and powerful extension of our own body. Someone once told me that musicians are “transparent beings”; that we can be seen through our instrum Read more:Polish
new footage of Nora the piano-playing cat 2007-04-27 14:30:00 Violinist Holly Mulcahy recently sent me a link to this new, even cuter video featuring Nora the cat playing the piano
. You can click here for the original video. The startling thing about these videos is how obviously Nora enjoys playing the piano. She is definitely communicating with humans through the instrument.Also, she really likes major 2nds, and she really likes white keys. No pentatonic scales for Nora, I guess.If you've just gotta have more cat footage, you can always click my 'cats' tab at the top of the blog to view all cat-related posts (or just click here).
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