Jason Heath’s Double Bass Blog

You are browsing the archives of 2006 January.

UW-Whitewater students should check out electronic music and composition specialist (and UW faculty) Jeff Herriott’s blog. It is an interesting read, and full of day-to-day music department info. Also, check out his regular website. Jeff regularly brings interesting guest artists to perform at the university, and many of my students have [...]

I will be playing in the orchestra for the Lyric Opera’s production of Der Rosenkavalier through March. Come see it if you can!

If you’re looking for Jamie Aebersold Play Along tracks, I’d suggest checking out www.playjazznow.com.

Scott Bakshis just made principal bass for Illinois All-State Orchestra. Scott is a junior at Libertyville High School and also plays in the Chicago Youth Symphony. He has been studying with me since 7th grade. Great job, Scott! 

A website everybody should check out is practicespot.com. This site is mainly useful for pre-college students, but it has a ton of useful stuff for students of all ages. One useful tool is a random rhythm generator program, which will create an etude made up of the kinds of notes you specify (quarters, [...]

Check out this website if you’re interested in orchestral performance. The principal bass of the Tenerife Orchestra does a really good podcast, and this is the place to get it. His most recent episode has in-depth descriptions of how to execute many of the standard orchestral excerpts.

Chris Threlkeld-Wiegand recently put a low-B extension on my bass, and it is by far the nicest extension work I’ve seen. He’s located in Iowa City, and makes basses as well as extenions. Check out the Heartland String Bass Shop for more details.

Come check out Edgar Meyer!
Thursday January 26 at UW Milwaukee 400pm at the Peck School of Arts Recital Hall. 2400 E. Kenwood Blvd (no fee) He is also performing with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra on the 27 and 28 with tickets starting under $20

Articles by Jason Heath:
Road Warrior Without an Expense Account - This series chronicles my experiences as a freelance musician and offers thoughts and observations on the classical music orchestral business in general. Although focused on classical musicians and freelance musicians in general, much of the discussion has relevance to musicians from all disciplines. [...]

Buy Music and see Recommended Repertoire at the Bass Blog Sheet Music Store!
Jason’s Scale Sheets (free PDF download)
one octave major and minor scales with fingerings
two octave major and minor scales with fingerings
Articles
All-State Audition Preparation by John Thompson
Article on Stretching by Nathan Cole
Video Resources

Downloads
Classical
Methods:

Tambroni, Peter: An Introduction to Double Bass Playing (highly recommended)
Max Dimoff Warm-Up Packet [...]