Jason Heath’s Double Bass Blog

You are browsing the archives of 2006 December.

I recently registered the domain doublebassblog.com. You can now also access my blog through that URL. I have no immediate plans to move this blog from Blogger hosting (blogspot), but I may do so sometime in the future, so I’ll probably start passing this new URL out on my correspondence.

I recently found this video of double bassist Jeff Bradetich playing the Gigue from Bach’s Cello Suite No. 1 on YouTube:

Here is a quote from Jeff’s bio:
Proclaimed by the New York Times as “the master of his instrument,” Jeff Bradetich is regarded as one of the leading performers and teachers [...]

The IRIS Chamber Orchestra 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. [...]

Greg Sarchet sent me a link to the Iraqi National Symphony Blog recently. This is an interesting use of Blogger, and it is one that I have seen used in many Middle Eastern countries. The ease of use of Blogger and ability to quickly post text, photos, and other information are among the [...]

I’d like to give people a link to double bassist Brian Fountain’s blog. Brian is the current Chicago Symphony Orchestra Diversity Fellow. You can read more about this fellowship program here. It is an interesting program that has been going on for the last few years at the Chicago Symphony. You [...]

My former student Justin Cormia recently sent me a link to this video of Eugene Fodor playing the last movement of Paganini’s Violin Concerto No. 1:

Here are the double bass jobs and festival auditions currently available in the U.S. and Canada according to the most recent International Musician:
Jobs:
Hartford Symphony OrchestraSection Bass (Basic) - This position is a permanent Basic Orchestra position. The 2006-2007 per service rate is $112.00, with a guarantee of 115 services, resulting in a weekly salary [...]

I have often had students ask about the effect that bridge adjusters have on the sound of the instrument and what type of material that works best for these adjusters (aluminum, brass, maple, or the like). Here is a comprehensive study of the effects of these materials on the tone of the double bass. [...]

Here’s a shot I really like of Mr. Dan sleeping in the presents under the Christmas tree:

I just saw that ArtsJournal.com is sporting a sleek new look. This home page for a popular network of arts blogs now has a three column layout with some snippets from all the most recent posts, YouTube video embeds, and teasers for some of the “premium content” that the site offers. It looks [...]