Recommended Reading for Musicians from Greg Sarchet

Greg Sarchet (Bass Club Chicago, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Northeastern Illinois University) for several years has handed the following list of recommended texts out to his incoming double bass students. These books touch on all sorts of issues relating to musicians and serve as a course for developing an aesthetic sense, which is something that is fiendishly difficulty to tech but absolutely essential for creating a satisfying artistic product. Teaching technique, theory, history, ear training, and all of the other fragments that make up a musician’s skill set are one thing, but the glue that binds it all together is the overall aesthetic sensibility of the musician, and this list of books helps to guide the musician down this foggy but crucial path.

I have read many of the books on this list, and one of my projects for this year is to read even more of them. I think that giving students a list like this is a fantastic idea, and I’d like to thank Greg for allowing me to share this with readers.

If you’d like to hear more from Greg, check out episode 19 of Contrabass Conversations. We’ll be concluding this interview in the coming weeks, so stay tuned, but in the meantime, check out this list–it will likely help to expand both your artistic sensibilities and your aesthetic sense!

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1. A Soprano on her Head
Eloise Ristad
Real People Press
Moab, Utah
1982

order: A Soprano on Her Head: Right-Side-Up Reflections on Life and Other Performances

ISBN# 0-911226-21-4

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2 Vocal Wisdom
The Maxims of Giovanni Battista Lamperti
transcribed by William Earl Brown
Taplinger Publishing Co., New York
1931 and 1957

order: Vocal Wisdom: Maxims of Giovanni Battista Lamperti

ISBN# 0-8008-8023-4

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3. The Composer’s Advocate
Erich Leinsdorf
Yale University Press
1981

order: The Composer’s Advocate

ISBN# 0-300-02427-4