Here is the next track in the Virtual Master Class Project. This is a recording of the Mahler 1 bass solo. Leave criticism, advice, practice tips, and the like by clicking on the ‘comments’ link below the player.
Sometimes these players take 10-20 seconds to load, so give it a little time to play if it doesn’t start right away.
E-mail me submissions here (jsh177@yahoo.com)
Mahler 1 bass solo
Candidate 4
Click to listen
Bass News Right To Your Inbox!
Subscribe to get our weekly newsletter covering the double bass world.
nicely in tune, work on that shift from the f to g. a little bit too loud, but that could have been the location and room you were in. try not to put so much vibrato on all the notes, this solo shouldnt be so lyrical. possibly go for a slight increase in vibrato as the notes get higher, starting with very minimal and going to the end of the notes OR virtually no vibrato save the longer notes such as the d, a, and d but only at the very end of the phrase, and barely at that
A couple suggestions:
– work on making your vibrato more consistent. It comes and goes, speeds up and slows down a bit during the excerpt
– leave a small breath between the phrases as Mahler indicated
– check the rhythm in the bars with the dotted-eighth sixteenth phrase.
rhythm is your biggest issue (although I agree with the previous comments too) Listen back and try to tap along – you’ll see that you cut beats short. This is huge in an audition because that is exactly what the committee do!!