Jason Heath’s Double Bass Blog

You are browsing the archives of 2007 December.

Just got home from Messiah. About to cook some dinner. #
Finished watching a couple of movies with Courtney. #
Up early to make breakfast before a full day of teaching and performing. More Messiah! #

Cute With Chris (www.cutewithchris.com) is pretty much one of my favorite shows ever. Chris is hilarious, and anyone who likes pets, Canadians, and sardonic humor (or any combination of the three) will love this show. This is a great cat-themed Christmas episode, and I hope you get a kick out of it.

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double bass man, originally uploaded by attentialcane.
Some folks need to watch their crack intake before gigs!

Chicago Sinfonietta bassist and Birch Creek Music Festival instructor Alan Steiner sent me this fun video recently about what to do on Christmas if you’re Jewish.  From www.brandonwalkermusic.com.

 

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This week’s Contrabass Conversations episode features an interview with Suzuki Bass School pioneer, pedagogue, and teacher trainer Virginia Dixon. Virginia shares her years of experience performing and teaching the double bass, highlights unique aspects of the Suzuki bass method, and offers advice for those interested in pursuing a career as a double bass [...]

Just got home from dinner with Courtney. Now it’s time to finish editing this week’s podcast. #
Heading for bed. Teaching and concerts to follow tomorrow. #
Doing some e-mail before heading off to teach. I’ve got a full-length (3 hours) Nutcracker this afternoon as well. #
Oops–actually, I’ve got Messiah this afternoon. Nutcracker [...]

Back from Messiah rehearsal–it’s still snowing! #
Hanging out with Courtney and the cats, just like I usually do this time of night. #
Heading for bed–more blogging in the a.m. #
Feeling good about the new series ‘Exploring Chamber Music’ featuring Brad Opland and CCM. Just put out the first episode. #
Editing this week’s podcast episode [...]

Here’s a great video of the German double bass ensemble Bassiona Amorosa (www.bassiona-amorosa.de) performing a Ludwig Streicher arrangement of Bottesini’s Carnival de Venice. I just found a whole slew of new videos featuring this ensemble, and I’ll be posting them regularly over the next few days.

National Symphony Orchestra principal bassist Robert Oppelt put together a great page of information about the wide variety of grips used by professionals on the German bow.  As a French bow player, I always find myself struggling when offering advice to students on how exactly to approach the subtleties of German bow technique, and [...]

 

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This Contrabass Conversations special series is made possible by the Chicago Chamber Musicians and Brad Opland. Learn more about this fine ensemble at www.chicagochambermusic.org. This episode features music for cello and bass by Haydn and Rossini performed by Chicago Symphony Orchestra musicians Brad Opland and Gary Stucka. They perform the Haydn Divertimento in D Major [...]