Jason Heath’s Double Bass Blog

You are browsing the archives of 2008 July.

This video of Ira Glass (via 43 Folders) really resonates with me. He describes the conundrum that creative people continually face–knowing what really is good before having the experience and technical command to actually create something good. I’ve faced this my entire life (in bass playing, blogging, podcasting, and many other endeavors) and this [...]

There’s been a whirlwind of activity among various areas of interest to me, from some cool new developments in the music blogosphere and Road Warrior Without an Expense Account’s new publishing developments to the release of the iPhone 3G. Where to even begin? Well, for starters…
My new iPhone!

I’ve been waiting for some time to [...]

Full Disclosure: The bow in this video was given to me as a gift from Steve at The String Emporium. This is a comparison between my Bernd Dölling bow and a carbon fiber Finale bow–I just want to make it clear up front where I got the bow from for full and fair disclosure. The [...]

My recent tale of a colleague who mistakenly left his instrument 250 miles south of his gig definitely struck a chord with many readers. Here are some of the great comments relating similar panicky tales:
Darlene writes:
I just played a concert yesterday that was held at a high school about 1/2 hour from where I live. [...]

You’d think that it would be virtually impossible to forget your instrument when heading off for a concert, yet many musicians have found themselves halfway to a gig when their eyes suddenly widen and they whirl around in the car, breath catching in their throat, wondering if they really remembered to put their violin, clarinet, [...]

 

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We’re featuring an interview with jazz bassist Rufus Reid on this week’s episode of Contrabass Conversations. This interview was conducted by guest host Win Hinkle, a former member of the Florida Symphony Orchestra (this orchestra dissolved in 1993) who also worked in Florida as a trombonist, electric bassist, and double bassist, including a lot of [...]

My book Road Warrior Without an Expense Account is now available through Amazon.com! How cool is that? Now you can take advantage of Amazon deals and free shipping when ordering. If you haven’t picked up a copy and you’re a fan of the blog, doing so would really help to support all the projects we’ve [...]

We’ll be featuring an interview with and music from jazz bass legend Rufus Reid this week on Contrabass Conversations. I’m very stoked to get to be able to feature this great artist on the podcast! The list of notable double bass guests grows ever longer as we approach episode 100, and though we’ve definitely skewed [...]

It’s a great feeling to have completed and put out Road Warrior Without an Expense Account, my first book, earlier this year. It’s a considerable amount of work to publish a book; though I think I always knew this, going through the process personally really drives it home! If you are interested in where employment [...]

Here’s a fun little story that one of my more senior colleagues recently passed along to me:
Many years ago, the conductor Hans Werner Henze was rehearsing Stauss’ tone poem “Till Eugenspiegel” with the Chicago Symphony. There is a particularly snarly passage for the bassoons and violas in this piece–it’s the sort of thing that regularly [...]