Click the player above to hear the next track in the Virtual Master Class Project. Leave criticism, advice, practice tips, and the like by clicking on the ‘comments’ link below. We welcome your comments! Please take a moment and offer a bit of constructive advice for this musician.
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I have no advice to give. It’s better than I could have played it.
You rush the quarters in the opening and the eighths in thirds. They are also out of tune and you should damp the open G more if you choose to play it. Don’t distort the line by accented the bottom of the ascending scales. Play what the composer wrote and don’t get too fancy with it.
I listened to this after hearing your 4th mvt excerpt. This one is played better I think, but is much worse (I would score it lower in an audition). It seems like you’re playing it exactly how you’d like to play it, but why are you playing it like that? Mainly that applies to what Rob is saying above me. It is just weird how you accent the bottom of the scales. Other than that…the time wasn’t perfect but you can easily fix that with a metronome and probably have already or just had a weird take on this recording. Work on keeping the notes even in volume and timbre. I’m guessing it is because of string crossings, but some notes ring out much better than others in those eighth note passages. It has a mute-clear-mute-clear effect which is uncomfortable for the listener. Also, it sounds again like your bow is too close to the fingerboard in this excerpt. The string sounds like it is responding lazily–move the bow down. Very nice work at the end of the excerpt. How are you fingering that passage I wonder, it works. Nice playing!
Well, Kit the whale and Rob must truly be masterful players. I didn’t hear much of what they said. I found the intonation overall to be good. The only passage where it faultered a bit, along with the off the string articulation, was near the end when you move up to the higher register. I would go over those passages.
As to the timing – doesn’t bother me at all that you are interpreting the piece with subtle variations. I’m sure, in an orchestra setting, you would naturally hear and respond to the overall meter and the interpretations of the conductor (he, for sure, won’t maintain a rigid meter – trust me. Nor should he.) Overall, very well done.