Jason Heath’s Double Bass Blog

(by Jeff Weisner; crossposted from PBDB)

Last year, I did some posts about auditioning and how to approach it. You can read them here andhere, but to recap the main points:
- Auditions are standardized tests like the SAT.
- Like any standardized test, they don’t just test your skills and musicianship, but they also test your skills at [...]

(One of a series; other parts available here or at PBDB)
Most of the issues that music students face when applying to graduate school are the same ones that undergraduate students face - researching teachers, figuring out what you want from the programs, learning about ensembles at the various schools, etc. But there are some [...]

(crossposted at PBDB)
 
I am a hopeless political junkie, and especially in this election season, I manage to waste astonishingly large amounts of time reading a huge array of political blogs and websites. I pore over polls, read analyses and insider reports, and watch video clips of candidates and pundits. (What can I say? I guess [...]

Around this time I like to point readers to the series I wrote about looking at music schools - the various parts are here, here, here, and here. Many seniors in high school and college are looking at their school choices and planning research trips around now, and hopefully some of the ideas I mention in these articles might help.
Upon rereading [...]

Sound in Motion: A Performer’s Guide to Greater Musical Expression. By David McGill. Indiana University Press.
(crossposted at PBDB)
Having introduced everybody to the influential and important American pedagogue and oboist Marcel Tabuteau in my last book review, I thought I should review a couple of the books that focus on his teaching and playing methods. Certainly one [...]

(crossposted at PBDB)

So who the heck is this guy?  Why is this book worthy of any bassists’ attention?
 
If you are interested in anything related to woodwind playing, string playing, phrasing, music education, orchestral performance, musicianship, the history of American orchestras, rhythm, sound, or the Curtis Institute, the name and teachings of Marcel Tabuteau are worth [...]

This is a post from National Symphony Orchestra bassist Jeff Weisner. Jeff also teaches bass at The Peabody Institute in Baltimore and co-authors the blog PeabodyDoubleBass.  Click here for all of Jeff’s doublebassblog.org posts.
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In my last post I looked at the systemic problem: Having great instruments and bows can help you become a better player, but to have the income [...]

This is a post from National Symphony Orchestra bassist Jeff Weisner. Jeff also teaches bass at The Peabody Institute in Baltimore and co-authors the blog PeabodyDoubleBass. Click here for all of Jeff’s doublebassblog.org posts.
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Some of you may have read a few of the posts in my series here about my new [...]

This is a post from National Symphony Orchestra bassist Jeff Weisner. Jeff also teaches bass at The Peabody Institute in Baltimore and co-authors the blog PeabodyDoubleBass. Click here for all of Jeff’s doublebassblog.org posts.
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(crossposted at PBDB)
I am often most frustrated as a teacher not by anything about my students or about [...]

This is a post from National Symphony Orchestra bassist Jeff Weisner. Jeff also teaches bass at The Peabody Institute in Baltimore and co-authors the blog PeabodyDoubleBass. Click here for all of Jeff’s doublebassblog.org posts.
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(Note to readers: I can’t count and apparently skipped directly from Part II to Part IV. [...]