—DANIEL BURNHAM, CHICAGO ARCHITECT. (1846-1912)

• Enhance practice and performance skills
• Expand musical knowledge
• Overcome performance anxiety
• Foster creativity
• Collaborate amicably
• Build music careers
• Boost health and prevent music-related injuries
• Become productive artists

This book looks like a nice complement to David Cutler’s The Savvy Musician, a new book designed to help musicians build entrepreneurial skills that we featured in a recent podcast. We also chatted recently about similar topics with James Knabe, a Chicago-area musician who specializes in developing websites for musicians.

I’ve written many articles about this topic in the past, so you can go spelunking through the blog article archives if you’d like a more in-depth look at this topic, but I think that this list should prove to be, if nothing else, food for thought:

Top 20 Ranked U.S. Schools for Double Bass Study – 2009
doublebassblog.org reader poll

1. The Curtis Institute
2. Rice University
3. Indiana University
4. University of Washington
5. Boston University
6. The Juilliard School
7. Cincinnati College-Conservatory
8. The Colburn School
9. Michigan State University
10. Peabody Conservatory
11. New England Conservatory
12. Carnegie Mellon University
13. Manhattan School of Music
14. Boston Conservatory
15. Eastman School of Music
16. University of Iowa
17. Arizona State University
18. University of Southern California
19. The New School
20. University of North Texas

Download this list:
top ranked double bass schools 2009.pdf

I’ll expand this survey with more schools and do it again in 2010, so stay tuned!

Any thoughts on great schools not on this list? Feel free to leave a comment below.

This new book is filled with excellent and informative about musical entrepreneurship, product development, branding, marketing, networking, and much more. I hope that you enjoy this interview and check out David’s book, and be sure to also visit his blog, which is a great supplement to the book and quite entertaining.

October 31, 2009
Stand out in a Digital World

more info: chicago-music.org

Monday November 16, 2009 Claudia Cassidy Theater, Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington Blvd.

5:30 – 6:00 pm Networking session
6:00 – 7:30 pm Panel program

We will discuss using Social Media to build fan relationships. Developing a strategy that helps you choose how to use the available services and networks. Getting the most for your effort in growing and maintaining your fan base. Setting expectations and converting those relationships into real-time results.

Moderator:
Jim Goodrich – Chicago Music Commission

Panelists:
Jeffrey David Goldberg – The Everyday People
Miriam Brosseau – Stereo Sinai
Alan Jay Sufrin – Stereo Sinai
Matt Ryd – Singer/Songwriter
Tim Toomey – Assault Records

Musicians at Work Forums address current issues of interest and concern for Chicago’s growing community of musicians working in all genres. MAWF are free, monthly, open-to-the-public forums hosted jointly by CMC and the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs. Inspired by the popular Artists at Work Forums, this series invites industry professionals and musicians to discuss the current state of making a living through music in Chicago. For all Forums, venues, acts and music professionals are welcome to bring fliers, business cards and marketing materials for the audience. Come 30 minutes before the panel starts and network with your peers. The forums take place at the Chicago Cultural Center.

This is a topic that I’ve blogged about many times in the past, and it’s great to get the perspective of a faculty member in a music education department on this topic. Check Joe’s post out below:

MusTech.Net: Music Education, Music Technology, & Education! » Thinking About A Bachelor’s Degree In Music Performance?

Aaron writes:

I am trying to find out information about string response and humidity. I have been having problems for the last few weeks with my bow not wanting to grab the string and produce a sound. I have changed strings, gotten the bow rehaired twice, put a wolf eliminator on and am still having problems. I live in Kentucky and keep my bass in my basement. I started running a dehumidifier a week ago but have had no change in the response. I took the bass up to the bass cellar and it played great there. When I got it home the next day it was back to acting funny. It is mostly on the G and D strings. The bow just skates across it making like an overtone harmonicy kinda sound and the sound over all is quiter and sickly. I need to practice, not fight this weird battle for a month. Any ideas? Thank you, Aaron

Fortunately, I’ve got a couple (but only a couple) of tricks for dealing with excessive humidity and the “glass bow” syndrome Aaron describes. My response:

Hi Aaron,

Thanks for the email! Humidity is a real challenge in terms of arco playing in my opinion. The best solution I’ve found is to try a less sticky rosin (Pops instead of Oak/Carlsson/Kolstein works for me, but a harder Kolstein or Oak rosin may work better depending on the climate). I’ve also, for the last decade or so, kept a small black cheapo comb in my bass case, and I use it to comb my bow out periodically during the sticky months of the summer. This actually works wonders for me–I think that it breaks up the rosin and keeps the bow grabbing without the skating like you were describing.

Warm-Weather Rosin Choices

For me, any soft, sticky, dark rosin such as soft grade Oak or Kolstein is problematic in very warm and/or humid conditions. If I’m playing exclusively at home during the summer in an air-conditioned environment and not taking my bass out of the house at all, I find that pretty much any gauge of rosin works for me, even an extremely sticky one like the soft Kolstein or Oak. If I’m taking my bass in the car or playing outdoors at all or in any non-air-conditioned environment (all of which are common for me in the summer), then I’ve got to be a lot more careful with my rosin selection.

The bane of my summer double bass existence is the “glassy bow” syndrome that Aaron described. I’ve actually totally torpedoed a perfectly good rehair by putting a bunch of particularly sticky soft gauge Kolstein on my bow in warm weather. No matter what I did, I could get that hair working… and I tried everything! This rosin was awesome for me during January and February here in Chicago, but it wasn’t a good fit for the summer months.

My current bass and bow are quite responsive, and I therefore am able to get away with using significantly less rosin than I used to use on my old Lowendall bass. I typically use Pops’ Rosin in the summer with my Dolling bow, Jakstadt bass, and Pirastro Permanent strings, applying it sparingly and adding more only when I feel the grip start to give.

Getting a good grip on my previous gear was significantly more challenging. I used Original Flexocor strings with my Lowendall bass and previous bow, and in the summer I would often use either a medium or hard gauge Kolstei rosin or even a combination of violin rosin and standard bass rosin (Carlsson, Pops’, Kolstein, or Oak).

The Almighty Comb

The other trick I use in the summer (and I can’t for the life of me remember where I originally picked this habit up) is to use a plain old black comb and comb through the bow hair just like I do with my own hair. This breaks up the rosin chunks, helps to stave off that terrible “glassy” feeling on the hair, and refreshes the “grippiness” of the rosin already applied to the bow hair. Honestly, I don’t know what I’d do without my trusty black comb in the warm summer months!

Do you have a method of dealing with humid conditions and arco playing? Let us know in the comments!

Steve’s thoughts largely echo my own on this subject, and I think that the following will prove to be thought-provoking material for both students and teachers. In that spirit, I put together a PDF version of Steve’s advice in case you’d like to print it out and hand it out to students. Here’s the PDF link:

Practicing Advice.pdf

…and here’s Steve’s advice:

Notes for Young Players! – How Do You Practice?

1. Get Organized

Get yourself a diary–probably a week to 2 pages layout is good (or if you have a laptop put it all in that–ultimately what ever works for you … but get a diary!!) you’re going to have lessons, gigs, rehearsals, classes, and around that you’re going to have to organize your practice. Your diary is your friend so don’t lose it! Also, don’t forget to block in some R&R!

2. Practice

Think about what is the most difficult stuff you have to play. Keep in mind that you only ever have 3-4 really productive hours a day. Use that time when you’re sharp (for some it’s first thing in the morning ..me I’m a night person). Use your best time to do the most difficult stuff.

When you have a gig or a lesson coming up, look at what you need to play for that session and arrange your practice during the week accordingly. If you have something that’s very challenging, work slowly up to it with a metronome. Try and plan your practice so that you can play the piece at speed (or even a little faster) at least 3 days before the lesson or concert.

If you have something that’s just really big and scary to work on (That first big concerto, a Beethoven orchestral part or whatever) remember that if you can break the problem down, you are doing good work. Don’t let the overall size of the thing scare you. Take a passage (a line or two) and say to yourself, “What’s the difficult part of this passage? Is it the string crossing? Is it the speed and a fingering issue? Is it about controlling dynamics is it about phrasing?” Ask yourself what is the problem and how can you break it down?

Get into the habit of inventing your own simple exercises to help you knock over the problem. If it’s a string crossing issue, put the metronome on a slow tempo and just play the open strings involved (it may be an A to G string crossing or another such problem). How does bow placement feel? How should it work? Then add the left hand to the process while still playing very slowly. Go back to the open strings and crank up the metronome a few clicks then add the left hand again. Keep doing this until you reach the tempo or it starts to sound bad. If that happens (it starts to sound bad), it’s ok; either wind the metronome back down or stop and approach another problem (or take a short break). Record what speed you got to with the metronome on that day (diary use again). Try the same passage the next day–you’ll probably find an improvement!

3. Break it all down

Make a note of all the most difficult parts you have to practice and make a list of this material. You may have 4 or 5 orchestral parts 2 or 3 major works and goodness knows what else that your working on. It’s really easy to miss something that you should have worked on. To get around this I developed a system that worked like this.
Every week I’d go through all the music I was working on. I’d list only the difficult sections of each work–I would not practice easy stuff–and I’d review the list after lessons as well. In retrospect I call it the Matrix approach!

If I had limited practice time I would focus only on the most difficult parts. Most days my goal was to get through the list at least once.

Also, you can use this information in lessons. Ask your teacher how to approach a particular section. Can they show you how they would play this? This is about using your lesson time productively–sometimes your teacher may not be aware of all the music that your working on or you may have a spare 15 minutes in the lesson.

4. Away from the bass

You can do constructive work away from the bass as well. Take your music around with you. Sit at the piano and play the notes (sing them even if you can’t play them on the piano; singing the notes helps your body to become part of the music, and is very good for intonation). Listen to recordings–see if you can find different versions of the same work. What do you like about and dislike about the different versions? How can you incorporate that into your playing? Write these notes down. Chat with other musicians about what you’re listening to and see they think about it. Take the time to sit down with a score and a piece of music and go through it with a recording maybe once a week.

Look at your music just before you go to sleep. What are the most demanding parts? What do you need to remember to play these parts well? Visualize yourself playing stuff perfectly (even if you can’t quite do it yet); this helps prime your subconscious.
Give yourself time to warm up and remember to take a break about every 45 minutes. Get up and stretch for 5 minutes (go get a glass of water or whatever). Be aware of your body; although it’s great to hunker down and work hard, you can forget that your back is getting sore or your hand is starting to feel cramped up. Be careful!

Use a mirror when you practice. Is the way you move around the instrument smooth? Does it look relaxed? Watch your teachers to see how they move when they play. Try and realize that bass playing is a very athletic physical process; it is like being a long distance runner.

5. Remember to eat!

Food is energy which can be turned into music! Make sure you grab at least 2 meals a day! And snack on something. If you’re playing the bass all day, this is a very large amount of energy your going to need. Remember: the body needs fuel!

6. Record

Record your lessons. Listen to them the next day; make notes and act on those notes. Also, record your practicing at least once a week and listen back to it. What’s good and what’s bad? See if you can get a recording of groups you’re playing with; this can be useful. You can never hear what you sound like from the point of view of the audience as you’re always with the bass and not in the audience…this can be useful information!

Once every 4 months, try and record a major piece on which you’re working. Over the years you will have a record of your progress and sometimes it’s good to have a recording that you can submit for an audition as opposed to having to run about and organize something at the last minute.

And finally: have fun! You’re going to learn, make friends and become a musician! Enjoy that process.

Steve A.

Hi __________,

Thanks for the message, and thanks for checking out the blog! I have played on Bel Cantos and like them in some ways, though I personally prefer the response of Permanents. For me, Permanents have a snappier response and a well-balanced treble/bass body. They have nice punch for more articulate playing but sounds nice on more melodic playing.

My experience with Bel Cantos has been that they have a really magnificent and lyrical sound, but that they have a kind of strange rubbery feeling that makes them more temperamental for faster playing. It is possible to play fast and heavy excerpts and the like on them, but there is much less “tolerance” in the string for me than there is for Permanents. I hope this helps!

Jason

I’ve had a lot of students struggle with this choice in string as well. For certain things, Bel Cantos seem superior to just about any other string out there, but there’s always a trade-off, and I have a hard time tolerating the “strange” qualities of Bel Cantos. My bass seems to work great with Permanents, so I have a hard time justifying moving over to the Bel Cantos.

Thoughts?