Jason Heath’s Double Bass Blog

A recent article in the Chicago Tribune (May 28, 2008) reignited some long-standing concerns that I’ve had for a longtime about the massive amount of educational debt many musicians accrue during their years of training. This trend is affecting all college students (not only musicians), but since our earnings tend to be rather meager [...]

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 [...]

Double bassist Vito Liuzzi recently let me know about a new composition from Italian bassist and composer Leonardo Presicci. Vito writes:

LEONARDO PRESICCI from ITALY and his new composition : CROSS OVER BASS (HR) for db. and orchestra
Dear Jason,
I’m happy to present you the new composition by maestro LEONARDO PRESICCI
“CROSS OVER BASS” [...]

 

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We’re changing up the podcast format for today’s show and featuring a group of present and former members of the Midwest Young Artists program located on the North Shore of Lake Michigan in metro Chicago. As an educator, I find it very interesting to hear the perspective of younger bassists–what they enjoy about performing, if [...]

At long last, my book Road Warrior Without an Expense Account is completed and ready for purchase. It’s priced at $14.95 and is available now from Lulu.com (click below to purchase), and will be available through Amazon.com, Borders, and Barnes & Noble in the next 6 weeks or so.
Putting this book together has really been [...]

This is a guest post from early music specialist and Ars Antigua director Jerry Fuller.
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I’m really looking forward to this coming week. I will be performing concerts with Chicago’s Baroque Band that will use period instruments on June 4, 5 and 11. During the same week I will be playing with an orchestra using modern [...]

I had the opportunity to addend a master class featuring Tim Cobb this past Wednesday (5/28/08), which washosted by Northwestern University’s Peter Lloyd. In addition to serving as principal double bassist with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, Tim serves as principal double bassist for the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center. Prior to [...]

I’m skating on thin ice with this post! The classical music world is surprisingly small, after all, and anydisparaging talk about conductors, even in the most anonymous terms, is likely to trickle back to the source. For my sake (I like to get hired back for gigs I play!), please keep the following points in [...]

 

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We’re featuring double bassist, composer, and conductor Peter Askim on today’s episode of Contrabass Conversations. A former member of the Honolulu Symphony and an internationally acclaimed composer, Peter currently serves as music director and composer-in-residence for the Idyllwild Arts Academy. His Eight Solitudes for Double Bass won the 2002 International Society of Bassists Composition Competition. [...]

 

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Here’s episode 5 of Story Time with Contrabass Conversations, based upon a tale about an audition I did for the now-defunct San Jose Symphony.