In my last post, I defined what “outlier” means and how it applies to bass playing. In this post I’ll make some comments on how we all can cope with, and learn from, outliers – whether we are one or we are learning from one.

If you are a student, you need to seek out the views of lots of teachers and players and notice when a teacher or fellow student seems to have very unusual ideas about how best to play. It doesn’t mean that those views are wrong, but it does mean that you should be a little more skeptical of those views. The person could have unusual, outlier elements in his or her playing style and those may not work for you. It can feel weird to be skeptical of your teacher. The tradition of classical music instruction is to see the teacher as a godlike figure who must be obeyed without question. However, I don’t see that as always being the best model for teaching or learning. While we do need to respect and trust out teachers, we also need to remember that our goal isn’t to just obey our teacher, but to become the best musicians that we can be. If your teacher is an outlier in some area, we could actually hold back our progress by being too slavishly devoted to their ideas. (WARNING: just because what your teacher asks you to do is difficult or takes time to achieve does NOT mean that it’s an outlier idea! While you shouldn’t be a slave of your teacher, you should also remember that your teacher probably knows a lot more than you do…)

The other possibility we need to each consider is whether we ourselves are outliers in some way. We are all subject to the law of averages – what works for the largest number of people is by definition the solution that is most likely to work for each of us. However, if that solution isn’t working for you, you then need to consider whether you are an outlier in that area and need to try something more unusual. There are certain features in my playing that I have been told over and over again are “wrong,” and some teachers and players have helpfully volunteered alternate, “better” options for me. In the past, I would gamely try their ideas, thinking that if they didn’t seem to work for me that it was somehow a lack of effort or understanding on my part. Eventually, I grew enough as a person and player to see that in some of these cases it was simply that my solution worked for me and not for them.

If you are a teacher, you need to be very aware of whether you are an outlier! I can’t emphasize this enough. If you have a highly unusual fingering choice, technical style, or playing posture, you should NOT assume that you have uncovered some great secret of bass playing and need to share it with all your students! While that is possible, the far more likely explanation is that you have found an unusual solution for a playing issue and that it will most likely not be the preferred solution for most of your students. I have certain elements of my own playing that I do not teach to my students because I have noticed over time that I’m one of the only people doing them successfully. Only if they are clearly struggling with the more common solutions do I propose something more unusual. This of course requires more work and focus as a teacher; many folks, consciously or unconsciously, assume that teaching consists of showing your students how you do it and having them copy you. Finding out how and why others do things differently, and presenting those ideas clearly and effectively to your students, is not always easy. It can feel like we are diminishing our own playing style and achievements. However, there’s no shame in being an outlier – being the weird one in the room can be fun and quite liberating!

One final comment on being an outlier: there are real differences of technique in bass (or any instrument), and there are LOTS of debatable points that I’m sure we could argue about all day. True outlier ideas aren’t about whether you stand or sit, or whether you use Bel Canto or Flexocor strings, or which of the five most popular fingerings for the Eccles Sonata you use. But if you use a fingering for the Eccles that no one else you know uses,and that violates some basic fingering principle like “don’t use your fourth finger five times in a row,” and you still sound fantastic, then congratulations – you may be an outlier….

Outlier: a data point that falls far from most other points; a score extremely divergent from the other measures of a set.

I first became familiar with the concept of “outliers” when my brother came home from his new job wearing T-shirt of the company softball team – it was their team name! (This job was at a DC policy think tank so I suspect that a fairly high nerd factor went into the name choice…) The term is a basic one in the study of statistics, and is based around a core phenomenon when one takes any kind of survey, or does a scientific experiment, or simply collects data of any kind on a large group of people. A classic example comes from sports judging. In sports like diving or skating, where the competitors are scored by a panel of judges, the highest and lowest scores are usually thrown out. Why? Well, what if the scores happened to be : [7,8,8,6,1,9,6]? The average of these scores is 6.28. But if I eliminate the highest and lowest scores, the average is 7, which is within one point of the scores of all the remaining judges. In this case, the low score in particular is a classic outlier example – it throws off our ability to see the opinion of the majority of the group.

Alright, enough with the math lessons… What the heck does this have to do with bass playing? Well, in a way our study of music and our growth as players is a huge, life-long research project. We are all observing and studying the playing of everyone around us in search of the best and most appealing ways to make great music on our instruments. As we encounter a great musician, we listen to and imitate the elements of their playing that appeal to us. Most good players share many similarities in their playing. The way the position the instrument relative to their bodies, the way they use the bow, and the way they position the instrument relative to their bodies, the way they use the bow, and the way they move their left hand are often similar. This isn’t to say that there aren’t a lot of different ways to play the bass well! Still, I’ve studied with and learned from many talented players whom I respect highly, and I’ve heard almost all of them say similar things about the basics of good playing. The differences between them are usually much more subtle than the points of agreement.

However, I’ve also encountered the occasional outlier as I’ve heard and seen bassists over the years. They seem to be doing everything differently than most players I see. Maybe they hold the bass in a very unusual way. Maybe they use very atypical fingerings. Maybe they seem to have more tension in their body than do many talented players. Yet, despite these unusual characteristics, they sound good or even great. Sometimes this is in spite of their unusual technique, or sometimes it may even be because of it. The point is that their unusual technique works for them.

I emphasize those two words for a reason: We all need to remember that the techniques of outlier players will probably not work well for most people! Sometimes these techniques are not even the most effective for the outlier player; they may simply have the innate ability or personal drive to play well despite them. Or they may have unusual physical characteristics that require unusual technique. Or their brain may simply function differently than most folks. Sometimes outliers are actually visionaries. Their unusual playing choices end up working better for so many people that they actually become the “new normal,” displacing older ideas to some extent. I’m old enough to remember the how unusual many of the techniques of Francois Rabbath once were to most bassists.

Things start to get tricky for students when their own teacher is an outlier in some respect and lacks the self-awareness or training to understand this. The student can end up learning a technique that only works for a small number of players, yet they may be led to believe that this is the preferable or the only way to approach a certain playing issue. I have seen players struggle with their playing for years as they try to master a way of playing that simply isn’t effective, yet seem unable to acknowledge that they need to find another approach.

In my next post, I’ll consider ways that students and teachers can deal with being an outlier or learning from one…

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.

____________

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 to afford those instruments, most folks have to already be great players (or independently wealthy). So, what is the young or not-so-young bassist of modest means to do? Over the years, I’ve tried to notice the little things that folks do to their basses to improve the sound and playability of their instruments. Some of these were shown to me by my own teachers, some by my professional colleagues in the NSO and elsewhere, some by random bassists I have met in my travels, and others by various repairpersons and luthiers. All these things are relatively inexpensive things that can improve the equipment that you already have. None of them are going to magically transform your Chinese bass into a priceless old Italian instrument, but they can help, and sometimes by a surprising margin. These fixes don’t all work for everyone, but it’s likely that at least a few of them might help you.Please note that, by “relatively inexpensive,” I don’t necessarily mean super-cheap – some of the items I mention could cost hundreds of dollars. However, compared to the cost of upgrading your bow or bass, they’re all pretty affordable. I have ranked them in rough order from cheapest to most expensive.

1. Go Balls Out - No, I didn’t name it that! “Balls Out” is shorthand for flipping the ball ends of your strings (the ends that fit into the tailpiece) around so that, instead of being behind the tailpiece, they are on the outside of the tailpiece. This makes the angle of the strings over the bridge sharper, which changes the pressure exerted by the strings on the top of the bass and can have an effect on the sound. My string gurus and advisors recommend only doing this to the upper three strings, for reasons a bit too arcane to go into here (it has to do with relative string tensions – I barely understand it myself).
2. Good Rosin - I often see students with horrifyingly old, dried-out rosin cakes. No matter what sort of rosin you use, if the surface of that rosin is getting dry and powdery, or cracking off in small pieces, then it’s probably time to invest in a new cake. This is especially true with Pop’s and other lighter, softer rosins.
3. Protect your Rosin - To prevent problem #2, keep your rosin in a plastic case with an airtight seal. Some rosins are sold in plastic cases, but many are sold in cardboard cases that can let the rosin get too dry. Put these rosins in a small plastic container with a snap-on lid – I use a small size Gladware container myself. I’ve seen similar size containers at stores like The Container Store.
4. Lead Tape - If your bow doesn’t bounce well or get the sound you want, it might just need a little weight added at the tip or frog for better balance. A great way to do this is to use some of the lead-lined tape that tennis players use to adjust the weight of their rackets. It’s adhesive-backed and can be cut to precisely the right size and shape. (If you use it on your frog, you might want to cover it with adhesive tape so that your hand won’t be rubbing up against lead all day…) Experiment with your teacher to find the right amount and location. It’s inexpensive and sold in tennis shops and sporting goods stores, and you won’t need much.
5. Close those Seams and Cracks - Lots of basses can pop open here and there. Some instruments have certain seams that open on a regular basis. Gluing these seams shut can improve instrument resonance, as can of course fixing any cracks.
6. Basic Setup Issues - how long has it really been since you had your soundpost checked by your trusted luthier or shop? Soundposts and bridges can migrate quite a lot on some instruments, and we need to keep them in line. Make sure that your soundpost is the correct length as well, and that it’s in good, firm contact with the top and bottom of your bass.
7. The Endpin - The materials, size, and shape of your endpin can have a surprisingly large impact on the sound of some basses. The first, and less “invasive” option, is to replace your steel or other metal endpin with a carbon-fiber endpin. There are several types of these endpins, most of which are designed to fit the 10 mm Goetz-style endpin housings. They come in different densities and lengths. Find a shop that carries them and try one out to see its effect on your bass. I find that they can be especially helpful with basses that might be a little tight or unresponsive, opening up the sound and giving the strings a slightly looser feel. The second and more involved option is to consider obtaining a Christian Laborie-style endpin for your bass. This involves drilling a tapered hole into the endpin block at an angle and inserting a wood or carbon fiber endpin into it. More and more shops and luthiers are able and willing to do this alteration in your instrument, but it will require some significant adjustments in your playing and should only be considered if you are working with a supportive teacher who can help you with this. By the way, you can often use a Laborie endpin for either sitting or standing….
8. Saddle Up - the tailpiece rests against the bottom of the bass on a beveled piece of hardwood called the saddle. Most saddles are very low, snuggled right up against the bass. By putting a new saddle on your bass that sticks up higher off of the bass, you create a more shallow angle of the strings relative to the bridge, which can reduce the pressure on the top and improve the openness and volume of your instrument.
9. Wear Nylon - Replace your metal tailpiece wire with a nylon or other non-metallic wire. This can change the pressure on the top.
10. One Wire - Some luthiers will set up your tailpiece with only one wire with loops on both ends, rather than having two wires that meet to make one large loop. This allows the tailpiece to move more freely and can affect the sound.
11. All Wire - Some teachers, most notably Albert Laszlo of Juilliard, advocate removing the tailpiece completely. A wire runs directly from the saddle to a set of four wires that hold the balls of the strings.
12. Strings, Strings, Strings – It is sad that this option has become the most expensive way to explore your instrument, but such are the ways of exchange rates and economic ups and downs. The only good news in the area of strings is that there are more and better choices available to bassists today than ever before, and there is probably a string set (or combination of string types) that will get more of what you want out of your bass. Hopefully I’ll be able to blog a bit more on strings in the future – they deserve a post unto themselves.

I hope at least a few of these sound like things you could try out yourself. If you know some more cheap fixes for your instrument or bow, please don’t keep it to yourself – drop me a line or just comment on this post.

____________

Some of you may have read a few of the posts in my series here about my new music recital in Baltimore last month. The biggest work on that program was “Caelum Dedecoratum,” a major new work for solo bass by Philadelphia-based composer Michael Hersch. I premiered this piece at the ISB Convention in Oklahoma City last year. I think it’s an incredible addition to our repertoire and I’m happy that I’ve been able to play a role in getting it out into the world. I wanted to let folks know that I’ll be giving the New York premiere if the piece this Sunday at 8:00 pm as part of a concert of works by Mr. Hersch for solo strings. The concert is at Merkin Hall, located near Lincoln Center, and tickets are only $15. Come check out the music of one of the best young composers working today and support new bass music! For more details on the concert, including the full program, details on how to get to Merkin, and to reserve tickets, visit the concert homepage on the Kaufman Center website here.

Thanks all and I hope to see you there.

____________

(crossposted at PBDB)

I am often most frustrated as a teacher not by anything about my students or about myself, but by my students’ instruments and bows. Sometimes my students fail to do the things they need to do, and sometimes I don’t manage to communicate what I think to my students. But sometimes the magic happens: I manage to give them a great new concept or musical idea, and the light goes on in their heads: they get it! And then the magic is ruined by the inability of their equipment to actually transform this great new idea into sound. Student instruments and bows often lack the qualities that enable students to expand their technical and musical palette. When the tone of your bass is always harsh and scratchy because the instrument is too tight, learning a light, floated sound is a challenge. If your bow is improperly weighted towards the tip or frog, it’s hard to learn a good spiccato stroke. It drives me crazy to see my students working so hard to grow as players and musicians, but be constantly bumping up against the limitations of their gear.

And what frustrates me more is that, when I grab their basses and bows, I can often produce the very sounds and strokes that they are struggling to create. This is due partially to my own abilities and the many more hours of practice that I have under my belt than they do (I’m generally a lot older than my students, after all!). But it’s also due to the fact that I play on much better instruments than they do. When you use good gear, it helps you understand and master a wider range of sounds and techniques. And once you’ve mastered them, it then becomes easier to understand and get around the limitations that inferior gear puts in your way when you want to do them. Because I have learned and mastered spiccato on great bows, I’m able to pick up a lesser bow and immediately know what I’ll have to do to make it produce a decent spiccato. I can of course let the students use my gear so that they can get the feel of what the stroke “should” feel like. But that’s not the same as having that bow at your disposal 24/7 to explore and experiment with.

What’s the answer to this? The simplest is of course to have my students get better gear, and I often advise them to do just that. But economic realities often get in the way of that solution. They may simply lack the resources to purchase better gear, even if parents and/or relatives are able to help them out. Sometimes I loan my gear to students so that they can use it for awhile. But that isn’t always practical – I have to play all the time and I need to use my instruments and bows! I don’t own so many of either that I can have tons of them out on loan and still be able to do my own playing.

The other day I came up with my ideal answer – double bass socialism, or more properly, double bass communism, as exemplified by the Marxist slogan:

From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.

The second clause being the relevant one. The folks who really need the good bows and basses aren’t those players who already have great careers. They’re the students who need to master the elements of a solid technique. They should be the ones with the great gear. Once they’ve used these great bows and basses to develop their technique, they should pass them on to the next generation and play on less exceptional stuff – even though they won’t sound as good, they’ll still be able to sound fine because they’ll know how to get the most out of that gear.

Like all communistic principles, this would of course be totally unrealistic and could never work in real life. After all, who would determine exactly who got which instruments? (I nominate…. me!)

I’ll be posting in the future on some more realistic solutions to this problem: namely, how students can maximize the sound and playing quality of their instruments without having to spend huge amounts of money on high-end stuff.

____________

(Note to readers: I can’t count and apparently skipped directly from Part II to Part IV. Too bad – Part III will just have to become part of bass blogging legend…)

So, you’ve decided that you want to try this commissioning thing. Maybe my brilliant arguments have won you over. Maybe you have a composer friend who won’t stop bugging you about writing a piece for you. Or maybe you’re so sick of practicing your Koussevitsky Concerto that you’re willing to try almost anything else. In any event, you’re ready to connect with a composer and create some new bass repertoire.

So, where do you go? Where do these composers live, anyway? And how do you find composers who write stuff that you might like to play?

Here are a few tips and resources to get you started.

1. Your local university music school or conservatory – For almost anyone attending or living near a music school, this is a great place to start. Almost every school has a composition department full of people who are highly motivated to write music. And composition students in particular will often write you a piece for free if you’re willing to play it somewhere. Find out the names of the faculty and get in touch with them. They can often refer you to a student. Better yet, go to a composition department recital or performance and check out the students’ music for yourself. Then, approach them in person about writing a piece.

2. New music concerts – Most big cities, and many smaller ones too, have some group of performers or composers who present a concert series of new works. Check out your local arts listings for them and go hear a concert. They’re usually not expensive and often feature local composers. This may end up overlapping with option 1 as many new music series are sponsored by music schools.

3. The Internet – As with almost everything these days, the new music scene on the Internet is thriving and growing by leaps and bounds. The number of composers with excellent, easy-to-navigate websites is growing every day. The vast majority of these have streaming or downloadable sound samples of their music on them so that you can check out their sound. If you like a composer you can check out their works list to see if they already have a piece for bass. And composers often have a “links” page that can connect you to composers that that composer likes; these composers often (no surprise) write in a similar style to the composer who linked to them. Here are some great sites to get you started:

American Composers’ Forum – This Minnesota-based organization advocates for composers around the country. Check out the “Members and Events” pages for alphabetical lists of composers with website links.

Thomas Moore New Music Links – Mr. Moore has assembled a gigantic database of composers on the Web that is an invaluable resource for browsing and exploration.

The Rest is Noise – One of my “must read” blogs, from the music critic of the New Yorker. Great links page.
Good luck and happy hunting! Go help make some new music for our instrument, and drop me a line to let me know how it’s going.

____________

I’ve worked with and around lots of composers, in a variety of capacities. Throughout my school days, I played on various student composers’ recitals, and also knew and went to class with many student composers. The person who has been the music director of my orchestra for 12 years, Leonard Slatkin, is a major advocate of new music and has a strong relationship with many composers, so I’ve been able to observe them as an orchestral musician for years. I spent a summer at the Cabrillo Music Festival in California, one of the premier new music festivals in the USA, where we worked with many composers, some with major careers and some just starting out. And I’ve commissioned several new works for bass. Plus, I even have some composer friends.

Composers are in probably the most difficult “career track” that anyone can choose amongst the many difficult career tracks of classical music. There are thousands of bass players out there who make a majority, if not all, of their income from playing or teaching bass. That isn’t to say that they all are playing exactly the music they want to play, or that they are playing at the level they would like, or with the students they would like to teach. But, they are basically doing the thing that they went to school and worked hard to be able to do. The number of full-time composers is very small by comparison. Outside of the area of film and TV composition, it gets dramatically smaller. Most composers are pretty much assured of having their passion and primary study area be, at best, a sidebar to whatever their “day job” will be. Often that job is still music-related; sometimes it isn’t.

The main point is that composers are, generally, speaking, horribly under-employed. They seldom have enough opportunities to use their compositional skills and training. And they don’t have many opportunities to connect with new audiences for their music. So it doesn’t surprise me that in almost every situation I’ve encountered, composers have been interested, gracious, and even grateful when I’ve approached them about writing something for bass. For them, it’s the rare opportunity to work with someone who is proactively interested in what they are doing as composers rather than having to beg or cajole someone to play something of theirs. It’s also a chance to get their pieces heard by a new audience outside of the relatively small group of new music aficionados who probably frequent their performances. And, it’s a chance to write for an instrument starved for repertoire, which means they improve their chances of the piece being performed more than once.

While working with them, composers have always been understanding of any issues about a piece that I’ve brought to them. They truly want to write a piece that will work and be playable on the instrument, and are willing to listen and learn. I’ve seldom had a composer insisting to me that I play something that is not playable. Any composer with that attitude will soon discover that no one will want to work with them, and no composer can get lots of performances from sheet music sales alone – composers need commissions and premieres to survive. Even very successful composers that I’ve worked with to spoken to have always mentioned that they are always grateful and thankful for anyone willing to put in the time and effort to learn their music!

So don’t be scared of composers: They won’t bite, and they need you as much as you need them.

In my last post, I’ll suggest some places for you to look for and connect with composers who might be interested in working with you to create new bass music.

____________

So, in my first post, I described what I see as the reality of our situation as bassists vis a vis new music. The vast majority of the music written for our instrument before 1950 is of fair to poor quality, because talented composers had few musical or economic incentives to write for bass during that time. But we are now in a potential golden age for new bass music, where the number of great players and the diversity of compositional styles are growing by leaps and bounds. So, what should we as bassists do to take advantage of this situation? Commission and perform new music!

Many bassists have serious misgivings about undertaking a new piece, especially a premiere or piece that has never been performed in their area before. Here are a few common concerns that people mention about new music:

“It’s all scratchy and ugly” – This is the commonest gripe. The languages of some contemporary musical styles can indeed be challenging. There are two answers to this concern. One is to work on stretching your own musical muscles by committing to exploring a piece that initially turns you off. Often, with a little work, you can learn to “speak” the musical language of a piece that initially turns you off, and can grow to understand and (gasp) even like it and other music in a similar style. This can take time, so don’t be put off if for a while you don’t feel like you’re making progress. The other option is to find new music in a style you like. There are composers writing in all sorts of styles these days, and you can find music that speaks to you from among the many options out there.

“The music is too hard” – Again, there are two responses. One is to just keep looking until you find a composer willing to write piece that matches your level and skill. We need good music for student and amateur bassists as much as we need it for professional bassists. Another is that, by working with living composers, you can help make the bass writing in a piece better. If a composer writes something for me that I think won’t work well, I just tell them! They’re usually very attentive to the concerns of performers and are willing to work on these issues. Several composers I’ve worked with told me that I helped them understand how to write for bass more effectively – think of all the awkward and frustrating bass parts I may have saved future players from having to tackle. There are certain famous composers that I wish I could have instructed in this way. (Does anyone here hate playing Rachmaninov bass parts as much as I do?…)

“It all sucks” – It is certainly true that the vast majority of music written in 2008 will probably not be a masterpiece. But that was true of music in 1808 and 1908 as well. The difference is that previous generations of performers have weeded out the inferior music of the past, so that we only know the very best stuff. By playing new music, we can be a part of that process now. I hope to be the one to commission the next great masterpiece from the next great composer of our time. Only this time, unlike in 1808, that piece will be for bass instead of violin or piano. Imagine if a bassist of 1870 could have convinced Brahms or Dvorak to write a solo bass piece… If we don’t ask ‘em, it won’t happen.

“I don’t know how to do it” – I think this is often the real reason why bassists don’t move ahead and commission new music. Who are composers anyway? What do they do all day? Where do they hide out? How can I at least try to find one who’s good and will write something decent that I like? What if they actually want me to pay them something – where do I find that sort of money if I’m not already rich? What if they go crazy and write me something I can’t play, or that I hate beyond all belief? I’ll cover these questions in my next post.

I hope that these responses help give you some ways to look past these concerns and actually imagine playing new music as something you could do. It does require effort and usually some long- or medium- term commitment to a composer, but it can be a lot of fun as well. And wherever you are in your musical life and career, you can do it.

____________

One month from today I’ll be playing a recital at Peabody of new music, all of which was commissioned by me. This is an area of my musical life that has become more and more important to me, and I thought I might share some of what interests me so much about it. I’ll also throw in some ideas about how any bass player, at any level, can seek out and commission new music for our instrument.

First, I’ll throw the bad news for everyone: Beethoven didn’t write any music for solo bass. Neither did Haydn, Beethoven, Brahms, Schumann, Schubert, or Tchaikovsky. Nor, for that matter, did Stravinsky, Berg, Britten, Copland, or Shostakovich. This isn’t a surprise – the contrabass range is a difficult range for solo writing, and the level of playing that most of these composers encountered in their day was simply not high enough to make writing a bass solo a commercially (or artistically) satisfying experience. The double bass as an instrument was also profoundly different during the times these composers lived; instruments used gut strings, alternate tunings, and bows that operated very differently from what we use today. Yes, all instruments were different back then (thus the entire period performance movement), but the chasm between a bass of 1800 and a bass of today is much, much larger than the gap between a classical-era violin and a modern violin. Even more importantly, the chasm between the abilities of an average bassist of 1800 and an average bassist of today was huge. Most composers have to at least try to make a living by their art, and they need to think of how many people might want to play a piece they write (and thus buy the score!) So, for a composer of the 19th century, making the effort to learn how to write effectively for the bass was simply not a good use of their time. Too few bassists would ever seek out and play their music. It’s no surprise that so much of the music written for bass before the mid-20th century was written by bass players for their own performance.

But here’s the good news: There are more great bass players around today than at any time ever in history. And the bass of today is a far more flexible and soloistic instrument than the bass of 1800, or even of 1970 for that matter. Developments in strings, instrument construction, and setup have made basses easier to play, and the development of better bass pedagogy and training have made more and more difficult music accessible to more and more players.

And, here’s more good news: The diversity of music being written right now within all genres is probably greater than it’s ever been in history as well. Music history in the 20th century was often dominated by certain orthodoxies of technique or sound. If you weren’t interested in writing in the accepted style of the day, it was often hard to get heard and to be known in the wider musical world. (for a entertaining and beautifully written primer on this, read Alex Ross’ fantastic new book, The Rest is Noise.) Today there are virtually no rules – if you’re writing in a style that you believe in, you can probably find a community of people who will believe in and support that style.

So, when I put together these trends, here’s what I conclude: We are potentially in a golden age of composition for bass. Composers can know that, if they write for bass at a high level of difficulty, that there are going to be lots of players around who will have the skills to play that piece well. Instead of only writing for a tiny group of virtuosi, they can see a potentially large and growing market of players. They also know that they can write in more diverse ways for the bass, and that the instrument will be able to produce the sounds they want. Conversely, bassists can find composers out there writing in any style that they like and believe in, from extremely dense and atonal music to a completely tonal neo-romantic sound and everything in between.

In my next post, I’ll look at some ways for bassists to find composers that they like and how to talk them into writing new music for bass.

____________

Last week, my orchestra did a big benefit concert with super-famous conductor Christoph Eschenbach, and before and after the concert, rumors and gossip were flying around. The NSO is over two years into a conductor search, and many of our recent guest conductors have been rumored to be our next music director. First everyone was talking about this guy. Then this guy was all the rage. This guy made occasional mentions, and folks even discussed this fellow a few times. Each candidate who was rumored to be our next MD had his detractors and fans. But as each one was analyzed, gossiped about, and then forgotten, I was reminded anew how incredibly difficult it is to know how a conductor will connect with a particular orchestra from looking at their past performance with other orchestras.

(For the record, the NSO conductor search, like most big orchestra conductor searches, is conducted in total secrecy, and I have absolutely no idea whether any of the conductors mentioned, including Eschenbach, are actually being considered in any serious way for the NSO Music Director job.)

Eschenbach is a great example of how mysterious the whole world of conductor chemistry is. As the MD of the Houston Symphony, he was beloved by the orchestra musicians and public. In Philadelphia, he has foundered, frustrating the orchestra musicians and failing to connect with the public in the way that he did in Houston. Why? What are the differences between two groups of excellent orchestral musicians that made his results so different?

This mystery exists not only with music directors, but with guest conductors as well. The year I was playing in the San Francisco Symphony, the conductor David Robertson appeared with the orchestra. I thought he was fantastic, as did many SFS musicians I spoke with at the time. That same season, he appeared with the NSO. Most of my colleagues there thought he was dreadful and expressed the hope that he would never appear with the orchestra again!

And I can assure you this is not only a phenomenon of big professional orchestras. Orchestras of every size, shape, and salary level routinely express amazement as they work with a conductor who is loved (or hated) by another ensemble, and experience the exact opposite reaction.

Why is it so difficult to predict how a conductor and orchestra will interact? Some partial explanations can come from repertoire. If a conductor is doing a piece they feel strongly about, that can have an effect on how they work with the musicians. Another element is timing. If either the conductor or the musicians are tired or frustrated from a long string of concerts, too much time on the road, or just a bad cold going around, attitudes can become negative.

But even factoring these elements in, it’s simply impossible to predict how a conductor and an orchestra will get along, personally or musically, until they actually spend some time together.

I love the fact that this is such a mysterious and unpredictable process. It brings into play so many elements of what make being a musician such a great thing. Whenever a group of people get together to play music, each is bringing their own experiences and ideas to the table. Those ideas are expressed both verbally and in how they play. In a chamber music context, these ideas are hashed out in rehearsal. The final performance, at least in theory, represents a synthesis of the ideas and concepts that the group has worked out together in collaboration.

In an orchestra, the game is a little different. Each musician can only express their concepts within the limitations of what the conductor and principals tell them to do. They are even further limited by what the conductor allows their colleagues to do – if the conductor likes the way the oboe does their solo, I have to go along with it in my own playing, no matter what I think of it. But orchestras (if they play together on a regular basis) have a group consciousness as well. I know my colleagues’ styles and approaches, and together we have a group identity – a “way we play.” When a conductor steps up to the podium, they are interacting not only with the way 100 people each individually think the piece should go, but also with the way we as a group “know” that piece. When you step back and look at this complex stew of variables, it makes sense that the conductor-orchestra relationship can be so weird and unpredictable.

I enjoy watching this relationship play out each week and seeing what it produces. Conversely, I find that the unhappiest orchestral musicians are those who refuse to accept this process. They tend to either reject the conductor’s role (“why won’t he just let us play?”), or the orchestra’s group role (“why don’t we all just follow him better?”), or they overemphasize their own ideas (“I keep trying to do the obviously indicated ritard in bar 18, but no one is following me!”). I’m not saying that I always like or agree with the way my orchestra ends up playing things! But I do love the weird process of seeing what comes out of the orchestral sausage grinder each week.