Jason Heath’s Double Bass Blog

Ahh, those lovely and divisive double bass issues like standing–fodder for eternal and impassioned debate on both sides of the fence. Deciding whether or not to stand while playing the instrument (or to do both depending on the context) is a pivotal decision for every single bassist, and it is the source of much [...]

One of the cool things about doing a weekly interview podcast is watching this body of work grow over the weeks, months, and years. After 1 1/2 years of doing Contrabass Conversations, we’ve got quite a body of content (approaching 100 interview shows, plus numerous video lessons, all-music shows, and special feature episodes), and [...]

Most string players own several different bows during the course of their playing career, usually starting on a fiberglass or inexpensive wooden bow in early years of study and upgrading many times on the journey toward professional-level playing. Like strings, rosin, and other key pieces of gear, bows are a very personal and subjective item, [...]

Houston Symphony Principal Bass Tim Pitts will be teaching at the Beijing Music Festival this summer (which will actually be held in Shanghai this year to avoid the Olympics). San Diego Principal Bass (and former Tim Pitts student) Jeremy Kurtz provides the following details:

…my former teacher, Tim Pitts, is going back [...]

I’ve always been fascinated by the wide variance in lesson durations among various teachers. Many of my piano teacher colleagues hold lessons for preschoolers that last only 15 minutes, while some legendary pedagogues teach lessons that last six, seven, or even eight hours. I’ve even met some teachers who teach a student until the late [...]

 

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We’re continuing our chat (check out part on on episode 73) with Michigan State University and Interlochen Arts Academy double bass instructor Jack Budrow this week on Contrabass Conversations. In addition to helping place students in major orchestras across the globe, Jack has had a very distinguished performance career as a former member of [...]

Here’s another instructional double bass video from www.mucony.com, this time featuring Manhattan School of Music bass instructor Jay Anderson teaching a student.

Last week we featured a video of Metropolitan Orchestra Principal Bass Tim Cobb working with New World Bassist and Eastman graduate Matt Abramo on the first movement of Mozart’s Symphony No. 40.  Check it out here if you missed it.
This week, we’re featuring another video of Tim teaching bass, this time covering the first movement [...]

Double bassist Kirsten Paige has completed the second and third movements of her transcription of the Beethoven Spring Sonata.  You can check out all of her transcriptions below (or visit our bass blog downloads page anytime to check out all our offerings):
Transcriptions by Kirsten Paige:

Beethoven Violin Sonata No. 5 in F Major, op. 24 (the [...]

University of Chicago student Kirsten Paige recently completed a set of transcriptions for the double bass, and she has graciously offered to make these available to the double bass community.  I just added them to the doublebassblog.org downloads page, and you can find individual links to the files below.  Check them out!
Transcriptions by Kirsten Paige

Beethoven [...]