Jason Heath’s Double Bass Blog

1) Lesson SchedulesClick here to see when and where our next lesson is happening.
2) Lesson Summaries and AssignmentsClick for assignments, materials to purcase, links, and lesson history.
3) Recommended RepertoireThese are the materials I teach in the order I teach them. I provide links to various sites to buy materials, but you can do [...]

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Solo Repertoire

Orchestral Repertoire

Scott Bakshis of the Chicago Youth Symphony recently compiled a list of what the requirements for all the top bass schools are. This is a meta list derived from the requirements of Indiana University, Boston University, Rice University, Curtis, Juilliard, Eastman, and many others. If bass students can have this repertoire under their [...]

On Wednesday, March 8, Boston Symphony principal bass Ed Barker gave a fantastic mastercless. The class was held in Roosevelt University’s beautiful Ganz Hall (pictured above) and was open to the general public free of charge. Four Roosevelt University students performed, and Mr. Barker devoted a half-hour to each of them. All [...]

I encourage all of my pre-college double bass students to get involved with either the Midwest Young Artists program or the Chicago Youth Symphony. Both of these Chicagoland youth orchestra programs are really top-notch. I have work with both of them if various capacities over the last few years, and I send students [...]

See my post thoughts on bass strings from more information on this topic.
Strings are a very personal choice for every bassist. Just changing that one little thing can make the same bass can sound awesome or awful. Each different playing style has a different set of string associated with it. Putting bluegrass [...]

Libertyville Studio
Scott Ba.:
Scott’s action list: Vanhal 1&2, Eccles 1&4, B5 mvt 3, Br 1 E, Br 2 mvt 4 recap, Mozart 40 mvt 4 exc. 1, Mozart 39 mvt 1 pg. 1 (Allegro), all 3 octave scales - slur 4 notes, and 3 octave arpeggios - slur 3 notes, 1 Sturm etude, 1 Storch-Hrabe etude, [...]

If you’re looking for Jamie Aebersold Play Along tracks, I’d suggest checking out www.playjazznow.com.

Articles by Jason Heath:
Road Warrior Without an Expense Account - This series chronicles my experiences as a freelance musician and offers thoughts and observations on the classical music orchestral business in general. Although focused on classical musicians and freelance musicians in general, much of the discussion has relevance to musicians from all disciplines. [...]

Buy Music and see Recommended Repertoire at the Bass Blog Sheet Music Store!
Jason’s Scale Sheets (free PDF download)
one octave major and minor scales with fingerings
two octave major and minor scales with fingerings
Articles
All-State Audition Preparation by John Thompson
Article on Stretching by Nathan Cole
Video Resources

Downloads
Classical
Methods:

Tambroni, Peter: An Introduction to Double Bass Playing (highly recommended)
Max Dimoff Warm-Up Packet [...]