Jason Heath’s Double Bass Blog

We’ve had several individuals submit additions to our music school audition requirements page, so take a look and see what pieces are being asked from various institutions.  If you have any additions, please leave them at the bottom of the audition requirements page.
As this list expands, I’ll start to analyze this data and put [...]

Frequent blog and podcast collaborator Andy Anderson gave me the great idea of compiling a list of double bass audition requirements for major universities and conservatories.  I think this is a great idea, and I’ve put up what Andy has compiled thus far:
http://doublebassblog.org/features/audition-requirements
You can get to it in the left sidebar or under the [...]

Now here’s an event that I would love to attend!  The Hawaii Contrabass Festival is an event sponsored by the Hawaii American String Teachers Association (HASTA with NSOA), and it will run from March 24-30, 2008 in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Faculty members include:

Adam Baron
Jeffrey Beecher
Gerald Clayton
John Clayton
Shawn Conley
Mark [...]

Chicago-area bassist Ben Huff has been a helpful contributor for both the bass blog and Contrabass Conversations over the past year.  He recently let me know that he had started a bass blog of his own.  I’ve been checking it out, and it is full of interesting reflections on studying the bass, looking for an [...]

 

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We’re chatting with Cincinnati Symphony principal bassist Owen Lee today on Contrabass Conversations. Owen played for the New World Symphony and the Houston Symphony prior to his appointment with the Cincinnati Symphony, and it was a real pleasure to do this interview along with Contrabass Conversations regular collaborator John Grillo.
John, Owen, and I [...]

We’ve put out some new tracks from bassists looking for some constructive criticism.  If you’ve got a moment, check out the Virtual Master Class index and leave a comment or two on some of the tracks there.  The bassists submitting the tracks would appreciate it, and you certainly don’t need to be a bass player [...]

Here are some video excerpts from U.S. double bassist Jacy Cobalis that he compiled for his NJO Summer Academy (Netherlands) audition tape.
It’s really cool (and brave!) of Jacy to put these up on YouTube, and I hope that we’ll be seeing more of this as time goes on.
It’s also interesting to see festivals which require [...]

 

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This week’s Contrabass Conversations episode features an interview with Suzuki Bass School pioneer, pedagogue, and teacher trainer Virginia Dixon. Virginia shares her years of experience performing and teaching the double bass, highlights unique aspects of the Suzuki bass method, and offers advice for those interested in pursuing a career as a double bass [...]

National Symphony Orchestra principal bassist Robert Oppelt put together a great page of information about the wide variety of grips used by professionals on the German bow.  As a French bow player, I always find myself struggling when offering advice to students on how exactly to approach the subtleties of German bow technique, and [...]

The Peabody Double Bass Blog continues to grow and develop as a valuable resource for the global bass community. This excellent blog, authored by Peabody double bass faculty members Jeff Weisner, John Hood, Paul Johnson, recently added jazz bassist Michael Formanek as an author. Michael recently contributed a Q&A of common questions asked [...]