I’m not really sure what is the right way, to avoid injuries and other stuff, how to hold the bass in thumb position.
My teacher says holding the neck on your shoulder blade can cause some trouble but on the other hand, is there another way to stabilize the bass in that position?

Check out WMYA.FM, the weekly podcast from Midwest Young Artists, for more great videos like this!

Video Download Link (170 MB)

Students will often do some weird wrist bending when first learning vibrato. Tell them to start the vibrato from their elbow and just think of rotating the two forearm bones (radius & ulna). Try it in the air first and then add it to the bass.

For more tips on vibrato and videos demonstrating vibrato check out this page from MostlyBass.com

Having problems getting your students to keep their left fingers curved? Try telling them to imagine they are holding a soda can! Have them hold an imaginary can in the air – it’s almost always a perfect bass hand – and then transfer this to the bass.

To strengthen their fingers have them squeeze a stress ball – with perfectly curved fingers of course!

For more tips, visit MostlyBass.com.

This video also has a snippet of Rabbath playing some jazz. Folks may not know that he’s a huge jazz aficionado, but he is, and you can see how much he loves it even from these brief seconds of video :

Now check out Rabbath’s Contrabass Conversations interview from 2007!

Robert advocates keeping a fairly straight bow arm when playing the bass, both for French and German bow. He provides great examples of how a straight arm can more efficiently transmit weight and power, and he includes many photos featuring both the French and German bow holds.

If you haven’t visited Robert’s site before, I highly recommend checking it out. He’s got great articles, interviews with other bassists, and stories about his experiences in then music world. Check it out!

Link: robertoppelt.com/page14

Considerations When Teaching Beginners

by Peter Tambroni

Sit or Stand?
If sitting, do you put both feet on the floor (similar to cello) or left foot up and right foot on the floor? I have cut my stool so I can put both feet on the ground. This does mean that I don’t extend my endpin at all. However, with both feet on the floor, I feel very centered and balanced as well as having good posture since my hips and spine are better aligned, as my pelvis is not tilted.
How high or low should the stool be? One system is to measure the inseam and subtract 2 inches (This is from Dr. Kathleen Horvath, professor at Case Western Reserve / Cleveland Institute). Many players are using shorter stools now to be able to place both feet flat on the floor.
If standing, where should the bass be and how will it be balanced?
Regardless of sitting or standing:

• The player’s left hand should be free (and relaxed) to shift and later use vibrato
• The player should have good posture and back / shoulder / neck position
• Left hand should be free to shift
• The bass should be and feel balanced
• Stand or sit up straight (keep back straight but not rigid or locked)

French or German bow?

Most students begin their studies with whatever style of bow their teacher uses. This is fine. Some people think that the student should be given the choice. However, I’m not sure if the student can make a truly informed decision. There was a great article on choosing a bow in American String Teacher by Dan Swaim. He talks about the length of the students arm impacting bow choice, among other factors. He recommended French style for shorter arms and German for longer arms.
French is easier to teach in a classroom setting because in the public schools because classes are often mixed and basses often get put with cellos. So this saves the educator time. Also many string teachers are not bassists (one reason for this publication) and therefore only know French since this is what the other string instruments use, albeit with slight variations.When I began playing the bass in high school I was taught with a French bow. I wasn’t even told there was a German bow and didn’t see one until college. I played French bow up until my late twenties and then started learning the German style. Since then I’ve completely switched to German and never looked back.
French tends to be easier to do a spiccato bowing, and for general flexibility. With the German bow, it is very easy to a large sound right away. Endurance is also easier with the German. This is not to say that certain things are not possible with each bow. Both styles can do everything; it’s just some tendencies of each bow. There have been great players who play both styles of bow. ?However, do some research first – my recent teacher (Greg Sarchet of the Lyric Opera) has a hold that is slightly different than most method books. Rather than putting the frog in the crotch of the hand by the frog, rest it at the thick skin at the bass of the fingers. This way it is an extension of the arm and hand. Great flexibility will result.
Tone is easier to produce with the German bow. I find that almost everything is easier with German – keeping the bow straight, accents, etc. and even teaching it to young students is easier! The only issue I had was keeping the stick from bouncing near the tip, but with practice this can easily be overcame.
So, French or German bow? Let the student’s arm and hand (NOT THE STUDENT) decide. Let them try both. Perhaps even teach them both. Rather than force a decision, let a decision emerge as to which style the student should play. My experience has been that German works better for about 70% of students. But I would be doing a disservice to that other 30% if I didn’t let them try French.
Which method?
Simandl, Bille, Rabbath, Nanny, Karr, All for Strings, Essential Elements, Strictly Strings, String Explorer, Artistry in Strings, books by Thomas Gale. The list goes on and on.
Your choice in methods will be influenced by the situation. Heterogeneous school classes will most likely necessitate a group method such as Essential Elements. Homogeneous school groups will allow for a little more flexibility where I recommend using both Essential Elements and Thomas Gale’s Practical Studies for the Double Bass. A private studio situation allows for the most flexibility.
For individual instruction I recommend a balanced diet of scale studies such as Schwabe or Flesch, Simandl, and Thomas Gale’s Practical Studies (and his other books) as well as excerpt studies in the Zimmerman series of excerpt books. Studies for the bow arm are essential and I recommend using a transcription of Sevcik (the Tarlton edition is best), as well as Zimmerman’s A Contemporary Concept of Bowing Technique.

Discussion on Trills from Valparaiso University – Double Bass Faculty – Dr. Phillip Serna

Trill Exercises are excellent edurance & stregth exercises for a double bassists fingers. There are several ways of dealing with trills, sylistically but more later. First, finger groupings:

• 1-2-4 & 1-2-3 (thumb position) for finger groupings
• Trill Combinations – 1-2, 1-4 & 2-4 (& reverse)
• Thumb Position Combinations – 1-2, 1-3 & 2-3 (& reverse). Use Franco Petracci’s Simplified Higher Technique for some great thumb position exercises For Extended Postion (all 1/2 steps) Combinations – 1-2-3-4, 1-2, 1-3, 1-4, 2-3, 2-4, 3-4

In addition to a clear hammering motion from your left hand to initiate the strings, it is important to keep a strong curvature for your fingers to focus the pressure if your fingertips directly on the string. If your thumb placement is across from your 2nd finger (behind the neck) this allows for more equal leverage for your fingers to receive support from your thumb.

• Note – no two hands are made alike regarding bone structure & muculature. Some will have thumb directly across from 2nd-finger, some between 1st & 2nd-finger. *

It is essential to practice trills in rhythms: eigths, triplets, sixteenths, sextuplets. For those who have more strength, I often practice them without the bow. Pizzicato you wonder? Not really. This uses the hammering motion for upward movement & left-hand pizzicato for downwards pitch movement. For lay-folk: hammer-ons & pull-offs. This allows for greater clarity especially for trilling during slurs. Happy practicing.

Contextual information on trills:

There is no one singular way to perform a trill. When looking at 19th century trill, they often start from the printed note. When examining primary sources prior to 1800.

C.P.E. Bach’s treatise/ method on keyboard playing and Quantz’s method/ treatise on 18th century flute performance are great resources on ornamentation. Being a viol player as well as a double bassist, I thouroughly enjoy Judy Tarling’s book Baroque String Playing (for ingenious learners) – read the preface regarding the title, it is a bit of a historical in-joke. Tarling’s book is an exceptional collection looking at ornamentation using primary sources from more than a century.

Why is this important for the double bassist you might ask? There is no single way to perform trills, let alone the many derivitives that are to be found in the works of many varied composers. Many of them used varied symbols for trills, lengths of trills, etc.

Hopefully these explorations will make your exploration of music and infinitly richer experience.

Dr. Phillip W. Serna

Faculty – Valparaiso University http://www.valpo.edu/music/ Faculty – The Music Institute of Chicago http://www.musicinst.org/, Director, Viols in Our Schools – Bringing Early Music to Wider Audiences http://www.violsinourschools.org/

http://phillipwserna.com/ http://www.spiritofgambo.org/ http://www.chicagoearlymusicconsort.org/ http://www.vdgsa.org/3rdCoast

We’re featuring something a bit unusual for this week’s Contrabass Conversations episode. Ball State University bass professor and International Society of Bassists president Hans Sturm has been featured several times on the podcast in video episodes, and this week we’re featuring Hans discussing the fundamentals of the Rabbath technique left hand positioning system.

This dialogue was featured in some of our previous video episodes, but it was broken up into bite-sized chunks, so I think you’ll enjoy the opportunity to hear the entire segment uninterrupted!

After the segment, we feature some bass news and listener feedback. Enjoy!

About Hans:

Double bassist Hans Sturm has performed as soloist, chamber, orchestral, jazz and improvisational musician throughout Europe, Asia, South America, Africa and the United States. Sturm received his doctorate from Northwestern University and is currently a Professor and Chair of the String Department at Ball State University.

Sturm has appeared with a variety of artists across the spectrum of jazz music including Eddie Daniels, Phil Woods, Randy Brecker, Dick Hyman, Roscoe Mitchell, Joseph Jarman, Eddie Higgins, David Baker, Stanley Jordan, Peter Erskine, Joe LaBarbera, Alan Dawson, Bela Fleck, Howard Levy and many others. A frequent performer of chamber music, Sturm has toured with ‘Fireflight’ (soprano, Japanese koto and bass koto, double bass, and percussion) and ‘Trinkle, Burkett, and Sturm’ (trumpet, marimba and double bass) for more than fifteen years. He has worked in the electronic medium with composers such as Cleveland Scott and Joan Wildman. As an orchestral bassist, he has served as principal bassist of numerous regional orchestras including the Muncie Symphony, Quad Cities Symphony, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Madison Symphony, Dubuque Symphony, Dorian Opera, Rockford Symphony, and Racine Symphony and toured Europe as a member of the American Sinfonietta Chamber Orchestra.

Recently Hans Sturm has appeared at the Beijing Music Festival; the Association of Brazilian Contrabassists International Conventions in Goiania and Pirenopolus, Brazil; the Scottish Bass Trust’s International Convention and the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh Scotland; the College Music Society International Conference in Kyoto, Japan; Encontro de instrumentistas in Joao Pessoa and Belo Horizonte, Brazil; the Biennial International Symposium on Arts and Technology in New London, Connecticut; a State Department tour of Morocco; various International Society of Bassists Conventions in Bloomington, Houston, Indianapolis, Iowa City and Richmond; and jazz fest ivals in Chicago, New York, Detroit, Madison, Milwaukee, and Minneapolis. Sturm has contributed performances and compositions to more than thirty recordings with artists including the Pro Arte String Quartet, soprano Mimmi Fulmer, vocalist Jackie Allen, synthesist/composer Joan Wildman, guitarists Scott Fields, Rolf Sturm, Dave Baney, Jeff Parker, and Jack Grassel, trumpeters Bob Levy and David Young, and pianists Jane Reynolds, and Marilyn Crispell. He has recorded for A440, Innova, Red Mark, Music and Arts, CRI, Big Chicago, and Cadence labels among others.

Hans Sturm is currently the President-Elect of the International Society of Bassists and served as the New Music Editor for the organization’s journal ‘Bass World’ for six years. He is on the summer faculty of the National High School Music Institute at Northwestern University and his works for bass are published by Liben Music (U.S.) and Klaus Schruff (Europe). His major teachers have included Northwestern University Professor Jeff Bradetich, Pittsburgh Symphony Principal Bass Emeritus Anthony Bianco, Philadelphia Orchestra bassist Ferdinand Maresh, and international soloist and pedagogue François Rabbath.

Music Provided by:

• Eric Hochberg - www.erichochberg.com
• Has Sturm - www.hanssturm.com

Special thanks to Daniel Chmielinski for technical assistance - www.carsleuth.net

Show Notes:

Release Date: 6/21/08

Length: 26:41

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_________

„Do you know Thoedor Albin Findeisen?„ – „ Findeisen? – Isn´t it this guy who has written this
double bass method!„ So, in any case, most double-bass players and double bass learners will
answer to this question which was put some years ago by Prof. Fritz Massmann to the PRObass
music publishing house and pushed with it a process which leads, in the end, to the heading of
this article. Massmann, in the meantime, more than 80 years old, was a professor for double bass
in Trossingen, Germany, and is also active even today for his instrument without playing it even
still.

Nearly no one still knows that Theodor Albin Findeisen has written beside this method also solo-
and chamber-music for double bass. This happened also to Findeisen his colleague Franz Si-
mandl whose double bass school is likewise still used while his other works for double bass are
as unknown, however, even among bassists. The reasons for this can ´t be cleared with this artic-
le. Here should be reminded, above all, of the work by Findeisen.

Although there is even a substantial number of solo concertos for double bass and orchestra (pos-
sibly even more than for the viola), only three of them are known generally or are played most:
There is, firstly, from the time of the Viennese classical period the concerto for double bass and
orchestra by Karl Ditters von Dittersdorf which has developed to the standard work for double
bassists, followed by the romantic concertos for double bass and orchestra by Giovanni Bottesini
and Sergei Koussevitzky. Both smashed after a soloist‘s career on the double bass a second as a
conductor. Besides, the first concerto for double bass and orchestra by Theodor Albin Findeisen
is able to compete absolutely with other concertos possibly from Bottesini, in the opinion of
Prof. Fritz Massmann who has heard it many years ago in a performance with piano by the Find-
eisen pupil Horst Stöhr and which is memorable to him since that time as impressively,
Whether the PRObass music publishing house would have interest to publish this concert, Mass-
mann asked, because the concerto was not available for a long time. In the end, the PRObass mu-
sic publishing house tries hard for some years to publish literature especially for double bass -
the name is concept. Of course the publishing company has interest! But in addition one needs
the original score. So it was investigated by phone and email among double bass colleagues and
teachers and orchestras – however, without any success.

Also the Internet does not have to offer a lot: here sometimes the mention of a duet for violin and
double bass, there sometimes a double bass quartet, studies and of course „Der Lehrer des Kon-
trabaßspieles“ – just that double bass school which makes the name Findeisen still memorable
among bassists – and just the life data: 1881-1936.

Finally, an article in the first issue in the year 2005 of the magazine „Bass World“, the linguistic
organ of the international society of bassists, written by the Danish bassists Ture Damhus and
Preben Fahnoe, is able to bring some light into the darkness: One finds out that Findeisen stu-
died double bass from 1904 to 1906 with J. O. Schwabe in the royal conservatory of music in
Leipzig and received an excellent certificate. In 1907 he became a double-bass player of the Ge-
wandhaus orchestra in Leipzig, in 1922 he took over, in addition, a teaching position in the Leip-
zig conservatory. He maintained both positions up to his sudden and early death in 1936.
His work encloses beside training aid like o.g. School and various big and small studies different
works for double bass solo, with piano and with orchestral accompaniment whose originals seem
to be lost, however. One knows about most of them not even more as the work titles, neverthe-
less, the work enumeration begins with op. 9 with the „Nixenreigen-Fantasie“ for double bass
and piano and ends with op. 34 with a cadenza for the double bass concerto by Franz Simandl. In
between only seven other works are known, of it two concertos for double bass and orchestra.
Why are these works practically missing in contrast to his teaching works? As an answer here
the following supposition: As a successful teacher with successful pupils who became themsel-
ves teacher, he could provide in a certain way after his lifetime for the spreading of his teaching
works. Still today, in addition, his school is in the specialised trade.
Two fate-laden factors were against the spreading of his remaining works: on the one hand, the
early death Findeisens and, in the end, the disappearance of the publishing company in which his
works had appeared.

Around the middle of the year 2005 the PRObass music publishing house received, in the end, an
e-mail from the archive of the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig. This had been one of the first and
most obvious addresses for the search for the concert. In the meantime one has got the score of
the first double bass concerto as a gift from the widow of a grandson‘s pupil of Findeisen. With
it one of his most important works returned nearly 70 years after Findeisens death.
Of course one was ready in the archive of the Gewandhaus to provide a copy of the score, howe-
ver, one asked for patience. Christmas 2005 this copy, finally, got to the PRObass publishing
house. The new year began with the conversion of the score for a new publication. All the other
projects of the publishing company wered leaved aside.

The work on the concert gave pleasure more and more. It is a late-romantic music with relatively
big orchestra accompaniment what mostly brings problems with deep solo instruments. Here, ne-
vertheless, the instrumentation is handled very sensitively. And although the first mouvement is
in minor key, the concerto has all together a positive, happy mood. In particular the third mouve-
ment which is headlined with the unusual tempo name „jocularly“ is full of irony and will keep
the listener into a good mood.

Since the 1st October, 2006 the concert is available as an issue for double bass and piano in the
PRObass music publishing house. Only the orchestra material is to be hired as usual as a lending
material.

On the 8th February, 2007 the performance of the concerto took place in the concert church Neu-
brandenburg by the internationally known female soloist and professor for double bass in the
Mozarteum in Salzburg, Christine Hoock, and the philharmonic orchestra of Neubrandenburg,
Germany, under the direction of Charles Olivieri-Munroe. Other performances followed on the
9th February, 2007 in the theatre of Güstrow as well as on the 11th February, 2007 in the theatre
of Neustrelitz by the same interpreters.

It is to be hoped that this work receives his entitled place in the repertoire of the modern double
bass player and opens a gate also to other works by Findeisen. In the meantime the „Carnevals-
scenen“ op. 12 for double bass and orchestra are available in the PRObass music publishing hou-
se as an issue for double bass with piano. Besides the PRObass music publishing house plans the
republication of Findeisens quartet suite op. 26 as well as his 2nd double bass concerto op. 25 in
close future.

Those who are interested can hear an example of Findeisens double bass concerto on the home-
page of the PRObass music publishing house (www.probass.de). The double bass voice was
played by Andreas Wiebecke-Gottstein, principal bassist of the philharmonic orchestra Neubran-
denburg, Germany, and founder of the PRObass music publishing house, in his practise room at
home. Then the orchestral accompaniment was played in the computer to the best versions of
these recordings. The recording serves more demonstration purposes, as that it could be a full au-
dio production. „ The concert counts certainly to the most demanding pieces for the double bass,
„ Wiebecke-Gottstein tells and further explains: „Nevertheless, above all, in the last mouvement
I have clearly felt my borders. I have more admiration for Christine Hoock who played the com-
plete concerto live one mouvement after the other, and this even quite perfectly, while I could al-
low myself rests between the single recordings and take generally time for it.“ Also Findeisens
„Carnevalsszenen“ Wiebecke-Gottstein recorded in this manner for demonstration. This is like-
wise listenable on the homepage of the publishing company together with other works which are
published also in the PRObass music publishing house as for example the two concertos for
double bass and orchestra by Dittersdorf.

Maybe even other works of Findeisen are found by these publications on some attics and some
double bass player remembers some information about Findeisen´s life about which furthermore
only a little more than what is said here can be told: Now the book „Das Gewandhausorchester“
by Hans-Rainer Jung has appeared, which delivers information about all musicians of the Ge-
wandhausorchester since 1743 thus also more precise life data about Findeisen: Born on the 1st
October, 1881 in Zeitz as a son of the businessman Findeisen he visited till 1900 the music
school in Ronneburg and was afterwards in the city orchestra of Köthen. For more studies he vi-
sited Dresden and Vienna before his study in Leipzig. After the study in Leipzig he became prin-
cipal bassist in Breslau for a year. In 1907 he started the position as the second 1-st double bass
player in the Gewandhaus, in 1920 he became first 1-st double-bass player there. He passed
away on 3. March, 1936 in Rasberg near Zeitz and left woman and two children.

Many questions are still open: What has Findeisen to do with Friedrich Warnecke, a double bass
player of that time and bass teacher in Hamburg to which Findeisen´s first concerto is dedicated
to? After present state of knowledge he was not his pupil. An acceptance was that Findeisen and
Warnecke have become acquainted in the festival orchestra in Bayreuth. Indeed, only Findeisen
is to be found in the membership list of the festival orchestra, namely for 1914 and 1924.
If anybody can make closer information about the life and work of Findeisen, this should be pas-
sed on to the PRObass music publishing house, e.g., with the contact form in the shop area of the
homepage www.probass.de.