Jason Heath’s Double Bass Blog

(by Jeff Weisner; crossposted from PBDB)

Last year, I did some posts about auditioning and how to approach it. You can read them here andhere, but to recap the main points:
- Auditions are standardized tests like the SAT.
- Like any standardized test, they don’t just test your skills and musicianship, but they also test your skills at [...]

In “Internet years” I’ve been blogging for quite some time now, though it’s only been for a fraction of my actual life. This blog has had a substantial readership for the past several years, and the number of visitors continues to increase with each passing month.
While blogging is a fun and satisfying activity for [...]

Most guys I know have formal wear that resembles a petri dish. I don’t know if women’s formal wear gets this nasty (something tells me it doesn’t). Men seem to be able to tolerate a high degree of funkitude before deciding to finally take their formal clothes into the cleaners.
Perhaps it’s the fact that we [...]

I had the pleasure of checking out the University of Illinois bass quartet recently (October 22, 2008). This ensemble is comprised of University of Illinois bass professor Michael Cameron and U of I doctoral students Garold Fowler, Hunter Capoccioni, and Alex McHattie, and they were in the midst of doing a tour of top-tier high [...]

(One of a series; other parts available here or at PBDB)
Most of the issues that music students face when applying to graduate school are the same ones that undergraduate students face - researching teachers, figuring out what you want from the programs, learning about ensembles at the various schools, etc. But there are some issues [...]

(crossposted at PBDB)
 
I am a hopeless political junkie, and especially in this election season, I manage to waste astonishingly large amounts of time reading a huge array of political blogs and websites. I pore over polls, read analyses and insider reports, and watch video clips of candidates and pundits. (What can I say? I guess [...]

Around this time I like to point readers to the series I wrote about looking at music schools - the various parts are here, here, here, and here. Many seniors in high school and college are looking at their school choices and planning research trips around now, and hopefully some of the ideas I mention in these articles might help.
Upon rereading [...]

About Northwestern University’s Double Bass Master Classes

Northwestern University bass professor Peter Lloyd hosted the third in his series of master classes with world-class double bassists this past Saturday (10/4/08) with Lawrence Wolfe. Mr. Wolfe is Assistant Principal Bass of the Boston Symphony and Principal Bass of the Boston Pops, and he teaches bass at several [...]

Former Columbus Symphony principal bass Mark Morton has been appointed assistant professor of double bass at Texas Tech University. Mark is the founder of the American School of Double Bass and the author of several double bass technique and method books.
Mark will be leading the West Texas Bass Clinic, September 20, 2008, in Lubbock, TX. [...]

I’m a podcast junkie, listening at home, in the car, or even on my iPhone (usually while blogging at the same time!). As such, I have a constantly evolving list of shows that I keep up with. Things are constantly dropping off the list, and I check out new stuff all the time as well, [...]