University of South Florida

• State: Florida
• State School (public)
• School Website
• Map Link

Bass Faculty:

Dee Moses

• Email Dee
• Dee’s Website

Mark Neuenschwander

• Email Mark
• Mark’s Website

General Statistics

• US News Ranking: #159 (tie) in National Universities
• US News Overall Score (out of 100): 36
• In-State Tuition & Fees 2016-17: $6,410
• Out-of-State Tuition & Fees 2016-17: $17,325
• Room & Board 2016-17: $9,400
• Total Enrollment: 42,067
• Acceptance Rate (from 2015): 45%
• Student – Faculty Ratio: 24:1
• 4 year graduation rate: 43%
• % of undergrads receiving Financial aid: 65%
• Average Financial Aid: $7,169

Double Bass Statistics

• Average number of undergraduate bass students: 6
• Average number of graduate bass students: 2
• Studio Class, Orchestral Repertoire Class, Bass Ensembles

What Alumni Are Doing

• Santiago Opera principal
• Puerto Rico Philharmonic, assistant principal
• City of Birmingham section trial
• BBC Concert Orch section trial
• California Symphony section
• San Francisco Opera assistant librarian
• Southwest Florida Symphony section
• Venice Symphony principal
• Imperial Symphony principal
• Several classically trained former students performing jazz as full- time vocation
• Teaching at secondary/college level
• luthier
• radio DJ

Perspectives from Students and Alumni

Q: What are some favorite memories about studying at this school?

A: Very knowledgeable faculty that also recommended me for local gigs. We got to travel to Europe for a couple of Jazz festivals with two ensembles.

Q: How did this school help prepare you for your future endeavors?

A: The emphasis on commitment to responsibilities and focus on important elements outside of music that are just if not more important than being able to play.

Q: What advice would you offer others thinking about studying at this school?

A: Ask questions. Don’t be fooled by the relaxed environment. You get what you put in.

Q: Is there anything else you’d like to share about this school?

A: Mark Neuenschwander is an excellent bassist and educator. He has great current and historical knowledge of music and bassists to study.

Luis A

Perspectives from the Bass Faculty

Q: What are some of your favorite experiences teaching at your school?

Dee: The huge orchestra pieces performed by the University Symphony, coaching and teaching orchestra audition rep, playing side by side with my university students in my role as principal bass of the Florida Orchestra.

What USF offers the bassist is direct contact and instruction from the principal bass of an ICSOM orchestra. I bring current working experience into the studio.

Mark: Performing in the various spaces of our new building.  This metropolitan area has many ensembles, offering opportunities for students to perform off campus.

About The Bass Faculty

Dee Moses

Dee Moses has been the principal double-bass of The Florida Orchestra since 1975. His career, in addition to symphony and opera, has encompassed solo playing, chamber music performance, composition, and teaching.

He presently serves as adjunct instructor of double-bass at the University of South Florida, maintains a private studio, and presents master classes and recitals. Moses received his high school diploma from the North Carolina School of the Arts. His bachelor’s and master’s degrees are from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he was a student of Lawrence Angell.

Summer affiliations have included the Florimezzo, Musica Viva, Cooperstown, Scotia, Eastern, Bowdoin, and Taipei festivals. In the summer of 2005, Moses began performing as principal bass of the Wintergreen Summer Music Festival in the mountains of Virginia. In 1996, Moses first performed chamber music with the esteemed musicians of La Musica International Chamber Music Festival, with whom he has subsequently collaborated frequently. In April of 1999, Moses performed the Koussevitsky Concerto for Double Bass on the Masterworks concert series of The Florida Orchestra and also appeared as soloist in March 2006 with the Paganini Moses Fantasy.

Recently, Moses has delved back into contemporary composition and performance in collaboration with his wife, the modern dancer and choreographer Elsa Valbuena, who is often joined onstage by daughter Josianne. Their group, Gaudere Danza, was featured in a full-length evening as part of the first Cali En Danza contemporary dance festival in Cali, Colombia in June of 2006.

Moses has also been featured soloist in the Florida premiere of the John Harbison Concerto for Bass Viol as part of a consortium of orchestras whose co-commission was organized by the International Society of Bassists.

 

Mark Neuenschwander

Mark Neuenschwander adopted the bass in order to perform more jazz and contemporary music. He studied music at Memphis State and engineering at Purdue. Widely known as one of Florida’s finest bassists and busiest musicians, Mark has performed or recorded with many “greats,” including Cab Calloway, Billy Eckstine, Panama Francis, Steve Allen, Rosemary Clooney, Diane Schuur, Michael Feinstein, Yanni, Chick Corea, John Abercrombie, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Monty Alexander, George Wein, Russell Malone, John Pizzarelli and hundreds more. Mark is also on the faculty of St. Petersburg College, Eckerd College and the Pinellas County Center for the Arts.