Jason Heath’s Double Bass Blog

We’ve got a new poll up on doublebassblog.org–how often do you take a day off from playing? No gigs. No lessons. No practicing. Just a 100% instrument-free day. Let us know!

Double bassist Kate Nettleman, a previous Contrabass Conversations guest and a frequent extra musician with the Chicago Symphony and Minnesota Orchestra, has recetly accepted a position as Principal Bass of the Hong Kong Philharmonic. This is exciting news for Kate, and I am really happy that this outstanding musician has been put in place [...]

 

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Eclectic Bass 3 - bass and ukulele music
Today we’re featuring some tracks by Matt Weiner on double bass and Del Ray on ukulele from their album At The Ukeshack #1. We’ll first hear Pixie Trance, followed by Brazilian Tune, and wrap up the show today with Doin’ The Frog. Check them out online at myspace.com/matthewweiner, [...]

OK–maybe you actually don’t suck at using the image editing powerhouse that is Photoshop, but I’ll bet Donnie thinks you do anyway. Kind of like a sinister take on the old Jimmy Fallon tech support guy skits from Saturday Night Live,
Honestly, this set of videos (from My Own Damn Channel) cracks me up more that [...]

The dynamic mandolin/bass powerhouse of Edgar Meyer and Chris Thile return to Chicago this fall for a concert at the University of Chicago on October 24 at 7:30 p.m. Here’s a link to the University of Chicago performance series website section on the Edgar concerts this year: http://chicagopresents.uchicago.edu/series/edgarmeyer/
Thanks to University of Chicago student and bassist [...]

The wonderfully helpful bassist Satoru Tagawa just finished transcribing episode 20 of Contrabass Conversations, which featured co-host John Grillo and I interviewing Indiana University bass professor Lawrence Hurst. Check out the transcript here, and check out Satoru at www.myspace.com/eiahto38.

I got a principal bass spot in a local Chicagoland orchestra right after graduating from college. One of the side benefits of holding this position was having the opportunity to participate in the ensemble’s community outreach program. I’d already had quite a bit of experience doing outreach activities at this point, having participated in the [...]

I’ve been successfully resisting the urge to blog about cats for some time now (though you can find many a former cat post of mine–including videos of my kitties taking a stroller ride-under the cats category), but this post from gigglesugar was too much to resist.
Here’s a video of Lynea Lattanzio, a trained vet who [...]

As a creator of freely distributed Creative Commons content (on Contrabass Conversations as well as doublebassblog.org), I see YouTube, podcasting, social media, and other such distribution platforms as a huge and largely untapped resource for classical musicians. Legal questions concerting rebroadcasting content through these channels tends to muck up the works, making very few orchestras [...]

I’m up at Ravinia in Highland Park, Illinois (the summer home of the Chicago Symphony) playing a Labor Day Tschaikowsky concert. Guess what’s on the program? Nutcracker excerpts! Nooooo…
Winter after winter of driving to Milwaukee to play the Nutcracker has given me flashbacks, and I find myself instantly teleported to the freeway in the middle [...]