Jason Heath’s Double Bass Blog

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Michael Hovnanian on Boulez
From Michael: “Boulez also has a charmingly offhand way of dismissing the sort of know-it-all questions from players that tend to crop up when a so-called ‘important’ conductor takes the podium.”
(tags: chicago symphony double bass blog)

The Collaborative Piano Blog: YouTube of Talk to the Hand from Jerry Springer the Opera
(tags: humor [...]

I’ve written several times on this blog about both why I teach music and reasons why one might choose music teaching as a career.  I’ve also wrestled with misconceptions across the performer/educator divide, finding myself alternately surprised, shocked, and intrigued about the assumptions each camp has about the other.
One woefully neglected and quite [...]

Double bassist and classicalmusicnews.tv blogger John Grillo and I just wrapped up an opera excerpt breakdown for the Contrabass Conversations show. This is an extension of the orchestra excerpt breakdown that we began on episode 41 of the program. On this episode, we featured the following excerpts, with some commentary plus a recording [...]

We passed the 2000 post milestone over the weekend on www.doublebassblog.org. It seems like it was only a few months ago that we hit 1000 posts…oh wait, it was just as few months ago (in May 2007)! That’s what happens when you put out 3-5 daily posts, I suppose. Here’s a snippet [...]

There is certainly no shortage of private music teacher directories.  Companies such as www.privatelessons.com and www.clickforlessons.com will (for a fee) allow you to create a directory listing, which can be a very useful promotional tool.  Still, in the spirit of offering a free suite of services for the double bass performer, student, and educator, we’d [...]

Abu Bratsche: New Year, new boss
Robert Levine on MSO’s Edo de Waart appointment: “Most members of the orchestra regard this as very good news, I think. He’s arguably the best-known conductor we’ve ever had as music director (certainly the one with the most illustrious career prior t
(tags: edo de waart milwaukee symphony robert levine classical [...]

I can’t program concerts to save my life.  At least, I’m sure my students feel that way!
One thing I’ve tried to do as a bass teacher, with varying degrees of success, is to have an annual recital for my students.  This is something that is really important to do as a private teacher–it gives students [...]

Déjà vu
Another great post from CSO bassist Michael Hovnanian: “Sometime before dawn Sunday morning I woke up in a cold sweat. A quick check of my schedule confirmed my fears; we did play the Tchaikovsky 4th symphony last season.”
(tags: michael hovnanian double bass blog chicago symphony)

Found - thousands of happy new ears
Great success with podcasting [...]

» China blogger beaten to death Dvorak Uncensored: General interest observations and true web-log.
This grim story comes from CNN.com via Dvorak Uncensored.
(tags: dvorak uncensored blogger beaten china)

Why schools should exclusively use free software - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation (FSF)
Free software also gives users the freedom to cooperate with each other, to lead an [...]

Here is audition information for January 2008
posted every month on doublebassblog.org by Phillip W. Serna

For many more auditions, also visit

http://www.afm.org/ for information on the auditions below:

Arizona Opera

DOUBLE BASS - 4th Chair Double Bass
Resume Date - February 12, 2008
Audition Date - [...]