Jason Heath’s Double Bass Blog

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The next episode of Contrabass Conversations is now available for your listening pleasure. This episode features a talk with Lyric Opera of Chicago bassist Andy Anderson and music from the double and electric bass band Gunnelpumpers. Enjoy!
CBC 17 Show Notes

Episode Length: 47:12
Release Date: 4/22/07
Website: www.contrabassconversations.com
Blog: www.doublebassblog.com
Voicemail: 206-666-6509

E-Mail: contrabassconversations@gmail.com
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Double bassist Doug Johnson has a great gig story that I’d like to share with blog readers. Doug is an active double bassist in the Chicago area, and he performs with ensembles raging from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra to the excellent bass and percussion band Gunnelpumpers.
Here’s Doug’s story. Enjoy!_______________
So I have freelanced [...]

My contribution to the Take a Friend to Orchestra initiative is now posted, so folks can check out today’s post at Adaptistration (the excellent blog that Drew McManus authors) to read my thoughts on how to introduce classical music to a newbie.
Drew has been featuring a wide array essays from classical music figures [...]

After the bleak nature of the last several installments of this series, I am pleased to talk about a more positive and constructive piece in the puzzle that makes up the life of a freelance musician.
Most musicians engage in at least some degree of private teaching. The tradition of passing down skills, knowledge, [...]

In early 2004 my new Saturn abruptly caught fire as I was driving home from an orchestra rehearsal. I pulled the flaming carriage over, got my instrument out, and ran away just before it exploded. You can check out that part of the story here.
This was, to put it mildly, an unexpected [...]

I often wondered as I entered the classical music freelance world how one could possibly put together an income in this business. Some politically smart auditions I took my last year of graduate school helped me join the Chicago freelance scene fairly smoothly, allowing me to play with the best groups in the area [...]

I am a big fan of gig stories from classical musicians (you can read my own stories here). I had an e-mail sent to me a little while back letting me know about bassist Justin Locke and his book of classical music gig stories titled Real Men Don’t Rehearse. I’ll include ordering information [...]

Here is the second part of our interview with John Grillo on Contrabass Conversations. John and I had an excellent interview, and there will be one more episode containing our episode coming out in March.
Click to listen (right-click to download)or click player below:or subscribe in iTunes to get all the other episodes of Contrabass [...]

What, exactly, is a “regional” orchestra? For the purposes of this article, regional orchestras will be defined as organizations that employ professional musicians but do not offer a salary and other benefits of full-time employment. The organizational structure is virtually identical to the full-time symphony orchestra and is quite different from the community [...]

This is the fourth installment of my Road Warrior without an Expense Account series. The intent of this installment is to highlight the increased competition for the progressively decreasing full-time orchestral positions. The statistics I present here are only theoretical and may certainly differ from the exact number or audition openings and candidates, but [...]