Jason Heath’s Double Bass Blog

You are browsing the archives of IRIS.

I’ve got story for you, and I promise it’s true!
When I was getting started as a freelance musician at the tail end of my masters degree, I was quaking in my boots about my future prospects. After all, I was regularly buying CDs at Borders and Barnes and Noble from former Northwestern doctoral music [...]

 

 Standard Podcast: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Ira Gold, a member of the National Symphony bass section and a previous guest on the Contrabass Conversations podcast, is now on faculty at the Catholic University of America’s Benjamin T. Rome School of Music in Washington, D.C.
The school is accepting late applicants for Fall of ‘08. If interested, students can either view [...]

I’m really excited to get a chance to feature double bassist Anthony Stoops on  the Contrabass Conversations podcast this weekend.  Anthony is professor of double bass and chair of the strings department at the University on Oklahoma, and he also performs as a member of the Bad Boyz of Bass.  Anthony won the International Society [...]

This is a post from double bassist and music educator Peter Tambroni. Peter is currently a string teacher in suburban Chicago where he teaches string lessons in grades 3 - 8 and conduct the middle school concert and chamber orchestras. He also leads an Irish ensemble and a bass quartet. Learn more about [...]

Even in a ‘classic’ art form like music, one that existed well before the advent of electricity, we performers now completely and utterly depend on the power grid for our performances.  While hospitals and other such foundational services may have emergency generators, I’ve certainly never seen a concert hall with one.  When the power goes [...]

Memphis Symphony principal bassist (and my stand partner for the IRIS Orchestra) Scott Best will be performing the Concerto for Double Bass and Orchestra by John Harbison of February 9 at the Cannon Center in downtown Memphis and February 10 at the Germantown Performing Arts Center.  Details are available on the Memphis Symphony website. [...]

I had the opportunity to chat with PROJECT bassist Peter Seymour recently, which was a wonderful opportunity for me to get better acquainted with the exciting and unclassifiable new trio. Even the instrumentation for this group is unusual–how many cello, bass, and flute trios have you heard in your life?
Although this [...]

John Grillo just blogged on www.classicalmusicnews.tv about the upcoming Pennsylvania Ballet tour in which he is participating.  He writes:
I look forward to playing this tour very much. Since so much of the Broadway theater business is shut down this week due to strikes, I hope people hear about this event and substitute their plans for [...]

 

 Standard Podcast: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This week’s Contrabass Conversations Episode features the second part of our interview with double bassist, music educator, and author Peter Tambroni. Last time we heard from Peter (on episode 32), we talked about his early years on the bass, classroom and school orchestra teaching techniques, studying bass during his bachelors and masters degrees, teaching approaches, [...]

John Grillo wrote a recent post on his blog ClassicalMusicNews.tv highlighting an upcoming Hal Robinson performance with the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra. John writes:
It has been said that double bassists are very rarely soloists and the repertory for concerto appearances is basically non-existent. Leave it to Mr. Robinson to debunk these myths. [...]