Jason Heath’s Double Bass Blog

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There is a great audition process discussion going on at Polyphonic.org right now, and it is definitely worth checking out. Panelists include prominent figures in the orchestra business, including musicians, union representatives, conductors, and negotiators. This is essential reading for anyone wanting to learn more about the audition process in the United [...]

I just got a copy of the most recent issue of Double Bassist magazine, and a quote from my San Jose audition story starts out an article that they did on auditioning. It’s an honor that my story would be chosen to start this great article. The main body of the story [...]

As I was wrapping up my Masters degree from Northwestern University in 2000, reality started to set in. I needed to pay my bills as a musician! I had won a position in the Milwaukee Ballet and in the IRIS Chamber Orchestra (I ended up getting a position in the Elgin Symphony that [...]

In this second installment of my series on professional freelance life as a musician, I would like to offer some commentary on trends that I see in the world of professional classical music performance. This installment of the series is geared toward orchestral performance. Other musicians, educators, and industry professionals may find value [...]

I have decided to quit all of my orchestral work and start a Marimba Queens tribute band. Scott Kreger from the Milwaukee Symphony (and the new double bass instructor and the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater) sent me this video. Check out the bass player in this band. He has the most fabulous upright slap [...]

When you play a piece like Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Ballet time after time, year after year, sometimes you long for something (anything!) different to happen. Variety is good, even if it is a bad kind of variety. Well, last year at the Milwaukee Ballet we had some REAL variety down in the pit that [...]

I have made many posts about the Whitewater Winter Bassfest in the past. If you want to find out more information about past clinicians, activities, schedules, and more just click here. Many prominent musicians from major orchestras have served on the faculty over the past five years as well as some dynamite Chicago [...]

I have quit my teaching job at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, but the Bassfest that I started five years ago still lives on. Scott Kreger, the new double bass instructor at UWW, will be continuing the festival, and he is having me back this year as a clinician. Scott is a double bassist [...]

We got nailed by snow here in Chicago yesterday. Milwaukee got about a foot of snow, which was much worse than us, but we got a good half-foot of snow here in Evanston, and the suburbs out west got about eight inches. I went out with my camera yesterday morning to get some [...]

Every summer I think Chicago’s great. It’s sunny, warm, the beaches are filled with people, the city is bustling with activity, and the lake is beautiful and inviting. I am convinced that it’s the greatest city in the world. Then winter hits (in November, or perhaps October or maybe even in September [...]