Jason Heath’s Double Bass Blog

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No matter how you cut it, pit musicians are an easy target for falling debris  (whether confetti, props from the stage, or even singers sometimes!).  After all, we are crammed shoulder to shoulder in a small dark space, with a stage full of (gasp!) singers emoting onstage without necessarily watching out for that pit.
Danger [...]

 

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We’re chatting with Michigan State University and Interlochen Arts Academy double bass instructor Jack Budrow this week on Contrabass Conversations. In addition to helping place students in major orchestras across the globe, Jack has had a very distinguished performance career as a former member of the Houston Symphony, Santa Fe Opera Orchestra, and [...]

We hope you all enjoyed our first episode of the all-music show Eclectic Bass, our latest offering from the Contrabass Conversations podcast network. If you missed it, you can find the first episode here, and stay tuned for more episodes from this series in the very near future.
Along with Exploring Chamber Music, our series [...]

The following is a guest post from Double Bass Blog contributor Phillip W. Serna. Here is audition information for April 2008 posted every month on doublebassblog.org. Check out Phillip’s recitals and interviews on his Contrabass Conversations page, and visit him online at http://www.phillipwserna.com

We hope that you all enjoyed the second half of our interview with double bass luthier Barrie Kolstein this past weekend. If you missed it, you can check it out on Barrie’s Contrabass Conversations page. You can download the episode, play it while you’re surfing online (click ‘play in popup’ and keep [...]

Lyric Opera of Chicago bassist, former Contrabass Conversations guest, and faculty member at Northeastern Illinois University and the Chicago College of Performing Arts Greg Sarchet is helping to collect used strings for double bass master teacher and performer Miloslav Gajdos’ bass studio (see his videos on Contrabass Conversations here).
Greg writes:
Dear All-
Czech double bassist and composer [...]

 

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We’re wrapping up our chat with Barrie Kolstein this week on the Contrabass Conversations show. We began this interview on episode 70 of the program, and in it we discussed Barrie’s father Samuel Kolstein and how he got into the bow making business, the progression into the bass making business, and the development of [...]

We released a Contrabass Conversations episode this past weekend featuring the Bad Boyz of Bass (Anthony Stoops, Volkan Orhon, Paul Sharpe, and David Murray).  Check out episode 71 of the podcast to hear these guys chat about the group and perform some selections, and be sure to subscribe to Contrabass Conversations (click here for iTunes [...]

This is a post from National Symphony Orchestra bassist Jeff Weisner. Jeff also teaches bass at The Peabody Institute in Baltimore and co-authors the blog PeabodyDoubleBass. Click here for all of Jeff’s doublebassblog.org posts.
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One month from today I’ll be playing a recital at Peabody of new music, all of which was [...]

 

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This week, we’re featuring Barrie Kolstein on the Contrabass Conversations show. Barrie discusses his father Samuel Kolstein and how he got into the bow making business, the progression into the bass making business, and the development of the Kolstein line of products (including rosin, stings, and cases) that bassists worldwide use today.
Barrie [...]