Jason Heath’s Double Bass Blog

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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 [...]

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, [...]

There is only one double bass orchestral vacancy listed in this month’s International Musician. That’s right–one job! Not even any per-service jobs are listed this month. The job is for principal bass of the Spokane Symphony, and the details are listed below.
The 2007-08 salary for this position is $20,462.40, and it will [...]

June Matayoshi recently contributed a post to Chicago Classical Music blog about getting by as a freelancer. I have played a lot of gigs with June in the past, and it is great to hear from her on this blog. In the post she describes the complications of keeping a full-time job while [...]

Here is what I came up for my recent talk on podcasting at DePaul University. Podcasting is a simple concept in some ways, yet I struggle to clearly communicate what it is and how it differs from previous technology. As I did this talk I realized at, while my brain is always spinning [...]

This series is based on my own experiences as a professional freelance classical orchestral musician. While everyone has a slightly (or vastly) different individual path in the freelance world, I believe that these experiences reflect what a growing majority of orchestral freelancers are dealing with in their professional lives.
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The traditional pot of gold [...]

My busy schedule prevented me from seeing two fantastic double bassists play concerts last week. Edgar Meyer played at Pick-Staiger Concert Hall in Evanston, Illinois with the fabulous mandolinist Chris Thile. Seeing Edgar perform is always a treat. I remember rehearsing and premiering Edgar’s second double bass concerto with the IRIS Chamber [...]

I’d like to thank the people who have been leaving such great comments on my blog over the last few months. The number of comments has really stepped up, and I appreciate it. I love comments–to me, they are one of the things that make a blog really interesting. The discussion doesn’t [...]

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 [...]

Scott Chaurette gave my blog a nice mention on his Cow Country Bass blog last month. Thanks, Scott! He has set his blog up in a way that many music instructors would find useful. He’s got tabs at the top of the screen for various student resources (lessons, audio, and the like). [...]