I was sharing stories of horrific double bass destructions with the students in the low string methods class I was teaching at DePaul this past spring, and I realized that I actually had two tales (not about me, luckily!) that I hadn’t yet shared on the blog:
Look Behind You!
One of my students was getting all packed up and ready to do to youth orchestra rehearsal. He took his bass outside and set it down, heading back inside for some reason or another. Unfortunately, he had set it down behind the van that his mom would be driving, and while he was away from the bass, his mom popped the car into reverse and backed out of the garage, squishing his bass in the process. That must have been a horrific feeling for both parent and bass player!
Squished by the Set
Another former student of mine was playing bass for his high school’s variety show. He had his bass stored backstage (just like I’ve done for countless shows). A big piece of the set toppled over at some point during the show, landing right on top of his bass and flattening it.
Both of these students actually ended up with much better basses than the (now squished) ones they had been using. I suppose that’s one way (certainly a dramatic way) to get the ball rolling on a new instrument!
Has this (or something like it) ever happened to you?
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A few years ago, a student of mine came into do his sight-reading jury test at the end of the semester and he seemed quite nervous. He wanted to adjust the music stand, so he leaned his bass up against the curved side of the grand piano and then let go of it. Before any of the teachers in the jury could utter the words “Do not put your bass there like that, because it’s going to fall,” the bass slipped off, fell to the floor on top of the bridge and exploded.
The moral that I always try and impart to my students, whether they listen to me or not: Move slowly and deliberately with the double bass, and encourage everyone who has contact with the instrument to do the same!
A bassist was playing with the symphony in his home city, staying with parents. In the middle of the night a parent stepped in something… Crunch!
Shall I attach photo?
I teach middle school orchestra, grades 6-8. This past Spring (the week before Spring Break no less), one of my 8th graders in my second orchestra dropped a school bass, bridge first, onto the hard tile floor in the orchestra room. The neck was completely broken, and the bridge went flying. It made the worst sound I’ve ever heard as a string teacher! Fortunately, it did get repaired! To see a pic, click on the link below or copy/paste into your browser.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/violace/3430671218
Some 15+ years ago, when I was a student at UIC, I was on my way to a concert in the student center and took my bass (a giant 44″ string length 1930’s German monster borrowed from Lane H.S.) on an upward-moving escalator. Un-beknownst to me, the ceiling sloped at a different rate than that of the motion of the stairs. Before I knew what was happening, the top of the scroll came to rest against the ceiling and the bass got wedged lengthwise between the ceiling and the stair it was resting on. The resounding CRACK of the neck breaking clean in two will haunt my dreams for the rest of my life- it was a huge and awful sound. The break occurred in the neck itself a couple of inches down from the nut. *All* four strings broke across the bridge as the broken part of the neck on the scroll side was forced backwards during the break. The repair was done by the late Lazlo Pinter in Chicago. He puzzle-pieced together the jagged break, glued it. When that was dry, he cut a large rectangular slot ( maybe 2″ or 3″ long by 1/2″ wide, by 1″ deep)into the back of the neck, across the break and replaced the slot with a single bracing piece of wood. Probably had to replace the fingerboard entirely. The repair was brilliant and functionally perfect, though the neck of the bass of course, will always look like Frankenstein. Morale: take the elevator next time!
I have had a similar experience. The best bass at our school(roundback ca.1950) was taken out of the hardshell case we had for it. The neck had already been messed up from a previous accicident and was to be sent to the shop the following day. I took it into one of the rooms ,but forgot a stand. I put it outside of the room to get the stand when all of a sudden, a stumpy fluatist was fooling around and fell ontop of the bass breaking the neck five times worse, the scroll shifted off, he put five holes in the bass, cracked the nut and pushed the bridge in. Of course since bass players are always doing something wrong, I get blamed for the accident.
A few years ago our (very small) dogs were doing the usual laps around the house and after one pass through my father’s practice room we heard a huge smack. The dogs got too close to a bass standing in the corner and toppled over onto it’s back, snapping the neck right at the neck block.
7 years ago, I was playing with Youth Orchestra of the Americas. During a rehearsal at the Jordan Hall (New England Conservatory) I was standing at the border of the stage and when someone walked next to me I lost balance and fell down of the stage holding my bass. fortunatelly there was people down there so I landed over them and that´s why I didn´t have any serious injuries but my bass was almost destroyed.
I figure it was a very spectacular accident because every one was very concerned and Ive got Lots of help and care from everyone. I think they will never forget that…
question:are you supposed to spin your bass? My orch-dork teacher spazzed when he saw me doing it, so now I only do it when he’s not around.