I had a great time in Dallas last week at the International Society of Bassists Strategic Planing Meeting. Nicholas Walker, Marcel Villaflor, Brian Perry, Gaelen McCormick, David Murray, John Schimek, and I all met to dig into where we are now as the ISB and where we’re all headed.
Gaelen posted a great 360 degree photo of our brainstorming session.
We also managed to answer the ages-old question of how many bassists can fit in a Toyota Yaris!
How Do People Afford to Buy a Bass?
We’ve always got interesting debates going on in our Contrabass Conversations Community Facebook Group. One podcast listener put forth a seemingly simple question:
“How do professional bassists afford to buy a bass?”
This has generated some great commentary from bassists worldwide. Everyone has a different story, and there’s a lot to learn from this conversation.
News of the Week
- You might be a pro at rosining your bow, but do you actually know how rosin works? – from D’Addario Orchestral
- The 2nd Festival Internacional de Contrabajo will be happening in Montevideo December 3-5, 2017
- Slow Dancer – Noah Gundersen – Violin/ Bass Cover with Dani Chiva
- I can’t stop watching The Defiant Ones on HBO – one of the best music documentaries I’ve ever seen
- Thanks to Yoshi Horiguchi for his great analysis of Progressive Repertoire Book 1 by George Vance
- Audition tips from Dallas Symphony bassist Brian Perry
- Jack Unzicker talks teaching, professional life, and motivation
- inside the Suzuki bass teaching world with Kate Jones
- Daniel Nix, Aaron Olguin, Lauren Pierce, and Harry Dearman are crushing it with the Bassinova Quartet
- Four Bassists that are Changing the World
- Houston Convention Center Shelters One More Harvey Survivor: an Opera Company (best wishes go out to Dennis Whittaker and his colleagues)
- Get ready for Bavarian Bassdays in October with Claus Freudenstein and company!
- Check out this remarkable early Gary Karr performance: Jennie Tourel – Live At Alice Tully Hall (hat tip to Szymon Marciniak for this!)
- Spiked tip coming up on the chromatic endpin from Emilio Guarino
- Facebook Figured Out My Family Secrets, And It Won’t Tell Me How
- How to tune a double bass with Lauren Pierce – via Geoff Chalmers
- great vintage photo with Marco Panascìa and Drew Carey
My New Favorite Bass Concerto
I can’t seem to get Andrés Martín‘s wonderful bass concerto out of my head after hearing Dominik Wagner play it at the Bradetich Competition earlier this month. Check out Andrés performing it below, and think about it if you’ve got an upcoming performance! It’s a marvelous piece.
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