Every time I’d grab my bow on a jazz gig, I’d cringe. My swing would suddenly get awkward. I could never figure out how many notes to put in a bow. My vibrato felt forced and unnatural. My sense of pulse went out the window. As a result, I’d pick up my bow less and...
I’ve been using forScore to organize my digital music for years, and I’ve really stepped up my usage in the past year. This is a look inside how I use the app in 2019 with forScore 11 and a follow up to my video and blog post about forScore from 2018. We...
I’ve always considered myself an amateur-level jazz bassist. Even though I played in various jazz ensembles through high school and college, I never did much gigging beyond that, and I’ve never spent much time developing my skills in this genre. As a bass teacher,...
Struggling to Practice Consistently Practicing music is so interesting to me. It’s something that I’ve done for over 30 years, yet it remains one of the single most challenging things for me to get off my duff and actually do. For me, the biggest challenges have been...
As a longtime French bow player, the specifics of German bow have always been a bit mysterious to me. While there’s much more in common with both French and German bow holds and mechanics, the nuances of truly sophisticated German bow playing have always been a bit...