Contrabass Conversations

Dr. Don Greene is a sports psychologist and performance coach who has who has taught at The Juilliard School, New World Symphony, and The Colburn School. In 2016, Dr. Greene's students won positions with the San Francisco Opera, Montreal Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, National Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Virginia Symphony, Pacific Northwest Ballet, and the Dance Theatre of Harlem. At the 2016 O...

Today we catch up with International Society of Bassists  convention chair and president-elect Nicholas Walker and talk through all sorts of offerings for the upcoming convention.  I'll be at this event, and I hope to see you there as well! Convention Dates: June 5-10, 2017 Location: Ithaca College Registration link Links to check out: ISBconnect.org (contains great information about all aspects o...

Dr. Randy Kertz is the primary physician at Health Care Specialists, Ltd in suburban Chicago. He is also a bass player and has presented several times at the International Society of Bassists conventions. Randy is the author of The Bassist's Guide to Injury Management, Prevention, and Better Health, and creates videos for the ISB's Body and Bass series. We dig into injury prevention, keeping in go...

Clair Condit is the founder of The Marketed Musician , which is a service for musicians who are ready to up their impact and their income. Clair has worked in marketing for the National Repertory Orchestra and Houston Symphony, and she now works in the corporate world. Clair also hosts the Marketed Musician podcast.  Learn more about what she's up to in the links below, and enjoy this engaging con...

Today's episode is a deep dive into the concept of abstract technique—what we work on each and every day on the instrument, both to stay in shape technically and keep moving forward in terms of skill. Resources covered: The Talent Code Max Dimoff's technique exercises (scroll down to the 'Technique' section) Galamian Technique book with bowing and rhythmic variations that Max references Michael Kl...

Paul Cannon has been a member of the Frankfurt-based group Ensemble Modern since 2014. A graduate of Rice University, Paul spends his days performing contemporary music of all genres. A couple months ago, I got two messages that led me to contact Paul for an interview. The first was a message from my wife with a YouTube video that had gone viral on Reddit. I also got a message that same day from R...

Ranaan Meyer is the bassist for the dynamic trio Time for Three .  I h ad Ranaan on the podcast back in the early days of the show, almost ten years ago. Time for Three was performing with the Modesto Symphony here in the San Francisco Bay Area, and Ranaan had a chance to sit down for an in-person "round two" for the podcast. We dig into all kinds of things: why Ranaan doesn't carry his own bass o...

Nick Villalobos is the bassist for Simply Three , a classical crossover trio that has which has garnered millions of YouTube views and praise from publications like Rolling Stone , the Huffington Post , and RyanSeacrest.com . Nick spends his time during with the group, recording new covers, and shooting videos, and the group is now branching into original compositions with their first all-original...

Steve Metcalf is the new principal bassist for the Colorado Symphony .  I first became acquainted with Steve several years ago when he was an undergrad student at Indiana University creating cool cover videos of pop songs for his YouTube Channel . Steve went on to study with Peter Lloyd at the Colburn School in Los Angeles and moved into a temporary contract with the Colorado Symphony before winni...

Artem Chirkov is the principal bassist of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic and was the winner of the 2010 Bradetich International Double Bass Competition . I got a chance to hear Artem play a wonderful recital while he was in San Francisco this March. Here's a great shot of Artem and San Francisco Opera principal bassist Joe Lescher  as they performed Passione Amorosa together. I headed over to San...

Stories covered: 3 Sigma Audio  - Upright Bass Impulses Jon McColough-Benner joins Roosevelt University faculty Curtis features Mary Javian Vivo el Bajo May 19-21 - South Texas Double Bass Festival organized by George Amorim Lloyd Goldstein will be a clinician Thanks to our sponsors! This episode is brought to you by D'Addario Strings ! Check out their Helicore strings , which are are designed, en...

Michael Valerio is one of the most in-demand bassists in the Los Angeles studio scene. In fact, you've probably listened to Mike play bass more than just about any bass player. If you've ever heard a soundtrack from John Williams, Hans Zimmer, or Danny Elfman in the past couple of decades, you've probably heard Mike playing bass on it. I've been meaning to interview Mike for years. We actually met...

Stories covered: New podcast -  Classical Break from Tyler Alderson Lee Starovich - bass teacher at Indiana University summer music clinic The Strad Masterclass: Leon Bosch on Dragonetti's 'Famous Solo' for double bass check out Leon Bosch on the podcast Nina Harries plays Icarus from Barrie Kolstein - how to open and close a seam hear Barrie on the podcast Thanks to our sponsors! This episode is...

The Golden Gate Bass Camp will take place June 26th-30th, 2017.   Registration for the camp is now open.  It's hosted at the Drew School in San Francisco, and all ages and levels are welcome.  We would love to see you at this event! This episode features an interview with camp director Richard Duke and 2017 faculty members Donovan Stokes and DaXun Zhang . 2017 Faculty include: Richard Duke - camp...

Miles Mosley 's solo album Uprising has been turning heads across the globe since its release in early 2017.  "Abraham" was named one of NPR's 'Top 100 songs of 2016', and Rolling Stone named him one of the 'Top 10 New Artists You Need to Know'. The list of artists with which Miles has recorded, toured and collaborated with is remarkable, including Christina Aguilera, Jason Mraz, Chris Cornell, La...

Bass Works takes place July 23-30, 2017 at Peabody Conservatory.  Join former podcast guests Ira Gold , Jeff Weisner ,  Tracy Rowell , and many others at this dynamic event! Links to check out: Bass Works website (registration and detailed info) 87 bass players performing All About That Bass at Bass Works 2015 (YouTube)

Stories covered: Illuminating Music Podcast: Art of Elan podcast from Jory Herman J ory Herman appearance on Contrabass Conversations Bass Works in July features many clinicians, including past podcast guests Ira Gold , Tracy Rowell , and Jeff Weisner Ask Geoff and Lauren - How to Break Through a Plateau New Franck Sonata videos from Matthew McDonald 30th Anniversary of Bradetich Master Classes le...

I had a great time chatting with Daniel Kimbro for today's episode. Daniel is a member of the Jerry Douglas Band and regularly collaborates with Martin Harley. His bio is a who's who in the world of traditional music. We cover a wide array of topics, including: growing up in East Tennessee in a very musical family his family bluegrass band playing venues like Cumberland Gap and Horton Store some o...

Stories covered: Audition Breakthrough Summit takes place March 15 use code 'contrabass20' for $20 off any pass speakers include Ira Gold Remic 5400 and 5400LB review by Adam Booker Rentabass.com - find a bass, list a bass Michael O'Gieblyn Flex Tux review Thanks to our sponsors! This episode is brought to you by D'Addario Strings ! Check out their Helicore strings , which are are designed, engine...

It was such a pleasure to sit down and chat with John Feeney for this episode. As principal double bass of the American Classical Orchestra and the Orchestra of St. Luke's, John has created an extraordinary career for himself.  We cover all kinds of topics, like: how gut strings in a section coexist well with steel and plastic strings that intonation is one of John's favorite things about period g...

Stories covered: BASS2018 in Lucca July 30 - August 5, 2018 Gabrielle Raggianti and Alberto Bocini will organize  International Society of Bassists Convention registration now open New video for Maverick - Simply Three 's first original song Ira Gold summer camps Paul Cannon video Thanks to our sponsors! This episode is brought to you by D'Addario Strings ! Check out their Helicore strings , which...

Andrew Hitz and I go way back.  Not only did we both attend Northwestern University together, but we actually lived in the same arts dorm!  In fact, I remember Andrew playing tuba in the great room for performance night. We reconnected last year when I discovered his wonderful podcast The Entrepreneurial Musician .  He had me on as a guest in the fall , and I'm thrilled to have him on my podcast t...

Marcos Machado  is in the middle of launching his excellent and fascinating series Tao of Bass .  I saw this book pop up in my Facebook feed in the fall, and I got in touch with Marcos to do an interview about this project. We dig into topics like: how 20 years of scratching his head about bass technique led to this series why he settled on Tao of Bass for a title the wild mix of pedagogical style...

The 2017 Concorso Bottesini competition will take place April 18-24.   Enrico Fagone  and Francisco Donati  chat with Jason about the details surrounding this event. The jury members for this event are: Salvatore Accardo Thierry Barbé (previous podcast guest) Jeff Bradetich (previous podcast guest) Enrico Fagone (previous podcast guest) Eugene Levinson Dorin Marc Franco Petracchi Be sure to check...

Enrico Fagone teaches and performs in Lugano, Switzerland near the Italian border. He's also incredibly active as a soloist and master class teacher. Enrico's musical journey has continued to evolve in exciting ways throughout his career, and we dig into topics like: switching to German bow becoming deeply involved with yoga and meditation how becoming a father changed his world view Japanese audi...