Contrabass Conversations

It's time for our 2016 listener survey ! This survey will only take a minute or so to fill out , and it's  incredibly helpful for me. Why? First off, I love hearing from you ! Also, it shows me what you find most compelling about what I put out for the podcast. But most of all, it helps me to create podcast content that helps you . If you can find the time to take the survey , I'd really appreciat...

I wrote a three-part series for Drew McManus' site ArtsHacker earlier this year, and this got my brain going: what if I also put out some "pulling back the curtain" podcasts about how I do all of this and what I've learned in the process?  So that's what today's episode is.  I'm breaking this into two parts: today I'm covering "the art of the interview" and seven lessons I've learned about intervi...

Today's episode features  Thomas Martin .  Tom has worn many hats throughout his career, working as an orchestra principal bass, soloist, champion of Bottesini's music, luthier, teacher, and conductor.  We cover a wide variety of topics, including Tom's early years, playing in the Army Orchestra, studying with Roger Scott, the process of uncovering the music of Bottesini and reconstructing how Bot...

Welcome to the fourth and final installment of  Winning the Audition , a special series from Contrabass Conversations featuring advice from leaders in the field about preparing and executing auditions successfully.  This series is drawn from interviews conducted with dozens of bassists from orchestras like the Boston Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, National Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago...

Today's episode features Berlin Philharmonic principal bassist Matthew McDonald . Originally from Australia, Matthew joined the Philharmonic in 2008 after spending time in orchestras in Denmark and Germany. We cover bow distribution, resonance, the performers mindset, practicing, advice for students, and several other topics. We also feature excerpts of Matthew performing pieces by Hindemith, Bruc...

Welcome to the third installment of Winning the Audition , a special series from Contrabass Conversations featuring advice from leaders in the field about preparing and executing auditions successfully.  This series is drawn from interviews conducted with dozens of bassists from orchestras like the Boston Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, National Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, a...

Today's episode is a "round two" with Justin Locke . After playing double bass for many years with the Boston Pops, Justin is now a management coach, speaker, author, and playwright. We talk about many concepts, including the Toyota Lean Manufacturing system and how it relates to the Simandl technique, crazy stories from the Boston Pops, arts education, lessons from the music world that can be app...

Welcome to Winning the Audition - a special series from Contrabass Conversations featuring advice from leaders in the field about preparing and executing auditions successfully.  This series is drawn from interviews conducted with dozens of bassists from orchestras like the Boston Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, National Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, and Houston Symphony, plus...

Today's episode features Jory Herman , who is a member of the San Diego Symphony bass section and has just released his second solo album titled Life .  In addition to playing in the San Diego Symphony, Jory is actively involved in community engagement in the San Diego area.  He has recently become Director of Community Engagement with Art of Elan and is an active teacher and clinician. We talk ab...

Welcome to Winning the Audition - a special series from Contrabass Conversations featuring advice from leaders in the field about preparing and executing auditions successfully.  This series is drawn from interviews conducted with dozens of bassists from orchestras like the Boston Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, National Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, and Houston Symphony, plus...

Jason reveals his "top secret" plans for the podcast!

Today's episode features a conversation with Ursula Dieterich-Pedersen, who is organizing the 5th European Biennial Double Bass Congress, which will be taking place in Prague this September 20-25. Ursula and I got a chance to talk recently about some of the details for the event. You can find all the details for this event at bass2016.eu .

Today's episode features David White , who works as an upright and electric bassist in the world of musical theatre.  David is based in New York City and is currently on tour with the Bridges of Madison County .  We talk about his time at the Berklee College of Music and working as a bassist for Royal Caribbean, moving to New York City and getting involved with the theatre scene, a week in the lif...

Today's episode features Lloyd Goldstein , who has transitioned from playing in the Florida Orchestra to his current role working as a certified music practitioner at the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa.  It's so exciting to speak with someone who has continued to evolve so dramatically in his craft and career throughout his life.  Lloyd's path is unconventional and inspirational.   We get into all...

This is a special episode featuring  International Society of Bassists 2017 Convention Chair and Artistic Director  Nicholas Walker discussing plans for the upcoming convention.  This 50th anniversary convention looks like it will be outstanding, with several new developments unique to this event.  Enjoy! International Society of Bassists 2017 Convention  June 5-10 at Ithaca College, New York Othe...

Today's episode features Ithaca College professor and International Society of Bassists president  Nicholas Walker .  In addition to teaching at Ithaca College, Nicholas performs between 170 and 180 concerts a years in a wide variety of musical genres, he is a prolific composer, and he has taught for many years along with Paul Ellison and François Rabbath at Domaine Forget in Quebec.  Nicholas wil...

Today's podcast features an in-depth conversation with  Peter Tambroni .  This is a "round two" conversation that builds upon the topics that we covered in our previous talk on episode 204 .  Today we dig into fallacies surrounding public school teaching, instrument setup, life planning, instrument insurance, practicing ideas, teaching philosophies, and much more.  This episode is a gold mine for...

Today's episode features jazz bassist and vocalist Katie Ernst .  Katie was recently  featured in the Chicago Reader , and Jason Moran  describes her as " a great bassist, composer, and lyricist, she has an uncanny ability to mix traditions... following her voice is like reading a great novel ."  She is one of Chicago's most active young bassists, with two recent album releases: her solo project L...

Today's episode is a live performance of Jon Deak 's quirky quintet Lucy and the Count: Love Dreams from Transylvania .  Written in 1981, this is a theater piece divided into three scenes featuring the solo bass in a dramatic, virtuoso role.  In the first scene, you can hear the creaking of the ship morph into a dramatic first theme.  The second scene is a dinner party and features each instrument...

Today's show features Brandon McLean, who just won the associate principal bass position for the Pittsburgh Symphony.  Brandon has most recently served as principal bass of the Colorado Symphony, and prior to that he held positions in the Vancouver Symphony and the Florida Orchestra.  Originally from Seattle, Brandon did his undergrad at the University of North Texas, his masters at the Boston Con...

It is my pleasure to present this interview with Gabe Katz.  Gabe and I have had so many commonalities in our career trajectory, and we have both ended up finding a really satisfying musical niche in the world of secondary school orchestral conducting.  Now, by the time you're listening to this, I will have moved on from this career, but of the past seven years this is what I did, and this is what...

Today we're chatting with  Gjorgji Cincievski , who is the principal bass of the Malta Philharmonic  and has been putting out some very cool arrangements for Hoffmeister, including an arrangement of Bach's Goldberg Variations for violin, viola, and double bass.  You'll be hearing excerpts from this piece on Gjorgji's new recording throughout the episode, and we have a link in the show notes where...

Today we feature double bass luthier Arnold Schnitzer.  Arnold has had an interesting career path, from gigging around the East Coast as a youth to entering the corporate world and finally finding his way to the word of instrument repair.  We talk about a wide range of topics, including information versus knowledge, wisdom, and street smarts, and the perils and pitfalls of the information age. We...

Today's episode features double bassist  Jerry Fuller .  I've known Jerry for well over a decade at this point and have found him to be such an interesting person.  Jerry is best known in the music world for his work in period performance—in fact, he won an award for historically informed performance from the International Society of Bassists in 2015, and he is also a former ISB board member.   We...

Today's podcast features an interview with  Todd Coolman , who has just released his latest album Collectibles .  Todd is actually playing a CD release event tonight at Smoke Jazz Club in New York City to celebrate the release of the album, which also features Bill Cunliffe on piano and Dennis Mackrel on drums.  This is the second time Todd has appeared on the podcast—you can hear his  interview w...