Contrabass Conversations

Nina DeCesare 's creative musical quest is inspiring. First, she won the 14 and under International Society of Bassists solo competition. Then she won it again for the 15-18 division. She studied at Rice University, Tanglewood, and Domaine Forget. Also, she won a scholarship to study with François Rabbath in Paris. Nina ended her time at Rice by winning a position with the Oregon Symphony. She has...

Hans Sturm isn't afraid to reinvent himself. Everything changed for Hans when he first met François Rabbath. Before he knew it, he was in Paris soaking up these new concepts . Fast forward many years, and we find Hans playing the second Rabbath Concerto with Sylvan Rabbath on piano. If you look at the music for this concerto, you'll see that François dedicated this piece to Hans . But that's not i...

Diana Gannett might be the most thoughtful double bass teacher I've ever encountered. Her approach to teaching is comprehensive and nuanced. She incorporates everything from group warm-ups to Aikido principles on her website. Every bassist out there should have this site bookmarked ! But she's not just a great teacher—she's a jaw-droppingly talented performer . You have to hear her sound to believ...

Hugh Sung is the ultimate musical entrepreneur . After years spent teaching at the Curtis Institute of Music, Hugh co-founded AirTurn , a company that produces pedals designed to turn pages on a tablet device. Hugh is also an author.  In fact, he wrote From Paper to Pixels as a result of using tablet devices for reading music. Now Hugh has moved into the world of podcasting with his show A Musical...

Teaching improvisation is like Fight Club . The first rule of teaching improvisation is you don't talk about improvisation! That's Project Trio 's approach, and it's totally compelling . 10 years ago, Peter took all the energy and drive he had for the audition circuit and poured into getting Project Trio off the ground. We talked about it back then. Fast-forward to the present, and the results of...

Danny Ziemann couldn't find a book on bass lines that worked for him. So he created The Low Down. Now he's released his second volume, and he's looking to expand way beyond that. Danny is committed to teaching the fundamentals in a clear, step-by-step process. It's a fresh approach to jazz bass pedagogy from the mind of a committed music educator . Learn more about this dynamic young musician in t...

Lauren Pierce started out on the typical music school path. But something happened along the way. In the midst of grad school, Lauren decided to quit . She struck out on her own and asked herself a critical question: What if? Instead of grad school, Lauren decided to: - put dozens of videos on YouTube - learn how to write code - build up a worldwide social media following - start a membership site...

This is Emilio Guarino . He plays bass. But that's not all he does. He makes music with computers. He also teaches and performs in many musical styles. He's even written a book to help musicians figure out how to find a foothold. On his blog and Youtube channel , Emilio asks questions like: Are you the type of person you'd hire for a gig? Are auditions a problem-solving activity or a chance to bea...

Christine Hoock is a tossed salad of musical genres. Maybe she's playing Phillip Glass.  Perhaps she's performing Arvo Pärt.  She could even be playing tangos or jamming with a DJ.   But regardless of what she's playing, it's with her beautiful, compelling sound . Günter Klaus and Franco Petracchi taught her, and she has taken the double bass a new level. She has total command of the bass and is a...

Pablo Aslan breaks bow hairs. A lot  of bow hairs. In fact, he rivals the guys in the Met for most-frequent rehair at his NYC bow shop. He also makes killer bass lines.  He's truly the Ray Brown of bowed marcato bass lines. Learn how he does it in this interview! Resources we covered in this interview: Pablo's website AvantangoMedia (Pablo's YouTube channel) Piazzolla in Brooklyn  (album) Tango Gr...

Sam Suggs calls himself an omnivorous musician . I love this tagline. I feel like I'm eating at a fantastic fusion restaurant when I hear Sam's music.  I'm not expecting these flavors to work, but they are so good together . First, he takes a little 1750s galant style . Next, he adds a dash of Verdi. He finally tops it off with—I kid you not—Skrillex and Daft Punk. Then he marches over to a bar an...

On both the blog and the podcast , I've always taken the stance of making things as good as I can and then putting them out in the world without any apologies.  Nothing drives me crazy more than listening to a podcast and heading the host apologize for a few minutes about this or that. I resolved never to do this.  I would make the best product I could and then just present it without and excuses...

Thierry Barbé is a man in constant motion.  When he's not performing as principal bass of the Paris National Opera or teaching at the Paris Conservatory, Thierry can be found in all corners of the globe, performing lesser-known gems from the bass repertoire and giving clinics along the way. He is a technical synthesizer, pulling from many different schools of playing, even incorporating German bow...

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 .