Contrabass Conversations

Today's episode digs into a new version of the Simandl Method by Cole Davis that is re-fingered with the jazz bassist in mind. Enjoy!

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Listen to Contrabass Conversations with our free app for iOS, Android, and Kindle.

Check out my Beginner's Classical Bass course and Intermediate to Advanced Classical Bass course, available exclusively from Discover Double Bass.

Thank you to our sponsor!

Carnegie Mellon University Double Bass Studio - CMU is dedicated to helping each student achieve their goals as a musician. Every week each student receives private lessons and participates in a solo class with Micah Howard. Peter Guild, another member of the PSO, teaches Orchestral Literature and Repertoire weekly. They encourage students to reach out to the great bassists in their area for lessons and direction. Many of the bassists from all of the city's ensembles are more than willing to lend a hand. Every year members of the Symphony, the Opera and the Ballet give classes and offer our students individual attention. Click here to visit Micah's website and to sign up for a free online trial lesson.

• theme music by Eric Hochberg

Today's episode is a musing on the value and/or frustration posed by the Simandl Method. Find Cole Davis's adaptation, The New Simandl. Enjoy!

Subscribe to the podcast to get these interviews delivered to you automatically!

Connect with us:

• all things double bass
• double bass merch
• double bass sheet music

Listen to Contrabass Conversations with our free app for iOS, Android, and Kindle.

Check out my Beginner's Classical Bass course and Intermediate to Advanced Classical Bass course, available exclusively from Discover Double Bass.

Thank you to our sponsor!

Carnegie Mellon University Double Bass Studio - CMU is dedicated to helping each student achieve their goals as a musician. Every week each student receives private lessons and participates in a solo class with Micah Howard. Peter Guild, another member of the PSO, teaches Orchestral Literature and Repertoire weekly. They encourage students to reach out to the great bassists in their area for lessons and direction. Many of the bassists from all of the city's ensembles are more than willing to lend a hand. Every year members of the Symphony, the Opera and the Ballet give classes and offer our students individual attention. Click here to visit Micah's website and to sign up for a free online trial lesson.

• theme music by Eric Hochberg

Today's episode digs into some of my current double bass repertoire and was inspired by this recent blog post. Enjoy, and you can find the individual pieces I talked about in this episode below:

• Chorale by Nicholas Walker
• Charles at His Leisure by Michael Kurth
• Californian Duett by Simon Garcia
• Ensorceler by Donovan Stokes and Decade's End by Craig Butterfield

Subscribe to the podcast to get these interviews delivered to you automatically!

Connect with us:

• all things double bass
• double bass merch
• double bass sheet music

Listen to Contrabass Conversations with our free app for iOS, Android, and Kindle.

Check out my Beginner's Classical Bass course and Intermediate to Advanced Classical Bass course, available exclusively from Discover Double Bass.

Thank you to our sponsor!

Carnegie Mellon University Double Bass Studio - CMU is dedicated to helping each student achieve their goals as a musician. Every week each student receives private lessons and participates in a solo class with Micah Howard. Peter Guild, another member of the PSO, teaches Orchestral Literature and Repertoire weekly. They encourage students to reach out to the great bassists in their area for lessons and direction. Many of the bassists from all of the city's ensembles are more than willing to lend a hand. Every year members of the Symphony, the Opera and the Ballet give classes and offer our students individual attention. Click here to visit Micah's website and to sign up for a free online trial lesson.

• theme music by Eric Hochberg

Hagai Bilitzky recently released a new album titled New Sound of the Middle East. Hagai specializes in the Middle Eastern double bass and is an active performer and teacher based in Jerusalem. We spoke live for the podcast at the 2018 European Bass Congress in Lucca.

Today, we talk about the story behind this new album, what Hagai has been up to the past few years, double bass in Middle Eastern music, and much more.

Enjoy, and be sure to check out the new album and follow along with Hagai on Spotify, Apple Music, and bandcamp!

Subscribe to the podcast to get these interviews delivered to you automatically!

Connect with us:

• all things double bass
• double bass merch
• double bass sheet music

Listen to Contrabass Conversations with our free app for iOS, Android, and Kindle.

Check out my Beginner's Classical Bass course and Intermediate to Advanced Classical Bass course, available exclusively from Discover Double Bass.

Thank you to our sponsor!

Carnegie Mellon University Double Bass Studio - CMU is dedicated to helping each student achieve their goals as a musician. Every week each student receives private lessons and participates in a solo class with Micah Howard. Peter Guild, another member of the PSO, teaches Orchestral Literature and Repertoire weekly. They encourage students to reach out to the great bassists in their area for lessons and direction. Many of the bassists from all of the city's ensembles are more than willing to lend a hand. Every year members of the Symphony, the Opera and the Ballet give classes and offer our students individual attention. Click here to visit Micah's website and to sign up for a free online trial lesson.

• theme music by Eric Hochberg

This episode covers the 10 most annoying stand partner habits. Enjoy, and you can check out the video version of this here.

Subscribe to the podcast to get these interviews delivered to you automatically!

Connect with us:

• all things double bass
• double bass merch
• double bass sheet music

Listen to Contrabass Conversations with our free app for iOS, Android, and Kindle.

Check out my Beginner's Classical Bass course and Intermediate to Advanced Classical Bass course, available exclusively from Discover Double Bass.

Thank you to our sponsor!

Carnegie Mellon University Double Bass Studio - CMU is dedicated to helping each student achieve their goals as a musician. Every week each student receives private lessons and participates in a solo class with Micah Howard. Peter Guild, another member of the PSO, teaches Orchestral Literature and Repertoire weekly. They encourage students to reach out to the great bassists in their area for lessons and direction. Many of the bassists from all of the city's ensembles are more than willing to lend a hand. Every year members of the Symphony, the Opera and the Ballet give classes and offer our students individual attention. Click here to visit Micah's website and to sign up for a free online trial lesson.

• theme music by Eric Hochberg

Nina Bernat is the first prize winner at the 2019 International Society of Bassists Solo Competition and first and grand prize winner of the 2022 Minnesota Orchestra Young Artist Competition.

At the age of 19, she performed as guest principal of the Israel Philharmonic under Adrás Schiff and Osmo Vänskä and the New York Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel. As a recipient of the 2019 Keston MAX Fellowship, she performed with the London Symphony Orchestra on a subscription series concert at the Barbican Centre and in a chamber music concert for LSO Discovery Day at LSO St. Lukes.

We dig into her journey so far, what it was like having her dad as her teacher, the great Discover Double Bass interview she did with Geoff Chalmers, her father Mark Bernat's recent second recording of the Bach Cello Suites, and more.

Enjoy, and be sure to follow along with Nina on her website, Instagram, and YouTube!

Subscribe to the podcast to get these interviews delivered to you automatically!

Connect with us:

• all things double bass
• double bass merch
• double bass sheet music

Listen to Contrabass Conversations with our free app for iOS, Android, and Kindle.

Check out my Beginner's Classical Bass course and Intermediate to Advanced Classical Bass course, available exclusively from Discover Double Bass.

Thank you to our sponsor!

Carnegie Mellon University Double Bass Studio - CMU is dedicated to helping each student achieve their goals as a musician. Every week each student receives private lessons and participates in a solo class with Micah Howard. Peter Guild, another member of the PSO, teaches Orchestral Literature and Repertoire weekly. They encourage students to reach out to the great bassists in their area for lessons and direction. Many of the bassists from all of the city's ensembles are more than willing to lend a hand. Every year members of the Symphony, the Opera and the Ballet give classes and offer our students individual attention. Click here to visit Micah's website and to sign up for a free online trial lesson.

• theme music by Eric Hochberg

In this episode, Jason shares plans for 2023 and more. Enjoy!

Subscribe to the podcast to get these interviews delivered to you automatically!

Connect with us:

• all things double bass
• double bass merch
• double bass sheet music

Listen to Contrabass Conversations with our free app for iOS, Android, and Kindle.

Check out my Beginner's Classical Bass course and Intermediate to Advanced Classical Bass course, available exclusively from Discover Double Bass.

Thank you to our sponsor!

Carnegie Mellon University Double Bass Studio - CMU is dedicated to helping each student achieve their goals as a musician. Every week each student receives private lessons and participates in a solo class with Micah Howard. Peter Guild, another member of the PSO, teaches Orchestral Literature and Repertoire weekly. They encourage students to reach out to the great bassists in their area for lessons and direction. Many of the bassists from all of the city's ensembles are more than willing to lend a hand. Every year members of the Symphony, the Opera and the Ballet give classes and offer our students individual attention. Click here to visit Micah's website and to sign up for a free online trial lesson.

• theme music by Eric Hochberg

Nick Scholefield joined the double bass section of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in 2022. Prior to joining the ASO, Scholefield was a member of the Alabama Symphony Orchestra since 2019. He studied with Jeffrey Turner and Bruce Bransby and is a Georgia native.

We talk about Nick's audition process, lessons learned along the way, his preparation process and how it evolved, and much more.

Enjoy, and give Nick a follow on YouTube to hear this great player in action!

Subscribe to the podcast to get these interviews delivered to you automatically!

Connect with us:

• all things double bass
• double bass merch
• double bass sheet music

Listen to Contrabass Conversations with our free app for iOS, Android, and Kindle.

Check out my Beginner's Classical Bass course and Intermediate to Advanced Classical Bass course, available exclusively from Discover Double Bass.

Thank you to our sponsor!

Carnegie Mellon University Double Bass Studio - CMU is dedicated to helping each student achieve their goals as a musician. Every week each student receives private lessons and participates in a solo class with Micah Howard. Peter Guild, another member of the PSO, teaches Orchestral Literature and Repertoire weekly. They encourage students to reach out to the great bassists in their area for lessons and direction. Many of the bassists from all of the city's ensembles are more than willing to lend a hand. Every year members of the Symphony, the Opera and the Ballet give classes and offer our students individual attention. Click here to visit Micah's website and to sign up for a free online trial lesson.

• theme music by Eric Hochberg

This episode covers the benefits and challenges of transcribing music for the double bass. Enjoy!

Subscribe to the podcast to get these interviews delivered to you automatically!

Connect with us:

• all things double bass
• double bass merch
• double bass sheet music

Listen to Contrabass Conversations with our free app for iOS, Android, and Kindle.

Check out my Beginner's Classical Bass course and Intermediate to Advanced Classical Bass course, available exclusively from Discover Double Bass.

Thank you to our sponsor!

Carnegie Mellon University Double Bass Studio - CMU is dedicated to helping each student achieve their goals as a musician. Every week each student receives private lessons and participates in a solo class with Micah Howard. Peter Guild, another member of the PSO, teaches Orchestral Literature and Repertoire weekly. They encourage students to reach out to the great bassists in their area for lessons and direction. Many of the bassists from all of the city's ensembles are more than willing to lend a hand. Every year members of the Symphony, the Opera and the Ballet give classes and offer our students individual attention. Click here to visit Micah's website and to sign up for a free online trial lesson.

• theme music by Eric Hochberg

Lynn Hannings founded her bowmaking studio in 1970 and is regarded as one of the world's finest double bass bow makers. In addition to her bowmaking, she is an advocate for the conservation of tropical hardwoods used in musical instruments. Lynn recently retired from the Portland (ME) Symphony Orchestra after 50 years as a bassist in this ensemble.

We talk about her journey into bowmaking, how the process of bowmaking works, the complexities and urgency in conservation, topics she covered on Katie Thiroux's podcast, and much more.

Enjoy, and be sure to learn more about Lynn on her website, Instagram, and Facebook. You can also learn more about the conservation efforts we talked about and make a donation at Alliance-USA.

Subscribe to the podcast to get these interviews delivered to you automatically!

Connect with us:

• all things double bass
• double bass merch
• double bass sheet music

Listen to Contrabass Conversations with our free app for iOS, Android, and Kindle.

Check out my Beginner's Classical Bass course and Intermediate to Advanced Classical Bass course, available exclusively from Discover Double Bass.

Thank you to our sponsor!

Carnegie Mellon University Double Bass Studio - CMU is dedicated to helping each student achieve their goals as a musician. Every week each student receives private lessons and participates in a solo class with Micah Howard. Peter Guild, another member of the PSO, teaches Orchestral Literature and Repertoire weekly. They encourage students to reach out to the great bassists in their area for lessons and direction. Many of the bassists from all of the city's ensembles are more than willing to lend a hand. Every year members of the Symphony, the Opera and the Ballet give classes and offer our students individual attention. Click here to visit Micah's website and to sign up for a free online trial lesson.

• theme music by Eric Hochberg