Contrabass Conversations

Today, we take a look at the state of young bass education. This episode is based on a recent blog post written after attending the Suzuki Association of the Americas' 2018 Conference. Enjoy!

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

Contrabass Conversations is sponsored by:

Robertson & Sons Violins

For more than four decades, Robertson & Sons has specialized in providing the highest quality stringed instruments and bows to collectors, professional musicians, music educators, and students of all ages. Their modern facility is equipped with three instrument showrooms as well as a beautiful Recital Hall available to our clients to in their search for the perfect instrument and/or bow.

Upton Bass String Instrument Company

Upton's Karr Model Upton Double Bass represents an evolution of our popular first Karr model, refined and enhanced with further input from Gary Karr. Since its introduction, the Karr Model with its combination of comfort and tone has gained a loyal following with jazz and roots players. The slim, long "Karr neck" has even become a favorite of crossover electric players.

D'Addario Strings

This episode is brought to you by D'Addario Strings! Check out their Zyex strings, which are synthetic core strings that produce an extremely warm, rich sound. Get the sound and feel of gut strings with more evenness, projection and stability than real gut.

A440 Violin Shop

An institution in the Roscoe Village neighborhood for over 20 years, A440's commitment to fairness and value means that we have many satisfied customers from the local, national, and international string playing communities. Our clients include major symphony orchestras, professional orchestra and chamber music players, aspiring students, amateur adult players, all kinds of fiddlers, jazz and commercial musicians, university music departments, and public schools.

Contrabass Conversations production team:

• Jason Heath, host
• Michael Cooper and Steve Hinchey, audio editing
• Mitch Moehring, audio engineer
• Trevor Jones, publication and promotion
• Krista Kopper, cataloging and archiving

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

Today, we dig into some thoughts that past podcast guest Colin Corner shared about the recent Oregon Symphony Assistant Principal Bass audition. Check out Colin's most recent interview here, and check out his complete recital from the 2017 Pittsburgh Double Bass Symposium here!

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

Contrabass Conversations is sponsored by:

Robertson & Sons Violins

For more than four decades, Robertson & Sons has specialized in providing the highest quality stringed instruments and bows to collectors, professional musicians, music educators, and students of all ages. Their modern facility is equipped with three instrument showrooms as well as a beautiful Recital Hall available to our clients to in their search for the perfect instrument and/or bow.

Upton Bass String Instrument Company

Upton's Karr Model Upton Double Bass represents an evolution of our popular first Karr model, refined and enhanced with further input from Gary Karr. Since its introduction, the Karr Model with its combination of comfort and tone has gained a loyal following with jazz and roots players. The slim, long "Karr neck" has even become a favorite of crossover electric players.

D'Addario Strings

This episode is brought to you by D'Addario Strings! Check out their Zyex strings, which are synthetic core strings that produce an extremely warm, rich sound. Get the sound and feel of gut strings with more evenness, projection and stability than real gut.

A440 Violin Shop

An institution in the Roscoe Village neighborhood for over 20 years, A440's commitment to fairness and value means that we have many satisfied customers from the local, national, and international string playing communities. Our clients include major symphony orchestras, professional orchestra and chamber music players, aspiring students, amateur adult players, all kinds of fiddlers, jazz and commercial musicians, university music departments, and public schools.

Contrabass Conversations production team:

• Jason Heath, host
• Michael Cooper and Steve Hinchey, audio editing
• Mitch Moehring, audio engineer
• Trevor Jones, publication and promotion
• Krista Kopper, cataloging and archiving

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

Today's special episode is Mike Forfia's conversation with Victor Wooten. An edited version of this conversation appeared in the June 2018 edition of Bass World magazine from the International Society of Bassists. Enjoy, and be sure to join the ISB if you're not a member already!

Today's special episode is a round table discussion with over two dozen of the world's top double bass luthiers. This discussion took place at the 2018 Violin Society of America Double Bass Workshop at Oberlin College and features the following luthiers:

• Jay VandeKopple
• Greg Smith
• Brian Gencarelli
• Joey Naeger
• Thomas Helton
• Robbie McIntosh
• Vince Jesse
• Andrew Stolfa
• Arnold Schnitzer
• Elinore Morris
• Andrew Hassel
• Sony Negreros
• Ray Ramirez
• Jacob Bradford
• Randy Hunt
• Mitch Moehring
• Ralph Alcala
• Jack Hill
• Jeff Mueller
• Gabriel Golden
• David Gage
• Mark Leue
• Alejandro Zapata
• Dustin Woodward

A big thanks to all of these folks for taking the time to chat, and thank you to Steve Rodby, Kristin Zoernig, Lloyd Goldstein, Grace Lewis, Sara Nelson, and all the others that contributed great questions for this discussion!

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

Contrabass Conversations is sponsored by:

Robertson & Sons Violins

For more than four decades, Robertson & Sons has specialized in providing the highest quality stringed instruments and bows to collectors, professional musicians, music educators, and students of all ages. Their modern facility is equipped with three instrument showrooms as well as a beautiful Recital Hall available to our clients to in their search for the perfect instrument and/or bow.

Upton Bass String Instrument Company

Upton's Karr Model Upton Double Bass represents an evolution of our popular first Karr model, refined and enhanced with further input from Gary Karr. Since its introduction, the Karr Model with its combination of comfort and tone has gained a loyal following with jazz and roots players. The slim, long "Karr neck" has even become a favorite of crossover electric players.

D'Addario Strings

This episode is brought to you by D'Addario Strings! Check out their Zyex strings, which are synthetic core strings that produce an extremely warm, rich sound. Get the sound and feel of gut strings with more evenness, projection and stability than real gut.

A440 Violin Shop

An institution in the Roscoe Village neighborhood for over 20 years, A440's commitment to fairness and value means that we have many satisfied customers from the local, national, and international string playing communities. Our clients include major symphony orchestras, professional orchestra and chamber music players, aspiring students, amateur adult players, all kinds of fiddlers, jazz and commercial musicians, university music departments, and public schools.

Contrabass Conversations production team:

• Jason Heath, host
• Michael Cooper and Steve Hinchey, audio editing
• Mitch Moehring, audio engineer
• Trevor Jones, publication and promotion
• Krista Kopper, cataloging and archiving

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

I first met Geoff Neuman when I was teaching high school orchestra back in Illinois, and ever since then I've admired how Geoff manages to operate at such a high level as a gigging bassist, music educator, and ensemble director.

Geoff is up to so many things in the music world:

• He's the Instructor of Instrumental Music at The Alexander Dawson School in Las Vegas
• He brought the Green Valley High School Symphony to the Midwest Clinic, and they were also named the National GRAMMY Signature School in 2000-01
• He has been a member of the Las Vegas Philharmonic bass section since the group's inception 20 years ago
• He and Brad Pfeil started the Las Vegas Bass Workshop together 20 years ago
• His Outside in Jazz Trio has played in countless Las Vegas venues
• He has played all kinds of shows on the Las Vegas Strip, including long-term subbing for Derek Jones on KA by Cirque du Soleil
• He's active as a bass teacher and educator, participating in events like the ISB's Young Bassists Program and the Golden Gate Bass Camp
• He's even pursuing his Doctorate in conducting!

Geoff is a great friend, and great guy, and one heck of a bassist and teacher! We dig into a wide array of topics like score study, what he has learned on the podium and how it carries over into the bass section, how the Las Vegas music scene has changed over the years, advice for his younger self, and much more!

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

Contrabass Conversations is sponsored by:

Robertson & Sons Violins

For more than four decades, Robertson & Sons has specialized in providing the highest quality stringed instruments and bows to collectors, professional musicians, music educators, and students of all ages. Their modern facility is equipped with three instrument showrooms as well as a beautiful Recital Hall available to our clients to in their search for the perfect instrument and/or bow.

Upton Bass String Instrument Company

Upton's Karr Model Upton Double Bass represents an evolution of our popular first Karr model, refined and enhanced with further input from Gary Karr. Since its introduction, the Karr Model with its combination of comfort and tone has gained a loyal following with jazz and roots players. The slim, long "Karr neck" has even become a favorite of crossover electric players.

D'Addario Strings

This episode is brought to you by D'Addario Strings! Check out their Zyex strings, which are synthetic core strings that produce an extremely warm, rich sound. Get the sound and feel of gut strings with more evenness, projection and stability than real gut.

A440 Violin Shop

An institution in the Roscoe Village neighborhood for over 20 years, A440's commitment to fairness and value means that we have many satisfied customers from the local, national, and international string playing communities. Our clients include major symphony orchestras, professional orchestra and chamber music players, aspiring students, amateur adult players, all kinds of fiddlers, jazz and commercial musicians, university music departments, and public schools.

Contrabass Conversations production team:

• Jason Heath, host
• Michael Cooper and Steve Hinchey, audio editing
• Mitch Moehring, audio engineer
• Trevor Jones, publication and promotion
• Krista Kopper, cataloging and archiving

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

Joseph McFadden has led a remarkable career in the music world. Joe's journey from Southern California to his current role as principal bass of the Atlanta Symphony is full of valuable life lessons. We dig into a ton of great topics like bing true to yourself as an artist, what taking a chance really means in an audition setting, dealing with frustration and discouragement, organizing your time to move forward with your career goals, and much more.

Joe is a great guy and one heck of a bass player, and it was such a pleasure to have him on the podcast for this episode!

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

Contrabass Conversations is sponsored by:

Robertson & Sons Violins

For more than four decades, Robertson & Sons has specialized in providing the highest quality stringed instruments and bows to collectors, professional musicians, music educators, and students of all ages. Their modern facility is equipped with three instrument showrooms as well as a beautiful Recital Hall available to our clients to in their search for the perfect instrument and/or bow.

Upton Bass String Instrument Company

Upton's Karr Model Upton Double Bass represents an evolution of our popular first Karr model, refined and enhanced with further input from Gary Karr. Since its introduction, the Karr Model with its combination of comfort and tone has gained a loyal following with jazz and roots players. The slim, long "Karr neck" has even become a favorite of crossover electric players.

D'Addario Strings

This episode is brought to you by D'Addario Strings! Check out their Zyex strings, which are synthetic core strings that produce an extremely warm, rich sound. Get the sound and feel of gut strings with more evenness, projection and stability than real gut.

A440 Violin Shop

An institution in the Roscoe Village neighborhood for over 20 years, A440's commitment to fairness and value means that we have many satisfied customers from the local, national, and international string playing communities. Our clients include major symphony orchestras, professional orchestra and chamber music players, aspiring students, amateur adult players, all kinds of fiddlers, jazz and commercial musicians, university music departments, and public schools.

Contrabass Conversations production team:

• Jason Heath, host
• Michael Cooper and Steve Hinchey, audio editing
• Mitch Moehring, audio engineer
• Trevor Jones, publication and promotion

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

When Mitch Moehring, one of our producers for the show, recommended that I get in touch with Lois Robinson for an interview, I had a weird sense of deja vu…. I knew that name from somewhere in my past.

After reading a few emails, I realized that Lois and I go way back. In fact, she was the Executive Director of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago back the I was a member in the late 1990s. I even think that we played a gig or two in the Elgin Symphony as well!

In addition to being a bass player, Lois has a remarkable talent: bringing orchestras back from the brink of disaster.

Lois was hired as Executive Director of the Shreveport Symphony following a crippling two year strike by the orchestra. The financial situation of this orchestra was complicated by the loss of the orchestra's tax exempt status!

After coping with the immediate crises, Lois and her team successfully restructured Fundraising and Marketing activities and increased annual revenue by approximately 50% overall from 2011 to 2015. They've achieved an operating surplus for the last two fiscal years, and negotiated the first three year CBA with the musicians since the 1990's.

Learn about the remarkable transformation that Lois spearheaded fro the Shreveport Symphony, her experiences working at the Louisiana Philharmonic right after Hurricane Katrina, her background as a bassist and a lawyer, and much more in this great conversation!

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

Contrabass Conversations is sponsored by:

Robertson & Sons Violins

For more than four decades, Robertson & Sons has specialized in providing the highest quality stringed instruments and bows to collectors, professional musicians, music educators, and students of all ages. Their modern facility is equipped with three instrument showrooms as well as a beautiful Recital Hall available to our clients to in their search for the perfect instrument and/or bow.

Upton Bass String Instrument Company

Upton's Karr Model Upton Double Bass represents an evolution of our popular first Karr model, refined and enhanced with further input from Gary Karr. Since its introduction, the Karr Model with its combination of comfort and tone has gained a loyal following with jazz and roots players. The slim, long "Karr neck" has even become a favorite of crossover electric players.

D'Addario Strings

This episode is brought to you by D'Addario Strings! Check out their Zyex strings, which are synthetic core strings that produce an extremely warm, rich sound. Get the sound and feel of gut strings with more evenness, projection and stability than real gut.

Contrabass Conversations production team:

• Jason Heath, host
• Michael Cooper and Steve Hinchey, audio editing
• Mitch Moehring, audio engineer
• Trevor Jones, publication and promotion
• Krista Kopper, cataloging and archiving

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

Thomas Zera has undertaken a fascinating project these past couple of years: play in the bass section of many of the United States' major orchestras and learn the differences between how these sections approach their craft. For this project, Tom performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Oregon Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Utah Symphony, and many others.

Tom and I dig into pizzicato placement, use of vibrato, how different halls influence the bass section, what bass sections sounds like out in the hall, and much more!

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

Contrabass Conversations is sponsored by:

Robertson & Sons Violins

For more than four decades, Robertson & Sons has specialized in providing the highest quality stringed instruments and bows to collectors, professional musicians, music educators, and students of all ages. Their modern facility is equipped with three instrument showrooms as well as a beautiful Recital Hall available to our clients to in their search for the perfect instrument and/or bow.

Upton Bass String Instrument Company

Upton's Karr Model Upton Double Bass represents an evolution of our popular first Karr model, refined and enhanced with further input from Gary Karr. Since its introduction, the Karr Model with its combination of comfort and tone has gained a loyal following with jazz and roots players. The slim, long "Karr neck" has even become a favorite of crossover electric players.

D'Addario Strings

This episode is brought to you by D'Addario Strings! Check out their Zyex strings, which are synthetic core strings that produce an extremely warm, rich sound. Get the sound and feel of gut strings with more evenness, projection and stability than real gut.

A440 Violin Shop

An institution in the Roscoe Village neighborhood for over 20 years, A440's commitment to fairness and value means that we have many satisfied customers from the local, national, and international string playing communities. Our clients include major symphony orchestras, professional orchestra and chamber music players, aspiring students, amateur adult players, all kinds of fiddlers, jazz and commercial musicians, university music departments, and public schools.

Contrabass Conversations production team:

• Jason Heath, host
• Michael Cooper and Steve Hinchey, audio editing
• Mitch Moehring, audio engineer
• Trevor Jones, publication and promotion

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

I was driving from Santa Cruz to San Jose with Barry Green recently. We were talking about folks I should connect with for the podcast, and Eric Hansen was the first person Barry suggested. Eric teaches bass at Brigham Young University and is the former principal bassist of the Winnipeg Symphony.

Eric and I met in person for the first time in December of 2017 at the Midwest Clinic. He's great guy with a fascinating musical background, and I had a blast chatting with him about all kinds of topics like:

• how he got into conducting
• ways in which conducting has informed his bass playing
• studying with Eugene Levinson, Audrey Bush, and Hal Robinson
• what motivates students

This is a fun and spirited conversation, and I know you'll enjoy spending this time with Eric and learning about his unique path through the music world!

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

Contrabass Conversations is sponsored by:

Upton Bass String Instrument Company

Upton's Karr Model Upton Double Bass represents an evolution of our popular first Karr model, refined and enhanced with further input from Gary Karr. Since its introduction, the Karr Model with its combination of comfort and tone has gained a loyal following with jazz and roots players. The slim, long "Karr neck" has even become a favorite of crossover electric players.

D'Addario Strings

This episode is brought to you by D'Addario Strings! Check out their Zyex strings, which are synthetic core strings that produce an extremely warm, rich sound. Get the sound and feel of gut strings with more evenness, projection and stability than real gut.

A440 Violin Shop

An institution in the Roscoe Village neighborhood for over 20 years, A440's commitment to fairness and value means that we have many satisfied customers from the local, national, and international string playing communities. Our clients include major symphony orchestras, professional orchestra and chamber music players, aspiring students, amateur adult players, all kinds of fiddlers, jazz and commercial musicians, university music departments, and public schools.

Contrabass Conversations production team:

• Jason Heath, host
• Michael Cooper and Steve Hinchey, audio editing
• Mitch Moehring, audio engineer
• Trevor Jones, publication and promotion

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

Like so many great artists, it's hard to pin down the artistry of Matthew Golombisky. His website states "Bassist, Composer, Educator, Ideator." That's an intriguing tagline for a fascinating and multidimensional artist.

Matthew runs ears&eyes Records and is the founder and conductor of the Tomorrow Music Orchestra. AllAboutJazz writer Jakob Baekgaard called Matthew a modern "renaissance man" in this fascinating deep-dive into his career.

Matthew has been active as an artist in New Orleans, Chicago (where he played in the Gunelpumpers with my former teacher Michael Hovnanian), Oakland, and Buenos Aires. We covered a lot of ground in this interview—enjoy!

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

Contrabass Conversations is sponsored by:

Upton Bass String Instrument Company

Upton's Karr Model Upton Double Bass represents an evolution of our popular first Karr model, refined and enhanced with further input from Gary Karr. Since its introduction, the Karr Model with its combination of comfort and tone has gained a loyal following with jazz and roots players. The slim, long "Karr neck" has even become a favorite of crossover electric players.

D'Addario Strings

This episode is brought to you by D'Addario Strings! Check out their Zyex strings, which are synthetic core strings that produce an extremely warm, rich sound. Get the sound and feel of gut strings with more evenness, projection and stability than real gut.

A440 Violin Shop

An institution in the Roscoe Village neighborhood for over 20 years, A440's commitment to fairness and value means that we have many satisfied customers from the local, national, and international string playing communities. Our clients include major symphony orchestras, professional orchestra and chamber music players, aspiring students, amateur adult players, all kinds of fiddlers, jazz and commercial musicians, university music departments, and public schools.

Contrabass Conversations production team:

• Jason Heath, host
• Michael Cooper and Steve Hinchey, audio editing
• Mitch Moehring, audio engineer
• Trevor Jones, publication and promotion

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